Wage Increase Deceptive, Say Feds

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Sunday, January 16, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A QUICK WORDS: MADD FOUNDER LOBBYING
FOR LIQUOR GROUP 





SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The woman who founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving
after her daughter was killed by an inebriated hit-and-run driver is now a
paid lobbyist for a liquor-industry trade group. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Candy Lightner began work in Washington last week for the American Beverage
Institute, which represents breweries and restaurants. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; She said Thursday she is lobbying state legislatures against laws to lower
the legal standard for drunken driving to 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content.
Many states have a 0.10 percent standard. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Several years ago, California changed its standard to 0.08 percent. MADD
supports the lower level. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lightner founded MADD after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a
hit-and-run drunken driver in May 1980 in suburban Sacramento. The driver's
blood-alcohol level was 0.20 percent. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lightner said her new job doesn't conflict with her years spent trying to
stiffen drunken-driving laws. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I assume some people will say, `Gee, what's she doing working for the
industry, the other side,' " Lightner said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I don't see it as the other side. They're just as affected by drunk
driving as anyone else. Drunk driving certainly doesn't enhance their
business. They have friends, neighbors and relatives hurt by drunk driving." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In 1983, MADD moved its headquarters to Texas. Two years later, Lightner
was fired by the board over disagreements including her request for a $10,000
bonus on top of her $76,000 annual salary. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 She declined to say how much she is being paid. She is a full-time employee
of the lobbying firm Berman &amp; Co., whose clients include the beverage
industry. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Andrew McGuire, executive director of the Trauma Foundation at San
Francisco General Hospital and a former MADD board member, said any
association with the liquor industry is counterproductive. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Anyone who is serious about preventing drunk driving should not ever get
in bed with the alcohol industry," he said, "because the industry has the goal
of getting more people to drink, and when more people drink you have more
drunk driving." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Beckie Brown, national president of MADD in Irving, Texas, said Lightner's
new position wouldn't damage MADD's reputation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We believe 0.08 needs to be passed, and Candy doesn't," Brown said. "We
just have a difference in philosophy right now."

Madd Founder Lobbying For Liquor Group 
Candy Lightner Says Her 
New Job Fighting Against 
Lowering Legal Standards 
For Drunken Driving Does 
Not Conflict With Her Original 
Mission

Madd Founder Lobbying For Liquor Group Candy Lightner Says Her New Job Fighting Against Lowering Legal Standards For Drunken Driving Does Not Conflict With Her Original Mission