Even legislators are not above the law this time

I wrote about the DUI arrest of state Rep. Trish Groe previously. This article from the Arizona Republic shows that the system does work (at least sometimes). In my last post on this topic, it looked as though she was going to get special treatment from the Republican prosecuting her. Luckily, they appointed another proscecutor who is seeking the penality outlined in the law... Good to see.

The DUI laws in AZ are tough and the legislators who passed them should be subject to them the same as everyone else.

Would You or I Get This Kind of Treatment?

The Maricopa Democratic Party sent this out today:

Everyone:
According to the Lake Havasu News-Herald, the lawyer who is deciding whether to charge Republican Representative Trish Groe with extreme DUI, despite her blowing a breathalyzer test score of 0.148 (twice the legal limit) still can't bring himself to do the right thing. The La Paz County Board of Supervisors hired lawyer Dennis Wilenchik (the same attorney who is defending Sheriff Joe Arpaio against Dan Saban's defamation lawsuit) who seems to be doing everything he can to drag his feet:

“We are still looking into the matter,” Wilenchik said. “I am diligently investigating into legal and factual matters that are important to all concerned and will do what we have to in order to do the right thing for the public and Ms. (Groe).”The comments made by the local readers are of a community screaming for justice. But how can there be justice when the deck is so clearly stacked in the Republican lawmaker's favor? So much for the Republican claim of respect for the law.
So even with lab reports that verify Groe's blood-alcohol level, this former Republican lobbyist continues to charge La Paz county tax payers $225/hour for his time and $175/hour for his support staff's time while he makes up his mind. He's already collect over $500,000 in fees defending Joe Arpaio, so what's a few more thousand amongst friends? So now we know there are at least two reasons for this to be drug out: soaking the taxpayers and skirting the law.
Follow the link and read the story. You'll be sickened and outraged.
http://www.havasunews.com/articles/2007/07/23/news/news03.txt

I wonder if you or I would get this kind of treatment. That is potentially pretty bad...

No, I have never had a DUI...

I know that I am almost alone in my feelings about the DUI laws. For those of you new to my blog, I talk a lot about the consequences of legislation. Primarily, how legislation is never neutral, there are always winner and losers. The DUI laws seem to be a particularly good example of this. The Republic has this article about the Arizona Legislature requiring interlock devices for people convicted of a DUI.

I have several problems with this law and DUI laws in general. First, the point of DUI laws does not seem to be aimed at actually reducing the number of people driving drunk. They are overly punitive and increasing (just my opinion) convicting people who have had three drinks at a cocktail party or happy hour and not really decreasing the number of people drinking and driving. There is a cost/benefit analysis that must be applied here. As restrictions and punishment for DUIs increase and given the level of accuracy of the equipment used to convict people, we are likely seeing a greater number of innocent people convicted and a lower number of truly dangerous people who will alter their behavior. I think we probably hit the level of diminishing returns when Arizona moved from 1.0 to .08 as the legal limit.

Where is the data that the interlock systems are actually affective? Does anyone benefit other than the companies making and installing the equipment? How will a poor person convicted of a DUI deal with this(the equipment is very expensive)? If we really wanted to reduce the number of traffic deaths related to drinking, how about providing free rides to and from the bar on weekends? OR Free rides home from the bar and a free ride back to your car in the morning?

I think we as a society are overly punitive. Punishment cannot solve every problem, but seems like the tool we most like to use. Why do we have such a hard time accepting human nature?