Wisconsin State Representative Jeff Wood gets 45 days For DUI

Jeff Wood, a state representative from Wisconsin was sentenced to 45 days in the slammer for driving drunk. After checking out the facts from the Green Bay Press- Gazette, it could have been worse.

The story begins two years ago when Wood was on a 200 mile road trip from Madison. With a blood alcohol limit of twice the legal limit, he slammed his car into a highway sign in Columbia County. When a state trooper came upon the scene, he saw Wood pissing on the side of the road. The trooper found marijuana and a pipe inside of Wood’s car. A breath test confirmed Wood’s blood alcohol level. This was Wood’s third drunk driving offense. He was also charged with marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Then, last fall Wood was nailed again in two different counties for DUI.

This month, for his 2008 arrest, Wood pleaded no contest to the drunk driving charge. In return, the dope charges against him were dropped. But the judge also revoked Wood’s license for 27 months, ordered him to use an ignition interlock device for two years after he regains his license, get substance abuse treatment and pay $1,294 in court costs. The judge then fined Wood $318.50 on the dope pipe paraphernalia count and suspended his driver’s license for six months, to run simultaneously with the revocation.

A video of one of his DUI problems can be found at Talking Points Memo.

It so happens that Wood is a Republican turned Independent, but substance abuse problems plague politicians from all parties – and we blog about them here. Wood claims that he is in treatment and that he has been sober for six months. Let’s hope he is serious.






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