Originally posted on The Hill's Congress Blog - 3.28.12

Who else but Richard Berman would argue we need to better protect drunk drivers? Sarah Longwell, the “managing director” of the American Beverage Institute (ABI) is credited with Today's MADD drives dangerous new policies, but Longwell’s real job is vice president at Berman’s public relations firm, Berman & Company, and ABI is just one of Berman’s many industry front groups.

With a title like managing director of the American Beverage Institute, you might think Longwell is an expert on sometimes conflicting goals of the hospitality industry, which both wants to ring up sales and, at the same time, ensure patrons drink responsibly. She’s not. Rather, she’s a paid flack trying to undermine the influence of Mothers Against Drunk Driving – a nonprofit that enjoys high public confidence – at the behest of corporate interests that don’t want their own fingerprints on such a dirty game.

According to ABI’s website, the group is “a restaurant trade association dedicated to protecting the on-premise dining experience – which often includes the responsible consumption of adult beverages.” As a representative for ABI, Longwell decries the inhumanity that, one day, alcohol detection technology may be installed in all vehicles. Sure, this technology would crack down on drunk drivers, but Longwell claims this also would inhibit the personal freedom of anyone who opts to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking responsibly. Never mind that even the facts she cites in her post do not support her claims. But the truth doesn’t interest Longwell.

According to research Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has conducted, Berman & Company uses corporate money to set up phony nonprofits to disseminate misinformation. In addition to ABI, by our count he’s behind at least 22 other groups – often as the executive director – and he passes himself and his staff off as experts on a number of hot-button issues. Berman’s nonprofits are astroturfing for big moneyed special interests. Longwell plays many different roles in Berman’s nonprofit empire. In addition to her position at ABI, she is the communications director for both the Center for Consumer Freedom and the Center for Union Facts, to name just two. She has served as an “expert” on a number of different topics, ranging from organized labor to health care reform, sweeteners to alcohol detection devices. Her real expertise is in hiding her real agenda from the media.

Longwell suggests the potential inconvenience and infringement on personal freedom of a few sober drivers far outweighs the danger of one drunk driver on the road. According to recent data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 10,000 crash deaths were the result of drivers impaired by alcohol in 2009. One of those was 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed and another six children were injured when Carmen Huertas got behind the wheel with a blood alcohol level of .132.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average drunk driver has driven drunk at least 80 times before her first arrest. Another study indicates that over 50% of drunk drivers continue to drive after their licenses have been suspended.

Rather than catching a drunk driver once she’s killed someone, doesn’t it make more sense to stop her before she gets behind the wheel? Longwell would rather we focus on the potential inconvenience and infringement on personal freedoms she claims a few sober drivers might suffer than the proven danger of drunk drivers on the road.

It seems there is nothing Berman and Longwell won’t say for a big enough paycheck.