Car salesman pays $32K to lobby Obama for 2 minutes

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

A Los Angeles car salesman and electric car advocate is shelling $32,400 out of his retirement savings so he can make a pitch directly to President Obama at a "private, off-the-record" Democratic fundraiser next week.

Paul Scott, 60, says he isn't a rich guy. He's a $50,000-a-year Nissan salesman who plans to rub elbows with 24 bigwigs in a private luncheon that he says will put a crimp in his retirement plans.

But he says the goal is worthwhile. He wants to make a few points to Obama about on how to better support electric cars -- a cause that Obama already embraces -- and thought the private audience would be a fine way to do it.

So when a solicitation came for the fundraiser, Scott says he was told that he'd get a chance sometime over the luncheon to offer his advice directly to the president. "That was something I had to confirm before I wrote the check," Scott says. At least two minutes, probably no more than four, he says he was told.

The fundraiser who sent the email could not be immediately be reached for comment. A copy was provided to USA TODAY, and it includes a menu of choices with prices when it comes to seeing the Obama in person at the June 7 fundraiser in Santa Monica, Calif.

For $10,000, you can be a luncheon guest. For $16,200, you can be a VIP luncheon guest and have your picture taken with Obama. For $32,400, the package "includes an official photograph with President Obama, as well as a very special one-hour roundtable discussion with the President after the luncheon. President Obama will take your questions in a private, off-the-record conversation where you can discuss with him what you'd like. Please note this is limited to 25 people to keep it an intimate discussion, and so will sell out very fast."

Having signed up, Scott is already mapping strategy.

"I am not going to sit quietly," Scott, co-founder of advocacy group Plug In America, says in an interview. "I am not going to hope that I get to talk. If it's a free for all, I'll do what I can."

He wants to tell Obama that as an electric car expert he believes the administration needs to push for a so-called "carbon tax" that would raise prices on oil-based fuels, making electric car prices more competitive.

He wants to ask Obama to increase his efforts to convince Congress to make electric-car rebates at the point of sale, not months later as part of a $7,500 tax incentive. He says he wants it even if Obama were to back down on increasing the incentive to $10,000.

And he says he wants to tell Obama to be more vigorous in standing up to opponents of electric cars and to support groups like Plug In America. "I can sell more cars," says Scott, who specializes in electric vehicles, or EVs. "I am getting hammered in the press with all the anti-EV stuff."

He acknowledges that spending more than half a year's pay on a single hour at a group lunch with Obama will set him back. He won't be able to afford trips like the one he'd planned to Costa Rica, "but I'm not going to starve to death."

He considered other less expensive ways to try to make his point to Obama. But when the fundraising solicitation came, "I figured what the hell, I'll go tell him to his face."