A Wall Street Journal op-ed covered up the fact that the Koch brothers and other business owners have warned their employees that there would be consequences to their economic well-being if Mitt Romney and other pro-corporate candidates are not elected.

Progressives have highlighted a mailing the Koch brothers' company sent to 45,000 of their employees stating that they had endorsed Mitt Romney for president in addition to other political candidates. The mailing's cover letter warned that if the nation elected the wrong candidates, “many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.”

Other business executives have sent emails endorsing Romney, making statements such as "[i]f any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company" and “I am asking you to give us one more chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and administration on November 6th. Even then, we still might not be able to remain independent, but it will at least give us a chance. If we don't, that chance goes away.”

In response to resulting criticism from progressives, the Journal published an op-ed by Republican activist Bradley A. Smith, a frequent contributor to the Journal and other papers. Smith claimed that most Americans wouldn't find the mailing from the Kochs or other messages from business owners to their workers about whom to vote for threatening.

Smith wrote:

One day you return home from work, go to your mailbox, and find a packet from your employer concerning the coming Nov. 6 election. It includes information about the candidates and a letter from the company president that reads:

"To help you engage in the political process, we have enclosed several items in this packet. For most of you, this includes information about voter registration deadlines and early voting options in your state. At the request of many employees, we have also provided a list of candidates in your state that have been supported by . . . our employee political action committee.

“I want to emphasize two things about these lists. First, and most important, we believe any decision about which candidates to support is--as always--yours and yours alone, based on the factors that are most important to you. Second, we do not support candidates based on their political affiliation.”

If you're like most Americans, you probably wouldn't find these words threatening. But they have many denizens of the anticorporate American left apoplectic. "

Smith later claimed that “those who think corporations are inherently bad want to prevent business owners and managers from providing this valuable information to their employees. It is disturbing, on many levels, that these so-called activists would rather keep employees in the dark than have them get information from the 'wrong' sources.”

In order to make the claim that employees will feel informed rather than threatened by messages from their bosses, the op-ed ignored the warnings employers are giving their workers. While Smith quoted two paragraphs from the Koch mailing, he left out its warning of the consequences if Romney and other Koch-approved candidates don't win.

These are the first four paragraphs of the cover letter sent out by the chief of operations for Koch Industries, with the portions Smith left out in bold:

While we are typically told before each Presidential election that it is important and historic, I believe the upcoming election will determine what kind of America future generations will inherit.

If we elect candidates who want to spend hundreds of billions in borrowed money on costly new subsidies for a few favored cronies, put unprecedented regulatory burdens on businesses, prevent or delay important new construction projects, and excessively hinder free trade, then many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.

To help you engage in the political process, we have enclosed several items in this packet. For most of you, this includes information about voter registration deadlines and early voting options in your state. At the request of many employees, we have also provided a list of candidates in your state that have been supported by Koch companies or by KOCHPAC, our employee political action committee.

I want to emphasize two things about these lists. First, and most important, we believe any decision about which candidates to support is--as always--yours and yours alone, based on the factors that are most important to you. Second, we do not support candidates based on their political affiliation.

Only by cherry-picking what employers say in these letters can Smith make the assertion that employees shouldn't feel intimidated.