MB Civic

By Derrick Z. Jackson  |  May 27, 2006  |  The Boston GlobeGENERAL MOTORS just announced that if you live in California and buy a Hummer H2 or H3 or another beast such as a Tahoe , Suburban, or Yukon , it will give you a card that lets you cap your gasoline at $1.99 a gallon until the end of 2007.

“This program leverages some of our greatest strengths, including great new GM vehicles, often with some of the best fuel economy ratings in their class,” said the company in a press release.

GM is leveraging lunacy. As scientists and environmentalists urge us to reduce our addiction to oil by pushing national fuel economy toward 40 miles per gallon, GM continues to look for new ways to foist upon us vehicles stuck in the teens in combined highway and street driving.

In its press release, GM reminds us that it has been “the global sales leader for 75 years.” It forgot to add the fine print that it is slashing jobs and healthcare by the hour and is about to be passed in worldwide sales by Toyota.

This $1.99 offer comes a month after Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee announced the “bold” proposal to give us a $100 rebate for gasoline. That, and gouging the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Frist said this would “ease the pain” of Americans at the pump. He ended up with a pained expression. The rebate was so thoroughly destroyed by national ridicule that fellow Republicans all but became Democrats for a moment. “I was never in favor of that,” said John Thune of South Dakota. “This was bad politics and bad policy,” said John E. Sununu of New Hampshire. “I don’t know quite what, how that came about or what the merits were of it,” said Trent Lott of Mississippi. “I think it hurt all of us,” said John Cornyn of Texas. “It appeared to be a nonserious response to a serious problem.”

Just as bad, Frist was only trying to do the least he could with a Democratic proposal. Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan had floated her own $500 rebate, saying, “My bill will put money back in the pockets of Michigan taxpayers.”

We know where the money is and where it is going. Americans burn up cash in inefficient vehicles. Petroleum companies rake in record profits. The auto industry buys off Congress to kill increases in fuel economy rather than retool.

Of the above politicians, Stabenow is the top-ranking Democrat on Capitol Hill in receiving campaign money from the automotive industry. Thune, Sununu, and Cornyn were all in the top 20 in the 2002 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Frist made his positions quite clear in a 2004 speech before the National Auto Dealers Association. At that speech, he decried any increase in fuel economy standards, saying, “No way; it’s simply not going to happen on my watch.”

There is certainly no sign of it happening on his watch with the National Auto Dealers Association doling out $2.67 million in political contributions in 2000, $2.76 million in 2002, $2.74 million in 2004, and $1.14 million so far in the 2006 election cycle. The percentage of money going to Republicans fluctuates between 66 percent and 72 percent. There is no sign of it with General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler all giving millions more, and again roughly two-thirds to Republicans.

It is also not clear where any true opposition is going to come from. For instance, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, a heavily rumored Democratic candidate for president in 2008, this week gave a speech at the National Press Club on energy policy where she said, “Our economy and our environment cannot afford the status quo.” But she currently is in the top 20 Senate recipients of cash from the auto industry. Seven of the top 20 are Democrats, led by Stabenow.

Clinton says we cannot afford the status quo. But when asked at the press club what miles per gallon figure we should shoot for, she said, “I’m not going to predict exactly what we should do.” With answers like that the future is entirely predictable. The status quo.