What do Tesla, the Sierra Club, and the Koch Brothers have in common? Car dealers, if you can believe it.
The Koch Bros' political action committee, Americans For Prosperity, have joined forces with the Sierra Club and other public interest groups in a Tesla-backed letter to sell cars direct to consumers. What's that old adage about politics and strange bedfellows?
The letter was sent to governors and legislators in an attempt to sway them to support Tesla's battle to sell its electric cars without dealing with independent dealers.
It was co-signed by 10 organizations, including the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, consumer-protection agencies, environmental groups, and free-marketeers. That also includes the AFP, which has been a ridiculously vocal opponent of Obamacare, along with plenty of sleazy schemes, including posting fake eviction notices on homes in Detroit and trying to get a cat registered to vote.
"Some of us frequently find ourselves on different sides of public policy debates," the letter states. "However, we now find common ground on an issue of considerable public importance concerning state laws that restrict the purchase and sale of automobiles."
While the letter goes into detail about Tesla's trials and tribulations with franchise dealer laws, the letter makes it clear that this isn't just about one automaker.
You can read it in full below and revel in the idea that dealers are so bad it's caused the Kochs and the Sierra Club were forced to team up.