Sen. McConnell: a dog not barking about the Big Three bailout

Michigan blogger Marcy Wheeler points out that a lot of the ruckus we’ve heard against any effort to bailout the Big Three automakers comes from a predictable group of legislators. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), for instance, is the most prominent anti-bailout spokesperson; one could hardly believe it to be coincidence that Sen. Shelby’s state is also home to the fourth largest amount of investment by foreign automakers, to the tune of $3.5 billion and nearly 9,000 employees.

There are other legislators whose relationship to foreign automakers is more tenuous, as in the case of Sen. John Kyl (R-Arizona). There are no manufacturing facilities building foreign label cars in his state. However, Arizona has not one but two facilities belonging to Nissan and Toyota, dedicated to research and testing; the state also has seen legal scuffling pitting foreign auto sales against American auto sales with regards to that state’s franchise law and what information can be disclosed by automakers on their respective websites.

Both Shelby and Kyl appeared on talk shows this past Sunday to decry any government bailout of the American auto industry.

But one dog not barking has been Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky); this quiet automotive bailout objector was noticeably absent from the Sunday talk shows, although his state has the fifth largest amount invested by foreign automakers at nearly $6 billion and nearly 9,000 employees.

Perhaps the reason McConnell isn’t appearing as widely as his counterparts lies in the fact that his state is home to American automakers’ plants as well — and that in Kentucky, Toyota workers now make more on average than similar unionized workers for the Big Three in his state.

Kind of kills the argument that union workers are paid too much compared to foreign automakers, yes?