In June 2009 a team of Jones Day lawyers,
including Kevyn Orr, defended Chrysler in federal court against some
100,000 Indiana teacher and police pensioners. They were suing the
bankrupt Detroit company claiming its offer of just 29 cents for their
secured bonds was illegal. The pensioners’ Chrysler investment was part
of their retirement income, yet their lawsuit — filed by Indiana’s
treasurer — received little media attention and no sympathy from
Washington Democrats or the Obama administration. Bankruptcy Judge
Arthur Gonzalez quickly dismissed the suit, saying the public employee
pensions were less important than saving Chrysler and the economy from harm.
While
public employee unions suffered, however, their auto worker cousins in
the Chrysler (and GM bailouts) got preferential treatment, with
President Obama’s auto task force giving the UAW significant ownership
of the two companies and full funding of their pensions.
Fast forward to 2013 and once again a bankrupt Detroit, this time the
municipality, is making headlines as now-Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is
under siege from public employee unions and union-bound politicians
demanding Washington intervention. Barack Obama, however, is nowhere to
be found. He has, to quote the infamous Mitt Romney column that Obama exploited to win reelection in 2012, “let Detroit go bankrupt.”
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