Our View - Thursday

DA NEWSOME'S BEER DILEMMA
His career will depend on the public's trust

By mid afternoon Wednesday, it seemed clear that Fourth Judicial District Attorney John Newsome understood the weight of his actions. He had been caught drinking and then driving by a local TV reporter with a hidden camera. He had consumed large amounts of beer, the equivalent of 11 bottles, in a span of five hours.

Colorado law does not prohibit drinking, then driving, but it does prohibit driving with a blood alcohol level of .05 or more - a low standard easily reached with moderate consumption. Newsome wasn't arrested and nobody has physical evidence to show his blood alcohol level was in the forbidden range.

"None of that matters," Newsome told The Gazette Wednesday afternoon. "If people feel that the standard should be that you don't drink and drive at all, then I'm there. That's how I will live. I have made a huge mistake and it won't happen again. You can't believe what I've been through since this became news, and what my wife and kids have been through. There is no way that I will engage in this behavior again."

Breaking down, Newsome explained that his wife and young children had been subjected to ridicule and a barrage of media stories and inquiries. Rightfully, he blamed himself and not the media.

"I'm sorry I put myself in this situation. I regret it more than anyone can know. I realize that I layed myself open for this kind of thing, and I'm not even interested in defending against it. Any time my personal behavior affects my family and my job and this office, it's a huge problem."

Originally, when confronted by reporters about the video, Newsome didn't seem to get it. He said: "I disagree with the story." And: "I don't drink to impairment and drive." He described his actions as "having a few beers after work."

Those statements are troubling. They seem the reaction of a person with no appreciation for the weight of the behavior that was caught on tape or a sense of the scope of his apparent heavy drinking.

"When I first heard about this, I didn't have a full grasp of what it was all about," Newsome said of statements he made earlier to The Gazette. "I was getting ready to give a speech at 7 p.m., and I think they called me sometime after 6. I was a bit caught off guard by it all. I cannot disagree that I was filmed doing this, and I should not have let it happen."

Although Newsome seems to realize the seriousness of his actions and vows to change, we hope he takes some time for serious soul-searching about what all this means, both professionally and personally.

Newsome can be certain the public will watch him to decide whether he's keeping his promise to never drink and drive again. He won't be given a pass. Newsome promises to continue working hard at prosecuting criminals, even while dogged by this controversy. Residents of El Paso and Teller counties should hope and pray his promises pan out. Newsome's career would be a terrible thing for him to waste. Until now, he has been an effective district attorney. He established the first special victims unit in Colorado, which has resulted in a 43 percent increase in trials involving child abusers. He set a felony trial record for the Fourth District last year, trying about 150 percent more cases than his predecessors. White-collar crime prosecution has increased 160 percent under Newsome, and his office has won federal and state awards for felony drug prosecutions. He ensured that cop-killer Jereme Lamberth never leaves prison.

If the Fourth Judicial District wants a law-and-order district attorney who gets results, Newsome may still be the man. But the Republican Party and the electorate must keep close tabs on him and decide whether his career as a public servant should be saved. None should easily dismiss, or too quickly forgive, the impropriety Newsome exhibited by indulging at a bar, then driving.

In his lifetime, Newsome's only run-ins with the law have been two speeding tickets. But lots of mostly law-abiding citizens have had a few beers and killed with their cars. Drinking too much and driving is a serious crime, and the district attorney needs to treat it as such. Newsome, caught on tape drinking heavily and then driving, finds himself in a bad position to denounce the evils of drinking and driving. He'll be on shaky ground when seeking severe punishment for drunken drivers from this point on. That's a major concern.

Trust is easy to pilfer and hard to regain. But Newsome has promised to change his ways, and will have to prove his resolve. If he succeeds, then the public must decide whether to forgive him or find a new DA.

MONEY; IT'S OH, SO GREEN

The environment is getting better and better, largely because of economic growth, efficiency and innovation. So says the 2008 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, an annual report on worldwide air and water quality and climate change by the Pacific Research Institute, a San Francisco think tank.

While regulation plays a "central role" in improving the environment, PRI says, it would be ineffective if not for affluence and technological advances. Drastic measures to curb man-made greenhouse gas emissions could roll back the very economic and technological gains essential to improving the environment.

For example, to reach the global warming activists' goal - an 80-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 - the U.S. would have to revert to a per-capita emission rate last seen in 1910. Considering the population will increase to 420 million by 2050, the per-capita rate would roll back even more, to a level "not seen in the nation since 1875."

Given the option of continued innovation and technological advances inherent in economic growth, versus the economy-retarding Draconian limits on greenhouse gas emissions, it seems clear which is preferable. Imposing government mandates without regard to their effect on the economy, technology and innovation would do little except inhibit prosperity and move the nation closer to the model of Haiti and Somalia, and further from a model that's wealthy and green.