Tesla has hired additional lobbyists last week and has corporate presence in the Capitol; they're watching the developments. They have in their pockets our direct contact information and they have the ability to reach us so that we can mobilize owners as required. We'll obviously reach out as we need to.
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"Trouble in Missouri"
- Thread starter Benz
- Start date
Tesla has hired additional lobbyists last week and has corporate presence in the Capitol; they're watching the developments. They have in their pockets our direct contact information and they have the ability to reach us so that we can mobilize owners as required. We'll obviously reach out as we need to.
I don't know about real time, but they do have websites:
House:
Missouri House of Representatives
Senate:
Missouri State Senate
They have daily schedules and activity information. The house seems to be somewhat more transparent then the senate. When I was researching who made the substitutions, I only found out by going through the senate journals manually. The house seems to be more transparent in who makes what amendment/change on their website.
chickensevil
Active Member
Thank you to everyone who sacrificed their time and efforts to support this. We can win this one state at a time 
As I said before (I think here), this really shows how NADA is stepping up and wising up to Tesla. I would say at this point, and new state to come up in this fight will attempt to use the same/similar language which has the potential to completely lock Tesla out.
As a side note:
I was talking to a friend of mine and he was pondering that while all of the money chains and support leads back to NADA right now... does anyone think that there is someone else/some other group that is actively trying to push this? I mean, we have all written off NADA as a culprit, but is there someone else? I and he were just baffled that as of yet, it does not seem to highlight other involvement... but it is not just the dealers who have something to lose here.
As I said before (I think here), this really shows how NADA is stepping up and wising up to Tesla. I would say at this point, and new state to come up in this fight will attempt to use the same/similar language which has the potential to completely lock Tesla out.
As a side note:
I was talking to a friend of mine and he was pondering that while all of the money chains and support leads back to NADA right now... does anyone think that there is someone else/some other group that is actively trying to push this? I mean, we have all written off NADA as a culprit, but is there someone else? I and he were just baffled that as of yet, it does not seem to highlight other involvement... but it is not just the dealers who have something to lose here.
dhrivnak
Active Member
We can also likely make a difference by signing the various links already listed to let Missouri know that we the people are watching and noticing. I am sure out of state comments are weighted less but we should make up for it with quantity.
All signs point to the dealers' lobby - they're the greatest and most powerful because of the local sales tax impact that they have. It's a great conversation to have, though, because it really crosses party boundaries. There are very few consumers who truly support the dealership model, and a good number of them work for a dealership and have been scared by the "all dealers will close" language the lobby is using. So you really can turn this into a "special industry group" argument rather than a consumer argument.
Any other interests are much smaller by comparison (in terms of lobbying power). I saw someone jokingly tweet that the dealer's lobby should require a gun to be distributed with every car, so that the NRA could get behind them too.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
I'm out of state and my comments may be weighted less by politicians - but those same comments have not been weighted less by my sister and her family in Missouri. They are not Tesla owners, but they are outraged. As small business owners, they're making a point to let everyone know what is going on and what politicians are behind it.
The politicians who ignore the out of state comments might want to think twice ... we know people.
rolosrevenge
Dr. EVS
Has anyone thought about protesting dealerships who are financial backers of NADA? Hard to sell a car when nicer cars with protesters are at the gates.
Merrill
Merrill
For me this would not be a positive position for Tesla and would not set well with the general public.
chickensevil
Active Member
I mean, I knew they had clout... but I didn't realize it was that vast. For local economy I would guess them and maybe housing (Real Estate Agents) would be the two largest contributors to the government in the form of taxes. But I guess I just didn't realize the amount of power they really had... Dealers have been so ingrained into our society that until Tesla came along I don't think anyone even thought the world could or would run a different way.
But the government doesn't need a dealer to collect the same taxes on car sales... they can get that regardless (since I still had to fork out 4k here in VA for my car, and I didn't go through no dealer)... so as long as the local government doesn't feel like their income will be threatened, and as long as we can explain properly how this is a better market for the consumer (or should at least be given the chance to sink or swim on it's own), I think we should win this war
Tesla is able to sells cars with less people though. They do have a small point but if government is supposed to not allow progress because a single person could lose their job then they should have kept Amazon and iTunes from running CD and book stores (remember those?) out of business.
dmckinstry
Model X 2019
IMO, not appropriate. Let people buy the products they want to buy, the way they want to buy it. That's the core of the argument.
A better option would be to see if we can get Kehoe to lose the re-election (If his opponent is competitive to win). They might think twice in taking NADA lobby money if it can mean losing their seat.
Taking a quick look:
Mike Kehoe - Ballotpedia
He is in district 6 and his next opponent will be:
Mollie Freebairn - Ballotpedia
Taking a quick look:
Mike Kehoe - Ballotpedia
He is in district 6 and his next opponent will be:
Mollie Freebairn - Ballotpedia
I am protesting...I bought a Tesla and am going to by another one next year!
GoBlue88
Member
Well done guys! Since a bill like this has about a 0.0000001% chance of happening in California, I probably won't ever get to participate in something like this directly. But I'm willing to drive to Phoenix to support such an effort there like the Illinois guys did for Missouri.
RobStark
Well-Known Member
Missouri Senate District 6 is a safe Republican district.
In 2010 Kehoe had three primary challengers and ran unopposed in the General.
He received $15k from Missouri Auto Dealers Assoc in 2010 and spent $80k of his own money to get a job that pays $40k/year.
He owns a Ford and Lincoln Dealership.
No primary challenge this year.
Thanks for the march, will do my best to join the next one if called for. Very proud of the community.
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