Congressman John Dingell has used his powerful position as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to protect the auto industry. He represents a district in Michigan, so this should come as no surprise. What does come as a surprise is that his wife is a high-powered executive at General Motors (now seeking a billion dollar bailout) and a descendant of the Fisher Brothers, one of the pioneering car families of Detroit whose corporation was absorbed by General Motors decades ago. The New York Time s mentions this in passing and focuses instead on the battle between Dingell and Waxman for chairmanship of the committee. Naturally...

This is no ordinary family drama. Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, the at-times-irascible Democratic chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is trying to stave off a challenge to his chairmanship from Representative Henry A. Waxman, the anything-but-mellow California Democrat. Mr. Dingell's wife, Deborah Insley Dingell, is a senior executive at General Motors and a member of the family who founded the company.