The new chairman of the international dealers group on Monday launched a sharp critique of federal auto policy -- including a swipe at former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- while also calling for passage of the U.S.-Korea trade agreement. Jim Smail, a Pittsburgh-area dealer who started today as chairman of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, said “our government runs hot and cold” on automotive policies and practices.
He faulted the Obama administration’s cuts of General Motors and Chrysler dealerships, its “sweeping” new fuel-efficiency standards, and its unsuccessful effort to subject dealers to oversight by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Smail, 64, also blasted congressional leaders who called on Toyota executives to testify about the company’s safety problems in “the modern-day equivalent of a witch burning.”
“There’s no telling what they have in store for us in 2011,” Smail said in a luncheon speech at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here. Smail today succeeded New Jersey dealer Rick DeSilva in a one-year term as chairman of the Washington-based group, which represents 10,000 international nameplate franchises. Its president is Cody Lusk.
Pelosi singled out
In his prepared speech, Smail said he sleeps well at night for two reasons, one of which “is that Nancy Pelosi is no longer the speaker of the House.” His remark drew an ovation from many of the 500 people at the luncheon.
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http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110208/RETAIL06/110209758/1379#ixzz1DO1UKcOpThe industry sends a political hack to deal with the very people who can put him out of business.....fool
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