Baltimore Sun

University of Maryland economist Edward Montgomery has plenty of real-world experience, including a role in ending a Teamsters strike against UPS in 1997 while at the U.S. Department of Labor. He also has served as the No. 2 official at Labor with oversight of about 17,000 employees.

But nothing could prepare him for the huge job he assumed Monday. President Barack Obama charged the 53-year-old Howard County resident with marshaling federal aid to bring relief to reeling communities in Michigan and other auto-producing states.

And while the president did not directly say so, some auto industry experts predicted Montgomery would also wield influence in the boardrooms of General Motors and Chrysler. “I think he’s been given a very broad agenda that will not get narrower but only broader,” said Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Obama announced the choice of Montgomery on a day when the president raised the possibility of a controlled bankruptcy for the two automakers, even as he sought to reassure consumers by pledging government backing of new-car warranties.