Over on Americablog, John Aravosis is fuming (and not unjustifiably) over Microsoft's apparent refusal to endorse Washington's proposed antidiscrimination bill, which lost in the Washington Senate today by one vote. In this sense, I agree with him -- it is odd that Microsoft wouldn't, given that they DID support the Federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) previously.
However, rage has apparently unhinged John enough that he's making some rather interesting threats:
You're planning a 2.2 million square foot expansion of the Microsoft campus in Redmond over the next ten to twenty years. The expansion, we hear, would allow you to hire 10,000 to 20,000 new employees.
Well bully for you. You must be quite excited about that.
We also hear that you're going to need a lot of help - a LOT of help - from the state legislature and the Redmond city council to actually make that expansion work, for highway and road improvements and the like, and that not everybody is real happy about it.
Well, wouldn't it be funny if some really smart faggots decided to use their political expertise to kill any possibility of you getting the legislation and city council approval you need to make that expansion happen? And wouldn't it be even funnier if those same faggots went to your competitors and asked them to finance the entire campaign to kill your expansion?
It'd be pretty hard to hire those extra employees without your expansion, wouldn't it? I'm not saying anyone is going to do that to you. I'm just saying it would be really funny.
Problem is, that threat overlooks some rather crucial points:
1. Even if the Redmond City Council did not approve, Microsoft could continue to develop its campus, inasmuch as it owns the land.
2. The complaints about Microsoft's expansion have to do with agreements signed to limit development and require infrastructure expansion -- and Microsoft has already offered to pay $30 million dollars to expand the infrastructure.
3. Microsoft is undertaking the expansion to house 10,000 - 20,000 employees that it expects to add to its workforce. One could argue that they're "just saying that", but fact is, to put a twist on Field of Dreams.....if they weren't coming, Microsoft wouldn't build it.
Of course, none of these salient points, all of which render his threat at best empty and at worst completely laughable, particularly bothers Aravosis:
We have no intent of launching a boycott. Boycotts are hard to enforce, especially when dealing with a monopoly. And in any case, we're smarter than that. We're the country's top lobbyists, and grassroots activists, and lawyers, and politicos, and bloggers working in both Washingtons (state and DC).
When we fuck back, we don't launch boycotts. When we fuck back, we go for the jugular.
And I can visualize the news story already:
Democratic Gay Activists Announce Campaign to Block Microsoft Expansion
Microsoft Says Expansion Necessary to Accomodate 10,000 - 20,000 New Jobs
Democratic consultant and gay activist John Aravosis, host of the Democratic Party-affiliated Web program DemsTV.com, today announced a plan to enlist fellow Democrats and gay activists to block the planned expansion of Microsoft's Redmond campus, a move that Microsoft says puts at risk their plans to add 10,000 - 20,000 employees to their current workforce at the location.
Granted, John may know something I don't, like that they have pictures of Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire and Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell sitting around snorting cocaine, spitting on crucifixes, and talking about their polygamous husbands, but my immediate take is this....if he goes through with that threat, he'd better be prepared for life in Dupont Circle without Democratic Party or 527 group subsidy.
Anyone know a DC Realtor specializing in cardboard boxes?
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