Miss Am. Pageant to Settle Lawsuit

The Miss America Pageant has decided it would rather not air any more of its dirty laundry. A lawsuit brought by former Miss America Organization CEO Robert L. Beck was originally scheduled to go to trial Monday in Superior Court, promising to dredge up a 1999 controversy over who can wear the crown.

But the trial has been delayed to give both sides a chance to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. They were expected to meet with a judge later this month.

Beck, 62, a former head of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was named to the $235,000-a-year job in 1998. But he was fired a year later after proposing that the Miss America Pageant eliminate its 50-year-old ban against divorcees or those who had undergone abortions.

The proposal, which was suggested by Miss America Organization lawyer Steven Perskie and approved by the organization's Board of Directors, was intended to protect the pageant from discrimination claims.

The Miss America board of directors approved it in June 1999, but shelved it after protests from state pageant directors and traditionalists, who said opening the pageant to those women would undermine Miss America's status as feminine ideal.

Two weeks after The Associated Press first reported the change, Beck was fired. He has never spoken publicly since, but he filed suit in January 2000, asking that the pageant be forced to adopt the changes and that he be given severance pay.

The pageant, meanwhile, filed a counterclaim in which it accused Beck and some members of the board of holding "secret and clandestine meetings" aimed at ousting board Chairman David Frisch.

Beck alienated sponsors, contestants, regional pageants and the public, "tarnishing the image of the Miss America Pageant," according to the pageant's counterclaim.

Beck, who has moved out of the state, couldn't be reached for comment.

"He's running an organization in Maryland, but I'd rather not tell you what it is," said his lawyer, Linda Kenney. "People have a tendency to want to call him up and talk about this. I want him to keep this job."

Interim pageant CEO George Bauer also declined comment. "Because it's in litigation, it's inappropriate for me to comment," Bauer said.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP