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Auto traders may reap dividend from party donations
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-09 08:07
WASHINGTON: Automobile dealers have been among the biggest contributors to US political campaigns over the past decade, surpassing all but two groups in donations. That investment may be paying off as the dealers get a lot of attention on Capitol Hill. Congress has held hearings on the planned shutdown of thousands of dealerships and is debating ways to provide relief to the businesses. Almost a quarter of the members of the House of Representatives signed letters to President Barack Obama and his auto task force questioning plans to close the dealerships. The lawmakers' involvement may disrupt plans by General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC to emerge from bankruptcy with a leaner dealer network. Executives of Detroit-based GM, which is to shrink its dealerships to as few as 3,500 from 6,000, and Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler, which plans to shut 789, said the reductions are crucial to their viability. Fritz Henderson, chief executive officer of GM, told the Senate Commerce Committee on June 3 that the cuts were about "creating a healthy, stronger and profitable dealer network". Chrysler President and Vice-Chairman Jim Press told the panel his network "is not viable and not profitable". Obama has pledged to allow the automakers to make their own decisions on restructuring. As a result, the National Automobile Dealers Association - whose members are in all 435 US congressional districts - is asking its more than 17,000 dealers to help it delay, if not scale back, the closings. Almost 200 dealers visited their lawmakers in Washington last month, and the association has asked its members to recruit their workers to contact local representatives. The McLean, Virginia-based group estimates that on average each dealership has 52 sales people and support staff, and the dealers are often the largest employers in many small towns. The association's political action committee has donated more money to federal candidates in the last 10 years than all but two PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington research group. It gave more than $13 million from 1999 through 2008, behind only the National Association of Realtors and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. "When an organized industry with a history of generous giving to members of Congress appeals for help, those members aren't likely to turn them down cold," said Rogan Kersh, associate dean at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Bloomberg News
(China Daily 06/09/2009 page17) |
