Wisconsin has been known as a hotbed for social reforms, yet cracking down on drunken drivers has never been high on policymakers' to-do lists. Maybe that’s because so many have had to recite their ABC's on the side of the road. Big breweries once dominated the state and ties to the beer industry remain stout, giving way to a belief that hard drinking is as much a part of the Wisconsin culture as the Green Bay Packers and cheese. That's created a blind spot of sorts for the socially conscious state: drunken driving.

Wisconsin has long had the nation's highest rates of drinking among adults and some of the most lax laws on drunk driving. There's also a history of lawmakers who have been caught behind the wheel after having a few too many. It's a paradox for a state in which leaders pride themselves on being on the forefront of welfare program, health care, and workers' rights. The latest accused legislator is state Rep. Jeff Wood, who was charged with driving under the influence three times over a 10-month period. He has pleaded not guilty and appears poised to serve out his term with only a ceremonial slap on the wrist.

"Jeff Wood is a perfect example of protecting their own," said Judy Jenkins, whose pregnant daughter and 10 year old granddaughter were killed by a drugged driver. II would be surprised if they kicked him out."
For decades, lawmakers got busted for boozing and driving and never faced any repercussions from their colleagues. In one prominent example, Democratic state Sen. Russ Decker was arrested in 2005 for DUI. He lost his drivers license for six months but later rose to become state Senate Majority Leader. There was also the notorious 2004 arrest of then-Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager. She drove her state-owned Buick into a ditch and had a blood alcohol content of 0.12 percent. Voters ended her political career two years later.

Wisconsin's tolerance of drunkenness goes against national norms, said Mordecai Lee, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor who was in the legislature for 13 years. And a 2008 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report showed 15.1 percent of the country's drivers age 18 and older drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. Wisconsin drivers let the nation at 26.4 percent. Utah was the lowest at 9.5 percent.
Lawmakers have been slow to strengthen drinking laws, partly out of fear the penalties one day may apply to them, Lee said. Wisconsin is the only state where the first drunken driving offence is a traffic violation and not a crime. It also was one of the last to lower the legal blood alcohol content limit from .10 to .08. And though Wisconsin's legal drinking age is 21, it's also legal for a child to drink alcohol if they are with a parent at a tavern.

Late last year, legislators toughened drunken driving penalties after public outcry over the state's lax laws. The changes included making the fourth drunken driving offence a felony and the first offence a misdemeanor if someone under the age of 16 is in the car.
Jenkins said more needs to be done. "I think things will slowly but surely change and that's our hope," Jenkins said, "but I would like to see it change more quickly before more people get killed."