Sunlight Foundation

GM, Chrysler to cut 3,000 campaign contributors

...er...dealers:

General Motors Corp and Chrysler aim to drop as many as 3,000 U.S. dealers and are expected to begin sending notifications as early as Thursday, three people briefed on the still developing plans said.

GM, facing a U.S. government-imposed deadline of June 1 to restructure or file for bankruptcy, is expected to send termination notices to up to 2,000 dealers -- a third of its roughly 6,000 U.S. dealers, the sources told Reuters.

Chrysler, which filed for bankruptcy on April 30, will also tell up to 1,000 of its 3,189 U.S. dealers it is terminating their franchise agreements, according to the sources who asked not to be identified because the controversial closure plans have not been yet announced.

The moves to shut down auto dealerships underscores how the economic pain caused by the downward spiral of both automakers -- now operating under U.S. government oversight -- is spreading beyond their home base in Detroit.

The development comes as dealer representatives have stepped up lobbying in Washington to try to slow down closures they estimate would cost 200,000 dealership jobs.

Of course, this will be for dealers and their employees. Others will suffer as well -- not like it's the most important example, but to give one: newspapers, local radio, television and cable (who are already hurting from a slow down in advertising) will lose ad revenue. Also worth noting that the reelection campaigns of members of Congress, as noted here, might suffer.

Search the Blog

Popular tags

2012 election 2012 elections 2013 Inauguration Ad Ad Hawk Ad Hoc AIG american crossroads Arab Spring Barack Obama BP budget Campaign contributions Campaign Finance Center for Responsive Politics Citizens United consumer banking Contracting Conventions2012 Correspondence crossroads GPS dark money Data Mine datamine debt ceiling Disclose act Distributed Research Dodd-Frank Earmarks Election 2012 Elizabeth Warren FARA FCC FDA FEC Federal Election Commission Finance Data Catalog Financial Bailout Financial Reform FLIT FOIA follow the unlimited money Foreign lobbying Foreign Lobbying Influence Tracker freshmen Fundraising Guns Handy Tools health care Hoc House House Freshmen 112th House Majority PAC Immigration Independent Expenditure Independent expenditures influence Influence Explorer investment James Bopp Jr. Lobbying lobbying tracker Logs_6553 Majority PAC Mark Sanford Market Meltdown Media Medicare meeting logs Mitt Romney National Rifle Association Newt Gingrich NRA obama OGD Open Government Directive Orrin Hatch outside spending Party Time PMA Group political ad sleuth Political Party Time Politwoops President Obama Priorities USA Action Recovery Recovery.gov Rep. John Murtha Research Restore Our Future revolving door Rick Perry Rick Santorum Romney Ron Paul Sen. Christopher Dodd Senate Sheldon Adelson states of transparency Stealthy Wealthy stimulus Sunlight Live super committee super congress Super PAC super PAC profile Super PACs supercommittee Supercongress supreme court TARP Taxpayers for Common Sense transparency