As we approached the Tuesday opening of Toyota hearings regarding instances of sudden acceleration and related recalls, I wondered what kind of history or relationships the congresspeople who formed the committees had with the brand. As it turns out, the Associated Press was wondering the very same thing.
Apparently Colorado Congresswoman Dianna DeGette owns three Toyotas and the automaker also has an office in the district she represents. This makes me tempted to take a good look at the questions she posed to US Sales chief, Jim Lentz. Please, don’t take this as an accusation of a pro-Toyota bias. I’m not sure what specific models she owns, but there’s a good chance that at least one has been affected by one of the three (possibly more, who can keep up anymore?) Toyota recalls. If anything, as a Toyota owner she could identify with people directly impacted by the defects and would probably want to see a thorough and effective investigation take place as much as anyone else (besides the poor folks who actually experienced unintended acceleration or tragically lost loved ones as a result of it).
Even if DeGette wasn’t the most zealous panelist among members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (can someone shorten this title please) I doubt she was as kind to Toyota as the 4 governors who understandably wrote to committee leaders asking that Toyota, who owns factories in their states, be treated fairly. This letter also stated that the federal government has an “obvious conflict of interest” in this matter being that it is a substantial shareholder in both GM and Chrysler.
Read the Associated Press’ articles in full:
