Call for GM's Wagoner to Resign

One of the chief architects of a plan to bail out the Detroit auto companies said today that General Motors Chairman G. Richard Wagoner should be forced to give up his post as a condition of receiving emergency loans from the federal government.

"I think you have got to consider new leadership. If you're going to really restructure this, you have got to bring in a new team to do this, in my view," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Asked specifically about Wagoner, Dodd said: "I think he has to move on."

Dodd's comments came as aides from his committee continued to meet with staffers from the House Financial Services Committee in an attempt to work out a proposal to speed at least $15 billion to the teetering car companies. Democrats hope to send a counterproposal later today to the White House.

The Bush administration is calling for a car czar within the Commerce Department who would be empowered to force the automakers to restructure or force them into bankruptcy. Democrats want to give the companies the money first, permitting them to survive through the end of March, and name an administrator later, "during the next 60 to 90 days," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said on Fox News Sunday.

A GM spokesman defended Wagoner's leadership.

"Certainly we appreciate Senator Dodd's support for the U.S. auto industry, but employees, dealers, suppliers and the GM board of directors feels strongly that Rick Wagoner is the right guy and best guy to lead us through these tough times," said GM spokesman Steven Harris.

Congressional leaders hope to bring the plan up for a vote next week, when lawmakers return to Washington for a special session. Dodd said he is optimistic that the proposal would win congressional approval. "None of us want to wake up on January 1 and discover we don't have an industry to save," he said.

But others were less sanguine. Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said he may seek to filibuster the proposal he calls "a bridge loan to nowhere," a move that would effectively kill it. Asked whether Democrats have the votes to approve an auto bailout, Levin called it a "complicated question."

"What I'm confident of is that the bill will be introduced," Levin said, "because there's a consensus that there must be conditions attached. This is not something which divides people who support the loan program."

In addition, Levin said supporters of a bridge loan agree "that there will be an administrator . . . who will make sure that the the promises that are made in these plans are kept, that the conditions of the money are met, that there will be real oversight going on, that there will be a leaner and a greener industry that comes out of this."