Top MADD Officials in State Lose Jobs Over Insurance Propositions

The national headquarters of Mothers Against Drunk Driving has conducted a purge of the chairwoman and three top staff members of the California state MADD organization in an apparent reprisal for their support of insurance Propositions 100 or 103.

A spokesman for MADD confirmed Thursday that Chris Bauer, the state chairwoman of MADD, had been stripped of her membership and that two national officials had been sent this week from the Texas headquarters to Sacramento to change the locks on MADD’s state office and to fire the staff members.

Bauer participated in a television commercial endorsing Proposition 100, the unsuccessful initiative backed by the California Trial Lawyers Assn. and various consumer groups, in the November election. Pat Ramirez, who was fired as state administrator for MADD, had been a supporter of Proposition 103, the successful consumer-backed insurance initiative.

The national board of directors of MADD repudiated both endorsements during the campaign, claiming that they threatened MADD’s tax-exempt status. But California MADD officials and coordinators of the 100 and 103 campaigns suggested that insurance industry contributors may have put pressure on the national organization to make the repudiations.

Andy Briscoe, director of MADD’s national public affairs department, denied Thursday that the insurance industry had anything to do with the actions taken against Bauer, Ramirez, state office manager Kathryn Collins and finance director Jack Baird. He said the industry gives only a “nominal amount” to the organization’s $13-million annual budget.

Briscoe said the visit to Sacramento by Al Wells and Milo Kirk from national headquarters this week, and the firings and changings of locks at the state office, were “a precautionary action to protect property we consider MADD’s property.”

As for stripping Bauer of her membership, Briscoe said, “Nothing was done without her knowing about it first.” A written statement issued by the national organization accused Bauer of actions “detrimental to and not in the best interests of MADD.”

Bauer could not be reached for comment Thursday. But Ramirez said she was filing suit against the national organization and that she and others are thinking about establishing a new organization.

“They fired me for my support of 103,” Ramirez said. “The action against us was Draconian. They didn’t dare try to remove Chris Bauer directly as chairwoman, so they revoked her membership and when they did that it made null and void her position as chairwoman.”

Ramirez said her lawyers had advised her against saying more for now.

Steven Miller, chairman of the 100 campaign, commented Thursday, “I think it’s repugnant that the national organization would interfere with the state organization and punish those individuals for their appropriate efforts . . . because their efforts were threatening to the insurance industry.”