Dealergate Update:Corrupt Dem-Donating Auto Group Keeps Dealerships..Dem Dealers..From 40 to 42

Gateway Pundit ^ | 5-29-09

[STARWISE]

Map (by a great FReeper who volunteered to translate the info into specialized mapping) is below...

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Doug Ross reported today that if you were a Democratic-donating Chrysler dealership group the odds of you losing a dealership was close to zero.

In all of the 789 dealerships to be closed, World Net Daily found that owners contributed $450,000 to GOP presidential candidates; $7,970 to Sen. Hillary Clinton; $2,200 to John Edwards and $450 to Barack Obama.

Doug pointed out that four Democrat dealer groups that were insulated from the Chrysler closings. This even included corrupt democratic-donating dealerships.

Dealmaker Auto Group was fined this year by the New York State Attorney General for fraudulent practices including not paying off loans on vehicles traded-in by customers.

But, they were allowed to keep all of their Chrysler dealerships open.

The owners of DealMaker Auto Group are big Democratic donors.

Just two months ago Dealmaker was fined by the NY Attorney General.

9WSYR reported on this corrupt auto group:

Albany, New York (WSYR-TV) - The New York State Attorney General says DealMaker Auto Group must pay $44,000 in penalties and costs for fraudulent practices including not paying off loans on vehicles traded-in by customers. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s Office made the announcement Monday afternoon.

In addition to the $44,000 that the company must pay to the state, DealMaker must also produce an independent examiner who will oversee the company’s compliance with the court order. This examiner must also be approved by the Attorney Generals Office.

“This company has repeatedly ripped off consumers through its fraudulent business practices,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “This order puts the brakes on illegal practices and sends a message to all businesses that they will be held accountable to their customers.”

The Attorney General’s Office reached an agreement with DealMaker about a year ago to pay off more than $2 million in loans on about 150 trade-in vehicles. Since then, the Attorney General’s Office says DealMaker continued to repeat the same deceptive practices.

DealMaker has locations in Watertown, Syracuse, Theresa, Ogdensburg, and Potsdam.

But, for some strange reason this corrupt dealer group was spared by the Obama Auto Task Force.

Again here is what we know so far--

** Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors.

** Later it was discovered that a Big Dem Donor Group was allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... And, their local competitors were eliminated.

** The Auto Task Force, which includes Obama cabinet members, is reportedly calling the shots on which dealerships will close and stay open.

** Steven Rattner leads The Auto Task Force and is married to the former National Finance Chair of Democratic Party, Maureen White.

** The closings in several instances appear to benefit Dem donating dealers where local GOP-linked dealerships were closed.

** Even Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla) lost his Chrysler dealership in Florida and found out from a colleague on the House floor.

** Lithia Motor Group's owners gave $15,000 to two Democrat candidates and support nationalized healthcare. They will likely lose just two of 29 dealerships and gain 5 more.

** One report claims the odds that these Chrysler closings occurred without partisan bias are less than 1%.

** After closing the 789 dealerships Chrysler announced that they are already looking to open new franchises.

** Chrysler dealership owners donated to Republicans over Democrats by a ratio of 76% to 24%.

** Using the list of all 789 dealerships to be closed, WND found that owners contributed $450,000 to GOP presidential candidates; $7,970 to Sen. Hillary Clinton; $2,200 to John Edwards and $450 to Barack Obama.

Previously:

Hope, Change & Marxism: Did Obama Target GOP Donors In Chrysler Dealer Closings? (Video)

Shock! Big Dem Donor Group Allowed to Keep Their 6 Chrysler Dealerships Open

More On Chrysler Closings-- Did Team Obama Target Red Counties?

Even GOP Congressman Loses Chrysler Dealership

Dealergate: Mapping the Chrysler Closures

Unreal. After Weeding Out Dealers Chrysler Looking To Open New Dealerships

Car Czar Behind Chrysler Closings Married to Former Dem Party Leader

Dealergate Number Crunching: Looking at US Dealership Political Donations

Gibbs Denies Politics In Chrysler Dealership Closings

UPDATE: 40 Democrat-friendly Dealerships Become 42 After The Dust Settles; Their Competition Gutted As Well Doug Ross again:

These four Democrat dealer groups own 40 Chrysler dealerships. One of those owners is already in all sorts of legal and financial hot water with suppliers and customers. He's not exactly a candidate most screening processes would keep.

Yet they will likely end up with 42 dealerships after the shuffling (maybe more). And their competition is gutted in every single market! Strange!

[keats5]

I don’t know but I sent it to DRUDGE.

[mojitojoe]

Great job! Thank you Gwynne. Do we know if the ones that remained open donated to the DNC?

[mojitojoe]

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11464

[SeaHawkFan]

Time for a Civil RICO action. Mail fraud is easy to prove if the facts are as alleged in the article.

[Taxman]

We were fond of accusing the Clintoons of setting up and running a criminal enterprise.

They cannot hold a candle to the Obama administration — he has been in office less than 6 months and has already shown his criminal instincts in ways the Clintoons could have only dreamed.

These people make the Mafia look like pikers!

[exit82]

Starwise, in the Wilmington,DE News Journal on page A18, Thursday, May 28, 2009 appeared an ad on behalf of the Chrysler National Dealer Council.

The ad is a full page and reads like a BS account of why the elimination of dealers was necessary, good for Chrysler, so sorry it had to happen to some of our friends, blah, blah.

I believe this ad was part of a nationwide ad buy in many papers because it is written to a antional audience.

My BS meter pinged immediately.

The following people/dealers were listed at the bottom of the ad, supposedly supporting it. We should study the list to see the if they were retained and what party they donated to:

Mickey Anderson
Baxter Chrysler Jeep Dodge
Omaha, NE

Jim Arrigo
Arrigo Dodge Chrysler Jeep
West Palm Beach, FL

Sid DeBoer
Lithia Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Inc.(Bingo—a Lithia member)
Medford, OR

Chuck Eddy
Bob & Chuck Eddy C-D-J
Austintown, OH

Hayden Elder
Elder Chrysler Dodge Jeep
Athens, TX

Charlie Foulke
Cherry Hill Dodge
Cherry Hill, NJ

Bill Golling
Golling Chrysler Jeep, Inc.
Bloomfield Hills, MI

Carlos Hidalgo
Folsom Lake Dodge
Folsom, CA

Mike Lowry
Allen Samuels Dodge
North Richland Hills, TX

Bill McSkimming
River Front Chrysler Jeep
North Aurora, IL

Jon Myers
Naples Dodge and Chrysler
Naples, FL

Eric Nielsen
Franklin Sussex Auto Mall
Sussex, NJ

Andy Palmen
Palmen Motors, Inc.
Kenosha, WI

Gary Panteck
Brunswick Auto Mart, Inc.
Brunswick, OH

John Schenden
Pro Chrysler Jeep
Thornton, CO

Bill Shepherd
Greenbrier Chrysler Jeep
Chesapeake, VA

Joel Sporn
Westbury C-J
Westbury, NY

The ad also announced a website called “ChryslerDealerSupport.com”

These folks sound like they all made the cut. We should see who they donated to, or who in their employ donated to.

[smith5460]

Here’s what I found on the dealers on the list:

1. Mickey Anderson is a GOP donor.
2. Carlos Hidalgo and McSkimming gave no money to candidates, but their local Dodge competitors will be closed down. They will each be the only chrysler dealers in their areas.
3. John Myers gave no money to candidates, but their local Jeep competitor will close. Myers will be the only local Chrysler dealer in the area.

Since 2007, the following dealers gave money to candidates:

1. Jim Arrigo gave $3,300 to Ron Klein (D)
2. Chuck Eddy gave $500 to John Boccieri (D)
3. Charles Foulke gave $6,900 to Robert Andrews (D) and $6,300 to various Democrats from 1994-2000
4. Andrew Palmer gave $750 to Russ Feingold (D) and $500 to Paul Ryan (R)
5. John Schenden gave $900 to Joan Fitz-Gerald (D)

[exit82]

Thanks, and many thanks for the great work you have been doing in getting this information to light.

Obviously, this doesn’t fit with the “90% of dealers are Republicans anyways” gambit.

And if these guys make up the Chrysler National Council, it is odd that so many of them made “the cut”.

[InterceptPoint]

Any other suggestions on how we can massage the data and do you know any good sources of data that might use to query against?

I wish. You guys seem to be the masters here. You are doing everything right.

Correlating OPEN/CLOSED dealerships against campaign donations and congressional districts are the only obvious choices and I would think those two data sets would tell the tale. What we are looking for here is favoritism by the Obama Administration in their treatment of Chrysler dealerships. It's very hard to establish who are friends or foes of Obama by anything but RED/BLUE congressional districts or RED/BLUE campaign donation. And that is the data you are working with.

One interesting filter that you might try at the end, once you have the congressional districts (RED/BLUE) and campaign donations (RED/BLUE), is to see how RED and BLUE congressional districts did on a RED/BLUE donations basis. That is, was a BLUE dealer more likely to get kicked out if he was in a RED district or a BLUE district and vice versa. That would be a simple filter of the data you are collecting.

If there is any way to collect profitability data on the complete set of dealerships that would be interesting as well. It would answer the question of whether the Obama Administration was willing to close highly successful dealerships to favor those that were unprofitable (and presumably BLUE.) So I'm hoping you have access to that data as well. I'm personally clueless as to where it could be found.

So I think you are doing it exactly right. Like others I'm just anxious to see the final result. I predicted another two weeks. Hopefully it will go faster than that but it is a hard job.

[rodguy911]

Larry Kudlow just covered this on his sat. show on wabc. He explained that dealerships that had donated heavily to the RNC were targeted for destruction.

Problem is these guys will not go away forever. And, they will become even more ardent pubbie supporters creating even more problems for the rats.

The harder the dem/rats try, the more they self-destructive--it's always been that way and always will be. Corrupt parties never survive.

[CRBDeuce]

The democrats aren’t behaving as if they will face GOP challenges again because they don’t intend to.

Yep, yer not saying it enough! but now I'm gonna borrow it and say it too! a lot!