Another travesty is the failure of the Virginia Senate's Committee on the Courts of Justice to pass legislation that would have saved lives and prevented injuries due to repeat drunk driving on the part of DUI offenders. The principal opponents of this legislation appeared to be defense attorneys like Chap Petersen in Fairfax and Senator Edwards from Roanoke and Senators who purportedly were for the legislation and then voted against it when it counted such as Senator Puller from Mount Vernon and Alexandria and GOP Senators Quayle from Suffolk, along with the normal opponents of saving lives and curbing drunk driving like GOP Senators Norment and Stuart. They should all be defeated and opposed strongly in the next election and I will contribute to every strong candidate that promises to do so. We must act to save lives, prevent needless injuries and curb drunk driving and we have an obligation to do so for our families and for the community. Please join me as a member of the Silent Majority. We have remained silent on this issue for too long. And we must counteract the actions of the selfish and self-serving and act in the public good if there is to be a safer community for all of us to live in.

I know the scourge of drunk driving only too well having lost my only son to a DUI crash in which he was an innocent car passenger in 2009. I'd hate to see this happen to anyone else but if and when it does, you'll have only the Senators identified above to blame for that terrible outcome. Here's hoping we can replace Senators Petersen, Puller, Norment, Stuart, Qualye, Edwards. They have all been around too long and are mired in the status quo. We can and must do better than that in Virginia.