Tesla’s Best Asset in Fight With Dealers: James T. Fleming.

Much muttering in the Capitol village. Every session a few bills garner much more attention that their substance would suggest they merit. This year it’s auto dealers v. Tesla sparring over whether the subsidy and tax credit addicted electric car maker will be exempt from the automobile dealers franchise act and be able to sell their striking products directly to lucky consumers. Colin McEnroe provided some insights last week.

The auto dealers have a compelling case to make that if the state is going to have a franchise law that applies to the sale of new cars, Tesla has to operate under its requirements. Tesla, however, has made some friends in the legislature. It isn’t because the manufacturer of the fashionable car has assembled a notable homegrown team to argue its brief. The auto dealers, possessing deep ties in many communities, have hit some bumps in this contest.

The car dealers’ association, for reasons that continue to baffle observers, is headed by former state legislator and commissioner James T. Fleming, a Republican of Simsbury. He is not possessed of a soothing presence. Fleming’s leadership is making a dog’s breakfast of the auto dealers’ fightback against glamorous Tesla. The brooding, cranky Fleming is a screamer, quick to anger, often on the verge of his red face exploding. (I recall a tiresome, unfiltered potty mouth when I was in the legislature.) He is not a popular figure at the Capitol. Some veterans may recall that Fleming’s career imploded when he mounted a clumsy coup attempt against the beloved late Senate Republican Leader M. Adele Eads in 1998. Our Dell endured, Fleming left elected office. Somewhere she is nodding. Dell knew what the auto dealers are discovering to their frustration.