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Petition to Overturn Dealership Franchise Laws

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This would have zero chance of passing but still worth voting on. My guess is that the only chance would be for Tesla to take this to the Supreme court and fight this under the interstate commerce clause.
 
A national petition will still influence individual state courts. It's not going to hurt - and is one way to raise awareness of this issue. The more voters aware, the less likely the dealerships will prevail. The laws were meant to protect them from the manufacturer who builds the cars they sell -- never meant to stifle competition in the market. And don't forget, judges are part of the general population. They wouldn't be human if they weren't influenced by the unfairness of this situation.
 
Dealers have disproportionate influence on the political process because they contribute aggressively to political campaigns. Fortunately we can see exactly where the money flows: the Federal Election Commission has good search capabilities for donations. The Boston-area car mogul Herb Chambers contributed, either personally or corporately, $63,000 to candidates or PACs in 2012.

One humorous find: it appears Mr. Chambers regularly pays $5000 in dues to the "Automotive Free International Trade PAC" which claims as top issues:
  • Promoting free trade
  • Fighting protectionism
  • Level playing field
presumably until restraints on trade or protectionism serve the dealers' self-interest.

Mr. Chambers also writes big checks (formerly $5000, now down to $2500 presumably as a result of election contribution law changes) to the Dealers Election Action Committee of the National Association of Auto Dealers.

So, does winning support from NADA matter? The answer sure isn't "nada." NADA spent $5.3 million in the 2012 election cycle. Of this total, $3.1 million went to federal candidates (of which, $2.2 million went to GOP candidates). That means NADA spend $2.2 million on state elections. Big numbers, both. NADA also contibuted to all but 2 of the GOP representatives on the Transportation Committee, and all of the members of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. There's no comparable lobbying group seeking consumer choice, just as there's no strong lobbying group opposite to the NRA.
 
Dealers have disproportionate influence on the political process because they contribute aggressively to political campaigns.

Thanks for that fine report, Robert. Of course it contains no surprises. Nevertheless, the troubling anecdote still elicited a little laughter. I ran for state representative last year against an incumbent whose campaign was heavily financed by special interest groups. Folks were amazed that I somehow managed to garner 41% of the vote.

At the same time I was taking a 90-hour course to reinstate my expired real estate license. Even though I once owned my own firm, I still have to work for someone else for two years before I can reestablish my own business. The 90-hour course requirement was a recent doubling of the number of hours. I told the instructor that I doubted that the public was demanding more course work and a two-year wait period for a former managing broker to reopen his company. The instructor, a realtor himself, nodded in quiet agreement when I suggested that these requirements were entirely due to a lobby of Illinois realtors seeking to reduce competition who coerced the legislature into passing the related laws. I’m on friendly terms with my opponent who of course is my representative. He is a former lobbyist. When I asked him what could be done about circumventing some of the new laws for entry into the real estate business, he responded that the “industry” could not be fought.

I have a 78-year-old physicist cousin who lives in Virginia near Washington, DC. He is a retired former head of the science division of the defunct Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Supposedly it was disbanded as a cost cutting measure. In reality, the COTA disapproved of too many pork barrel projects desired by congressmen. Yesterday I informed my cousin of the decision by the Virginia DMV to disapprove a dealership license for Tesla. Here is his response.

[FONT=&amp]"There are two Virginias -- Northern Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax and maybe Loudon and Prince William Counties) and the rest of Virginia. We, in the North, would welcome a Tesla operation, with cars, touch screens or ESP. The rest of Virginia still has to get into the 20th Century, and hasn't figured out that we're already in the 21st. We love coal, oil and tobacco."

"The Richmond legislature has imposed all kinds of constraints on us -- local government often needs downstate permission to do something. Now and then Arlington County Board members go off on a tangent, but it's usually harmless, except for annoying our Statewide legislators. Ahh, politics. I'm both sorry you lost and not sorry you lost. There's some real meanness underneath sometimes. [/FONT]"
 
Federal laws regarding interstate commerce trump state laws. The president is the number one lobbyist to Congress. In fact the Constitution requires him to make suggestions to them.

Of course he won't bother with it. That would be doing his job. He would rather get government goodies for his supporters and suppress employment.

in general business donates to office holders. It's a way to ensure access when something comes up. It's self protection.

Even local politicians spend millions. They can wreck a business, sometimes inadvertently.
 
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Let's not derail this thread guys. Please.

Indeed, Bonnie. +1

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Getting back to the point of this thread, after an initial burst of enthusiasm the signature gathering has stalled. Supporters really need to do as Bonnie suggested earlier and make the effort become viral through the modern grapevines of websites, internet forums and various social media.