General Motors as Government Motors as Democratic Motors
Friday, August 6th, 2010When General Motors went through bankruptcy last year, it suspended its political donations. Now that it’s owned by the U.S. government, it’s donating to lawmakers’ pet projects again.
The carmaker gave $ 41,000 to groups associated with lawmakers, the vast majority of it—$ 36,000—to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the company reported on a disclosure form last week….
The U.S. government now has a 60 percent stake in the reformed company.
Not a political analyst, I do not claim to grasp political strategy, but is this political judo on GM’s part? After all, what benefit could the Democratic party derive from so small a Mafia-like “protection” receipt to compensate for the bad press the receipt generates? (Apparently the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is some slush fund controlled by members of the Caucus, which makes this affair even odder, in which the Caucus gets its name stuck to a corrupt-looking payment without actually putting its corrupt hands directly on the money.)
Maybe Congressional Black Caucusers (Caucasians?) like Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters don’t think that they’re getting enough attention right now. Maybe the Congressional Black Caucus wants to be sure that you and I don’t forget things like the ACORN affair. Maybe the Congressional Black Caucus is just stupid. As for GM, one looks forward to the day when it is a nongovernment-owned company again.
[The Drudge Report is acknowledged for bringing this to attention.]