Rep. Michele Bachmann: Politics is in charge now at GM, Chrysler
By: Rep. Michelle Bachmann
OpEd Contributor
July 17, 2009
In carrying out its seemingly arbitrary dealer-pink slip strategy, General Motors maintains that "in order to build a stronger, more viable GM, it is essential to have the best performing dealers, in the right locations, aligned with GM's brand distribution strategy to be a part of GM's reinvention."
Yet, the evidence is that many of the best performing dealers are the ones GM is shutting down.
I've spoken to dealers from all around Minnesota about this. Some of them were forced to shut down the businesses that had been in their families for generations. Some of them were forced to restructure to meet GM's demands.
Some of them counted themselves among the fortunate to have survivedÉthis round. All of them maintain a common uneasiness in the pit of their stomach over the how, what and why. That queasy feeling got worse last week.
On July 6th, GM dealers received a lengthy letter from the General Motors National Dealer Council informing them that the Council strongly opposes H.R. 2743, the "Automobile Dealer Economic Rights Restoration Act of 2009."
This is the legislation that would protect the rights of the dealerships that had been arbitrarily closed or forced to discard portions of the business they worked so hard to build.
This letter urged the dealers to sign a sort of petition to Congress immediately; no later than 5:00 p.m. the very next day, saying that they opposed passage of the bill. In fact, GM has given dealers talking points - and even a telephone script - to use while talking to their members of Congress.
Dealers also have access to a toll-free number to help them reach their representatives in Congress, and a way to e-mail legislators via a company web site. The company's full-court-press lobbying is an effort to kill the bill and strike a final death blow to those dealers who have been marked for closure come year's end.
I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 2473, along with 241 other members of Congress. If passed, it would essentially reinstate the economic and contract rights of dealers who were arbitrarily dropped by Chrysler and GM during their respective restructurings.
If dealers were financially sound to stand on their own, they could continue to remain in business. And those that don't would at least have legal grounds to recoup a portion of the value of their taken assets. H.R. 2473 makes these dealers whole instead of allowing their livelihoods to be taken from them with no legal recourse and no financial compensation.
It is reprehensible for this company to ask their dealers to cannibalize one another under what can only be considered a veiled threat. After all, if they don't sign, what will happen to their dealership?
Will they suddenly get a pink slip, too? Given that the federal government now owns 61% of GM, the moniker that many have given GM - Government Motors - seems apropos. And, that makes this strong-arming even more reprehensible.
With government running GM and Chrysler, politics will control their decision-making, not sound business principles. This letter that the dealers are showing me is proof-positive that politics is prevailing.
Rep. Michele Bachmann is a Republican from Minnesota.
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