Politicians, public blame auto execs for industry plight

Lawmkers say car executives are lemons, too.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, knows what he wants from the Big Three auto executives: They should bow down to stockholders and apologize.

That’s one of the milder suggestions from Capitol Hill as to how Detroit’s top brass should behave.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., wants them to resign. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., thinks that General Motors Chief Executive Richard Wagoner should “move on.”

The public agrees. A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted Dec. 9-10 found that 43 percent blamed management and executives for the auto industry’s plight, and 15 percent blamed labor unions.

The widespread disdain for the executives makes it hard for lawmakers to rally support for bailing out the industry — a key reason talks to help the companies collapsed in Congress last week and will face trouble in January when the 111th Congress convenes.

The automakers had sought $34 billion in emergency aid. Congress whittled that to $14 billion, thought to be enough to keep cash-strapped GM and Chrysler from bankruptcy in the next few weeks. The White House now is considering the funding request.

Whatever happens, the carmakers’ supporters are expected to seek more industry funds next year, and if they do they’re in for a rough time.

“People don’t like rich people,” said Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., “and these guys are not only rich, but they’ve screwed up.”

And they seem to suffer no consequences.

“They’re part of the elite of the country,” said Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, “and they seem to feel they don’t owe anything to anybody.”

Ironically, such anger was not apparent when Congress debated rescuing the financial services industry this fall. It wound up approving a $700 billion package, far more than the car companies have sought.

The reason for the more personal debate is that consumers have a very different relationship with car companies, said John Heitmann, a professor of history at the University of Dayton.

“The bankers were only excessively greedy for the past 10 to 15 years,” he said.

“Detroit Three management has been inept and greedy — with the exception of [former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca] for about 50 years.”

Iacocca became a hero of sorts nearly 30 years ago when Chrysler was reeling.

The pent-up frustrations spilled into the open last month when the Big Three appeared at congressional hearings and said they’d traveled to Washington in corporate jets.

“If I had my way, all three of those guys would be in the unemployment line, and I think that ought to be one of the conditions for us doing this,” Clyburn told reporters at a news conference. “They need to be giving up their jobs, not just their packages.”

And, lawmakers warned, that feeling isn’t going to go away when they return Jan. 6.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, saw the auto executives and their companies “getting the money, and small business isn’t getting the money, merely because we have not heard the names of the small businesses and because they’re working hard to put food on the table ... and because they don’t have $50 million to spend on lobbying expenses.”