Chicago DUI lawyer comments on the Mormon State Senator's DUI arrest

This Chicago DUI lawyer has posted here and here on alcohol prohibition. Now comes news of a Utah State Senator's DUI arrest. He's a Mormon, member of the Church of Latter-Day-Saints, that prohibits its members from alcohol consumption (see health practices section here).

January 16, Salt Lake City, UT

Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack resigned from the Legislature Saturday, the day after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, telling the Deseret News that wasn't the first time he'd taken a drink.

Killpack is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which counsels its members to abstain from alcohol, but he acknowledged that evening was not the first time he'd taken a drink.

"It was an occasional, social thing," he said of his drinking. Asked if he was giving up alcohol, Killpack said, "I don't know that I have a lot of interest in that anymore." He said he expected to undergo some sort of court-ordered treatment.

He said he is in contact with his church leadership about his drinking and that it is something he and his wife were already talking about. "This was nothing that came as a surprise to my wife," Killpack said.

First appointed to the Senate in 2003, Killpack was up for re-election this year. He served as co-chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee in addition to other committee assignments. Among the issues he advocated was strengthening Utah's DUI laws, telling his fellow lawmakers last year during a debate on a DUI bill that when he was just a teenager, his father was killed by a drunken driver.

Perhaps it's time for MADD to take a closer look at the politicians they use as the mouthpiece for their alcohol prohibition agenda.