State Rep.

Monday, May 01, 2000

State Rep. Rob Leighton’s drunken behavior in St. Paul last week comes as a severe disappointment. Rob Leighton needs to make good on his statement that he accepts "full responsibility" and follow through to restore himself and regain the now fractured confidence of his constituents.

Democrats would do the state and Leighton himself a great disservice if they sought to dismiss this incident as of no consequence. This is not an isolated incident, and it has serious consequences. On the other hand, others would be insensitive and irresponsible if they were to demand his removal ipso facto. When a person has a problem, we help that person solve it. Removal should be for actual cause and not opportunistic exploitation.

Every citizen is obliged to keep the law, but law-makers have added obligation. When they break laws, we lose confidence laws are made objectively and wonder if they don’t manipulate them to their own advantage or protection. The entire legislature comes under suspicion of favoring one of their fellow members, and the House now is forced to decide how to discipline Leighton.

We remember the August 1995 incident in a local bar. Leighton was involved in a fight, but his statement differs radically from that of the other person and witnesses. Leighton claims he was jumped from behind, while the other person claims Leighton was loud and pushing him around. Regardless of how it happened, his condition was such that he went down and was unable to get himself up. The police found him "out."

I was disappointed that Leighton seemed to treat this as "just one of those things." I was the more disappointed when I heard his older brother, Scott, also a lawyer, joke about it before a legislative committee. The legislator is fortunate, or perhaps just lucky, voters didn’t seem to hold this against him. But they haven’t forgotten, and now his own subsequent behavior has brought it again to the fore.

With last week’s incident, it mildly encourages me that he confessed to his DWI and doesn’t appear to be trying to justify himself or dispute the charge. His apology to the House was the thing to do, but the least he could do. It has no value in itself until confirmed by changed behavior.

He told his colleagues "I accept full responsibility." That’s very easy to say, but the expression has lost its meaning recently because of how frequently other public figures-especially politicians – have mouthed it without ever paying a price or actually exercising responsibility. He equivocates when he speaks of "any embarrassment I may have caused." He did cause embarrassment. He needs also to apologize to his constituents for weakening confidence in him. His attorney seeks to mitigate the offense by characterizing it as only "an honest mistake." He either knew what he was doing when he got behind the wheel or he was too drunk to know what he was doing. Neither is innocent.

The report that Rob Leighton will undergo professional evaluation promises some hope. I hope this is his free choice and that he will follow through in therapy. He must not rationalize or deny. He has a problem, and he must obtain help to solve it. The problem is not drunken fighting or DWI per se, but whatever it is that has driven him to such dysfunctional behavior for much of his young life.

I am not pleading for "a second chance," because he has already been given more chances than he deserves. Yet, he needs another, and I would like to see him have it. The question is will he use it. Only Rob Leighton can answer that, and he can do so only by presenting himself to citizens as a changed man who obeys the laws he makes.

Wallace Alcorn’s column appears Mondays