Killing GM in the Guise of Saving It

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Several articles out this morning make it look like the Bush Administration is planning on "helping" GM by dismantling it softly and breaking the union, all with no apparent focus to making it viable again.

First, there’s this story suggesting that Bush may ask for the same concessions as Corker demanded last week.

Over the weekend, analyst Brian Johnson of Barclays Capital issued a report suggesting that the White House may still demand some significant concessions from the United Auto Workers as a condition of any short-term financial aid.

"Based on comments on the CBS show Face the Nation this Sunday morning by Senators Corker (R-Tenn.) and Levin (D-Mich.), we believe it is highly likely that the White House bailout may impose many of the same conditions Senator Corker insisted upon on Thursday in his attempt to forge a compromise," Johnson said.

That amendment would have required General Motors, Chrysler, the UAW and bondholders to replace half of the companies VEBA contributions with stock, eliminate the jobs banks and buyouts and agree to competitive wages, benefits and work rules by March 31 or be forced into bankruptcy court. Johnson has advocated many of the same provisions in his roadmap for a GM turnaround.

Note, once again, the silence about concessions from dealers?

Yesterday, Carl Levin gave similar warnings that the Bush Administration–which refused to even place compensation limits in TARP that Wall Street bankers couldn’t drive an Escalade through–is going to place real demands on GM and Chrysler.

And meanwhile, just by coinkydink, Bank of America is calculating how much money GM would need to fund bankruptcy proceedings.

GM may need around $30 billion in debtor-in-possession loans, which are used to pay for a company’s operating expenses as it restructures under bankruptcy protection, Bank of America analysts said in a report issued late on Friday.

The $30 billion represents around two times GM’s working capital, with an additional $10 billion cushion for further earnings hits and to fund suppliers, the bank said.

GM had $36 billion in long-term debt as of September 30, according to a regulatory filing.

To support GM, and the industry, the government will need to lend funds to support the company in bankruptcy rather than out of bankruptcy, as that is the only way to ensure the government has the most senior claim on the automaker’s assets, the bank added. Read more →

IL Starts Blagojevich Impeachment Proceedings

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The Madigan family is finally adopting the right approach to removing Governor Blagojevich from office: Michael Madigan has announced the House will begin impeachment proceedings.

Speaker Michael Madigan announced Monday that he’s appointing a special committee to review the case and recommend whether Blagojevich should be impeached.

Madigan says the committee will work every day except holidays.

”We’re going to proceed with all due speed, but we’re going to make sure that what we do is done correctly,” the Chicago Democrat said.

Once the committee makes a recommendation, the full House will decide whether to file impeachment charges against the governor. The Senate ultimately would rule on them.

I say the Madigan family is making the right move, because previously Michael’s daughter Lisa has been calling for the courts to remove Blago. 

Atty. General Lisa Madigan called on the Illinois Supreme Court today to temporarily remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office and appoint Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn as acting governor, "so the business of the state of Illinois can go forward."

I agree with Adam B that Lisa’s move–to use the courts–is inappropriate while her father’s more to start impeachment is appropriate. 

Blagojevich hasn’t been convicted of anything.  Technically, he hasn’t even been indicted yet; it’s just a criminal complaint.  And especially in the courts, Blagojevich should be entitled to a presumption of innocence.  So, yes, we tend to be fans here of Patrick Fitzgerald’s work, but what about a less scrupulous prosecutor in a state with a malleable Supreme Court?  A criminal complaint, by itself, shouldn’t be enough to empower a court to remove someone from office.

There are, thankfully, other remedies.  First of all, as I’ve noted before, under Article V of the Illinois Constitution he can resign voluntarily, or temporarily cede power "whenever the Governor determines that he may be seriously impeded in the exercise of his powers."

Assuming he doesn’t do the right thing, then impeachment and conviction by the Illinois Legislature under Article IV, section 14 is the superior approach.  Legislators are more accountable to the people than are judges — even elected judges — and they are more sensitive to the ramifications of a bad decision here.  Some things are better left to the political branches.

What Fitz has given us with his complaint is a list of things that–at least–passed the standard of the judge to arrest the Governor. Read more →

Is Rahm Still Running for Speaker of the House?

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nuzzling-speaker.thumbnail.jpg

(Alex Wong/Getty Images photo)

Or is Blago delirious about that too?

I’m finally getting around to reading the collected works of Michael Sneed, the woman scribe calls "this scandal’s Judy." Sneed is the columnist whom Blago was using to launder his leaks about the Senate selection process, feeding her false information about his leading candidates, with the intention of pressuring Obama and others to respond accordingly. (Incidentally, TheraP pointed to this diary which claimed Sneed’s more embarrassing columns were getting removed from the Sun-Times archive, but they’re actually still there; it’s just that they go behind the pay firewall after one month.)

Given that we know Blago was using Sneed in that way, I’m particularly interested in her column from November 14 (which also just went behind the firewall).  In it, she has what may well be another regurgitated Blago rant.

IS IT EMIL? Sneed hears Gov. Blago, who will choose Obama’s replacement in the U.S. Senate, privately feels there may be only one choice that makes sense: His buddy, outgoing Senate President Emil Jones. – To wit: Jones is this/close to Blago, who may pay his pal back for being such a staunch ally. Jones would also be a strong ally in the Senate for his political godson — Obama.

– Hmmm: Isn’t it true Gov. Blago, who truly believes a federal indictment is not in his future, is hoping Jones would be a placeholder until 2010 — when Gov. Rod could opt for a Senate seat or another run at the governorship? Is someone smoking posies?

Fitz’s chronology ends on November 13–which would presumably be the day Blago would have leaked this to Sneed for her November 14 column; the complaint doesn’t confirm that the leak came from Blago. Yet the attribution seems to clearly point to Blago, and given the sheer number of leaks she was getting from him, it seems likely that he was her source for this, too. 

With that in mind, check out the news that led that column:

Incoming & outgoing: The rumor mill is going berserk!- To wit: Top Dem wags are whispering Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s new chief of staff, plans to exit the White House in two years in hopes of reclaiming his congressional seat — thereby enabling him to work toward becoming speaker of the House, his dream job.

Read more →

Why Wasn’t the Guy Whose Daddy Wanted to “Cut His Nuts Off” Acceptable to Obama?

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There was a significant detail in the Trib’s Rahm-talking-to-Blago story. The story lists who Obama considered acceptable candidates to replace him in the Senate.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.

Note who is missing from this list?

Obama national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson Jr. 

There are a lot of reasons why Obama may not have favored JJJ replacing him in the Senate–including JJJ’s own statements that broke Obama’s "no drama Obama" campaign rule. 

A contributing factor, though, may be that JJJ’s father was publicly taped threatening to cut Obama’s nuts off.

I raise this not to talk about the President-elect’s nuts, but to point to an underlying (and potentially explicit) tension in Blago’s efforts to sell Obama’s senate seat. JJJ’s fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak may have approached Blago about the seat on October 31. Then, just one day later, Rahm apparently called John Harris and told him that Obama did not want JJJ to replace him in the Senate.

Recall, too, the reference to Obama that JJJ made in his press conference on the Senate seat.

But watching the president-elect carry himself in such an extraordinary way across this country to build bridges that had never been built in this country, even I had become inspired.

And so somewhere along the way, over the last two and a half years, I got the idea that if a skinny kid with a funny name could be president of the United States, that a short kid with a somewhat controversial but certainly a high profile name could be a senator from Illinois.

JJJ delivered that "even I" with pointed emphasis, almost bitterness.

Read more →

Trash Talk – The Axe Starts To Fall Edition

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I’m snakebit. Am driving down the road Saturday afternoon listening to NPR’s Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me when the first crushing blow occurs. The guest is CIA head honcho Michael Hayden, and the interview is actually superb. Seriously. Then I realize the dude has a great sense of humor; another blow to my world. Now comes the clincher; Hayden is from Pittsburgh and is a lifelong diehard Steelers fan. The host asks him what he thinks of Bill Belichick secretly taping other teams (Hayden is non-plussed by this) and then asks "Well, we know the NSA has secret tapes of everything, surely you must have some of the Patriots’ practices and plays, have you ever thought about covertly sending them to the Steelers"? Hayden quips back "Naw, the Steelers don’t need to cheat to whip the Patriots!" Now, between laughing my ass off and trying to grab my phone to obligatorily call Marcy and prick her with this nugget, I nearly run off the freaking road. Then, in all the inordinate joy of relating this wondrous story to EW, I blow by a photo radar setup. Go figure. Still, it all seems worth it.

Okay, enough hilarity; time to get down to business. Three weeks left in the season, it’s go time baby. There are teams that are going to solidify their hold on a playoff position, and there are teams that are going to start falling victim to the axe. Here’s the rundown:

Steelers at Ravens: Yep, the game of the week is the Chief Spook’s Stillers against the Baltimore Not Colts. Both teams are on strong late season rolls, and they have the top two defenses in the league with Pittsburgh number one and the Ravens number two. Rookie Joe Flacco has been excellent and the Ravens are uncharacteristically scoring a lot of points. Even though the Ravens have Ray Lewis, it is really hard to go against Ben Roethlisberger. But I’m going to. Ravens win at home.

Giants at Cowboys: In Dallas, Jerry Jones has finally got the sideshow freak circus he has been angling for all these years. As Condiliar would say, "Who could have imagined?" Yeah, well, they are going to have to take time off from the carnival to play Eli and the Gents, who have a little theater Read more →

BREAKING: Rove To Lead The Good Fight Against Holder

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graphic by twolf

graphic by twolf

Eric Holder is a horrid choice to lead the Obama Department of Justice as both Looseheadprop and I have pointed out numerous ways and times (See: here, here, here, here and here). In spite of this fact, Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy inexplicably thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread and can’t wait to confirm the relentless big business elite power suck up Holder:

I want to continue the work we began last year when I scheduled prompt hearings and the Senate proceeded to confirm Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip and Kevin O’Connor to serve as Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General and Associate Attorney General after the Rove-Gonzales resignations, even though we were on the eve of the election of a new President. We cannot now delay restoring the Justice Department and the confidence the American people have in our justice system. We must promptly consider and confirm Eric H. Holder Jr., and other nominees of the new President.

Yeah, good plan Pat because, you know, those quick confirmations of Mukasey, Filip and O’Connor worked out so blindingly well. Or not. Well, the ever prescient Leahy did see his opposition coming when he said:

But of course since then, Karl Rove has appeared on the Today Show and signaled that Republicans ought to go after Mr. Holder. Right-wing talk radio took up the drum beat.

Guess what Pat; it is more than on talk shows that Karl Rove will be your nemesis.

Yep, on tomorrow’s edition of the syndicated The Chris Matthews Show, on the "Tell Me What I Don’t Know" segment, Andrea Mitchell will announce that "Karl Rove will be running and leading the GOP effort against Senate confirmation of the Eric Holder nomination".

Wow. It sure isn’t every day that I wish Karl Rove the best of luck, but today is that rarest of days. Go get em Karl, because the nation needs a lot cleaner and more inspirational person than Eric Holder to lead the Department of Justice out of the morass the Bush Administration has placed it in.

Delaying the Return of the Rule of Law

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Anonymous Liberal asks why AG Mukasey is refusing to turn over the new "family jewels"–the OLC opinions authorizing torture and warrantless wiretapping. Now, as a lawyer, AL is challenging the legal basis to withhold those opinions. But I’m interested in the tactical reason Mukasey is withholding those opinions.

Delaying the OLC Opinions and Holder’s Nomination

I would suggest we think about the timing–not only of this refusal, but also recent GOP attempts to stall Eric Holder’s confirmation process.

As Pat Leahy laid out in a statement, the Republican response to early discussions of Holder’s nomination were quite supportive.

In my statement to the Senate on November 20, I commended Senators Hatch, Sessions, Coburn, and Grassley for their nonpartisanship when they praised his selection.  Senator Hatch spoke of his support for Mr. Holder, his experience and reputation. Senator Sessions, a former prosecutor, U.S. Attorney, and State Attorney General who is well aware of the problems at the Justice Department, said he was disposed to support him.  Senator Coburn called it “a good choice.”  In addition, Senator Grassley has acknowledged Mr. Holder’s impeccable credentials while reserving judgment.

But in the last week, Specter and the Republicans have been squawking to postpone Holder’s nomination hearings beyond the January 7 and 8 timeframe when Leahy has them scheduled. They promise, they say in mock good faith, that Holder will be considered and probably approved within a week or so of when Obama takes office on January 20. But with their actions, they’re still calling for what amounts to at least a one-week delay in Holder’s swearing in.

So Republicans are now attempting to orchestrate at least a one week delay in the time when Holder becomes Attorney General, to January 27 or thereabouts.

Mukasey’s refusal to turn over the OLC opinions looks like it may cause the same kind of delay. The first report of the delay on OLC opinions–based on a December 3 Mukasey press conference–pointed specifically to the inauguration as the day when they might be turned over.

But the Justice Department’s new leaders may not gain access to the Bush administration’s most sensitive legal opinions until after the January inauguration, Mukasey told reporters in what could be his final news conference.

Read more →

Rahm Spoke to His Bleeping Bleep Twin

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As Gregg posted at the mother-ship, Chicago’s Fox affiliate reported today that Rahm did speak to Blagojevich, a seeming soulmate who likes to say fuck as much as Rahm does. There’s a couple of interesting points about this report.

A source familiar with the investigation confirmed for Fox Chicago News that Rahm Emanuel did in fact have multiple conversations with Governor Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris about the Senate seat. The source says there was a list of names given to the Governor’s office of candidates that would be acceptable to President-elect Barack Obama. The conversations happened after the FBI wiretaps were in place and after Emanuel was named Obama’s Chief of Staff early last month. The timing of the conversations made it likely, the source says, that the phone conversations were recorded and are in the hands of the FBI.

Note that this is the same outlet that reported on Tuesday that,

CONATY: We did receive a tip this morning that perhaps all of this came together so quickly because the Governor may have reached out to Rahm Emanuel, the president-elect’s chief of staff, in attempting to leverage filling the Senate seat. And it may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move as quickly as it did.

The reporter who reported it is different, but the outlet is the same (and Tuesday’s reporter used the first person plural, so the actual recipient of the Rahm tips may be the same). Of course, Rahm called that first report "over-zealous reporting," but since "over-zealous" is different from inaccurate, Fox may have gone back to it.

Now look at the details this source provides. Rough dates for the contacts: after October 22, when the taps were placed, and after November 6, when Rahm was named Chief of Staff, which certainly is in line with the appearance that someone spoke to Obama’s team on November 10 and that Blago was planning to speak with Rahm on November 13. But if the source’s dates are correct, then Rahm spoke to Blago only after Blago started plotting his demands on November 3. In other words, if you needed any more assurances than you already had, Blago (or JJJ’s emissary, on October 31) dreamt up selling the Senate seat, not Rahm.

Read more →

SHUTDOWN!!!

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I’d like to think GM is just trying to get Bush’s attention with its announcement that it’s shutting down much of its North American production at the beginning of next year.

General Motors Corp., which is involved in a last-ditch effort to garner federal funds to help it survive through January, confirmed this morning that it is slashing approximately 250,000 units of production in the first quarter by shutting down most North American assembly plants for about 30% of the first quarter.

After all, Bush is a little bit thick–and some drama might help him to get the message about what a GM bankruptcy means.

Unfortunately, given the list of plants and models they’re shutting down, this looks to be a response to the crashing auto market as much as it is an attempt to make a point.

  • Ft. Wayne, Ind.- Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra Light Duty Regular and Extended Cab
  • Flint Assembly – Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra Heavy Duty Regular and Crew Cab & Medium Duty
  • Wentzville, Mo. – Chevy Express, GMC Savanna
  • Lansing Delta Township- Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook
  • Pontiac Assembly – Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra Heavy Duty Extended Cab
  • Spring Hill, Tenn. – Chevy Traverse
  • Fairfax Assembly, Kansas City, Kan. – Chevrolet Malibu/Hybrid, Saturn Aura/Hybrid
  • Arlington Assembly, Texas- Full Size SUVs: Chevy Suburban, Tahoe & Tahoe Hybrid, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL & Yukon Hybrid, Cadillac Escalade/Escalade ESV & Escalade Hybrid
  • Lansing Grand River – Cadillac STS & CTS
  • Orion Township- Chevy Malibu, Pontiac G6
  • Detroit-Hamtramck- Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS
  • Shreveport, La. – Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Hummer H3 & H3T
  • Bowling Green, Ken. – Chevy Corvette, Cadillac XLR
  • Wilmington, Del. – Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, Opel GT 

MI’s Gov and Lt Gov on Congress’ Failure to Support a Loan

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Jennifer Granholm:

Republican senators have just delivered a fierce slap at three million workers across America. Their no vote is an astounding blow: They have chosen to ignore the livelihood of three million Americans, three million families, and in the process have chosen to drive the American manufacturing industry – and perhaps the American economy – into the ground. They are choosing foreign competitors over American industry and American workers. A nation without a strong manufacturing sector is a nation without a viable defense sector. This is a shameful day, a day we will not forget. I implore President Bush not to let the American economy slide from recession into depression as he leaves office. Direct the Treasury Secretary or the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to use their authority to save the American auto industry, three million American jobs, and our nation’s economy. The moment could not be more urgent. Mr. President, American workers are depending on you. Save these jobs.

John Cherry

We are witnessing Congressional unraveling of the American Dream and the demolition of the very foundation of our national security. A few beltway insiders who are completely out of touch with the struggles of American families decided to settle old political scores at the expense of millions of jobs and our national economic security. While bankers get the keys to the Treasury our manufacturers get a one-way ticket to bankruptcy and American families are left unprotected. 

My emphasis.