Former senator’s alleged DUI tainted democratic process

The Utah State Legislature will begin its annual session next week. Agenda items are diverse as our elected representatives will discuss and vote on all the issues that impact the state.

There are many good people who work tirelessly in our legislative branches to partner with our communities and businesses to build prosperity. However, gross violations of state ethics and abuse of power are all too common.

Last week, former State Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and resigned his Senate seat the next day. Ironically, Killpack was a vocal opponent of drunken driving, and he spearheaded ethics reforms. In fact, Killpack’s father was killed by a drunken driver, and all this didn’t seem to matter to him as he took the wheel, inebriated.

Killpack refused to take a breath test, but was forced to take a warranted blood test with results that could take up to a month to determine how drunk he was while driving. He was driving with a lobbyist and former Illinois congressman who had previously pled guilty to inducing his opponent to drop out of a state treasurer race.

It would seem that these two power-hungry politicians were more obsessed with the prestige of their position than serving the people who elected them. At least they both had enough decency to resign and show post-disgrace respect for the offices they held, after making terrible decisions.

Ethics is the core of a successfully functioning democracy. Unfortunately, personal integrity no longer seems to be a strong-enough motive for elected officials to make decisions in the best interest of their constituents. Lobbyists and political machines get in the way too easily and often, and the overall public consensus is a feeling of frustration that their elected officials don’t listen and don’t vote as the voice of the people. This is a broken democracy.

Although it can only be measured at the polls as a steadily decreasing number, not all citizens are exercising their right to vote in elections. Simply put, many feel voting isn’t worth the time because their representatives react solely to money and their respective political machines.

This perverse and disappointing reality of America’s democratic process is a cheap imitation of what the Founding Fathers worked so hard to build and our nation’s military sacrificed to protect. History shows that in these times, radical economic and political change occurs. Change is definitely on the horizon, the uncertainty of which will most likely be an unwelcome visitor.