GM Dealers. When GM's Rick Wagoner received a "vote of confidence" from the board last week, it came to light that The Rick asked the board for it, or he would resign, according to a report in this week's Automotive News. Two of GM's top dealers, John Bergstrom, Chairman of Bergstrom Automotive Group in Wisconsin, and Carl Sewell, Chairman of Sewell Automotive Cos. in Dallas, who are longtime friends of Wagoner, sent letters to the board in support of their friend. They took the gesture one step further by paying for a full-page ad in last Friday's The Wall Street Journal in support of Wagoner, saying, "Today our CEO Rick Wagoner is leading the best management at GM since Alfred Sloan. He needs and deserves support for the enormous job that he is doing." The ad was signed by 36 heavyweight dealer groups around the country. There's just one small problem with that ad - the majority of those dealers are all heavily invested in import franchises, and in some cases their dealer groups are so dramatically skewed to pushing imports that upwards of 90 percent of their revenue is coming from the sales of imported cars. So their grand gesture was nice and all, but the reality of their businesses is that they started hedging their bets long ago and embraced import franchises by the boatload to cover their asses. A smart business decision, to be sure, but let's just say that it casts their show of gushing support for Rick Wagoner in a much different light. Was it a heartfelt gesture of support? Or were they covering their asses again just in case The Rick survives and pulls off GM's turnaround? As Dr. Bud says, "The more you know, the more you just never know."