¶1dissenting.
¶2From the earliest years of service in my present post, I have regarded sanctioning professional misconduct through simple license suspension as an inadequate response to many of the cases in which ethical or performance failure appears due to chemical dependence or mental impairment. See Matter of Alsip, 499 N.E.2d 1102 (1986). I have thus always supported and defended our profession's efforts to be more purposeful about assisting impaired lawyers and judges who want to make way against their disability and return to productive and ethical work. Indiana's contribution to the national movement along these lines, the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program, is one of which we can all be proud.
¶3Believing that this represents a sound course for professionals and for the public we serve, I have nearly always voted to approve disciplinary plea agreements structured like the one in this case: a short period of actual suspension, followed by automatic reinstatement for a period of probation, obligatory monitoring and treatment during probation, with the potential for release from probation at the end.
¶4*657Still, there is a line somewhere that serves to divide tough love from coddling. This case crosses that line for me.
¶5In January of this year, the Court approved a plea bargain between Butsch and the Disciplinary Commission. It made available automatic reinstatement, as these agreements usually do. The recitation of behavior for which Butsch was being sance-tioned then was considerable:
a. In October 2008, Butsch was convicted of disorderly conduct as a class B misdemeanor after an altercation with his then wife.
b. In November 2005, Butsch was con-viected on a guilty plea to operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content greater than .15%.
c. In July 2006, he met early one afternoon with two women and a young girl after a referral from the Department of Child Services. The women realized Butsch had been drinking before this client meeting, and when he asked to meet with the juvenile alone he engaged in what the papers call "inappropriate or offensive" behavior with her.
d. In March 2007, Butsch was convict ed of operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a class A misdemeanor (though he was eligible for a felony charge).
e. On various occasions in 2004, 2005, and 2007, Butsch appeared in court on behalf of clients making it apparent to others that he had been drinking before coming.
¶6When we considered the plea agreement back in January, an actual suspension of just 60 days seemed to me an inadequate sanction for this litany of wrongdoing, so I dissented. Matter of Butsch, 899 N.E.2d 647 (Ind.2009).
¶7Six months later, Butsch and the Disciplinary Commission have now told us that there was yet another DUI charge. It had been pending during the whole time this disciplinary case was running its course, but was not mentioned when the plea agreement was submitted to us in January.
¶8This new conviction is yet another instance of drunk driving. The plea bargain in the criminal court provided for no executed time and features a reduction from a felony conviction to a misdemeanor convietion if Butsch successfully completes the requirements of his probation. In recognition of this new conviction, the Commission and Butsch propose that we extend the disciplinary probation by a year.
¶91 think all this treats Butseh's transgressions too lightly. Besides appearing in court multiple times while under the influence and meeting with clients under the same cireumstance, Butsch has managed to be arrested three times for behavior that likely qualified as felony drunk driving. Aside from arranging that all three of these could result in misdemeanor convictions, he's been granted automatic reinstatement in the lawyer disciplinary process. It all looks a little too much like favored treatment.
¶10Mindful of my own frailties, I am pretty much always ready to offer others a see-ond chance. But Mr. Butsch has had a second chance every year for five or six years. While his newest violation is not a hanging offense, I think it is time to put the burden on Butsch to demonstrate that he can be a fit member of the profession, and I would thus reject this latest plea bargain and oblige Mr. Butsch to petition for reinstatement.