Chicago DUI lawyer comments on MADD's mad money grab

This Chicago DUI lawyer has posted about so-called DUI advocacy groups like AAIM and MADD here, here, and here. Are you at all surprised that there is internal debate about how the funds they acquire are spent?

April 20, Reno, NV

Some Nevadans working locally for Mothers Against Drunk Driving have split from the national organization, saying money they raised here was sent to the national headquarters instead of being used for local programs to stop drunken driving.

But Debbie Wier, the chief operating officer at the Irving, Texas-based MADD, defended the organization's financial decisions, saying it is "one consolidated legal entity" that raises money in 50 states and spends based on resources and need.

MADD's disconnect with Nevada means no advocates help victims with their grief and recovery. Fewer people monitor the courts to ensure proper punishments. And fewer public campaigns and programs aim at curbing impaired driving in a state with 24-hour alcohol availability.

Charles Hurley, MADD's CEO, acknowledged the group's weak presence in Nevada. "For one, we've had a number of volunteers who have gotten angry and left," he said. Also, it's harder to have a strong presence in rural states. It's easier to do where there are more people."

Laurel Stadler, founder of the first MADD chapter in Nevada in 1990 and a decades-long volunteer, stopped giving MADD money she raised from rural victim impact panels in 2008 after objecting to restrictions placed on the Nevada funds.

All first and second-time drunken-driving offenders must attend these panels, which range in cost from $35 to $50 per person. The money is then used on programs to curb drinking and driving.

"We had $150,000 that was in the Nevada bank account at MADD national in Dallas that our volunteers had generated," Stadler said. "But I couldn't get authorization to do programming in Nevada. It was getting harder for us to get money back from Dallas."

Stadler now gives those funds, about $50,000 annually, to the Reno-based Northern Nevada DUI Task Force "to keep the money locally," she said.

Does anyone else see a problem with the government forcing defendants to pay money to a “charity” group?