What happens when Washington’s darling car company, General Motors, does something embarrassing like ignoring a defect in its cars’ ignition switches which then led to 32 accidents and 13 fatalities? When the government started looking, GM started ‘fessing and the government slapped the automaker on the wrist with a civil penalty of $35 million. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said, “What GM did was break the law. They failed to meet their public safety obligations. And today, they have admitted as much.” While the transportation secretary could look stern announcing the fine, it was a fraction of the $1.2 billion Toyota has to pay for its sticky acceleration pedals. But wait… didn’t the federal government own GM during all those years the company hid the ignition switch defect? More…