Damage Control

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched a preliminary investigation into brake failure in 6 million older-model Chevrolet and GMC full-size pickup trucks. The agency is looking at whether corrosion caused by the use of salt in snowy and icy conditions in Northern states is damaging brake controls. GM said it is cooperating in the investigation. The probe is in response to a motorist complaint of sudden loss of brake power and a longer-than-expected stopping distance after a corroded brake line burst.

Democrats may feel today as though they just fought -- and won -- the equivalent of a 100-year war. The House passage Sunday night of sweeping healthcare legislation ends months of caustic debate over the plan and the way it was enacted, marked by a steep decline in approval for Democrats almost everywhere. Now, they hope, the discussion will finally shift in their favor. President Obama was spared a devastating defeat, and squabbling lawmakers showed they could accomplish something epic and important in the face of unanimous GOP opposition.

When L.A. money management giant TCW Group Inc. fired its investment chief in December, it sought to end a bitter internal struggle that threatened to rip apart its $100-billion business. But the vicious legal battle that has ensued between the two sides has had unintended consequences for TCW: Its own image has been tarnished, aggravating some of its key asset managers and raising the risk of a talent drain. TCW and its French bank parent, Societe Generale, now are launched on a plan to avoid a wider mutiny by finally offering equity stakes in TCW to its top managers -- a move the bank had put off for years.

Re "Sterlings will settle rental bias case for $2.7 million," Nov. 4 Kudos to The Times for reporting on Donald T. Sterling's legal troubles. It should be common knowledge to readers that Sterling runs numerous advertisements in the newspaper touting his humanitarianism. This smacks of damage control. And shame on the many groups, such as the NAACP, that honor Sterling in light of his discriminatory practices as a landlord. Monetary donations should play no part in reputation rehabilitation.

For the second time in his brief pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI is engaged in damage control after offending another religion with which the Roman Catholic Church has been seeking better relations. Benedict is no doubt sincere in dissociating himself from a breakaway bishop's suggestion that no Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.

The fallout continues from Herman Rosenblat's discredited Holocaust story. Laurie Friedman's "Angel Girl," a children's book inspired by Rosenblat, was pulled Tuesday by the Lerner Publishing Group. President and Publisher Adam Lerner said in a statement that the Minneapolis-based company had been misled by Rosenblat and his wife, Roma. "We are dismayed to learn about Herman and Roma Rosenblat's recantation of part of their Holocaust survival story," Lerner said.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was backpedaling here Thursday almost as fast as he can drive. He had created a tempest in a teapot, a minor public relations glitch whose only real downside was bad timing. It started Monday night, while he was in Los Angeles for an appearance on the TV show "Dancing With the Stars." Castroneves had dinner with The Times' racing writer Jim Peltz.

Does she own jade jewelry worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or doesn't she? Only her propaganda team knows for sure. The mysterious jewelry tale about Zhang Beili, wife of the Chinese premier, surfaced last month when two Taiwanese television stations ran a story about her interest in bling.

Re "Delgadillo trips up on fast track," June 24 Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan just doesn't get it when it comes to the illegal actions of City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo. Riordan says Delgadillo "gets an F-minus in damage control." Like most politicians, Riordan focuses on how to spin things after one's mistakes. What he doesn't understand is that it's not the damage control that is the problem, it's Delgadillo's complete disregard for the laws he should be enforcing. PEGGY JO ABRAHAM Santa Monica I can't help noticing, especially in Sunday's extensive coverage of Delgadillo, that nothing was mentioned about his strange relationship with the billboard companies.

With shelves stocked with products including cooking oil, milk, tea, soy sauce, shampoo, vitamins and bandages, the showroom looks like a mini-supermarket. But none of the items are for sale -- they are all fake goods confiscated by the Chinese government in its uphill battle to tackle food safety problems and reduce counterfeiting.