Congressman Mike Kelly is continuing to take advantage of his political power to benefit himself. An investigative report from WTAE found that Kelly has been caught (again) selling unsafe, recalled cars at his dealership. Don’t forget, Kelly helped push for a law allowing these sales to happen in the first place.
PAST: Kelly, who owns a used car dealership, pushes a bill that allows car dealers to rent or loan vehicles even if they are subject to safety recalls, promising that “there’s not a single person in our business that would ever put one of our owners in a defective car, or a car with a recall.”
MORE RECENT PAST: Kelly, who has never ceased to sell these dangerous cars to consumers, gets caught.
PRESENT: Kelly is caught again selling dangerous and recalled cars to Pennsylvanians.
“Despite insisting that he would never sell an unsafe or recalled car, Congressman Mike Kelly is once again prioritizing his business interests at the safety and expense of his constituents,” said DCCC Spokesperson Courtney Rice. “This dangerous and greedy decision by Kelly is just the latest example of him putting himself first and Pennsylvanians will send him packing in November as a result.”
WTAE // Paul Van Osdol
News Anchor: Tonight, Congressman Mike Kelly responds to questions about why his car dealership offers vehicles with potentially dangerous defects for sale.
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Paul Van Osdol: Back in the spring, Action News Investigates found 17 cars with open recalls for sale, at dealerships owned by Congressman Kelly. We chose to look specifically at Kelly’s dealerships, because in November 2015, he spoke on the House floor in favor of a bill that would have allowed car dealers to rent or loan vehicles even if they were subject to safety recalls.
Mike Kelly (on the floor): There’s not a single person in our business that would ever put one of our owners in a defective car, or a car with a recall…But that could happen…that could happen
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Paul Van Osdol: In September and October, Action News 4 Investigates found 15 vehicles with active recalls listed for sale at Kelly’s Butler dealership, including this Lincoln MKZ with a recall because of a Takada air bag. Vehicles with Takada air bags were recalled after 24 people world-wide were killed when they exploded. Pennsylvania law does not require dealers to fix cars with open recalls before they are sold. But the law does require dealers to disclose open recalls to buyers.
[…]
Paul Van Osdol: Action News Investigates found that five of the vehicles at Kelly’s dealership were advertised on his web site as GM-certified. This despite the fact that GM requires any recalls to be fixed before a vehicle can even be listed as certified pre-owned.
GOP congressman busted for selling used cars facing safety recalls busted again for exact same thing
Daily Kos Elections // David Nir
Republican Rep. Mike Kelly was busted hard by a local news station earlier this year for selling used cars that were subject to safety recalls, including some with deadly airbags, so what has he done since then? Continued to sell used cars that are still subject to safety recalls—including some with deadly airbags.
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After an organized push by used car dealers in at least 11 states, both Pennsylvania and Tennessee changed their laws to allow dealers to sell vehicles that have been recalled—as long as they note the recall “somewhere in a stack of sales documents,” as one in-depth investigative report put it.
As Van Osdol noted in his original exposé, when a similar bill came before Congress in 2015, one key supporter insisted, “There is not a single person in our business that would ever put one of our owners in a defective car or a car with a recall.” That congressman’s name? Mike Kelly.