We continue to follow this story, see updates at the bottom.
WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Furor grows over partisan car dealer closings.
Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has
systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to
Repubicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the
Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with
revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP
congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly
owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty.
The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact
millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who
are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far
that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?
Vote for me or you will be punished!! Hope and Change!
more...Now there's this...
RLJ-McLarty-Landers is owned by three men.
One was the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton.
One is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and a huge Obama supporter.
All 6 of their Chrysler dealerships will remain open.
And, get this... Their local competitors have been eliminated!.
more..
UPDATE: Auto Prophet says wait just a minute
The Auto Prophet - an anonymous engineer working for one of the Detroit automakers - is skeptical
of the suggestion that political considerations are playing a role in
White House car czar decisions on which Chrysler dealers are to be
shuttered.
A more likely explanation is simply the fact that more Chrysler
dealers in general are likely to be Republican contributors,
which would mean more of the closed dealers would be seen to be GOP
supporters than Democrat supporters: "My hypothesis is that
Chrysler dealers, being small businessmen, are more likely to donate to
Republicans than Democrats, for predictable reasons. Like any small
businessmen, car dealers want lower taxes, a lower minimum wage, fewer
regulations, etc."
I have been reading The Auto Prophet for years and consider him to
be among the most credible of bloggers on automotive issues. On this
issue, I agree with him to the extent that a definitive, statistical
analysis-driven conclusion is not possible until all contributions by
all Chrysler dealers is completed.
...White House car czar Steven Rattner is married to Maureen White, the
former national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
And let's not forget that before Rattner became a Wall Street mover and
shaker, he was a New York Times reporter..
We Report you decide........ We will have to wait and see, surely the Democrats can not be this stupid!!!
....and MORE DOUBTS
about whether Republican Chrysler dealers were actually targeted. Given
the bullying that went on with the secured creditors — and the way the
whole Chrysler restructuring deal was set up to favor Obama
constituencies — these charges were certainly plausible. But the
evidence doesn’t seem to be there..
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