Big 3's biggest failure is in the performance of their DC lobbyists - Mark Phelan, DFP auto columnis

[Bozita]

http://www.freep.com/article/20081214/COL14/812140452

Detroit 3's D.C. teams failed them
BY MARK PHELAN • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • DECEMBER 14, 2008


The list of people who acquitted themselves poorly in the congressional hearings for aid to the auto industry is long and distinguished.

There are journalists who reported on the issue but couldn't get basic facts about the automakers right; senators who feigned disinterest while representing states that subsidize SUV and truck plants built by overseas automakers; analysts who seemed to pull cost estimates for the program out of a hat; representatives who obsessed over corporate jets while the economy hung in the balance, and communications teams that didn't foresee the jets would become an issue.

They all stunk up the joint, but nobody -- nobody -- performed worse than Chrysler, Ford and GM's government-relations staffs.

In fact, they get a lifetime underachievement award. The spectacle of the hearings is proof not just that they didn't do their job this year, but that they haven't accomplished much in decades.

The hearings resembled the Spanish Inquisition as questioners dreamed up fresh ways to torment the witnesses. Sell the corporate planes. Give me a plan. Work for $1 a year. Resign in shame.

A lot of the blame must go to the people who represent the automakers in Washington. They should have foreseen what questions would be asked. They should have spent the last few years explaining what the automakers have done to become lean, productive and fuel efficient.

They are paid well to live in one of the world's most charming cities, get to know some of the nation's smartest and most powerful people, and not come across as ogres. Their job is to help lawmakers and their staffs understand what the automakers do and why it matters to the U.S. economy.

Judging by the hearings, they failed on all counts.

How is it possible that GM pays people to represent it before government every day, but nobody on the congressional staff told their bosses that the Chevrolet Malibu gets better fuel economy than the Honda Accord, and walloped the Honda Accord in voting for North American Car of the Year and the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study?

Somebody in D.C. cashes a Ford paycheck every week to talk to government. How is it they never managed to communicate the fact that Ford offers as many hybrid models as Honda and Nissan combined?

Why on Earth did the Detroit Three's representatives allow representatives from around the country to believe Detroit's workers are paid twice as much and work half as hard as those at foreign-owned plants?

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[navarth]

1. If the Free Press keeps this up, it might even become respectable again.

I dropped my subscription to the Free Press FOREVER back when they broke the unions. One of my best friends was a synicated columnist at the Free Press, and they way his union was broken turned me off to them forever.

But it's so interesting and ironic that they're now behaving like a champion of the UAW.

But if they keep up the good work...well, we'll see.

[Bozita]

3. There are rumors that the Detroit dailies will go to printing only 3 editions per week.

I've heard that it's in the WSJ.

Oh yeah, home deliveries will stop too. More folks out of work.

[navarth]

2. oh, and...sorry to go off topic.

please return to the OP's point. Thank you.

[natrat]

4. please...its not the lobbyists failureo

wall st got 8 trillion because it can effectively launder that money and deliver a part of it to cayman islands accounts

with only 15 billion gm and chrysler couldn't pay anyone off
why would anyone be so stupid to think that it's something that obvious