Graham Kislingbury

The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler certainly didn’t help their cause in Congress Wednesday when it came to light that they flew from Detroit to Washington in their private corporate jets.

They got the scolding they deserved.

“There’s a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands,” Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., told the executives at a hearing Wednesday. “It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo. … I mean, couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here?”

I listened to all three of the executives make a good case for the auto industry needing $25 billion in federal aid. All their well-articulated arguments, however, were overshadowed by their stupid decisions to take the most expensive route possible to Washington.

Should the auto industry not get the help it needs because its leaders made a PR blunder? I don’t think so.

This is still a vital industry in our country that accounts for more than a million jobs and many others in the businesses that serve it. We’ve lost enough manufacturing jobs in the U.S. We can’t afford to lose more.

When Chrysler got federal help in the early 1980s, it turned the company around and the government got paid back. With a well-crafted federal package now or in January when the Obama Administration is in place, we could see the same kind of outcome again.

The $25 billion bailout should come with some serious strings attached: Among them, better overall fuel efficiency and sustainability targets and caps on executive compensation. And, after Wednesday’s fiasco, those corporate jets will have to go.

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