Madd as Hell

by: Juan Melli

Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 09:16:32 AM EDT

In November of 2001, the chairman of New Jersey's Mothers Against Drunk Driving announced that four of the state's thirteen chapters would be closing because "they can't afford overhead" due to lagging fundraising. That would mean that of the 5,000 calls they received each year, they would "not be able to handle about 40 percent of requests for service."

Teresa Hardt, spokeswoman for MADD's national organization...said the national funding is meant only to supplement local fund-raising, which has not been strong in the chapters that closed offices.

One of those four chapters was the Camden-Gloucester office. The state chairman of MADD at the time happened to be from Gloucester County - Clayton Borough police chief Frank Winters.

Yesterday state Attorney Stuart Rabner charged Winters and his wife with stealing $150,000 from MADD - equal to the annual operating expenses for the statewide organization. According to Rabner the couple "owned a company that was paid to create promotional materials for MADD, but never did." And while he was bleeding the organization of critical funding, Winters callously used 9/11 as cover for his crimes saying "we didn't expect to get hit as severely and abruptly as we did."

His ethical accomplishments didn't end there. After leaving MADD in 2004, he went on to run as a Republican for Assembly in the 4th district in 2005. It was alleged at the time that he used taxpayer money to purchase $2,000 worth of "pens, teddy bears and other supplies" (sound familiar?) from the same shell business. Though his defeat was nearly certain anyway, the GOP apparently wasn't concerned with ethics at the time and saw no reason to pull his candidacy. He went on to lose by over 25 points.

Juan Melli :: Madd as Hell

Tags: GOP hypocrisy, MADD, Frank Winters, (All Tags)

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Madd as Hell | 6 comments

While it is always vastly entertaining... (0.00 / 0)

When a corrupt Republican gets it in the shorts, or any corrupt politician for that matter, it is hard as hell for me to gin up any real sympathy for MADD. The following is one good reason why:

http://www.state.nj....

While driving in an impaired state is wrong and one of the stupidest things one can do, that report points out that the orgy of license suspension that has taken place in NJ has not worked out the way one might have hoped.

Frankly, I think that the whole subject has been demagogued to hell and back, created a situation where license suspension becomes a one-size-fits-all penalty for warts, mopery and intestinal gas, amongst other things. MADD also seems to attract the most hacktacular politicians who promise to make more hacktacular laws, laws that while they make good press and revenge, make for lousy social and legal policy.

And, as the original story points out, it seems that it all really is about The Benjamins.

The nom de plume has a long and distinguished history.

by: Tandalayo Scheisskopf @ Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 14:20:41 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Tand, you raise some very important points (0.00 / 0)

MADD worked for positive social change 20 years ago. These days the call for more draconian measures is just bad policy, it doesnt work.

20 yrs ago we saw large reductions in drunk driving deaths and accidents, great work.

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 18:11:43 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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There is another thing, Roger. (0.00 / 0)

A while back this story was related to me by someone whom I considered to be a fine source of information on the subject.

MADD was started by one Candice Lightner and some of her friends, after Mrs. Lightner's son was killed in an auto accident by a drunken driver, a problem driver who had numerous previous offences. Fair enough.

Fast forward. Mrs. Lightner was up for a renewal of her employment contract as Director of MADD. However, during that time, members of another group had joined MADD en masse, as their group was floundering and they saw MADD as a successful vehicle for instituting their agendas, with none of the baggage. That group was The Women's Christian Temperance Union. They had gotten their people on the board of directors of MADD, through years of effort.

Upshot? Mrs. Lightner did not get her contract renewed. WCTU people gained control, some purging of old-liners took place and MADD effectively became a neo-prohibitionist organization. One can see the effects of the laws and regulations they advocate for. No longer are they about stopping drunk driving, if one discards the rhetoric and looks at the effects. They are about stopping drinking and putting bars out of business.

Now, I admit the following is stale data, but it might be added that at the time of Mrs. Lightner's separation from MADD, it was spending $.65 of every dollar received on "administrative expenses".

One more thing: Before some wag starts claiming I am merely a disgruntled drunk, I would like to point out that I haven't had a drink in 9 years, almost exactly. Actually a 3 weeks over 9 years. I just despise hypocrisy and hidden, self-serving agendas.

The nom de plume has a long and distinguished history.

by: Tandalayo Scheisskopf @ Wed Apr 25, 2007 at 22:23:46 PM UTC

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A familiar story (0.00 / 0)

I have thought over the last 10 or so years that MADD was completely co~opted.

DId you know that in NY, the last yr of the 18 yr old drinking age saw a larger decrease in DD deaths, than in any further years. Even with a year where the drinking age was 19, and then moved to 21.

By memory:
Last yr 18 yr drinking age.. 16% reduction in DD deaths
19 yr drinking age, 12% reduction
21 drinking age, 7% reduction
2nd yr @ 21... 3% reduction.

IIRC about 1980.

IMHO the reason was not the increased legal drinking age, but public awareness. Having a front page picture of a van crushed by a train on the front page of Newsday went a long ways to getting people to think....

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Thu Apr 26, 2007 at 20:29:20 PM UTC

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