LONSBERRY: Brian Kolb Must Resign

Those who make the laws must obey the laws.

               And so Brian Kolb must go.

               I like him, I agree with him, I think he’s done good things.

               But New Year’s Eve he piled into his state-provided SUV and, with a blood-alcohol content somewhere north of the legal limit, drove it into a ditch.

               From the looks of the tracks, he was leaving his new home and missed the turn onto the road, seemingly driving directly toward two small signs and a utility pole.

               A half an hour after a passerby’s 911 call, he had flunked a field sobriety test, been backseated to the sheriff’s office, and was lighting up the breathalyzer.

               That’s when they took the mugshot. It’s one of those pictures where you look at it and they don’t have to tell you what he was arrested for.

               New York came within three hours of going an entire calendar year without a member of the state legislature getting arrested, and then Brian Kolb got behind the wheel.

               A member of the Assembly since 2000, the leader of the Republican minority for a decade, his weekly free ad in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago had wagged its finger at drunk drivers, warning them to stay off the roads.

               Perhaps his defense is that he seems to have been too drunk to actually make it to the road.

               But one thing is clear: He’s got to go.

               Not that anybody else has. The Rochester region has a long line of drunk drivers who’ve kept their public office, their public pension, and their political power. Frank Horton, Susan John, Randy Kuhl, Len Redon. It’s a regular last call of big wigs and potable potentates.

               And Brian Kolb already has defenders. Those who opine about we all make mistakes and innocent until proven guilty and stuff like that.

               And it is true, nobody’s perfect. And we all do make mistakes.

               But drunk driving isn’t a mistake, it’s a crime. And while we cannot be perfect in this life, we can be perfect in some things in this life. For example, we can be perfect in not driving drunk. The large majority of people won’t get behind the wheel with alcohol on their breath. Those people are perfect in their obedience to drunk driving laws.

               Drunk driving laws which Brian Kolb has supported and voted for.

               Drunk driving laws which Brian Kolb has held press conferences about, written articles about, and grandstanded about.

               Drunk driving laws which have a clear and obvious threshold.

               A threshold which he violated.

               In a state-owned vehicle.

               In the free SUV he gets for being a “leader,” the one you pay for with your taxes, he broke the law, as demonstrated by his New Year’s Day statement of responsibility.

               It was just like the crisis-PR people recommend. Crocodile tears, huge mistake, accepting full responsibility.

               So let him accept full responsibility.

               Let him turn in the keys to the truck and the keys to his office. Let him resign from the Assembly before another day passes.

               Because that is exactly what would be required of almost any other state employee under similar circumstances.

               If that was a DEC truck, or a NYSDOT truck, or a troop car, or if it had been driven by an Assembly staffer, that person would be fired. Out of a job. Flushed. With no questions asked. Adios, sayonara, goodbye. You screwed the pooch, and you’ve got to go.

               That’s how it would be for an unelected state employee, and it should be the same standard for an elected state employee.

               A National Guardsman, a police officer, a correctional officer, a parole officer, any one of those state employees would be fired for a DWI. School teachers and administrators would almost certainly be gone. And what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If the workers would get axed, so should the queen bees.

               Yes, Brian Kolb is a good guy. Yes, he says conservative things. Yes, his patronage supports a variety of people and activities.

               But your family rides on the roads, too. And every drunk driver is a potentially violent criminal. Driving drunk is the same thing as shooting a gun into a roomful of people. Maybe it hits somebody and maybe it doesn’t. But it undeniably creates a clear and obvious danger to innocent people. Our laws realize that and seek to prevent that.

               And so should our lawmakers.

               The standard of Albany is low. The standard of the 131stAssembly District must be high.

               Those who make the laws must obey the laws.

               Brian Kolb did not, so he should not.

               He must go.


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