GM Under Fire for 'Misleading' Bailout Ad

April 30, 2010 — -- Angry congressional Republicans escalated their attack on General Motors' claim to have repaid U.S. taxpayers for the car maker's bailout, calling it a "lie to the American people."

At issue is whether GM is correct in trumpeting what it says in a national ad and an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that it has repaid -- with interest and ahead of schedule -- the $4.7 billion in bailout funds that it owed to the government.

The money for the loan repayment came from other bailout funds housed in an escrow account belonging to GM. To critics, that smacks of deception.

GM has built "a slick marketing campaign" that constitutes "a lie to the American people," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote in a letter Thursday to GM CEO Ed Whitacre.

The letter notes a recent commercial in which Whitacre boasts that it has repaid its "government loan in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule."

It's part of an "attempt to disguise what is merely the exchange of one pool of taxpayer money for another pool of taxpayer money as 'real progress,'" the letter said.

Issa and Jordan also faulted the U.S. Treasury Department, which heralded GM's repayment last week.

"We are concerned that GM, under your leadership, has come dangerously close to committing fraud, and that you might have colluded with the United States Treasury to deceive the American public," their letter said.

The government's remaining stake in GM consists of $2.1 billion in preferred stock and a 60.8 percent stake in the automaker, according to the Treasury Department.

Under questioning from Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who called the ad "very misleading," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner conceded at a Senate hearing on Thursday that some in his department are also concerned about the GM commercial. But Treasury has maintained that GM's loan repayment is "good news" despite the fact that the money used to repay the loan stemmed from the government.

A GM spokesman gave a similar response to the Issa and Jordan letter today.

"It's hard to understand how giving money back to the government could be considered a bad thing," said GM spokesman Greg Martin.

"The circumstances that allowed us to repay this money is because our business performance is much stronger and we're showing greater progress than anybody expected," he said.