Drug Testing for Elected Officials Is Explored

BURBANK — The City Council is developing an unusual policy to provide for voluntary, random drug tests for elected officials, and publicize the results.

“Drug use is endemic in our society . . . and voters have the right to know if we are clean or not,” said City Councilman Ted McConkey.

McConkey said the idea sprang from reports earlier this year that former City Councilwoman Susan Spanos had allegedly used cocaine.

Spanos stepped down earlier this month. The cocaine allegations stemmed from an incident in which her husband told police she was addicted to the drug, police reports said.

Reached at her home Wednesday, Spanos declined to talk about the allegation, saying she does not want to compromise a civil lawsuit she has filed.

But, “I just want to say it’s a fantastic idea to have drug and alcohol testing for elected officials,” said Spanos.

Not all agree, though. City Councilwoman Stacey Murphy, who has replaced Spanos on the council, said such a policy would be “a waste of time and money.”

And Marvin E. Krakow, an attorney who has volunteered for the American Civil Liberties Union on drug-testing cases, called the proposal “the stupidest idea I have ever heard of.”

While many cities have set up drug testing in some form for employees, Krakow said he has heard of none like Burbank’s proposed policy, he said.

The proposal is potentially troublesome because the city might be held liable for publicizing false results, said Burbank City Atty. Dennis Barlow.

“You don’t want to have a situation where you start blasting it in the press and it isn’t true,” he said. “It has to be done carefully.”

“It’s going to be a little bit tricky,” said City Manager Bud Ovrom. “When you are on the cutting edge you sometimes get bloodied, and we are on the cutting edge with this one.”

Barlow said Burbank already requires drug tests of applicants for city jobs, and periodic, random tests of employees in what are considered more dangerous jobs.

But Tuesday’s 3-2 vote by the council mandates city staff to develop some procedures by which elected officials could volunteer for random testing.

The council will be asked to vote on a final version of the policy before it is put in place, said Barlow.

The idea of testing elected officials for drugs is not new. Congress is currently mulling mandatory tests for members, and some representatives have already taken part in voluntary urine tests to bring the point home.

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The congressional measure is pending despite an April U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Georgia law requiring political candidates to take drug tests.

Because of the ruling, Burbank will take the precautionary step of keeping its program voluntary.

“But I will take part in the thing,” said McConkey. “And I would encourage anyone without strong moral objections to do so too.”

Responded ACLU attorney Krakow: “They shouldn’t be asking other people to do it at all.”

City Councilman Bill Wiggins, along with Murphy, voted against the proposed policy. Wiggins believes it didn’t go far enough, saying he wants “some administrative procedure with teeth in it,” which would require drug treatment for anyone who tests positive.