LEGISLATURE VOTES TO END VEHICLE PANEL; AUTO AUCTION OPERATOR'S LAWSUIT ALLEGES HARASSMENT

Complaints from two public auto auctions might have killed the Missouri Motor Vehicle Commission.

It will be up to Gov. Mel Carnahan in June to decide if the commission will retain its budget after the Missouri House and Senate passed a bill that makes the commission a part of the Department of Revenue.

The bill designates the move as a budget item. Brad Ketcher, Carnahan's chief of staff, said the governor will address the issue when he approves the budget on June 1.

The commission is a seven-member board that was formed in 1988 from the Department of Revenue. It is responsible for the licensing and regulation of approximately 5,000 vehicle dealers and manufacturers in the state.

The commission came under scrutiny in March when one of its former investigators, Terry Wilsford, spoke at a meeting of auto dealers in Cape Girardeau. Wilsford told the dealers that a letter was going to be sent to them warning of the possible consequences of selling uninspected vehicles at public auto auctions.

Wilsford warned dealers that they could be sued by consumers and lose their state license. His presentation came while he and former commission director Greg Mitchell were being sued by Stan Lowery, owner of Cape Girardeau Auto Auction.

Lowery's lawsuit alleged the commission interfered with his business with a similar letter sent to Cape Girardeau auto dealers last year. Lowery has said his business has never been charged with violating state law, and until it is the letters are harassing.

Both Wilsford and Mitchell resigned from the commission in late March or early April.

Wilsford also made a disparaging remark about an unnamed female representative who was a member of the Motor Vehicle and Traffic Regulations Committee. His comments were taped and played at a committee meeting in March. A member of that committee, House Majority Floor Leader Rep. Gracia Backer, called for a review of Wilsford's actions.

Backer said in a letter to Wilsford dated March 12 that she had listened to the tape several times, "and it is quite apparent you think I am some nitwit who knows nothing about either the legislative process or motor vehicle law."

She said that Wilsford shouldn't be concerned about making any further comments about her. "What you should indeed be concerned about is your apparent collusion with certain factions of automobile dealers," she wrote.

Backer, D-New Bloomfield, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that she never called for Wilsford's or Mitchell's resignation.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with any resignation," she said. "I said to Mr. Mitchell that I'm concerned about the activities of the commission, and this is in no way an indication that I want anyone fired."

Backer said the action against the commission was due to a number of complaints from lawmakers who said the commission was siding with one group of auto dealers. She would not specify what those complaints were.

"Many of us think that there was a certain segment that was given special treatment," Backer said.

She said the commission will continue to operate within the Department of Revenue.

Diane Riley, acting director of the Motor Vehicle Commission, said the bill proposes that the commission's budget will be slashed from $701,000 this year to $400,000 next year. The number of full-time employees will also drop from 16 to nine.

"There's a lot of uncertainty; we just continue to do our jobs the way we're supposed to and morale seems to be fairly decent," Riley said.

State Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, said he opposed the move to do away with the commission.

"I think all the reasons for doing this are pretty damn sorry," Howard said. "In fact, as far as I know there were two auctions in the state that caused all this. One of them was in Cape Girardeau."

He said auto dealers formed the Motor Vehicle Commission as a citizens commission because they felt the Department of Revenue was not looking out for their best interests. He said of the hundreds of auction houses in Missouri, two were violating state law.

It was the complaints from these two auction houses that did away with the commission, Howard said.

He said the issue isn't dead and may be revisited.

Wayne Morton, owner of I-55 Auto Auction in St. Louis, was one of the men who called the meeting in Cape Girardeau that Wilsford spoke at. He said he would be happy to see the commission revert to the Department of Revenue.

"The commission was nothing but an investigative body; they had no arrest powers," Morton said. "Revenue has got their own investigation bureau. I say when we go back under (the Department of) Revenue, all Hell is liable to break loose."