Like getting ripped off by car dealerships? The NUMBER ONE consumer complaint is against the car financing industry. Responsible representatives are pushing for reform against predatory practices of the used car industry. But not ALL of them care about reform.
Our local Congressional Rep. John Campbell – who has taken over $170,000 in contributions from auto-dealers and has personal financial ties to that industry – pushed an amendment through the House Financial Services Committee exempting used car dealers from consumer financial protections. It gets voted on TODAY. Please view the video. If you are sick of getting sold out by sleazy political deals, like I am, you can take action by tweeting or calling today. Today’s post is an example of BROKEN Democracy at work. It’s time to make them stop selling us out. LINK
John Campbell pretends to be a libertarian and raves on about Ayn Rand, but his libertarianism is only of the kind that helps the rich and hurts the poor. Unlike Loretta, Dana R, and Ed Royce, he SUPPORTED THE 700-BILLION BAILOUT of the financial industry. What would John Galt say?
But at least he thinks old and sick people should be left to fend for themselves. He recently told my friend Allan Beek that he wants to get rid of Medicare. When he was my state senator back in 2006, he wrote me that he would not support healthcare reform because it would “distance health consumers from the consequences of their actions.”
And his libertarianism knows no sacred cows – he is the only OC congresscritter to receive an “F” for veterans’ groups. He opposes all help for our brave veterans, famously contending in 2007 that “Veterans commit fraud.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y4FeDzooaI
This year, a favorite fringe cause was the “birther” movement, wherein various wide-eyed paranoids who can’t get over having a black liberal president insist that Obama must actually have been born in Kenya. This movement was too nutty for even the vast majority of Republican Congresspeople. But not John Campbell. Watch Chris Matthews make a fool of the Congressman from South County:
GO BETH KROM!
John Campbell hid from doing any townhalls on health care insurance reform this past summer, too. THE biggest issue of current times, and he is notably absent from the discussions.
And as far as the birther bill: Campbell was a CO SPONSOR of the Birther legislation attempts.
Thanks for posting that video of Campbell and Chris Matthews. I think it gives a very good glimpse of who John Campbell is and how unprepared he is to even back up his own positions.
Beth Krom is the serious underdog, but I hope she can displace Congressman Campbell. He does not deserve any more chances.
More voices weigh in on the issue: http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/10/26/why-are-car-dealers-so-special/
It’s no secret insurance companies and banks have the ears of politicians. But who knew car dealers, and their lobbyists, were so powerful?
On Oct/ 22, the House Financial Services Committee approved an amendment (the vote was 47 to 21) to keep automobile dealers under federal and state laws governing vehicle financing. The vote also granted dealers exemption from a new government consumer protection agency heavily lobbied for by the White House.
Rep. John Campbell R-California, sponsored the amendment to the Consumers Financial Protection Agency Act that will hold dealers harmless from scrutiny of the proposed CFPA .
The Campbell amendment paves the way for dealers, many of whom sell expensive and often heavily financed products, to side-step HR3126, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency bill that works to ban deceptive practices, ensure safeness and promote transparency.
The National Automobile Dealers Association spearheaded the grassroots campaign. After the act passed with the attached amendment, David Westcott, chairman of NADA’s Government Affairs Committee, and a multi-franchise dealer in North Carolina said “NADA and dealers applaud the overwhelming bipartisan support for the Campbell Amendment. It makes sense to exclude dealers. Dealers had absolutely nothing to do with the credit crisis.”
How do you think this will affect you? Do you think it will impact your next vehicle purchase?