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Tesla Faces Off Against Car Dealers In Another State: Ohio
cartechboy writes "We've seen Tesla run into regulatory issues in Texas. And North Carolina. This time, it's Ohio, where car dealers are playing an entertainingly brazen brand of hardball. The Ohio Dealers Association is backing an anti-Tesla amendment to Ohio Senate Bill 137--which turns out to be an unrelated, uncontroversial proposal about drivers moving left when they see emergency vehicles (The bill is headed for adoption.) The sudden and subtle amendment would ban Tesla from selling its electric cars directly to customers, who place their orders online with the company after learning about the Model S in company-owned stores. A hearing on the amendment was suddenly scheduled for today; Tesla is fighting back by outlining the economic benefits to Ohio--after taking some legislators for a ride in the Model S (a Tesla tactic that has worked before)."
...at least Texas' laws were a consequence of leftover monopoly laws preventing squeezing out car dealers.
This is just plain old greed by bought-and-paid-for politicians working for their car-dealer sponsors.
What a shame it is that our country operates in this manner.
Regardless of which or both parties are to blame it's the publics complacency in allowing our elected leaders to behave this way.
This is supposed to be a capitalist democracy. There is supposedly a free market.
Wave goodbye to innovation when you can no longer bring it to market because it is more lucrative to stifle it.
Why is it that the people who schedule these underhanded surprise hearings go unnamed? People need to know that these guys are working for special interests in back-room deals.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
"Rarely do people of the same occupation gather together, even if only for merriment, that it does not end in some plot to defraud the public." I'm pretty sure that the large majority of people who cite Smith haven't actually _read_ Smith.
While Tesla direct sales are an example of the the type of practice this law intends to ban, it is not because of Tesla that they want this law enacted. It is the dealers protecting themselves from being cut out by their own car companies. For the near future, they could care less about Tesla specifically. Calling it Anti-Tesla is a bit "Tesla-centric", IMO. But it makes headlines, I guess.
Often it's also "What side will keep me in office?" in which case calling helps.
The whole "rider" thing in the USA puzzles me to no end.
How isn't this considered fraud? To attach something entirely unrelated to a law as a trick to get it passed? To me that's the definition of fraud and deceit.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org