Analysis of Campaign Contributions by Chrysler Dealerships who are Scheduled to Close

OpenSecrets.org ^ | May 19, 2009 | William J. Smith

[Constitution Day]

Great work sir!

I have shared your blog link among my Facebook friends.

Anything I can do to help?

[Landru]

"I hope someone or organization continue to look into this so that holy hell can be raised about how politics played a part in these closings."

Yup, and why not?
The insidious sots on the left succeeded politicizing every damned thing under the sun to benefit themselves, 99.999% of it outright lies.

Depending on how the mosaic fills in this allegation c/would quickly morph into an indictmentS.
A chance to get hold of a few short hairs & *twist* might just be enough to bring the entire charade crashing down around the feet of Caesar himself. ;^)

Let's see what our courageous leaders do with this, shall we?

[Liberty Valance]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[boxerblues]

bttt for later

[smith5460]

Here is a link to the 41 page report on Chrysler delaership closings:

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/business/Chrysler_dealers_list.pdf

[smith5460]

I have completed a review of the first 3 pages and posted the findings on my blog (link found on #14).

[Lexinom]

Perhaps you could help then. I’m working on PAGE 7. Would you care to start on PAGE 8?

[smith5460]

After reviewing the first 5 pages of the Chrysler closings, here are the findings:
During the 2004 Presidential Election, the dealers gave $10,500 to President Bush, $1,000 to General Wesley Clark (D), and $500 to Rep. Dick Gephardt (D).
During the 2008 Presidential Election, they gave $7,150 to John McCain, $2,300 to Gov. Mitt Romney, $500 to Gov. Mike Huckabee, $1,950 to Sen. Hillary Clinton, and $0 to Pres. Obama.
Also, since the 2004 Election cycle, the dealers analzyed so far gave $113,400 to the RNC and the State Republican Parties and $1,000 to the State Democratic Parties.
The dealers gave $120,000 to GOP candidates and $34,350 to Democratic candidates.

[Lexinom]

That is FANTASTIC WORK!!!

Bottom line: These dealers didn't pay their "protection money."

NOW... for this to have some clout, we need to compare these numbers with a sampling of non-closing dealers. Maybe it is the norm that they gave zippo to Bamster. We need to find this out.

(BTW do you want me to PM you the little bit I did from Page 7?)

[smith5460]

Sure thing. Send me whatever you have. Thanks for your help.

[Lexinom]

Global list of Chrysler dealers, not separated by state.

What we're going to do is get a statistical comparison between the work you've done and the same thing for a random smattering of non-closing Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealerships.

We're going to see if there is a significant difference between what the average to-be-closed dealer gave and to whom, and what the average non-closing dealer gave and to whom.

[Lexinom]

Three NON-closing dealerships:

$2,250 Republicans
$3,500 Democrats

($0 to Obama)

They all give to “DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION”, so I think we can write that off as a “neutral” PAC in this context.

These are hard because you have to manually track down the name of the owner in some cases.

[smith5460]

I found some interesting stuff in the Little Rock metro area.

There are three Chrysler dealerships in the Little Rock metro area:

1. Cook Jeep Chrysler
2. Crain Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep
3. Frank Fletcher

Frank Fletcher will remain open while Cook Jeep-Chrysler and Crain CDJ will be forced to close.

Here is the data for the three dealerships since the 2004 Election cycle:

Frank and Chris Fletcher gave $8,000 to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D), $1,000 to Gov Mike Huckabee (2008 Presidential run), $500 to Marvin Parks (R), and $500 to Mickey Stumbaugh (R). Their dealerships will remain open.

Ethel Cook gave no money to campaigns or groups. Cook Jeep Chrysler will close.

Joy, Larry Sr., and Larry, Jr. (Crain family) gave $4,600 to Sen. McCain (2008 Presidential run), $4,600 to Gov. Mike Huckabee (2008 Run), $1,000 to President George W. Bush (2004 Run), $1,500 to NADA, $250 to Marvin Parks (R), and $207 to the Arkansas Democratic Party.

The Cook dealership is 9 miles away from the Fletcher dealership. The Crain dealership is 15 miles away from Fletcher.

[GOPJ]

Once boiled to a simple set of statistics, we might have a case of corruption at hand. However, who in the world will prosecute these people??

And who in our "free" press (other than FOX) would cover it?

[Lexinom]

So the guy that gave a gob of cash to Blanche Lincoln will stay open.

This is fun! Here's my research from another group, all of which will remain open.

VAN HOOGSTRAAT, JOHN
BALLWIN, MO 63011
ROYAL GATE DODGE INC

   DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
	10/06/1999 	1000.00 	99034922872

VAN HOOGSTRAAT, JOHN
ELLISVILLE, MO 63011
ROYAL GATE DODGE CHRYSLER JEEP/OW

   REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
	08/22/2008 	1000.00 	28933154161

VAN HOOGSTRAAT, JOHN
ELLISVILLE, MO 63011
ROYAL GATE DODGE INC

   DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
	12/12/2000 	500.00 	21036810595

VAN HOOGSTRAAT, JOHN A MR.
ELLISVILLE, MO 63011
ROYAL GATE DODGE INC/PRESIDENT

   DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
	12/11/2003 	1000.00 	24990392840
	06/18/2004 	1000.00 	24961820903
	06/30/2006 	1000.00 	26950274506

VAN HOOGSTRAAT, JOHN MR.
ELLISVILLE, MO 63011
ROYAL GATE DODGE CHRYSLER JEEP/OW

   REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
	09/29/2008 	1000.00 	28992793306

WINSTEAD, MARK K MR.
BALLWIN, MO 63021
ROYAL GATE DODGE INC/EXECUTIVE

   BUSH, GEORGE W
    VIA BUSH-CHENEY '04 (PRIMARY) INC
	04/27/2004 	250.00 	24961374194

Total Contributions:    6750.00

********************************************

GLENDALE CHRYSLER JEEP DODGE

MERLO, CARLO
CHESTERFIELD, MO 63005
CARLO PLUMBING

   HOUSE, TED CLINT (Dem, MO-02)
    VIA TED HOUSE FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE
	10/02/2000 	500.00 	20036441342

********************************************

LUM'S AUTO CENTER


LUM, DAVID
ASTORIA, OR 97103
LUM'S AUTO CENTER

   WU, DAVID (Dem, OR-01)
    VIA DAVE WU FOR US CONGRESS
	02/04/2004 	1000.00 	24991068606

LUM, DAVID
ASTORIA, OR 97103
LUM'S AUTO CENTER INC

   DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
	12/31/1997 	500.00 	98032641708
	01/11/2000 	250.00 	20035294879

LUM, DAVID
ASTORIA, OR 97103
LUM'S AUTO CENTER/OWNER

   WU, DAVID
    VIA DAVE WU FOR US CONGRESS
	08/21/2006 	500.00 	26950584754
	07/17/2007 	500.00 	27990795190
	05/15/2008 	1000.00 	28991451140

LUM, DAVID MR.
ASTORIA, OR 97103
LUM'S AUTO CENTER INC/GENERAL MAN

   DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
	04/03/2007 	1000.00 	27990072134
	09/30/2008 	2500.00 	28992646902

LUM, DAVID MR.
ASTORIA, OR 97103
LUM'S AUTO CENTER INC/PRESIDENT

   DEALERS ELECTION ACTION COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE DEALERS ASSOCIATION
	12/17/2004 	1000.00 	25980211383
	01/06/2006 	1000.00 	26980113287

Total Contributions:    9250.00

***********************************************

TYLER, TIM
NILES, MI 49120
TYLER AUTOMOTIVE

   LUGAR, RICHARD G (Republican, Indiana)
    VIA FRIENDS OF DICK LUGAR INC
	08/12/2004 	250.00 	24020743403

[Lexinom]

I'm afraid we're going to have to cease this long, fruitless waiting game of waiting on the MSM. We're going to have to do what we did during the campaign, and make a little noise of our own.

Most newspapers will print your letter-to-the-editor.

So far, you can see the numbers that smith and I have put together. Admittedly it's a small smattering.

If everyone could pick three NON-CLOSING dealers at random, and post the info here, that means very little work for any one person. Thing is, most people would rather complain than do even a small amount of grunt work. I for one am tired of just complaining.

I'm sorry, I'm a little frustrated.

[smith5460]

Information on Las Vegas dealerships:

4 dealerships are closing in Las Vegas. They are FT Automotive II and IV, Integrity Chrysler-Plymouth, and Jim Marsh Chrysler-Jeep.
3 dealerships will remain open: Towbin Dodge, Chapman Dodge, and Chapman Chrysler-Dodge.

Of the 4 dealerships that are closing, Jim Marsh was the only one that give money to any political causes. Marsh gave $2,600 to the Nevada GOP Central Committee, $1000 to President Bush, and about $3750 to various republican candidates.

Of the 3 dealerships that will remain open, the owners of Towbin Dodge gave $15,900 to Rep. Shelley Berkley (D), $8,000 to President Bush, $7,000 to NADA, $500 to Rep. Tom Landos (D), $500 to Sen. Ensign, and $1,000 to Jon Porter (R). The owners of the Chapman dealerships gave $2,200 to Sen. McCain, $2,000 to Stan Barnes (R), and $500 to Sen. Kyl (R).

[Lexinom]

I think we may be on to something.

From 8 non-closing dealerships, we have (if I added this up correctly):

D
27,900

R
18,700

Things that make you go "hmmmmm...."

[Lexinom]

Smith has already done five pages of the closing dealerships, and showed the numbers earlier ($120,000 GOP; $34,350 Democrat, dozens of dealers, fantastic work, Smith! vs. $18,000+ GOP; $27,000+ Dem for non-closing dealers).

We really need to get more non-closing dealerships, for bigger statistical comparison pool. Too early to detect a trend, but what is there so far does not surprise me.

So we don't duplicate, these are non-closing dealerships' locations we've checked:

St. Louis, MO
Astoria, OR
Las Vegas, NV
Little Rock, AR

If you folks could just get three or four non-closing dealers - just type a random zipcode in Chrysler's dealer locator, note the location, and try to track down the owner(s). If anyone has a better suggestion for the latter, I'm all ears!

If everyone could just take a couple dealers, then the task would not seem so overwhelming for any one of us.

[smith5460]

I have Pages 9-10 complete from Courtesy Dodge to Dodge City Motors. The data is up on the blog listed on Post #14.
The latest information shows a massive advantage for the GOP over the Democrats.

http://chryslerdealershipshutdown.blogspot.com/