Editorial
EDITORIAL: Albany lawmakers: Pass Leandra's Law and cut spending
Some lessons just don't stick. Each week, it seems, the news brings a fresh report about a drunken driver who took a life or came recklessly close. State lawmakers now have a chance to raise the punishment for driving while intoxicated to a felony if children are in the vehicle.
Over the weekend, Donald Wilson of Wyandanch was stopped after police noticed his Mercury Marquis weaving along the road near midnight. Among his six passengers were a 2-year-old and a 7-year-old. If not for a prior DWI conviction, Wilson would be facing as light a penalty as up to a year in jail if he's convicted. The proposed legislation would raise that to as much as four years. The bill, "Leandra's Law," is named for the late Leandra Rosado, 11, who was one of seven girls riding to a Bronx slumber party last month with a drunken driver at the wheel.
Assemb. Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), whose conference at first wanted the felony charge to apply only to drivers with a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent, now says he will introduce the bill with the legal limit of 0.08. That's good. Recognition of the seriousness of drunken driving by the Assembly would send a powerful message.
Meanwhile, however, legislators are still stalled on the $3.2 billion deficit in the state budget. One faction of the State Senate, led by Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), wants to balance the books with a series of gimmicks. Kruger is also challenging the governor to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations, which could take lengthy negotiations and is no answer to the immediate problem. Kruger appears to be shilling for the special interests who want to keep their paychecks flowing.
Lawmakers need to stop tolerating this kind of foolishness and bring back leaner spending that New York can afford. Spending like the good times will never end ruled Albany as late as last April's too-big budget. But some lessons are better learned late than never.hN
