Selling Republican Shares Urged by Trucking Group

By Laura Litvan and Jeff Plungis - Oct 22, 2013

The largest U.S. trucking association is vowing to reconsider its support for Republicans after last week’s debt-limit standoff in Washington, escalating a feud between industry groups and the small-government Tea Party movement.

“If I was your political broker, my advice would be that you sell your Republican shares and buy the Democrats,” Bill Graves, the chief executive officer of the American Trucking Associations, said at the group’s annual convention in Orlando, Florida.

Business, he said, must weigh its relationship with Republicans who threaten to “burn the house down” and who take positions that are “foolish, ill-advised, reckless and detrimental” to the U.S. economy.

His remarks underscore growing frustration over the difficulty in passing what once were bipartisan bills on such government basics as maintaining the interstate highway system. They echo similar impatience expressed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation, and other business leaders after House Republicans on Oct. 16 yielded in a showdown with President Barack Obama over funding the new health-care law that produced a 16-day partial government shutdown.

The rift between the business community and the Republican Party could carry political consequences as some industry leaders consider challenging candidates in primaries and others look to shift donations.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-22/selling-republican-shares-urged-by-trucking-group.html