Lobbyists who let senator drive drunk could suffer

Quite the week for political news. Here are some bullet items and comments:

What was becoming a fine career in the Utah Legislature was cut short a week ago when former Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, was arrested early in the morning on suspicion of driving drunk.

Killpack, 41, was a force in the Senate, a man seen as an up-and-comer in Utah GOP politics. He resigned last weekend, saying his problems were a distraction on the hard work the Legislature undertakes when the general session starts Monday.

Killpack was a Senate leader in a number of areas, including ethics reform.

Those who care about good government should be sorry to see Killpack go. He had no real choice, perhaps a non-Mormon could politically survive a DUI charge, but GOP LDS members are held to a higher standard, fair or not.

In the 1980s, a Democratic House member was on the verge of being kicked out of that body after she was convicted on a shoplifting charge. She resigned.

So legislators may wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to other ethics questions, but a criminal act, even a misdemeanor, spells trouble.

Speaking of fallout from the Killpack incident, Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, says senators want to know which lobbyists were with Killpack at a Midvale watering hole during the hours before Killpack was stopped by a UHP trooper while weaving in traffic.

Waddoups says they want to know if any other "illegal" activity was going on. Well, it is legal to drink in Utah. And it is legal to drink with lobbyists.

What senators really want to know is which of the "insider" lobbyists, those who court personal relationships with legislators, were in the bar, and why didn't they step up and help Killpack get home safely if they knew he had been drinking alcohol?

I'm told that lobbyist Mark Walker, a former House member who was in the car with Killpack, is already persona non grata at the Capitol.

It's clear some other lobbyists are going to have some explaining to do — probably privately to GOP leaders — on why they didn't try to help Killpack out. Friends don't let friends drive drunk, and all that.

Any lobbyists who get the cold shoulder on Capitol Hill could see it affect their business: Do clients want to be kicking out $25,000-plus a year to be associated with this kind of scandal?

Now, maybe legislators will realize that lobbyists really aren't their friends.