Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 Source: Gambit Weekly (LA) Copyright: 2000 Gambit Communications, Inc. Contact: (504)483-3159 Address: 3923 Bienville St., New Orleans, LA 70119 Website: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gw/index.html THE COST OF FEEL-GOOD LEGISLATION Gov. Mike Foster's effort to impose random drug testing on elected officials has run its silly course. Now it's time to pay the piper. To no one's surprise, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by the Foster administration to reverse lower court rulings that a 1997 law requiring mandatory drug testing for elected officials is unconstitutional. In 1998, a trial judge held that the drug testing statute violates the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment bar against unreasonable search and seizure. The Louisiana statute, passed by the Legislature at Foster's urging, never was implemented because of challenges by state Reps. Rev. Avery Alexander, who is now deceased, and Arthur Morrell. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the trial court's ruling in December. We have predicted the demise of the Louisiana bill from the beginning, but we take no pleasure in chiding Foster or lawmakers when they act like fools. We know that the public always pays the real price. Sure enough, it's time again for taxpayers to foot the bill. Not including the recent application to the U.S. Supreme Court, the state must pay $56,563.21 in attorneys' fees, says a spokesperson for the state Attorney General's Office. In this case, those fees go to counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Not even those organizations sounded particularly pleased about the outcome. "The Louisiana Legislature consistently spits in the face of the Constitution, and inevitably ends up wasting the taxpayers' money in the process," says William Rittenberg, a NORML Legal Committee attorney. There is a always a price for feel-good legislation, and it's always paid with money that could have been put to better use elsewhere. The whole episode makes us wonder if we'd be better off testing our politicians for signs of intelligence rather than drug use. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk