I’m skeptical that this is as bad as it looks — it’d be politically suicidal, for no benefit greater than petty revenge — but consider it your must-read of the day. Don’t stop before the updates either or you’ll miss profitable dealers scratching their heads trying to figure out what mysterious sin they could have committed to warrant termination.

To quickly review the situation, I took all dealer owners whose names appeared more than once in the list. And, of those who contributed to political campaigns, every single one had donated almost exclusively to GOP candidates. While this isn’t an exhaustive review, it does have some ominous implications if it can be verified.

However, I also found additional research online at Scribd (author unknown), which also appears to point to a highly partisan decision-making process.

Could be that dealers, being entrepreneurs, trend heavily Republican anyway. Without some kind of control sample, there’s no way to judge if this is corrupt or just representative. Like Ross says, further research is required. Anyone think the media’s game?

But wait, you say, didn’t Chrysler decide to shut down the dealerships, not the feds? Well, funny thing about that. Via Reliapundit, Reuters gets an earful from the dealers’ lawyer:

Lawyer Leonard Bellavia, of Bellavia Gentile & Associates, who represents some of the terminated dealers, said he deposed Chrysler President Jim Press on Tuesday and came away with the impression that Press did not support the plan.

“It became clear to us that Chrysler does not see the wisdom of terminating 25 percent of its dealers,” Bellavia said. “It really wasn’t Chrysler’s decision. They are under enormous pressure from the President’s automotive task force.”

He added the government task force, which he criticized for having no members with retail experience was, in effect, attacking U.S. entrepreneurs…

“I think it’s unconstitutional,” said Jim Anderer, owner of Island Jeep in Lindenhurst, New York.

“The Fifth Amendment clearly states you cannot take another person’s property without due process or compensation. Even in eminent domain, there is an appraised price on the property being taken by the state.”

I don’t know. To believe this is true, you’d have to believe Obama applied some awfully heavy-handed pressure to get his way. And really, what are the odds of that?