Chrysler’s
‘Hit List’ Targets GOP Donors
By Chelsea Schilling of WorldNetDaily
As part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
Chrysler is terminating one-fourth of its franchises – but some say its catalog
of doomed dealerships looks more like a hit list that specifically seeks to put
Republican donors out of business.
Chrysler will now be eligible for up to $8
billion in taxpayer-funded federal aid. The federal government has already
provided $8.58 billion to Chrysler and Chrysler Holding between the months
of January and May of this year. The Treasury also loaned $1.5 billion to
the automaker’s 
lending
arm in January.
President Obama has said the bankruptcy will
give the company “a new lease on life,” after his administration spearheaded
a plan requiring the company sell to Italian automaker Fiat. Chrysler’s stronger
operations will be owned by Fiat, labor and the U.S. and Canadian governments.
But WorldNetDaily (WND) reviewed the list of
789 closing franchises and databases of political donors and found that of
dealership majority owners making contributions in the November 2008 election,
less than 10 percent gifted to Democrats while 90 percent gave substantial sums
to Republican candidates.
The listed franchise owners contributed at
least $450,000 to Republican presidential candidates and the GOP, while only
$7,970 was donated to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign and $2,200 was given to
Sen. John Edwards’ campaign.
Obama received a combined total of only $450
in donations – $250 from dealer Jane Baldock in Wenatchee, Wash., and $200 from
Waco, Texas, dealer Jeffrey Hunter.
Many of the majority owners who donated to
Republican campaigns last year also contributed additional thousands to George
W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 2004 and to help elect GOP representatives.
The first dealership on Chrysler’s list of
facilities marked for termination by June 9 was located in Venice, Fla., and
belonged to Republican Rep. Vernon G. Buchanan.
Buchanan
gave $2,300 to John McCain in 2008 and has contributed nearly $150,000 to GOP
candidates and organizations since 2007. He discovered that his location was
scheduled for closure when he crossed paths with Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich.
According to the Associated Press, Miller
told Buchanan, “I heard you’re going to lose your Dodge franchise.” “Oh,
really?” Buchanan said in a state of surprise.
The dealership’s operating partner, Shelby
Curtsinger, said he was astonished by Chrysler’s decision because the location
has been profitable – selling more than twice the stock of an average Chrysler
dealership every year.
Houston dealer Robert Archer is one of 330
people contesting Chrysler’s decision to close their locations. He donated
$1,000 to National Republican Congressional Committee and $500 to Americans for
a Republican Majority. Archer told the New
York Times he ordered 700 new vehicles and $1.7 million in new parts after
Chrysler told him he could not survive unless he stocked more cars. He
sacrificed his profits to help the company survive. Now he is set to lose his
franchise.
Other GOP contributors include Michael
Maroone, a dealer in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He gave $20,000 to the Florida
Republican Party, $12,700 to the Republican National Committee and $2,300 to
presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Likewise, Menomonee Falls, Wis., dealer
Russ Darrow and his family gave $19,000 to the Republican National Committee,
$6,029 to the Wisconsin Republican Party, $2,300 to John McCain and $1,000 to
Rudy Giuliani. Bedford, Texas, dealer Eric Grubbs gifted $11,500 to Mike Huckabee,
$4,600 to Rudy Giuliani, $6,500 to Texas Republican Congressional Committee,
$1,085 to the RNC and $500 to National Republican Congressional Committee.
Midlothian, Va., dealer Max Pearson donated $18,000 to National Republican
Senatorial Committee, $6,900 to the RNC, $6,900 to John McCain, $3,600 to
Virginia Republican Party and $1,000 to National Republican Congressional
Committee.
The list continues with more than 60
political donors who are scheduled to lose their franchises – many of whom gave
thousands of dollars to Republican candidates – and only seven dealers who
contributed a total of less than $12,000 to the Democratic Party and its
candidates.
Blogger Doug Ross reviewed patterns on the
closure list and noticed the unmistakable trend. “I took all dealer owners
whose names appeared more than once on the list,” he wrote. “And, of those who
contributed to political campaigns, every single one had donated almost
exclusively to GOP candidates.”
With 2,392 Chrysler dealerships remaining,
some bloggers claim to have already begun the exhaustive process of checking
each majority owner to determine whether Chrysler has been more merciful toward
those who donate to Democrats while simultaneously giving walking papers to
Republican contributors.
Chrysler has not responded to WND’s requests
for comment. The company claims it evaluated the dealerships based on raw sales
volume, location, market, history of experience and market share. According to
the company’s bankruptcy court filing, the 789 dealerships listed for closure “lack
the operational, market, facility and line-maker characteristics necessary to
best contribute to the ongoing dealer network under current or future
ownership.”
Dealer Jim Anderer told Fox News’ Neil
Cavuto he doesn’t understand why Chrysler is shutting down his Long Island
dealership because he claims his dealership is quite profitable – with sales
volume ranking in the top 2 percent.
Asked why he believes the company targeted
him, Anderer said, “They won’t tell us. They seem to be running for cover right
now because they won’t give us a solid explanation. They come up with all these
reasons, but none of them seem to make sense.”
He continued, “This is insanity. The government is stealing my business.
And they’re telling me there’s nothing I can do about it.” Anderer said
Chrysler claims it wants to combine its stores or that dealers cost the
manufacturer money to stay in business.
“In
the dealers that they cut, there seems to be no cohesive way that they did it,”
he said. “There was no process that you could put your finger on and say, ‘Hey,
we cut 25 percent of the lowest performing dealers.’ They didn’t do that.
Nobody will give us a real clear explanation of the formula that they came up
with.”
An anonymous employee affected
by the dealership closings blogged at Cars.com: “This isn’t about business.
It’s about politics and control. My dealership is in the top 125 out of the
3,500-plus dealerships nationwide...yet we are on the list. We are not small
nor are we rural. We are in a large major metropolitan area. Our new vehicle
inventory alone is well over $4.0 million. Is that small?” The employee continued,
“This is so much more than ‘just business.’ This is about control and power
by our present administration in Washington. An administration that will stop
at nothing to bring complete socialism to this once great country. Wake up
people or get in line now to ‘drink the Kool-Aid.’”
Chrysler’s bankruptcy court review process
began May 14 and was scheduled to end by June 9. According to a May 14 Chrysler
memo, dealers learned of their fate via UPS letters arriving earlier this
month. A Senate committee is conducting hearings as dealers file their requests
to block their termination.
George C. Joseph, owner of Sunshine Dodge-Isuzu
in Melbourne Fla., has sent out his plea to several online media organizations,
including WND. Joseph said his family paid for his franchise 35 years ago and
employs more than 50 people. The company is active in the community and the
local chamber of commerce, and he claims it is financially profitable.
“On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that
my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on
June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to
them,” Joseph wrote. “My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with
a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible
to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009.” He said that without
the franchise his family can no longer sell Dodge inventory as “new” or conduct
any service warranty work. Joseph wrote that his parts inventory – worth $300,000
– is now practically worthless because Chrysler will not be required to buy
vehicles, tools or parts from terminated dealers under bankruptcy rules. To
make matters worse, Joseph said Chrysler recently required his facility to
be renovated, requiring a multi-million dollar debt in the form of a mortgage.
“This is a private business, not a government entity,” he wrote. “This is
beyond imagination! My business is being stolen from me through no fault of
our own. We did nothing wrong.” Joseph continued, “This atrocity will most
likely force my family into bankruptcy. This will cause our 50 plus employees
to be unemployed. How will they provide for their families? … How in the United
States of America can this happen?”
