Posted on 05/26/2009 6:26:46 PM PDT by markomalley
Is the Obama administration punishing Chrysler dealers for their politics? A preliminary analysis by Doug Ross suggests that could be the case.
There were too many things about the selection of dealerships to be closed that just didn’t add up. Some of the dealers chosen to be terminated were among the more successful outlets in the Chrysler dealership network, and many of them had been loyal Chrysler and Dodge agents who had maintained an excellent working relationship with the Detroit automaker for decades.
Some dealers who got a thumbs down from Obama’s automotive panel told compelling stories about their situations that raised doubts about the process of selecting them for closing. One example, a dealership in Alvin, Texas, had increased its new car sales by 50% in the first four months of 2009, while other MOPAR dealers’ sales were in the tank. Another in Melbourne, Florida, had, at Chrysler’s insistence, totally renovated its facility financed by incurring millions of dollars of debt in the form of a bank mortgage. The are just two of many stories which highlight the incongruities to be found on the list of dealerships not deemed worthy to remain in operation.
Such reports led Ross to investigate whether there were any political motivations behind the closings. He started with the list of Chrysler and Dodge dealerships which will be closed as a result of the government-mandated Chrysler bankruptcy plan. Then he marked those dealers whose names appeared more than once in the list. Next, he checked which ones contributed to political campaigns. Every one of them had donated almost exclusively to Republican candidates. Ross found only one dealer on the closing list who had contributed to the Obama campaign, a $200 donor in Waco, Texas.
Eric Dondero recognizes some of the dealers’ names on the hit list:
“Vern Buchanan is a Republican Congressman from the Tampa Bay area. Robert Archer is the son of former Republican Congressman Bill Archer. John Culberson, a libertarian-leaning Conservative, is now the Congressman for that West Houston District. He was heavily supported in his election efforts by the Archers Family.”
“Additionally, James Crowley, owner of a Chrysler Dealership in Escondido, California is on the list to be closed. Crowley is a big backer of libertarian-leaning Republican Cong. John Campbell of Orange County.”
The list is heavy with influential Republicans and libertarians. Another name on the list is Ray Huffines, who owns a large dealerhsip in the Metro-Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The Huffines family have been major contributors to Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) over the years.
Chrysler maintains that “sales volume, customer service scores, local market share and average household income in the immediate area” were among the factors the company considered to determine which dealerships should be closed. However:
“In fact, there may have been other criteria involved: politics may have played a part. If this data can be validated, it would appear to be further proof that the Obama administration is willing to step over any line to advance its agenda.”
Shades of the Nixon enemies list, we first saw signs that Obama wasn’t above playing hardball with his political opponents during the active campaign. Even though he won, Obama and his team have remained in campaign mode to this very day. Obama demonstrated for all to see that he had no qualms about leaning heavily on radio and television stations which aired ads depicting him in an unfavorable light. Now he appears to be taking the payback thing a big step further by punishing car dealers who donated to the other side. The message Emperor Barack I is sending is a chilling one for those who cherish America’s long and honored tradition of liberty.
- JP
Of course, the MSM will stay miles away from this!
This should be bigger than Watergate.
it won’t be
0 should be impeached actually.
An independent study should fully investigate this and publish the statistical probability on this happening by coincidence.... Then we need to do the media’s job for them.
Ein Volk
Ein Obama
Ein Ja
The state of West Virginia is being hit very hard by this.
Out of 24 Chrysler/Dodge dealers in the state, 17 are on the list to be closed.
West Va. is a largely rural state, with long distances between major cities and towns over winding mountain roads.
I haven’t seen it, but it’s likely a number of these dealers are the only Chrysler dealer in a big geographic area.
Remember Hillary beat Obama badly in the West Virginia primary? And McCain carried this state easily. West Virginia has more registered Democrats than Republicans and leans Democrat in other elected offices. I’m sure Obama and Rahm Emmanuel know all this and took this into account.
I would love to know all the criteria for closing dealers down. I heard some dealers might sue on this very issue, in that many slated to close appear to have been profitable businesses. I don’t know if the dealers have a case, but, most of the value of their businesses were tied up with the fact that they were a franchised dealer of a major auto manufacturer. Take away the franchise, and the business value is near zero.
hooBoy! Just wait ‘til our watch dog press gets hold of THIS story! Journalists LOVE to uncover this sort of arrogant power purge, doncha know?
Okay... networks? Big city papers? Rolling Stone? anybody?...
SNL?
Daily Show?
.... crickets...
and more importantly Be careful with Chrysler closure “hit list” claims (FR Mentioned)
He hates pontiac
Therefore, I am curious as to why they don't file a class action suit?
They could get one of the tobacco-suing lawyers and go for, oh, $100 Billion?
Wonder if DEAR LEADER would step in to prevent this???
I knew it.
I lost my car key the other day. Needed to go to the dealer to get one made and found they were closing. I was not surprised. They had been very successful but I knew that like a lot of smart businesspeople the owner/founder was a Republican.
As others have pointed out, the only way to properly analyze this is to compare the donations of those who are closed with the donations of those who are kept. If every Chrysler dealer contributed exclusively to McCain, you would see this result no matter which dealers were closed.
You better be careful asking that type of question. You know there are laws against subversion...
I heard some dealers might sue on this very issue, in that many slated to close appear to have been profitable businesses.
I predict an upswing in motor vehicle deaths on rural WV roads. Funny that all of the victims will be former Chrysler car dealers
Obammy has an “everybody” enemies list.
Let’s see, how many “African Hyphen American” dealers will be on the list.
He hates us all.
No power on Earth could convince me that there isn’t politically related favoritism in some of these decisions.
ROTFLMAO, good one!
Very interesting. For a glimpse of what BO has in store for the automobile industry, it is useful to look at Pemex, the Mexican national oil monopoly under the PRI. The PRI controled Mexico’s labor unions for decades. Fidel Valazquez headed up the Pemex unionized workers from the 1940s through the late 1990s. Under the PRI and Velasquez, all of whom were living extremely high on the hog, Pemex was a textbook case of inefficiency, patronage and corruption. Hundreds of billions of dollars disappeared. When the workers tried to form other, non-Velesquez unions, the federal labor boards controlled by the PRI stopped them. As a result of all the corruption, Pemex did not have the funding it needed for maintenance and capital investment, and now has accrued a $45 billion debt. Go figure.
I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past that piece of garbage and his criminal enterprise.
Some people dream of impeachment, I dream of RICO.
NOT surprisingly, from our local paper, this column does not mention Obama or the gov’t. But the dealer does not want to go gently into that good night.
http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/05-26-smialek-column
And the Left made a huge stink about the termination of SIX
U .S. Attorneys that serve at the pleasure of the President!
This is OUTRAGEOUS!! and its just SO ZERO HUSSEIN, whose cousin burned opposing Christians alive in their churches! the man ZERO actively campaigned for! Remember Zero ppromised unrest if he lost as well! Now is Zero making sure there will NOT be an Election in 2012?
Good, this is getting traction. If it pans out that these decisions were politically motivated, and it is looking suspicious at this point, it will be a huge scandal.
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