Posted on 02/21/2010 4:31:28 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
Internal Toyota documents derided the Obama administration and Democratic Congress as activist and not industry friendly," a revelation that comes days before the giant automaker's top executives testify on Capitol Hill amid a giant recall.
According to a presentation obtained under subpoena by the House Oversight and Government Relations committee, Toyota referred to the changing political environment as one of its main challenges and anticipated a "more challenging regulatory" environment under the Obama administration's purview.
This document, in addition to piles of other records, will be front and center this week as the Japanese automaker girds to face lawmakers hungry for answers about a recall that has the company teetering.
Upwards of 8 million cars have been recalled in the U.S. and worldwide, amid reports of Toyota's vehicles accelerating rapidly. The problems have turned political, as the company has shuttered some American factories, potentially resulting in layoffs.
The oversight committee, which is led by Democrat Ed Towns of New York and Republican Darrell Issa of California, will seek to discover if Toyota was forthright in disclosing problems with rapid acceleration and if the government was responsible and quick in investigating such complaints.
Toyota has launched an image rehabilitation campaign on Capitol Hill, and its top lobbyist has sent emails to Congressional aides in an attempt to shape its image amid this crisis.
Committee aides say the presentation, which was obtained by POLITICO, gives the clearest view into the minds of Toyota executives.
Aides believe the presentation was an explanatory slideshow prepared to explain the inner-workings of Toyotas Washington lobbying operations. It includes a responsibility flow chart, in addition to resources the office calls upon, including The Brookings Institution and the Chamber of Commerce.
The slideshow is titled Toyota Washington, DC and the cover sheet is labeled Yoshi Inaba the president of Toyota North America, who is slated to testify.
It is a peek into how Toyota executives view the American political environment.
The Activist Administration & Congress increasing laws & regulations is listed as one of Toyota Challenges, as is Massive government support for Detroit automakers.
The July 2009 presentation also says the Department of Transportation and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration under Obama administration is not industry friendly, and anticipates a more challenging regulatory and enforcement environment.
It says the NHTSA new team has less understanding of engineering issues and are primarily focused on legal issues.
While the administration may have changed, the bureaucracy itself has not and we must ensure that government regulators give every possible consumer concern its due diligence, said Republican Oversight spokesman Kurt Bardella.
To me, the current political grandstanding gives an extremely clear view into the mind of the Beltway.
Duh!
Toyota threatens to close its UAW California plant. Obama (head of Government Motors) threatens Toyota. Nothing here, folks, just move on.
might be a little more sinister than that, if there’s any truth to this piece:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/obama-toyota.html
A recession is when your neighbor is out of work. A depression is when you are out of work. A recovery is when Obama is out of work.
Exactly. No sh!t, Sherlock. Dems HATE industry except for trial lawyers.
"Communist Pigs are bad for business"
Japanese press really ramping up the stories. Some of them are starting to tear apart the US lib government-industry-media (Obama-GM/UAW-MSM) collusive relationship. It's gonna get HOT next week folks!! http://jp.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idJPJAPAN-13989420100221 (In Japanese) Just starting now.....
Wow, get a read of the comments on this article in politico. Some real wackos out there.
Well its long about time that SOMEBODY told the truth!!!!
“We are five days from fundamentally transforming the United States of America,” - Barack Obama
In 1945..... we nuked Hiroshima + Nagasaki.
Now, in 2010, Japan may save America.....
By nuking our Fascist president from his Commie daydream.
JAPAN — WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH THIS MOSLEM!
No! You’re kidding?
Next Toyota will be telling us Obama and his friends lie....
your business competition most often is not
Already in work.
The Japanese and Okinawans want the Marines out of Okinawa.
And, talks about removing US presence from Misawa AB and Yakota AB.
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