playing politics with govt-owned GM

From Sharon Terlep and Neal Boudette in the WSJ...

General Motors Co. is reinstating at least 660 of the more than 2,000 showrooms it had planned to drop, a partial reversal of a consolidation plan that caused pain and fear in cities and towns across the country when first disclosed last year.

Lawmakers had pressured GM on behalf of local businesses, forcing it to first offer arbitration to dismissed dealers. The auto maker agreed to reinstate dealers after acknowledging the process it used to weed out showrooms didn't properly consider such factors as location and customer loyalty—as the dealers had insisted. The company last year was bailed out by the U.S. government, which now owns 60%....