Positive Post of the Day: ChryCo Gives Lobby Cash to Charity
Sometimes companies do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes expediency rules the day. Not infrequently, legal compulsion provides the motivation. Whatevs. The Detroit News reports that New Chrysler has donated Old Chrysler’s Political Action Committee (PAC) lobbying fund to the United Way. The semi-nationalized automaker will write checks to local chapters totaling $525,000. This also means that New ChryCo will not use union/taxpayer money to support/reward the election/re-election campaigns of politicians friendly to the unions/federal bailouts. Chrysler gets props for avoiding an obvious conflict of interest. Or it that confluence The ball’s now in their fully nationalized cross-town rival’s court. “GM transferred its PAC from the bankrupt Motors Liquidation Co. — the GM entity that remains in bankruptcy — to the new GM. The fund had $418,000 in cash through May 31. GM has said political contributions will not resume until next year at the earliest.” I’ve got an idea: how about never?
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Personally I think that the only ones who should be allowed to make political contributions are individuals spending their personal funds. No companies, no unions, no foreign nations ... just actual flesh and blood human beings. The legal tradition of treating corporations as "persons" for certain purposes was wrong headed from the beginning.
Wow, this post and the one about GM replacing Opal with Chevy really have me thinking that the General might actually be more screwed than Chrysler. Is that a possibility? My opinion may also be influenced by that fact that there is a seemingly thriving Chrysler dealership in my area while the Chevy lots have dried up and blown away.
+1 Chrysler for taking the high road, even if it is legally unnecessary.