The latest: State Rep. Suzi Carlson, a Clay Center Republican, was arrested and booked into jail Monday night on suspicion of driving under the influence and failing to stay in a single lane. That makes her the fourth state legislator to be arrested in less than a year. That’s four out of just 165 seats in the Kansas House and Senate.
Carlson now joins:
• State Sen. Gene Suellentrop of Wichita, who squirmed out of a felony charge he richly deserved after leading police on a horrifying high speed chase the wrong way down Interstate 70 in Topeka last March.
• State Rep. Mark Samsel of Wellsville, who was charged with battery of a teenage student in a bizarre altercation caught on video while he was substitute teaching.
• State Rep. Aaron Coleman of Kansas City, who has the longest rap sheet of the bunch: He’s been charged with DUI, banned from the state Department of Labor offices, arrested for domestic violence, and accused of threatening everyone from a girlfriend to his grandfather to Gov. Laura Kelly.
CONSEQUENCES? Not a seat lost among them, though Suellentrop was ousted as Kansas Senate majority leader. The Legislature hasn’t been willing to hold any of these members accountable.
And since addiction is a serious public health issue, why aren’t we hearing more about treatment after these high profile arrests? Accountability is an essential part of recovery.
We’re all acutely aware of the dangers of driving while intoxicated, and the best thing that can be said about the cases of Carlson and Suellentrop is that nobody was seriously hurt. The video of Samsel going wild in that classroom and Coleman’s repeated public demonstrations of erratic behavior on social media and real life are both screaming alarms, too: These men need professional help. Desperately.
Our legislative leaders are letting down their own members — and also the public they were all elected to serve. People have been drinking more during this pandemic, and those who’ve struggled with substance abuse in the past have found themselves at greater risk for relapse amid its isolation. Nobody’s mental health has been helped by two years of unending fights over simple public health measures.
Carlson’s arrest is a chance for the Legislature to get its house in order: Assure the public that it’s meting out both the appropriate penalties and assistance to its own members.
