Toyota emphasizes U.S. presence to Congress

A view of Toyota Motor Corp's logo at its headquarters in Toyota, central Japan, February 8, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp, facing scrutiny in Congress over safety recalls, is working overdrive to remind lawmakers of its U.S. presence and is getting help from states where it has plants.

The Japanese automaker has boosted lobbying in Washington ahead of two hearings in the House of Representatives during the last week in February and a third in the Senate scheduled for the first week in March.

The company mobilized two dozen workers from plants around the country to visit Capitol Hill this week.

"We want to put a local face on it," Amy Lindsey, who works at Toyota's Princeton, Indiana, assembly plant, said of meetings with lawmakers and staff.

Toyota has gradually built a broad political base in Congress over the years, establishing 10 manufacturing facilities and other operations that employ 33,400 people. Indirect employment, including dealers, accounts for another 160,700 jobs, the company said.

Its operations are located in states with strong ties to both political parties.

It spent $5.2 million last year on lobbying, according to Senate records data cited by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Unlike its domestic rivals, Toyota's mainly non-union posture in the United States and its manufacturing presence in states like Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky resonate with Republicans.

But Toyota also has been favored in California, where its U.S. headquarters are based, and other liberal strongholds for its aggressive approach to fuel economy, an energy priority of President Barack Obama.

Obama, in his first public comments on the matter, told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview this week that automakers have a duty to "act quickly and decisively" on safety complaints. He did not offer an opinion on questions surrounding Toyota now, saying "we don't yet know all the facts."

But Obama noted that Toyota "has been an extraordinary automaker" and he suspects the company will regain its footing.

Toyota's manufacturing efficiency, innovation, and its reputation for producing quality cars that are not only popular but save consumers money at the pump were ideals trumpeted by politicians of both parties during last year's bailout of General Motors Co and Chrysler.

The governors of Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Indiana defended Toyota in a letter this week to the Democratic chairmen and top Republicans on the two committees in the House of Representatives holding hearings on Toyota. The letter, copied to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, asked lawmakers to be responsible and fair in upcoming hearings.

They criticized what they called "aggressive and questionable" media coverage and raised a subject that has simmered throughout the weeks-long recall controversy over unintended acceleration - the U.S. government's ownership of Toyota rival GM and its nearly 10 percent stake in Chrysler.

"Despite the federal government's obvious conflict of interest ... it has spoken out against Toyota, including statements U.S. government officials have later been forced to retract."

LaHood has said his first priority is safety.

(Reporting by John Crawley; Editing by Bernard Orr)