posted November 25, 2009
Dear Mr. Frederick A. Henderson, president and chief executive officer,
General Motors Corporation
Re: Dealership Closures - Don Ledford Automotives, Cleveland, TN
As the owner of a GM vehicle and as a bond holder of GM debt, not to mention my sixty percent ownership of the company as an American taxpayer, I am deeply concerned about the decisions that you have made to close certain dealerships - almost 2,000 nationwide. Most troubling is the fact that you have closed or are closing both General Motors’ dealerships in Cleveland, Tennessee - Hall’s Chevrolet and Don Ledford Automotives (Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac and GMC). In a community of 100,000 people, as of the fourth quarter of 2010 there will be no General Motors dealership here to service my vehicle or from which I can purchase a new vehicle.
Since the purchase of a used Chevrolet pickup when I was a teenager, I have owned a General Motors vehicle of some sort for the past 30 years. Your decision to close dealerships, based upon what many would consider faulty data, has made it more difficult for me to continue to own a GM vehicle in the future.
What is most frustrating to me is that we - the American taxpayer - gave General Motors a bailout of more than $50 billion and then you took that money and used it to close our local dealerships that were putting millions of dollars a year back into the local economy and into the local tax coffers. We took good, hard-earned tax dollars and propped up a company that could not compete on its own without government assistance, and you used those funds to close down dealerships across the country that were successful and competing every day in their local community.
As a business person, I realize that tough decisions have to be made for a business to prosper in difficult economic times. Dealerships that are not carrying their weight should be closed, just like automakers that are not carrying their weight should be closed. Free enterprise requires no less. However, when I look at the balance sheet of your business as an automaker, I personally believe that the wrong entity was closed.
While 27 families will lose the source of their income with the closure of Don Ledford Automotives, the labor unions that caused most of your financial difficulties in the first place now sit at the ownership table as your boss. While I know that you will disagree, the automaker’s taxpayer-funded “bailout” was and is a financial disaster for the American people. Under even the best financial analyst’s predictions, your company will never be able to re-pay the “investment” made by the taxpayers in your company.
As a personal investor and as one who runs a pool of investments, there have been certain investments over my career that I would like to take back. I have now added my investment in General Motors to that category.
My plea is that you reconsider the decision to pull the dealership of Don Ledford Automotives in Cleveland, Tennessee. While a reversal of your previous decision to close the dealership will not lessen my feeling about the “bailout,” it will at least make me feel like you are being responsive to your majority owner - the American taxpayer.
My frustration with Congress and the administration’s financial irresponsibility is almost overwhelming. Please try to be a responsible corporate citizen and make a wise decision about Don Ledford Automotives and the other hundreds of viable dealers across the country. Your consideration is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Art Rhodes
Republican Candidate for Congress
Third District, Tennessee
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