While Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney touts his business experience as one of his strongest credentials, rival Rick Santorum blasted it on Sunday as a drawback.
“If Governor Romney thinks that he is the CEO of America and can run and manage the economy, he doesn’t understand what conservatives believe in,” Santorum said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“We don’t want someone in Washington, D.C. to manage the economy," Santorum continued. "We want someone who can get Washington out of our lives.”
Romney’s campaign released a new ad in Illinois on Friday attacking Santorum for having “never run a business or a state.”
Responding on Sunday, Santorum said he had experience in private sector as a lawyer, but he argued executive experience at a company is not necessary to be commander-in-chief.
“Running a business is not the same as being president of the United States,” he told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.
Also Sunday, Santorum gave no indication that he has plans to drop out of the race should his campaign reach a point where the delegate math doesn't add up in his favor.
“What I’m hearing is that we want a conservative nominee, that the establishment is trying to push a moderate like they did in 1976 against Ronald Reagan, like they did in 1996 with Bob Dole and what they did with John McCain,” Santorum said, not ruling out the possibility of a brokered convention in August. “I think conservatives would like an opportunity to nominate a conservative, and that’s an opportunity.”
According CNN’s latest estimate, Santorum currently has 239 delegates, while Romney has 498. A candidate needs 1,144 in order to win the nomination.
It can take decades to build a reputation and just months to watch it collapse. Just ask Toyota President Akio Toyoda, who found himself sitting in the hot seat Wednesday, facing skeptical members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Barely a year ago, when the executive was appointed to run the company his grandfather founded, the Japanese automotive giant seemed to be on top of the world. True, it was running a rare loss, losing more than $4 billion in its latest fiscal year, but it had just nudged past its long-time archrival, General Motors, to become the world’s largest automaker.
The cornerstones of that growth were safety, quality and reliability. In the United States, Toyota’s largest market, the maker also scored points with its aggressive expansion of facilities. With billions invested in North American assembly, design and engineering operations that employ tens of thousands, Toyota has taken pains to promote itself as much an American company as its competitors in Detroit.
But the hearings on Capitol Hill have torn asunder Toyota’s carefully cultivated image, leaving observers to wonder whether it was ever more than a Potemkin village.
In prepared remarks, CEO Toyoda, 53, conceded to the committee, "We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization," adding that, "I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced."
The humble tone is one that both Toyoda and Toyota have sounded repeatedly in recent months, starting with last October’s recall of 3.8 million cars, crossovers and trucks for problems with “carpet entrapment.” Things got worse in January, when millions more vehicles were recalled due to potentially sticky accelerators. In recent weeks the situation has spun seemingly out of control, with still more recalls and investigations launched for matters ranging from faulty steering to intermittent brakes.
Toyota has tried to balance its corporate mea culpa with pledges — aired on TV and in full-page newspaper ads — aimed at convincing consumers it has the situation under control. Yes, there are problems, but Toyota officials know how to fix them.
But that spin lost momentum in two tough days of testimony on Capitol Hill.
Members of Congress initially were polite, praising Toyoda for agreeing to step into a lion's den. But he and a top deputy drew heavy fire from both Democrats and Republicans for the company's slowness in dealing with safety defects in its vehicles.
"I sincerely regret that some people actually encountered accidents in their vehicles," said Toyoda, who gave his opening remarks in heavily accented English but chose to respond to questions in Japanese with a translator.
Toyoda pledged his company would change the way it handles consumer complaints, including seeking greater input from drivers and outside safety experts when considering recalls. Toyota managers will also drive cars under investigation to experience potential problems first hand, he said.
A previous hearing Tuesday before a House Energy and Commerce panel did not go well for the company.
Jim Lentz, Toyota’s top U.S. executive, declared he was confident “the solutions we have developed are both effective and durable.” He went on to dismiss critics who contend faulty electronic control systems might be at the root of some problems on Toyota vehicles.
Both assertions now seem questionable. In his testimony Lentz eventually conceded that as many as 70 percent of the complaints over so-called “unintended acceleration” are not necessarily covered by the two related recalls now under way.
(Other Toyota officials have separately confirmed that the recall for faulty brakes on the 2010 Prius may be only a partial solution since it now appears there is a similar issue with earlier versions of the high-profile hybrid.)
Making matters worse, lawmakers heard testimony from David W. Gilbert, a professor of automotive technology at Southern Illinois University, who countered Toyota’s long-standing assertion that its electronics are well-designed and well-tested. Gilbert said testing showed that Toyota's electronic throttle control could malfunction which, in turn, could lead to unintended acceleration.
At least one member of the panel raised questions about the testing because it was partly funded by attorneys who are involved in litigation against Toyota.
By the end of the first day of hearings, Lentz’s own confidence in Toyota’s ability to identify and fix the problems with its vehicles seemed to have been shaken, as seen in this exchange between Lentz and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif:
WAXMAN: Do you believe that the recall on the ... carpet changes and the recall on the sticky pedal will solve the problem of sudden, unintended acceleration?
LENTZ: Not totally.
WAXMAN: OK, what do you need to do?
LENTZ: We need to continue to be vigilant and continue to investigate all of the complaints that we get from consumers, that we have done a relatively poor job of doing in the past.
Lentz also said he was "embarrassed" to hear testimony from a driver who said her nearly new Lexus ES350 suddenly accelerated up to 100 mph in 2006 before she was able to bring it under control.
One can only wonder where that leaves the millions of people driving Camry sedans, Tundra pickups and Prius hybrids.
Perhaps feeling a bit snookered by a well-oiled machine that made plenty of promises during the good times but which now appears to be imploding. Consider the way Toyota has been billing itself as an “American” company, in recent years, devoting a fair chunk of its marketing budget to talk about its U.S. plants and people. The problem is that the company has been exposed as more of a modern-day trading post, doing business with the native population.
The hearings have revealed that virtually all key decisions, other than how to market and sell Toyota products, are made in Japan. The flow of information, particularly on safety matters, is one-way, from the California headquarters of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., to corporate headquarters in Japan.
Lentz conceded that his corporate superiors didn’t share information about global recalls with him — or, for that matter, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And that leaves the door open to potentially serious problems.
The automaker has received a subpoena from U.S. District Court, which has empowered a grand jury criminal investigation, along with another subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is looking into possible disclosure issues and securities fraud.
While most of the action this week is taking place on Capitol Hill, the problems for Toyota seem to be coming from every angle. A new report, released Wednesday, provides still more reason for concern. The 2010 Customer Service Index, compiled by quality gurus J.D. Power and Associates, notes that the Toyota brand ranked well below average in terms of how its dealers handle customers.
With those dealers reportedly racing to fix as many as 50,000 recalled vehicles daily, that could be a significant source of friction. For some nervous motorists, it will take weeks to get a service appointment scheduled. To drive away angry — and uncertain the fix will work — is not a recipe for renewed loyalty.
If Toyoda truly believes that the company his grandfather founded has grown too fast for itself, he may have that problem solved for him. Toyota owners are, in fact, among the industry’s most loyal, but the steady drumbeat of bad news, compounded by lingering concerns about the safety of its vehicles, will likely stall the company’s momentum. Whether it can ever rebuild its tattered image and regain the trust of the public can’t be answered after two days of testimony.
Banking boomtown loses one of its biggest players. Charlotte, N.C. is the country's second largest banking center, but the recent failure of Wachovia has the entire city bracing for fallout from thousands of executive-level layoffs. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
BofA CEO to step down. Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis has notified his board of directors that he will step down by the end of the year. CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reports.
Not a popular position, I realize. But a foregone conclusion, nonetheless.
Our fragile civic psyche has been harpooned by talk that the bank's new leadership team wouldn't want to live here. They've touched our "Hooterville" button, and it stings. Bank of America's roots are sunk deep into the clay and granite of the Piedmont, the thinking goes, and here it belongs.
Fact is, here it belongs is only because here it is. It started here as a parochial lender and, thanks to the genius of its leaders, it succeeded big in the pioneer era of interstate banking.
It snarfed away like a financial Pac-Man, gobbling up banks all over the country. Into its choppers fell giants from Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco.
And it stayed based here, mostly because of its homegrown leadership.
Our status as the nation's second-largest banking center gave us something to crow about. Most places don't take much pride in being No. 2 at anything, but when No. 1 is New York City and the category is finance, it brought affirmation that we were something special.
Charlotte's fortunes grew with the bank. It was instrumental in building our Emerald City business district, generous to our charities and arts, a magnet for importing brain power. Its executives were our local celebrities, fiduciary rock stars, uptown royalty.
That was a grand era.
Past-tense.
Now, most of the bank's directors are inconvenienced to have to fly to Charlotte to take a meeting. Now, the bank's new president will likely come from beyond our borders. Now, the bank very possibly could change the address of its headquarters.
It has erected a handsome tower in Midtown Manhattan that is taller than the Chrysler building, if you throw in the antenna spike on top. It has absorbed the giant Merrill Lynch brokerage, which will require some sorting out. It is a huge player in a complicated and troubled industry.
And it belongs smack-dab in the heart of the nation's financial center.
Bank of America succeeded so well because it was nimble. It reacted to trends. It took advantage of opportunities.
It would be a blow to our pride to lose the headquarters. But just a glancing blow.
Bank of America would maintain a huge force here. You may move your headquarters to Manhattan, but you'll keep the factory in a cost-efficient place.
Charlotte is full of financial expertise with lots of top-notch talent. We may lose the brain, but we'll keep the shoulders. And they're wide ones.
When we lost Wachovia, Wells Fargo kept a big part of its assembly line here. Little-known fact: Even after shedding about 500 local jobs post-takeover, Wells Fargo still has more workers here than BofA, about 19,000 to 15,000.
Our fortunes will still depend upon Bank of America, and it's in our best interest that the bank do well. It needs to have leadership that can oversee the Merrill transition close-up, leadership that can draw on the best talent available. It needs to be where the action is. It belongs in New York.
We're a business town, we understand business decisions. It's nothing personal.
Fact is, Bank of America has got to go. Regrettably.
Bank of America Corp. broadened its search for a chief executive officer to include candidates who want to live in New York, acknowledging the bank’s biggest units are no longer based in its home of Charlotte, North Carolina, people familiar with the matter said.
The board, led by Chairman Walter Massey, is also concerned there may not be a deep enough pool of qualified candidates willing to move to Charlotte, 330 miles south of Washington, the people said, speaking anonymously because the search is private. CEO Kenneth Lewis, who is stepping down at year’s end, has said Charlotte will remain headquarters as long as he’s in charge.
“It does reflect well on the board that they’re not going to let the headquarters location limit their selection in terms of CEOs,” said Thomas Brown, CEO of New York-based hedge fund Second Curve Capital. “There aren’t too many people around the world who think that Charlotte is a major financial center.”
Five board members with ties to Charlotte have stepped down during the past two years, and none of their replacements lives in the city, the state’s largest. New directors live in Alabama, Delaware, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Lewis, 62, is the only North Carolina resident.
Curl, Moynihan
The leading internal CEO candidates are Chief Risk Officer Gregory Curl, 61, who lives in Charlotte, and consumer-banking chief Brian Moynihan, who almost left the bank last year after he declined to take a new post in Wilmington, Delaware, according to a person familiar with the situation. Moynihan, 50, lives in Boston, where he worked for FleetBoston Financial Corp. until Lewis bought the lender in 2004.
“We aren’t going to comment on speculation on the process,” bank spokesman Jerry Dubrowski said.
Former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl Jr. told a Charlotte group on Oct. 22 that it’s unclear whether the next CEO will be based in the city, according to four people who heard his comments at the meeting, which was sponsored by Queens University of Charlotte. McColl engineered the 1998 acquisition of San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp., stipulating Charlotte’s role as headquarters. He emphasized that he no longer influences the board’s decision-making, according to the people who heard his comments.
The Finger family in Houston, owners of more than 1 million Bank of America shares, said in a regulatory filing today that Moynihan and Curl aren’t suitable candidates and provided a list of 18 alternative choices. Their suggestions include former Bank of America executives Alvaro de Molina, now the CEO of GMAC Inc., and James Hance, chairman of Sprint Nextel Co. The Fingers sponsored a campaign earlier this year to oust Lewis.
Calabasas, Wilmington
Bank of America’s investment banking and wealth-management businesses, which are run from New York, made up half of revenue through Sept. 30, up from 34 percent in the same period last year, before the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.
“With Merrill Lynch being such a big part of the ball game, the CEO probably ought to be in New York,” said Arnold Danielson, chairman of Danielson & Associates, an investment- banking firm in Bethesda, Maryland.
The home loans and insurance unit, which account for 14 percent of revenue, is based in the former Calabasas, California headquarters of Countrywide Financial Corp., which the bank acquired in 2008. The credit-card services unit makes up 23 percent of revenue and is based in Wilmington.
The consumer-banking business under Moynihan in Boston made up 11 percent of revenue. All told, that means about 98 percent of the bank’s revenue comes from units headed by executives based outside Charlotte.
Charlotte Jobs
Massey leads a search committee of six directors, three of whom joined the board upon the FleetBoston acquisition. They include retired FleetBoston CEO Charles “Chad” Gifford, who lives in Boston.
“Some of the Fleet members have no allegiance to Charlotte,” Brown said.
The North Carolina city was home to two of the four biggest U.S. banks until San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. bought Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. in an October 2008 sale brokered by government regulators.
Bank of America employs 15,000 people in its hometown, said Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte Chamber, a group that promotes local business interests. That’s about 5 percent of the bank’s global workforce of 281,863. Wells Fargo has about 19,000 employees in the city after cutting about 2,000 jobs there during the past year, Morgan said.
New Yorkers contacted about the job include Charles Scharf, retail banking head at New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., a person familiar with the matter said. Robert Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and a former Wachovia chief financial officer, “has said he has no interest in the job,” spokesman Kevin Heine said today.
A JPMorgan spokesman, Thomas Kelly, declined to comment on behalf of Scharf.
This is the kind of news Charlotte boosters have dreaded.
Bloomberg reported Tuesday morning that the Bank of America board of directors has expanded its search for the bank's next CEO to include people who want to live and run the company from New York, not its current headquarters in Charlotte. The reason for expanding the search is attributed to the lack of qualified candidates who wish to move to Charlotte for the job, the report says.
The Bank of America tower uptown, the Charlotte skyline's signature spire, has always been home to the bank's executive offices. Is that status now at risk?
The report cites unnamed sources close to the situation. It also references private comments former BofA chairman Hugh McColl Jr. made recently, acknowledging he no longer influences the board's decisions.
A long commitment to Charlotte
When current bank CEO Ken Lewis announced in September his retirement effective in December, some observers immediately fretted about the bank's future in Charlotte.
The bank has gone through a metamorphosis since its early days in the Queen City. When McColl took over NCNB here three decades ago, he led the bank on a series of acquisitions and name changes, culminating in its merger with San Francisco-based BankAmerica and a name change to Bank of America. But at each step, McColl insisted the growing bank's headquarters remain in Charlotte.
When Lewis, a top McColl lieutenant, took the helm in 2001, he continued to build the empire, buying competing banks, and several other lines of businesses along the way, including the recent purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.
Today, BofA is a national leader in retail banking, credit cards, mortgages and wealth management. But its diverse business is also geographically scattered. The bank's mortgage business is based in Calabassas, Calif., the former home of Countrywide Financial. Credit cards are based in Wilmington, Del., the former home of MBNA. And Merrill Lynch, the bank's powerful brokerage and investment banking operation, is based in New York.
Consumer banking has remain based in Charlotte, but Brian Moynihan, the former FleetBoston exec who now runs that business, chose to remain in Boston when he took over that line this summer.
Is anyone loyal to Charlotte?
Lewis always maintained his stance that the bank should remain headquartered in Charlotte. But since his retirement announcement, the bank has waged an uphill battle to find a replacement.
The only candidate based in Charlotte believed to still be in the running is chief risk officer Greg Curl, a top deal-maker who has worked and lived here for years.
But Moynihan, the other top internal candidate, has shown no desire to relocate. One external candidate many hoped would be considered is former BofA CFO and current GMAC CEO Al de Molina. But GMAC is in the middle of its own problems, and the chatter around his name has diminished in recent weeks. One report says his name is no longer in the hat.
But all indications suggest the board (which also lacks Charlotte loyalists after a makeover this summer) is still considering external candidates. And according to Tuesday morning's report, there aren't enough outsiders keen on Charlotte.
Banking boomtown loses one of its biggest players. Charlotte, N.C. is the country's second largest banking center, but the recent failure of Wachovia has the entire city bracing for fallout from thousands of executive-level layoffs. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
BofA CEO to step down. Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis has notified his board of directors that he will step down by the end of the year. CNBC's Charlie Gasparino reports.
Bank of America Corp. broadened its search for a chief executive officer to include candidates who want to live in New York, acknowledging the bank's biggest units are no longer based in Charlotte, people familiar with the matter said.
The board - led by Chairman Walter Massey - is also concerned there may not be a deep enough pool of qualified candidates willing to move to Charlotte, 400 miles south of Washington, the people said, speaking anonymously because the search is private.
"It does reflect well on the board that they're not going to let the headquarters location limit their selection in terms of CEOs," said Thomas Brown, CEO of New York-based hedge fund Second Curve Capital. "There aren't too many people around the world who think that Charlotte is a major financial center."
Five board members with ties to Charlotte have stepped down during the past two years, and none of their replacements lives in the city, the state's largest. New directors live in Alabama, Delaware, New York, Ohio, Texas and Virginia. Lewis, 62, is the only N.C. resident.
Former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl Jr. told a Charlotte group on Oct. 22 that it's unclear whether the next CEO will be based in the city, according to four people who heard his comments at the meeting sponsored by Queens University of Charlotte.
McColl engineered the 1998 acquisition of San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp., stipulating Charlotte's role as headquarters. He emphasized that he no longer influences the board's decision-making, according to the people who heard his comments. McColl didn't return telephone calls seeking comment.
Bank of America's investment banking and wealth-management businesses, which are run from New York, made up half of revenue through Sept. 30. That's up from 34 percent in the same period last year, before the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.
"With Merrill Lynch being such a big part of the ball game, the CEO probably ought to be in New York," said Arnold Danielson, chairman of Danielson & Associates, an investment banking firm in Bethesda, Maryland.
The home loans and insurance unit - which account for 14 percent of revenue - is based in the former Calabasas, Calif., headquarters of Countrywide Financial Corp., which the bank acquired in 2008. The credit card services unit makes up 23 percent of revenue and is based in Wilmington.
The consumer-banking business under Brian Moynihan in Boston made up 11 percent of revenue. All told, that means about 98 percent of the bank's revenue comes from units headed by executives based outside Charlotte.
"We aren't going to comment on speculation on the process," bank spokesman Jerry Dubrowski said.
Massey leads a search committee of six directors, three of whom joined the board upon the FleetBoston acquisition.
"Some of the Fleet members have no allegiance to Charlotte," Brown said.
Charlotte was home to two of the four biggest U.S. banks until San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. bought Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. in an October 2008 sale brokered by government regulators.
Bank of America employs 15,000 people in its hometown, said Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte Chamber, a group that promotes local business interests. That's about 5 percent of the bank's global workforce of 281,863. Wells Fargo has about 19,000 employees in the city after cutting about 2,000 jobs there during the past year, Morgan said.
New Yorkers contacted about the job include Charles Scharf, retail banking head at New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., a person familiar with the matter said. Robert Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and a former Wachovia chief financial officer, "has said he has no interest in the job," spokesman Kevin Heine said Tuesday.
And so a new era begins. After 14 years with Republican Mayor Pat McCrory at the wheel, Charlotte will see a new approach in the person of Democrat Anthony Foxx.
We have said from the beginning that Charlotte was fortunate to have two good choices for mayor this year in Foxx and Republican John Lassiter. That's been proven true, and we believe Foxx will perform admirably.
Foxx, 38, is intelligent and hard-working. He also has shown an ability to address shortcomings. Over the course of the campaign, he went from an unpolished candidate inconsistent about articulating a clear message to one who both delved into issues and communicated his stances on those issues effectively.
Foxx, we expect, will be an inclusive mayor who listens to arguments from all sides, all constituents, all City Council members. Foxx has said he will treat the office as a full-time job. He'll run the City Council meetings and work closely with staff on all the issues facing the city. But he'll also use the office as a bully pulpit, calling attention to issues that need it and working with regional, state and federal governments to fight for Charlotte's interests in a collaborative way.
We're confident he will work hard to connect with residents, including by holding regular town halls he promised during the campaign. We believe he will be open-minded about looking for new ways to approach intransigent problems.
We have many hopes for Foxx's tenure. We hope he governs from the heart, not from the polls. We expect him to stand up to his Democratic colleagues on the City Council when needed. With an 8-3 majority, council Democrats could safely ignore the concerns of Republicans if Foxx lets them. We would like to see him fulfill his promise to scour the city budget for areas where spending could be reduced responsibly, knowing that a tax increase on citizens already hurting in a slow economy is not an attractive option. We hope he makes homelessness and affordable housing a truly high priority for the city.
But most of all, we hope he will strive to approach the city's challenges in a new way. These are difficult times, particularly for Charlotte, and will continue to be well into the new year. Foxx faces an entirely different challenge navigating the city out of this slowdown than McCrory did leading Charlotte through 14 years of prosperity. He'll have to avoid the temptation to bring old solutions to new problems, and instead find ways to truly innovate.
We applaud both candidates for the clean, informative campaigns they ran. Lassiter, 55, has loyally served Charlotte and Mecklenburg County for two decades, and we strongly urge him to remain engaged in public life and in this city's future. This loss must be extremely disappointing, but his talents are considerable and Charlotte needs leaders like him in public office.
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