No one really trusts government. Even when our congressmen or members of our state Legislature come together to pass something somewhat sensible and bipartisan like increased health benefits for veterans, anti-animal cruelty legislation or a resolution honoring Bruce Springsteen, the public views our representatives as either easily swayed, completely corrupt or generally incompetent.
And generally, that’s the case.
Yet, we recognize that most of these elected officials aren’t brain-dead. There are some cases where an issue comes before the Senate or Assembly that is based so overwhelmingly on common sense that to oppose action on the issue would not so much indicate incompetence as it would the need for a lobotomy.
Take, for instance, the current drunken driving bill moving through the Wisconsin Legislature. Last Thursday, the Assembly unanimously agreed on a few harsher penalties for our state’s relatively unimpeded drunken drivers: All repeat drunken driving offenders will have to install ignition interlock devices in their cars, which will prevent those who exceed the legal limit for blood alcohol content from starting their car. In addition, the state will finally make the fourth OWI offense a felony, whereas we had previously waited until the fifth offense to consider it a felony.
And all this should be completely obvious. We have the highest drunken driving rate in the nation. The Department of Health and Human Services found more than one-quarter of all Wisconsin drivers have driven drunk at some point. Then when you see that 40 percent of all fatal traffic crashes in Wisconsin were related to drunken driving, it becomes sort of a no-brainer, right?
Well, not exactly.
One of the things the Assembly bill does not do is make the first drunken driving offense a misdemeanor. If you have a child under 16 years old, sure. But otherwise, the state of Wisconsin will continue to chastise your first drunken driving offense with a mere citation.
Remember that when you ask a state legislator about it. If you drive drunk, despite the increased likelihood that you drive that giant hunk of metal into a tree, car or another human being — injuring or killing him or her — taking that risk is only a crime when you do it the second time.
We reiterate: Most of the time, our government officials, despite their flaws, do not become elected while comatose. They have brain activity and even logic at their behest.
But a suspension of reality is required for our state Legislature to continue shrugging off the first offense. We have a good number of repeat offenders because the first offense is currently judged as a “whoops” moment. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen tried to sum up this pathetic defense to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this summer: “There are a great number of people — people I know personally — who have first offenses. I do not consider them criminals and I wouldn’t want them to be tagged that way for having made what can be legitimately called a mistake.”
Parking your car in a loading zone is a mistake. Driving drunk is an act of negligence that can cost people their lives. And for any state official to claim otherwise is a despicable abdication of their responsibility to carry out the law and protect the public.
The state Senate has a similar bill that will come to a vote in the next two weeks. We implore members of the Senate to prove they have not taken leave of their faculties and make the first offense a criminal offense — period.
It’s hard enough to trust our elected representatives. Don’t give us another reason not to.