Steven Rattner, head of the Auto Industry Task Force charged with turning around the American auto industry, has resigned his post unexpectedly. He’ll apparently be replaced by a union lackey, so there’s not much to look forward to.

Steven Rattner, head of the Obama administration’s auto task force, is leaving that post and will be replaced by former steelworkers official Ron Bloom.

The administration said Monday that Rattner decided to return to private life and his family in New York City.

Rattner won praise for the job he did managing the massive restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler. But his government service came under a cloud with an investigation of an influence peddling scandal back in New York.

Authorities have said that Rattner, an investment banker, was unlikely to face charges in the investigation which involved a giant state pension fund that provides retirement benefits for more than 1 million government employees.

Ed Morrissey calls into question the assertion made by the Associated Press that authorities have made such a statement. A search of Google News returns no such results except similar formulations as the assertion made here, but none cite a particular statement or press release. The only official statement seems to come from the White House, which hardly qualifies as authoritative or non-partisan in the area of possible charges against its employees.

I’m having trouble believing that a man who just received and accepted a cushy, bureaucratic job suddenly decides that he wants to spend more time with his family. He went from wanting to run the Auto Task Force in Washington to spending time with his family in New York within that short a period of time? Call me skeptical.

Anyway, it’s time to concentrate on the individual replacing Rattner, Ron Bloom. Bloom has apparently never worked in the auto industry and has even less experience in the business world than his predecessor. The only thing Bloom seems to have in his favor is that he’s a former union official. That’s not promising when the UAW is a chunk of what’s wrong with the American auto industry.