Few turn up at Detroit auto show for Tea Party protest of government’s auto industry bailout

Few show up for protest at Detroit auto show

DETROIT — Charlie Gennara thought there would be a sizable showing for a planned “tea party” protest outside the annual international auto show in Detroit on Monday.

For the first 45 minutes, though, it was just him and one other person voicing their displeasure with the billions in aid spent by the government on General Motors, Chrysler and auto lender GMAC Financial Services.

“I didn’t expect this,” said Gennara, a 58-year-old retired carpenter from Northville, Mich. “Most of the tea parties I’ve been to I’ve seen 300 or a couple hundred at least.”

So-called “tea parties” have become popular forums for conservatives to vent over government tax policies, the economic stimulus packages, bank bailouts and the health care overhaul. But a call to protest the auto show by a Virginia-based group, the National Taxpayers Union, was opposed by some Michigan conservatives, who said their economically battered state needs the jobs.

Joan Fabiano, who organizes tea parties as part of a group called Grassroots in Michigan, e-mailed supporters asking them not to show up Monday, saying such action could hurt business in the state.

“I’d like to think I had something to do with that,” Fabiano said of the low turnout Monday.

Fabiano, of Holt, Mich., worked at GM for 30 years and believes protesting at the auto show sends the wrong message.

“I think it was ill-conceived,” she said. “It only hurts fellow Michiganders and Michigan commerce. Businesses are already hurting.”

Andrew Moylan, director of government affairs for the National Taxpayers Union and an organizer of Monday’s demonstration, said a few dozen people came out at the height of the protest.

He said Fabiano’s efforts coupled with inclement weather in Detroit probably kept some people away.

“This is a sensitive issue,” Moylan said. “This is a sore spot for a lot of people. This is really close to home for a lot of folks.

“The way I look at it, we were out there protesting for General Motors and Detroit” not against it,” he said.

The U.S. government owns about 61 percent of General Motors and nearly 10 percent of Chrysler. GM has said it will repay nearly $7 billion in loans by June. The two automakers were forced into bankruptcy, and many automakers and suppliers faced painful job losses and a sharp decline in auto sales.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, a Republican running for governor, attended the auto show Monday but said he couldn’t make it to the protest outside because he had a prior commitment. He said he agrees with tea party groups that “our government is getting too big,” but he also called the auto show “a great thing.”

Instead, he criticized Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for attending the show.

“What’s offensive is Nancy Pelosi coming here on a taxpayer-funded private plane to inspect the auto show,” said Bouchard, who said he was unaware that Grassroots in Michigan was advising local activists to stay away.

Pelosi and more than a dozen other lawmakers attended the Detroit show to lend support to the auto industry. She and top Obama administration officials on Monday defended the federal bailout of automakers, pointing to new vehicles at the show as a sign of the industry’s rebirth.

Jeffrey Allan McQueen, who demonstrated alongside Gennara, said he believed the weather was a factor in limiting the number of protesters.

It was a windy, snowy morning with temperatures in the 20s at Cobo Center, the site of the North American International Auto Show. McQueen said it took him a long time to get downtown from suburban Rochester.

McQueen said he respected Fabiano’s position, but still felt it was important to call attention to the issue of government intervention in the auto industry.

“I respect Joan and I think she’s really done a lot of good work for the tea party movement and that’s what makes the tea party movement so beautiful, because we’re not an organized group,” McQueen said.

“Many of us have many different beliefs,” he said.

On the Net:

National Taxpayers Union: www.ntu.org

Grassroots in Michigan: mitcot.ning.com