The New York Times reports:
General Motors is rapidly running out of cash and appealing to Washington for a multibillion-dollar bailout to keep operating and continue the costly conversion to a leaner company producing efficient vehicles that people will buy. Mrs. Dingell, who gave up lobbying for G.M. when she married Mr. Dingell in 1981, is executive director for public affairs for G.M. and its most familiar face in Washington.
Mrs. Dingell, 54, known to everyone as Debbie, said she and her husband were stunned when Mr. Waxman called the day after the election to tell Mr. Dingell that he would try to snatch his chairman’s gavel.
and
She said she was not involved in the details of the campaign to protect Mr. Dingell’s chairmanship, although she rallied his defenders in the early days of the challenge and serves as part of his war council. She does not lobby Congress or the administration on G.M.’s behalf, but she makes the case for the company, the auto industry and the state of Michigan in public and in private. She is a descendant of the Fisher brothers, who founded the company that became General Motors 100 years ago, and is a member of the Democratic National Committee from Michigan.
What's much better than a campaign contribution? Putting a powerful member of Congress' wife on the payroll.
