SALT LAKE CITY — Senate Republicans chose a new majority leader Wednesday to replace former Sen. Sheldon Killpack, who resigned over the weekend after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
In a closed caucus meeting, Senate Majority Whip Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, was selected majority leader. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who held the post before Killpack, withdrew from the race Tuesday.
But Killpack's decision to go drinking with a lobbyist after a GOP fundraiser last Thursday and then get behind the wheel was not discussed during the caucus, Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said. Instead, he said, senators were advised to take ethics training already required under a 2009 law in the next 60 days.
Waddoups said Senate leaders were checking into what happened and have learned there were "some disappointing activity that night. It's distressing to know people make bad choices sometimes."
He said Killpack, who had served in the Legislature since 2003 as a Republican from Syracuse, was the only lawmaker at Liquid Joe's, a Salt Lake bar that featured a heavy metal cover band that night.
Former state Rep. Mark Walker, a Republican from Sandy, was the lobbyist who was in the car with Killpack when he was stopped by the Utah Highway Patrol. Walker resigned as a lawmaker in the midst of an investigation into allegations he attempted to bribe his primary opponent in the state treasurer's race.
He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor election law violation in connection with the case.
Waddoups said other lobbyists were at the bar with the pair, but he had no idea how many.
"We're doing a good job of policing our own," the Senate president said. "We will address the situation and make improvements."
Jenkins is being replaced as majority whip by Senate Majority Assistant Whip Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, and Sen. Pete Knudson, R-Brigham City, is the new majority assistant whip.
e-mail: lisa@desnews.com