Kay getting hammered for meddling in bailouts...

Earlier today I blogged about some of the bad press Kay has been getting due to her micromanagement style on the auto bailouts (link). Now she is becoming an example of a member of Congress who is meddling in the day to day business of car giants, even as Obama says he wants no part in running car companies (link). Excerpt follows...

Analysis: Hill may run red light on car meddling

By TOM RAUM – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama calls his administration a reluctant shareholder in the nation's troubled banks, insurance companies and car makers, promising "to get out quickly" once market conditions allow. But there are 535 other important Washington stakeholders: Congress.

Many lawmakers have their own, more activist view about the government's ownership role, seeming at times like a Congress of CEOs.

They have made it clear they want to be active partners in rescue oversight regardless of Obama's vow to mostly let managers manage. Some are even seeking to weigh in on specific GM and Chrysler plant-closing decisions and appealing for more leniency in shutting down dealerships.

[SNIP]

_ Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, last month threatened to hold up a war-spending bill because of the dealer closings.

At a recent hearing, she told GM and Chrysler chiefs: "It's not our place to change your decision. It is not. But it certainly is our place, especially where there is so much taxpayer money involved, for us to make sure that everyone is treated as well as can be in this circumstance."

I understand the angle of taxpayer money being involved therefore there needs to be a lot of oversight. However, she voted in favor of an auto company bailout, on top of her vote for the TARP bailout. She was part of the problem in the first place, so she can't go back and say, "well, the liberals decided to go down this route, so I am just trying to clean up their mess."

No... she helped to create the mess to begin with. I posted the link to the vote in my last blog on this subject from this morning. It is a tangled web when we start bailing out companies, but maybe if there had not been bailouts to begin with there would not be the need to micromanage the companies after they are bailed out.

One thing I find odd about all of this is how much bad press Kay is getting outside of Texas on this issue, without even a peep inside Texas. Props to her communications shop for keeping this news out of the Texas msm consciousness. Good work guys.