Making a Mockery

Good to see that politicians can also get away with reckless behavior virtually unscated

House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve pleaded guilty Thursday to drunken driving as part of plea agreement.

''I'm here to take full responsibility for my actions," Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg told the court. ''... I have learned from this situation and I will never do this again."

District Court Judge Mary C. Reece placed Barve, 49, on one year's unsupervised probation and fined him $1,000 with $800 suspended because it was a first-time offense.

He was arrested by Gaithersburg City Police at 11:43 p.m. Nov. 29, according to traffic citations. Barve was charged with driving while impaired and driving under the influence, which required the four-term delegate to stand trial.

He also was charged with failure to obey a traffic device and failure to drive right of center, each a $90 fine.

Sadly, Barve's slap on the wrist is pretty common in the world of drunk driving and criminal prosecution in Maryland, as Greg Kline pointed out with his experiences as an attorney.

Unfortunately, Barve would have been the perfect person to make an example of. He should go to jail for his offense (like many other convicted Drunk Drivers should also be sentenced to time in jail). But he isn't.

Instead of serving as an example of the consequences of one's actions, Kumar Barve serves as an example both of the nearly criminal negligence in our judicial system when it comes to punishing lawbreakers, and also as another sad example of the Democratic Chain Gang that is tainting the highest levels of the Maryland Democratic Party and Maryland State Government.