I have a confession to make.

Wednesday, June 07, 2000

I have a confession to make. I’m not perfect. I drink alcohol sometimes, and I used to smoke. I would still smoke, but I have a baby instead. I also have been known to swear and hitchhike, often at the same time, usually between rides. I don’t mow my lawn often enough, and I’m always behind on the housework.

I don’t lie. I don’t deliberately hurt people. I am not greedy.

But, I suspect, applying the same yardstick folks have been using on Rep. Rob Leighton, I am a character not to be trusted.

Having read my first and second paragraphs and balanced them up, those people probably have concluded that I’m headed to hell in a hurry.

Help me out here. Since when did getting a DWI automatically mean a person is afflicted with alcoholism? Last time I checked, it meant a person was driving after they’d had too much to drink, and it might mean that further evaluation was necessary.

Did I somehow miss the news that Leighton was missing events at the Capitol because he was drunk or hung over and that alcohol was interfering with his ability to do his job of representing the people?

If a DWI means a person has a flawed character, then we’d better give up learning from our mistakes, go straight to jail and let all those people in glass houses run the country. Hello Stepford wives.

Leighton’s arrest in St. Paul gave rise to all sorts of disturbing feelings for me: Anger at some people who seemed to be pleased about the whole affair, almost salivating at the news. Sadness for Rob and his family, because an arrest for anyone is not good news. Irritation with Pat Piper and Wallace Alcorn, who took the opportunity to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude, as did many others. And, I’m embarrassed to admit, curiousity about what he and his female driver-passenger were doing for two hours while she bled from the nose.

That line of thought was finished when it was revealed that the spokesman for the police had misread the report, although there was a day of some remarkable speculation in Austin. When the truth came out, we learned it was only roughly 10 minutes – not two hours – that elapsed and they were stopped close to the hospital.

Now we have Steve Sviggum making comments and casting doubt.

Surprise, surprise, surprise, as Gomer Pyle would have said with just the right amount of sarcasm.

Know what? Leighton messed up. He drank too much, but at least he took the offer of a ride home. That doesn’t make him an alcoholic or an idiot.

It makes him human. I’d vote for a human over a perfect being anyday.

On that note, I’d also rather be giving him a ride home than most of his critics. At least Rob would head for a hospital if I had a broken nose, rather than get out of the car and remove himself from the crime scene as fast as he could.

I don’t know what kind of fallout his arrest will have on his political career, I suspect we’ll see this November. I think Rob has done a good job for the most part, and I know he’s been a lot more responsible in his 34 years than I have. Maybe he’ll live to regret it. And maybe he’ll live to be president, who knows?

All I know is my mother once told me that "perfect would be boring" and I agree.

Show me a perfect person, and I’ll make sure I sit on the other side of the bar.