Dealers place bets on presidential election

WASHINGTON -- Jim Click says he's "all in" for Jeb Bush in 2016.

The co-managing partner of Southern California's Tuttle-Click Automotive Group says he already has raised "a substantial" six-figure sum for Right to Rise, a super PAC expected to back the former Florida governor's presumed candidacy for the White House in 2016.

And Click says he's just getting started.

"I'd like to raise him a million dollars," Click told Automotive News. "I'd like to raise as much as possible."

It's still early in the presidential election cycle -- the Iowa caucuses are some nine months away -- but the contest for dollars is well under way, and some high-profile auto dealers have begun placing their political bets.

Most dealers lack the race-shaping muscle of billionaires such as casino mogul Sheldon Adelson or industrialists David and Charles Koch. But many are wealthy and, as independent business owners, often politically minded. With their deep pockets, strong community ties and vast social networks, dealers such as Click are valuable allies for politicians seeking to prove their staying power over what's shaping up to be a contentious primary season.

Not surprisingly, the heaviest activity is on the Republican side, where the field of potential candidates is large and still largely undefined compared with that of the Democrats, who are coalescing around former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Bush, the presumptive GOP front-runner, faces stiff challenges from fellow Floridian Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and at least a half dozen other governors and senators who have signaled their interest. Only Cruz has officially announced his candidacy.

Rubio, for his part, has won an early commitment from billionaire Miami dealer Norman Braman. The chairman of the Braman Dealerships plans to contribute a massive amount -- some $10 million, the Miami Herald has reported -- to a Rubio presidential war chest. In an interview, Braman declined to comment on the reported figure but said he will provide "substantial financial support" to a Rubio campaign.

Such a sum could help sustain Rubio through a protracted primary fight. Braman says some dealers he has spoken to are "very interested" in Rubio and "willing to step forward and support" the senator.

"I firmly believe that we've got to move away from the Clintons and the Bushes," Braman said. "I don't believe in dynasties."

David Wilson, CEO of David Wilson Automotive Group in Orange, Calif., says he gets calls or emails almost daily seeking contributions. Wilson has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates, from the local school boards to the White House, he says. He also gave more than $300,000 to the Restore Our Future super PAC that backed Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential bid.

But this time, he says, he will wait to see how the presidential field shapes up before signing any checks. This part of the political season "is like spring training," Wilson said. "They're all playing but none of it counts."

For now, Wilson says he's most intrigued by Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, but he thinks Rubio's support of Tesla Motors' efforts to sell directly to consumers will undermine his standing with dealers.

"If he thinks Tesla or Google or Microsoft ... or anybody should be able to sell direct to consumers without dealer protections, I won't be supporting him," Wilson said.

Indeed, Tesla's sales model could loom large in the primary season, as it spotlights the fundamental debate over government's role in business and pits two powerful GOP constituencies -- opponents of government regulation and the auto-dealer lobby -- against each other.

The conflict is evident in New Jersey, where the administration of Gov. Chris Christie, a likely GOP candidate, imposed a dealer-backed rule banning direct sales of electric vehicles. A year later, Christie signed a bill to legalize Tesla sales.

It's also evident in the decision by the Koch brothers' conservative super PAC, Americans for Prosperity, to publicly support Tesla's direct-sales model on the principle of freeing business from government regulation. That means that candidates who take a side on Tesla risk either alienating franchised auto dealers or lining up against the deep-pocketed Koch brothers.

Bush began courting auto dealers early. He championed growth-minded policies and blasted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's crackdown on alleged lending bias in a speech to dealers in January.

On March 3, Click co-hosted a fundraiser for the Bush-linked Right to Rise at a resort in Arizona. Click said the event raised more than $100,000 for the super PAC, though he declined to be more specific. And just last week, Bush was slated to attend a reception and dinner at the Bel Air, Calif., home of Robert Tuttle, Click's business partner and former ambassador to Britain under President George W. Bush, The Washington Post reported.

Click has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to political candidates, parties and PACs in recent years. Last year, he contributed $100,000 to American Crossroads, the super PAC founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove, and made dozens of smaller donations to Republicans running for Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

While super PACs can throw around gaudy sums, "bundlers" such as Click play a critical role in campaign fundraising. They use their large networks of relationships to collect scores of smaller contributions and funnel them to candidates, their campaigns and the super PACs backing them.

U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, owns a Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram dealership in Weatherford, Texas, and is one of the handful of dealers in Congress. He also worked for years as a bundler, raising more than $100 million for Republican candidates, he says.

As a group, auto dealers contributed more than $16 million in the 2012 election cycle, most of which went to Republicans, according to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics.

This time around, dealers say they're frustrated with what they see as heavy-handed regulation by the Obama administration, especially the CFPB's work to regulate dealer-originated financing.

Williams expects that frustration to be channeled into even greater dealer involvement in the 2016 campaigns.

But Williams, Click and Wilson all say dealers don't -- or shouldn't -- expect influence or access from contributions.

"I tell people, if you do this, you're not going to get anything back from it," Click said. "You're doing it for your country and for good government."