Two Charities File Ethics Complaint Against Beverage Group

The Humane Society of the United States and Mothers Against Drunk Driving filed an ethics complaint last week charging the American Beverage Institute, a group that represents restaurants, of engaging in illegal lobbying.

The beverage group is led by Richard Berman, a Washington lobbyist who oversees several nonprofit organizations that have attacked charities including the Humane Society and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (See this Chronicle article on an anti-Humane Society advertising campaign conducted by the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is run by Mr. Berman).

The two charities registered a complaint with the New York State Commission on Public Integrity, saying that the American Beverage Institute violated the state’s lobbying law in 2008 when it ran advertisements in The New York Times and New York Post without being registered in New York as a lobbyist. State law requires groups to register as lobbyists if they spend more than $5,000 on lobbying activities.

The advertisements sounded an alarm about the potential widespread use of in-car breathalyzers. At the time, the New York State legislature was considering legislation to cut down on drunk driving that included a provision on the breathalyzer devices.

Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute, dismissed the charges in the ethics complaint as bogus.

The advertisements do not constitute lobbying because they do not mention specific legislation or lawmakers, nor do they issue a call to action, said Ms. Longwell. She said the American Beverage Institute was in the middle of a national campaign against in-car breathalyzers for people without a record of drinking and driving and was advertising not only in The New York Times and Post—the former of which she called a national newspaper—but also in USA Today and on Washington radio.

Ms. Longwell said her group had not been contacted by the New York State Commission on Public Integrity about the complaint.