Shafted Delphi Retirees Lose Their Shirt – Again

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Delphi’s salaried retirees lost their shirts after the Delphi bankruptcy and the GM bailout. Now they lost their main voice in congress. Rep. Christopher Lee resigned last week after Gawker showed a picture of a bare-chested congressman.

Lee had sent the picture to a single woman he had contacted via Craigslist. According to Automotive News [sub], Lee had led more than 20 congressmen who “persistently complained to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other officials that 15,000 salaried Delphi retirees may have their pensions cut by as much as 70 percent.”

Gawker also published an email exchange between the congressman and the Craigslist woman. In the mails, Lee said he was a divorced 39-year-old lobbyist. He is a married 46-year-old with a young son.

The Craigslist woman ratted on Lee because she “was just sharing the story.”

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Zackman Zackman on Feb 15, 2011

    Don't you just love it when a TTAC article shows a photo of something that has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter?

    • See 1 previous
    • Zackman Zackman on Feb 15, 2011

      Yeah, that too! Sad, sad, sad.

  • Jerseydevil Jerseydevil on Feb 15, 2011

    love the little bicep pokin out. If he held his breath any harder he would have exploded!

  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Feb 15, 2011

    I didn't know who he was before he quit. And I don't care now.

  • Bryan Kauffman Bryan Kauffman on Feb 15, 2011

    yup shafted delphi workers. same ones that people like Ed told "you don't need a union, unions are evil." Same workers who have getting shafted long before the hourly workers were getting shafted.

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