Kurita should kill DUI bill

State Sen. Rosalind Kurita’s latest legislative offering is troubling.

Kurita wants the state Legislature to ban certain types of advertising by DUI defense attorneys. Set aside for a second the fact the Speaker Pro Tem’s opponent this summer in her re-election campaign is a DUI defense attorney, this legislation simply goes too far when civil liberties are concerned.

Kurita this week successfully amended an existing bill to prohibit attorneys from advertising a discounted rate for DUI defense as well as other measures such as claiming to be a specialist in DUI law.

Somehow, the promising Democratic lawmaker has worked this around in her head to be about DUI offenders getting off with light sentences. In truth, the bill appears to be a not-so-gentle assault on the First Amendment and the rights of a class of professionals in our state as well as their right to free speech via advertising.

Kurita is one of her Democratic Party’s brightest lights and rising stars, even if her party does not know it. She cast the likely deciding vote to displace the octogenarian Sen. John Wilder from the lieutenant governor’s chair, effectively turning it over to the Republicans. Given Wilder’s recent track record, it was time for the change even if he and other leading Democratic senators thought otherwise. Kurita’s was one of the bravest moves in recent memory in Tennessee politics.

Now, Kurita is heading into a re-election campaign where she will face opposition from her own party in the primary. Sadly, her primary opponent this summer is a DUI attorney who correctly points out there are several real constitutional problems with what Kurita opposes.

Kurita has genuine bipartisan appeal and the ability one day to run statewide, despite those in her own Senate Caucus publicly stating otherwise. The state needs more clear thinkers like her in the Senate, and that is why this seemingly election year motivated bill is so troubling. Kurita should kill this amendment and move on.