Grand Theft Auto

When General Motors and Chrysler declared bankruptcy in 2009 and immediately targeted thousands of dealerships for closure, tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars were on the line.

Staring down two of the largest manufacturers in the world as well as President Obama's Automotive Task Force, a determined triumvirate of car dealers banded together and went to Washington, D.C. to make their voices heard.

Alan Spitzer's fast-paced memoir takes readers behind the scenes as citizen's lobbyists traverse throughout all of the major corridors of power in the nation's capital to make their case and bring justice to thousands of small business across the country.

Join Spitzer on his journey as he creates a grassroots movement to overturn the government's illegal and outrageous terminations and as he gets a bill passed through a bitterly partisan House and Senate!

The grassroots effort was directly responsible for saving hundreds of dealerships and tens of thousands of jobs, said Spitzer.

The Academic Edition includes an expanded Appendices that have been provided to assist interested readers with a thorough understanding of all the documents involved in this event.

Alan is a third generation member of the Spitzer family, who established their business in 1904 when Mr. Spitzer's grandfather, George G. Spitzer, started a hardware store in the small northern Ohio community of Grafton. The hardware store is still in business today as part of a complex that contains 35 separate business entities including 20 automobile dealerships. When Chrysler and General Motors terminated more than 2,000 dealers in the spring of 2009 Alan led a coalition of dealers who lobbied the United States Congress to overturn the closings. This effort by the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights eventually led to the passage of legislation in December, 2009 that provided for third party arbitration for dealers to regain their franchises. Subsequent to the passage of the legislation and in the months preceding the arbitrations GM and Chrysler settled with hundreds of dealers, either providing compensation or voluntary reinstatement as a direct result of the legislation. Mr. Spitzer and his wife Pat live in Amherst, Ohio. They have four daughters and two sons.