The 11 men and women who sit on the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission had a simple, straightforward assignment: determine which of two competing bidders, Japan's Sumitomo Corp. or Idaho's Morrison Knudsen, would do the best job manufacturing rail cars for the county's new transit system. In mid-December the commission voted 7 to 4 to award $122 million to Sumitomo for the job. But that was before President Bush made his ill-starred trip to Tokyo to wrest trade concessions from the Japanese and a shrill chorus shouting "Buy America" began to drown out all others on the L.A. commission. "No loyal...
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