A look at the protected Chrysler dealerships
Photoshop credit: George at Elegant Memories
Bloggers are doing excellent work digging into the Chrysler dealership closure list. Yesterday, I cautioned against making sweeping claims that all the dealerships targeted for closure were partisan victims. On the flip side, bloggers are examining the protected dealerships that were spared by the Obama administration.
Joey Smith reports:
In my analysis of the Chrysler dealers that will remain open, I came across one dealer group that stood out to me.
The company is called RLJ-McLarty-Landers, and it operates six Chrysler dealerships throughout the South. All six dealerships are safe from closing. The dealer locations are:
1. Bentonville, AR (northwest Arkansas)
2. Lee’s Summit, MO (south of Kansas City, MO)
3. Branson, MO
4. Olathe, KS (near Kansas City)
5. Bossier City, LA (near Shreveport)
6. Huntsville, ALThe interesting part is who the three main owners of the company are. The owners are Steve Landers (long-time car dealer, 4th-generation dealer), Thomas “Mack” McLarty (former Chief of Staff for President Clinton), and Robert Johnson (founder of Black Entertainment Television and co-owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats).
Doug Ross points to an interesting post by Thomas Lamb on Maxine Waters’ statements regarding minority-owned dealerships.
Stay tuned.
***
Related: Plan to ax dealers not Chrysler’s decision -lawyer
***
Dear Car Czar, let’s have some transparency, please:
U.S. Sens. Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond wrote a letter Friday to President Barack Obama’s auto task force seeking answers to concerns raised by Chrysler and General Motors dealerships in Missouri that learned last week their contracts will be terminated.
Auto dealers statewide have expressed frustration to McCaskill and Bond about the lack of information they have received from Chrysler and GM, saying they didn’t know the criteria used to make the contract termination decisions.
The two Missouri senators asked the task force for the criteria used to determine how many and which dealerships would be terminated, as well as the process for dealerships to appeal decisions.
“Many Missouri dealers are asking us why certain profitable dealers, costing the auto companies nothing, were selected for closure,” McCaskill, a Democrat, and Bond, a Republican, wrote to White House car czar Steve Rattner. “From this perspective it appears an arbitrary standard may have been used to make these decisions … these dealers deserve a little more than just a pink slip in the mail.”
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Trackbacks
- Payback Time: Review Finds Closing Chrysler Dealerships Were Republican Donors « Nice Deb
- Ace of Spades HQ
- And Rightly So… » Blog Archive » Tuesday Noon News & Links
- Gazzer’s Gabfest » You can take the boy out of Chicago…
- Breaking: Did Obama Target GOP Donors in Chrysler Dealer Closings? Updated 5/27 @ 12:29pm : Conservative Nation
- Obama Ignoring the ‘Flawed’ U.S. Constitution: Confiscating Private Property Without Due Process « Quick Daily Hits — Politics and Such
- Which Chrysler dealerships got shut down? Heavy GOP donors! - Big Obama donors keep their dealerships and get competition eliminated! | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- Wednesday, May 27, 2009: Daily Handpicked Headlines :: Daily Uprising :: Join the Conservative Counter-Revolution!
- Shock! Big Dem Donor Group Allowed to Keep Their 6 Chrysler Dealerships Open …Update: Their Local Competitors Eliminated!!
- The TIW Blog » Blog Archive » The force behind the dealership closings
- Did Obama and the "Car Czar" Punish GOP Supporting Dealerships? | Pirates! Man Your Women!
- A Small Corner of Sanity - An Online Oasis for Conservative Thought
- How Obama helped Chrysler screw its franchisees
- Blue Collar Republican » Blog Archive » Dealergate
- Bloggers Poised To Bring Down Car Czar | Vancouver Secrets
- Partisan Slant Towards Chrysler Closings? | Americans Against Obama
- Dealergate - alternate media diggs through Chrysler franchise mess | Radio Vice Online
- Michelle Malkin » Dealergate and the MSM
- Michelle Malkin has more on Obama’s “political firings” of dealers. | Daily Danet
- Is This The Plan For The Auto Industry? « Around The Sphere
- Michigan Taxes Too Much » Michigan getting the screws, but the car is falling apart.
- Wizbang
- Obama – Gay Cover-Up – Michelle Obama – Larry Sinclair – Censorship – American Mediocrity « “The BOPAC Report” & Larry Sinclair’s Allegations – ZachJonesIsHome
- Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Repubicans « Goodtimepolitics
- Obama: The New Chevy Celebrity ‘Eurosport Edition’ | The Great Illuminator
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Interesting.
It would be more interesting to see an analysis of the entire list where connections like this are explored and political contributions are cross-referenced. To see if there is a pattern.
I’d bet that bloggers (on the right) will get that done.
It could be useful information in the next election cycle.
So now we know why the automakers were spared… a giant political kickback.
I agree. The problem is it won’t do much if the battle is run by RINOs…
You are just entirely too suspicious. I’m sure it is merely a coincidence that Democratic donors get their dealerships kept and any competitors eliminated. If not, then this is not change in Washington, it’s the same old corrupt, sleazy politics.
I think the time has fully come for the Car Czar to account for the criteria they used for closing INDEPENDENT dealerships.
Let’s see what they can show to prove their decisions were NEUTRAL…much less RATIONAL.
I don’t plan to ever buy a gm or chrysler product again. My taxes give enough to these companies and I don’t have a choice. Big brother has all the answers, you know!
L
That is simply nuts. Put up anything that approaches this level of corruption and fascist economic policy.
EVER.
The Obamination closed two family run, smaller, dealerships here in the Phoenix area. Perhaps I am using the wrong model here but if someone is selling your product I would THINK you would want to encourage them to do so.
But then Policy Dependent Mega dealers would be easier to control. All Power to the State? The only question now is does Chrysler replace the Pentagon with the Hammer and Sickle or the Sword and Crescent?
Allah Akbar and a Red Star is Rising Blue Lips.
Wow! I never knew the Kansas City area was considered the “South”. I always thought we were “Mid-West”. I better tell my friends, quick.
Respectfully,
Robin
Rags,
All you have to look at is any other dictatorship and you will see the same pattern. Venezuella, China, North Korea, Nazi Germany,…. This word “EVER” you use is kind of out of place here. If you want to see when the American government ever used such tactics, just look at Chicago.
Has anyone figured out why the GM CEO was canned and the Chrysler CEO wasn’t?? I said at the time that I bet the GM CEO gave to the Republican party…
I drive a Suburban, have loved it.. I will never buy another GM product, especially if the UAW has ownership in it…
The good news, or bad news depending on your perspective is failure is just around the corner. This is a strategy that discourages sales. The bottom line is Americans need to buy cars from these folks in order for any of the strategies currently in place to work and succeed. All of this favoritism, closing successful dealerships, union deals, government ownership of GM and more than likely Chrysler end up at the same place. Not enough sales to succeed.
At the end of the day consumers will still decide which companies succeed, which companies fail.
That probably drives the likes of Obama nuts!
Chicago politics come to D.C.
This deserves further investigation and then if it turns out that closures were made in accordance with political donations it should be hit hard by the conservative media over and over.
I know that Obama won but the majority of Americans are not morons and eventually they will see through this partisan ideologue.
I’ll be curious to see if some of the closed dealers file suit. The more that this sort of info surfaces, the more likely that the Car Czar will end up in court.
Every dealer that was closed should contact their congressperson immediately.
I doubt I’d ever buy a Chrysler product. The ones I’ve rented have been dogs. I might take “Moby Dick” down to the local Chevy dealer and say, “I’ll give you $5000 and Moby Dick for that Traverse.” If he’ll do it, great! If not, Moby Dick still runs.
Otherwise it’s “Honda wa ikura desuka?”
I would like to see this so-called standardized criteria that’s being used.
Does anyone have a copy?
Are any dealers in the Chicago area being forced to close?
I would say that if there’s good evidence, a suit will indeed be filed. Some of them already have a lawyer who in fact deposed the CEO of Chisler. As the story linked above suggests, the CEO didn’t really seem to support the dealer-closure program.
Arizona, I believe that the most appropriate new flag to fly over the white house would be the hoof-and-horn flag. It would be proper for them to post some rules for their administration and thus relieve some of the confusion going around. Sort of like “Four legs good, two legs better,” since these pigs have learned to walk already.
I sure would like for someone to explain to me why it makes sense to close down ANY dealerships when they fund themselves.
I expect lots of these closed dealers will apply for franchises from other auto companies like KIA and Hundai whose cars are better than Chrysler’s. Those companies would welcome an easy boost in sales from the various smaller towns whose citizens would switch loyalty out of gratitude. Dealerships are usually the biggest employer in small towns.
This could cut into any assumptions by Chrysler might be making that sales from closed dealerships will automatically transfer to the bigger dealerships.
pasadena, it seens to make sense to close some dealerships because it would make the remaining dealerships more in demand. So I guess it may make sense to those dealerships remaining open to cut down on their competition. I am not sure if this will actually benefit them though, because it may turn more people off to the product and in the end the other dealerships will need to close anyway. There is a huge problem for the dealerships on the closing list though. They are probably already located in areas with many other dealerships, and for them to start dealing hondas when there is another honda dealer a block away would be difficult. Another problem they are facing is that they have already bought lots of parts and cars, and Chrystler is not buying the merchandise back due to bankrupsy status. So they are stuck with tons of merchandise. If they are not an authorized dealer, they won’t be able to sell their new cars as new. The list of grievances can become very long.
It’s not Chrysler, who would know better, making the decisions. It would take someone totally clueless in business not to see the potential for the effect you mention, so therefore, in all likelihood, it’s the White House.
Fixed. Now let’s all gird our loins as we prepare to witness the consequences of The Messiah’s incredible business acumen.
Maybe each of the car union members can pledge to buy a new car from themselves every 6 months, so that there will be a constant flow of “customers,” thus keeping the car companies afloat… think that’ll work?
Very true. My car buying decisions are not just about the car, but about the after sales service I receive. We bought a Jeep for my son to drive, from a local dealer and was so disgusted by the after sales service, I vowed never to buy from them again.
Gateway Pundit has been doing a great job in collecting this data and has several posts regarding it. A sort of rolling update as more information becomes available.
I have finally cleaned up all the format mess from the conversions of the list of dealers to be closed.
Texas is taking a massive beating on the number being closed as well as Florida.
Poor little West Virginia just plain got beat to death.
I am seeing a very high correlation between closure sites and Congressional Districts Obama lost in the election.
Of the dealers closed in Ill. most are in areas of the state Obama lost , same for Ny and Penn.
And all kinds of other people filing suit on other issues-hence Obama’s push to have the Latina Lady of the Bronx confirmed before the September term of the Supreme Court. Commissar Axelrod and Herr Rahm Emmanuel serve Dear Leader well, don’t they?
“Policy is set at the Court of Appeals, no need for messy elections and bothering the peons, peasants and riff raff with decisions”–
The Latina Lady of the Bronx Sonia Sotomayor–
Sotomayor reversed 60% by the high court.
Every decision the Obama administration makes has a political motive behind it in order to advance his socialistic philosophy.
If these dealers were unprofitable, the market place should have taken care of it – not the government. They weren’t in line for direct hand outs from Chrysler’s take over by Obama. The company owned dealerships should have been the first to go.
Contract laws are being trampled on by this administration and I think it’s time for the Supreme Court to intercede rather than cherry picking innocuous, safe cases that don’t address the serious issues of our day.
I could be wrong, but I believe there were occasions in history where the Supreme Court let the legislature know they were over-stepping their constitutional boundaries (and visa versa).
This will never hit the MSM airwaves.
I don’t think many are being fooled by these closings…Odopey and his gang of thugs are behind it, like everything he pushes for that he knows doesn’t sit well with the majority of Americans. He’s playing it off on to Fiat. So, when it fails it will be Fiat not the unions or the almighty nit wit Ohdopey.
I can’t help but think he is creating so much bad energy with the consumers in America I doubt very many car buyers will even look at the new and improved version of Chrysler and possibly G(government)M.’s cars, especially the made in China cars. I myself don’t buy anything from Mexico or China unless it’s impossible to get what I’m after made somewhere else.
Rob the producers and distribute their wealth to the moochers and leechers.
Reward those who lap up the gospel of the o-messiah, and destroy those who dare question his motives.
Distract the MSM with empathy nominees and the bluster of wartime conflict.
Say nothing comprehensible. Obfuscate, nullify, redirect, and pander.
Smirk with glee as over 200 years of knowledge and wealth is dismantled. Where greatness takes a back seat to annihilation.
John 18:14
This episode would…WILL…make a great John Stossel segment.
This Chrysler bankruptcy could be the Obama administrations’ version of the Yugo: Nothing but problems.
it would be a great stossel report, if he could get a network to air it.
This is a great object lesson but I seriously doubt many will learn from it. Obama’s core supporters are moochers, and really believe in collectivism. Nothing here to bother them – they think jobs are something the government provides for their welfare…anyone who owns anything – like a dealership – is suspect to them and they have no problem with the government taking over.
Say no. No to GM, and no to Chrysler.
PS – the only Chrysler products I’ve driven lately were rentals and that PT Cruiser is a piece of…
No MSM coverage is allowed to criticize, denigrate, insult, nor mock TEH ONE and his glorious administration.
A dealership losing its franchise may be able to sell off its remaining stock, but it will have to do so at MSRP prices, and without dealer incentives from manufacturer.
Any buyer would not be able to get warranty work at that dealership, since the repairs are authorized and paid for by the manufacturer.
WOW – just WOW. I can say most stuff disturbs me about how we treat our enemies – like they should be tried as citizens – disturbing.
These are our own. This administration has no limits to how low it will go to punish its own while letting the world know we are the problem. This is just another sad situation is an underwhelming administration.
Bring on the conservative tax.
You may reconsider your position if the US Gov (you and me) owns 50 -75% of GM when the dust settles. Then what do we do if our company is still not profitable? Throw more tax dollars at the monster to support the propped up middle class autoworkers? This is nuts.
The suckling pigs photoshop should be accompanied by another – where Obama makes the three little piggies into pork chops.
*There may be some future litigation when it comes to certain Chrysler dealers, but as I have said before, in 18 months chances are there will be zero Chrysler dealers; Fiat will tire of bleeding money and will bail and the people will grow weary of throwing more money down this rat hole; Ron Middlefinger and the UAW will be around to claim the liquidation assets to bolster their health and pension funds; Check it all out in future history books; Chrysler is toast, but it is the American people that got burned; Prepare for 2010 and 2012!
i find it interesting that the black guy is the front man for the company, backed by the clintonista, and then the white car guy who actually runs the companies. typical democrat scam, get a minority front man so you canqualify for the do gooder laws giving preferences to minority owned businesses. then get an inside man for greasing the skids of the system, and some poor slub who gets a nice slice, but earns it while the others just scam it. it seems both the minority and the inside guy are presently earning their keep, at long last. SUCKLING PIGS INDEED.
So what does it take for people to believe that the Democratic Party is a conspiracy?
FOX will air it. Glenn Beck. We also need to get this stuff out on the internet, and even drop leaflets from the sky if we have to!! Of course, we need to be sure of our facts first. But nothing will surprise me…especially that he is out to repay the little guy for not falling in lock step with his agenda!
Stossel’s last hour-long special was a treat. ABC aired it in prime-time, and if he put one together on this deal, it would be HUGH.
Mom and Pop Sixpack had their retirement funds heavily vested in the auto-makers. Regardless of who they voted for, they are getting murdered, and they know and resent it.
This is part of the OVER-REACHING so many of us predicted…but I think it fair to say that, for most of us, THE ONE has sunk below our worst expectations.
HUGE, not HUGH…
Nice guy, Hugh, but…
Rags, you nailed it. They are messing with Texas and the red states, big time. This is definitely going to come back and bite them. Mutiny is on the horizon.
BTW, glad you’re back, Scrappy…!
‘Puter all better now?
On May 27th, 2009 at 1:44 pm, cheapseat said:
“it would be a great stossel report, if he could get a network to air it.”
And just like happyscrapper said, FOX will air it. Then look for the usual MSM and Dem machine campaign to belittle the claims and marginalize the claimants. I hope people in every community that has seen their neighbors pushed into the ranks of the unemployed by this remember who did it when the next election cycle rolls around. My biggest fear is that this has worked so well for them that we can look forward to it becoming the game plan for other areas of the economy. But to attempt it is not without risk. If ones ability to survive becomes a matter of who you support politically…… it may well lead to the pitchforks finally coming out. Six months from now just as important, to me at least in the very large county I live in, as knowing who and why someone was shut down will be to know who and why they were not.
Thanks, Rags! We had no computer at all for days. Then we got my husband’s to work again. To make a short story long, I am using his computer because mine isn’t on-line yet. Something to do with finding my IFP address again so I can get back on the wireless. I don’t pretend to understand any of it. My husband is a procrastinator. So, I am using his computer every chance I get, just to drive him crazy and make him more interested in working on my problem! In the meantime, I can only be on here sporatically and it is frustrating. Just when I get into a really interesting thread, I have to sign off. I imagine there are some who are happy about that (Zeroangel, etc.)
By the way, we drive a Chrysler Town and Country mini-van. We have had it for about 7 years and it has never given us a day’s trouble. It was the first brand new vehicle we ever bought and we paid more for it than we originally paid for our house! It is full of bells and whistles and I really love it. This whole thing makes me very sad.
Call me naive but..
If the One is closing dealerships based on political donations, isn’t that grounds for the big “I”???????
Maybe someone can answer my question. Why would GM or Chrysler cancel dealerships and limit their exposure in the market place? Those unemployed employees of the closed dealerships won’t be buying any new cars in their near future! Why would our government want to displace workers? I just can’t get into my head how reducing dealerships in the market place would be beneficial to either car maker.
And many wonder how it helps marketing to cut the budget by half, as the diktat by THE ONE stated…
Like I said above, it’s time for the people in this administration to make an accounting for their actions.
Detailed accounting…
What floors me about this whole thing???
This won’t save Chrysler a single DIME!
These Dealerships are private companies, who buy cars, and part, from Chrysler… they don’t cost Chrysler anything… if the dealerships were not making money, then they would go out of business.
And, I’d bet the vast majority of dollars spent advertising Chrysler products come from these DEALERS, not the company itself…
But now, how do you make the same amount of sales IF you cut your saleforce?
If the problem is inventory, then cut the Dealers amount of on the lot cars, and ship faster… don’t cut dealers… that is stupid.
I’m curious… has anyone that reads here purchased a car from one of the troubled automakers since the Gov first gave them handouts or said they were taking over the warantees?
Our local GM dealership quit a few months ago. Not really local but a big conglomerate with anther dealerships in the big city. After finding out who really owned the local shop, me and many of my friends recommended boycotting the big boy in the big city. I would have switched to GM from Chrysler because I could have had local service. No shop, NO SALE. Now about the profit angle, small dealerships cannot compete as well with the big boys because of volume discount. Manufacturers do better bottom line with the small guy because they can get a better bottom line dollar and do not need to give deep discounts. Now about foreign, guess what, they are producing comparable vehicles right here in the USA and from what I hear, really good automobiles.
I don’t care about the after sales service since I do my own. What I absolutely hate is going to a big dealer, huge showroom, lots of overhead, and some smarmy salesman giving me the usual schtick about what it will take to get me into a new car today.
I like the small dealership I go to…they left me alone when I told them to until I was ready. I doubt they survive Obama.
I knew a guy once named Hugh Guy.
We called him Huge.
“then this is not change in Washington, it’s the same old corrupt, sleazy politics.”
Noooooooo…….This is far and away light years beyond that.
“At the end of the day consumers will still decide which companies succeed, which companies fail. That probably drives the likes of Obama nuts!”
Not at all. He will merely stick to the plan of eliminating any alternatives in order to force us to buy what he wishes us to.
As I have posted before the only thing “too big to fail” is Obama’s own ego. Since he has sunk so much political capital into the car companies, which the government can NEVER hope to manage, his ego will force him to try exactly what you predict.
That will be his undoing if he tries.
FROM:
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/05/unreal-after-weeding-out-gop-linked.html
Now this…
Automotive News is reporting that Chrysler is already looking to open new franchises after closing 789 dealerships.
Chrysler did more last week than thin the dealer ranks in clogged metro markets. Chrysler also took out some underperforming dealers, leaving some good smaller markets without any Chrysler stores.
Chrysler President Jim Press said the company will be back in those markets.
Chrysler has been managing its dealer count downward in overdealered metro markets, a program called Project Genesis.
DshenanigansC
But were the closings political? Just can not get answers, just dismissive snears “Dealers tend to be Republican”.
A non answer is hiding something. When they pull out of a local market completely and then announce they will be back in SOMETHING, SOMEONE is being targeted.If it is political or encouraging mega dealers it is not good for consumers. Mega dealers only have lower prices as long as there is same brand/same product competition. Once they clear the competition the price goes to full list plus.
There are markets where the mega dealers control all the brands, be it AutoNation, the Berg Family or others. Somebody is getting a sweet deal and it ain’t us.
Dsomething stinksC
I really wonder why Soetoro hasn’t been tried on impeachment. Heck, I’m still trying to figure why he’s calling himself President.
I think the over-dealered territory for both GM and Chrysler is going to be called “America”.
The only people apt to buy from either of these brands now is government, and you only need one dealer for all those purchases.
Chrysler could put a dealership in every town and on every corner, and it wouldn’t sell a new car to anyone with a brain.
Given this, from the above Joey Smith item:
And this from Reuters:
Some of the gov ordered closings of Chrysler dealerships do appear questionable and warrant journalistic investigation.
I wonder if “The One” is aware of this one? Should someone let him know? This was in our paper today.
Read paragraph seven! It makes my blood boil!
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/lauderdale_lakes/sfl-closing-dealer-profile-05290sbmay29,0,207783.story
“Monarch, which serves a mostly black community, joins more than 330 dealers nationwide contesting Chrysler’s order in bankruptcy court. It claims to meet the carmaker’s conditions for survival: It enjoys a five-star rating and solid customer satisfaction scores, sells more new cars than used, typically sells at least 100 cars a month, has invested in remodeling and offers no other brands.”
Although I have never purchased a car from them, you can see from the article what an irreplaceable and tremendous asset they have been for Chrysler. They are in a predominently black community and still have not laid off any of their employees.
Their commercials are legendary here! Very homemade, goofy and corny, but they never took themselves seriously and were always done for laugh. They made you feel like these people were a part of your family and truly cared about you once you walked out that door. They will be missed!