AUTO-MOTIVE FOUR CANDIDATES CHALLENGE AAA'S NONPOLITICAL STANCE.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

While some view Carl Olson and his three cohorts as modern-day Don Quixotes determined to topple their own windmills, directors of the Automobile Club of Southern California are taking them much more seriously.

The four have filed to run as ``reform'' candidates for directorships of the group, a local institution that hasn't had an election in more than 30 years.

Olson's group wants the Auto Club to be more advocate than insurer, to push for the abolition of car and gas taxes and to investigate why gas prices spiked this summer.

Auto club officials say Olson and friends are an ultraconservative cabal intent on politicizing and hijacking the AAA's 5 million Southern California members.

``We take this very seriously not because of the personal politics of these four people, but because they are trying to ruin something that the Auto Club has worked 100 years to establish,'' said Carol Thorp, spokeswoman for the club.

``Our members don't join for politics. They join for roadside assistance, trip services and DMV services.''

But according to Olson, a Woodland Hills accounting professor, political advocacy should be just as large a part of the organization.

He points to the organization's articles of incorporation, which state the Auto Club will ``promote just and uniform highway or other legislation in any way pertaining to motor vehicles or the ownership or use thereof.''

``I have never heard the AAA say a peep about the vehicle tax or the double taxation of sales and excise taxes on gas,'' Olson said. ``So we decided to do something about it.''

The ``we'' to whom he refers are his slate-mates: Peter Ford, a general contractor and son of film idol Glenn Ford; Mark Seidenberg, a retired transportation executive; and Robin C. Westmiller, a Thousand Oaks author and wife of the immediate past chairman of the California Republican Liberty Caucus.

Auto Club officials have blasted the candidates, charging their agenda is pushed by state GOP leaders like anti-tax crusader Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills.

Olson denies the accusation and McClintock's office said he has not had any involvement with the candidates. But AAA officials note that the four's campaign statements closely parrot portions of the state Republican legislative platform.

The 12 members of the board of directors were selected and appointed by previous board members. Those challenged this year are Edward M. Carson, Donn B. Miller, Joan A. Payden and Gilbert T. Ray.

A week ago, the battle reached the courtroom, where a judge ordered that the four reform candidates be allowed to campaign and distribute materials in AAA district offices.

The proxy election, which was initially scheduled for March, has been pushed back to April.

A recent mailer sent to all club members and written on Auto Club letterhead contains a plea from president Thomas V. McKernan to reject the ``narrow political agenda that threatens to change the nonpartisan nature of the Club's policy activities.''

Whatever the outcome of the election, it has already changed the way the club operates, forcing officials to spend time and resources campaigning for the incumbents.

``I do fear that the fallout from all this negative rhetoric is that if one of us, or all of us, does get elected, we will have to spend a good part of time and energy undoing the damage to our reputations before we can even begin to work,'' Westmiller said.

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Photo: Carl Olson is one of four candidates for the Automobile Club of Southern California board of directors.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer