Ohio Politician Arrested

We are not too sure where Hanging Rock, Ohio is located.  But the Mayor of that town was arrested for either operating a vehicle while intoxicated, or for physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.  We're not too sure of that, either.  The story is here.

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Senators Are Not High and Mighty - Just DUI

 

Many people drink during the holidays, and as a result, many people are cited for drunk driving.  The people who earn our trust and votes, and who are thereby elected to public office unfortunately are no exception.   Though they may think they are high and mighty, it turns out they just have too much to drink every now and then.

At least that may have been the case with Senator Michael D. Crapo, a Republican from Idaho.  His party affiliation is identified here, though we caution you that no political party has the monopoly on substance abuse and addiction.  Alcohol tempts and seduces rich and poor, leaders and followers, bosses and workers, and Democrats and Republicans.  This time our post is about a Republican, but next time it is just as likely to be a drunk Democrat.  This is no political rant, folks. 

Senator Crapo was arrested in the wee hours of December 23rd for suspicion of drunk driving.  The story is here.   It is reported that his blood alcohol level was 0.11 percent - well over the 0.08 percent limit of Virginia where he was arrested.  If your blood alcohol level is 0.11, you may experience mood swings, feel angry or sad, have impaired reaction times, decreased motor control, stagger and speak with slurred speach.  We don't know how much the good Senator weighs, but to get a BAC of 0.11, a 200 lb. person would have to throw back around five drinks, at least according to this BAC chart.   

Senator Crapo is the fifth-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.  According to the biography on his website, Senator Crapo graduated from Brigham Young University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School.  After law school he clerked for the Ninth Circuit and became a partner in a law firm.

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Cleveland City Councilman Arrested

 

Last month a Cleveland City Councilman was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving after he was caught speeding.  Later he entered a plea of not guilty.  There are reports his measured blood alcohol level was only 0.056, which is below the 0.08 legal limit.  The councilman suggested it was just the case of a guy having a drink while watching a football game.  You can catch him speaking about the incident here. 

An interesting situation developed, which was the recusal of Judge Angela Stokes and the other Cleveland Municipal Court judges.  Since the Cleveland City Council controls the court budget, a conflict of interest exists.  See here.  What now?




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Mayor from Scottville, Michigan Arraigned For DUI

The city of Scottville, Michigan is comprised of a small community in Mason County, approximately 8 miles east of Lake Michigan. The population was 1,214 as reported by the 2010 census. Scottville is the home of the Scottville Clown Band which performs at over 60 parades and concerts each year all throughout the Midwest. It sounds like a wonderful place where everyone has nothing but good days.

When the mayor of Scottville, Michigan rolled his pickup truck into a ditch he must have suspected that he was having a bad day. But when his blood alcohol level was reportedly measured above the legal limit, and he faced drunk driving charges, all doubt was probably removed.

The mayor's driving catastrophe occurred on October 18th. His arraignment was this month. He pled not guilty and a pretrial conference was set for January 21st. See here and here for more details.

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Political Officer Arrested For DUI - This Time It's A Republican

Last month a former California political party chairman was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.  It was the former California GOP chairman.  Though we caution you that no party has the monopoly on substance abuse.  The story is here. 

 A driver tends to stand out while motoring down the freeway at 3:20 in the morning.  When the driver starts weaving, he is sure to attract the attention of the California Highway Patrol,  And that is exactly what happened.  Worse, the driver smelled of alcohol, spoke with blurred speech, and failed a field sobriety test. 

Fortunately the former GOP chairman was not involved in an accident.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports the following:

In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

Of the 1,210 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2010, 211 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.

Of the 211 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2010, over half (131) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver.

In 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.3 That's one percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.

Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are often used in combination with alcohol.

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Where the Heck is Eufaula?

Do you know where Eufaula is? Neither did I, so here’s a map.

Ya, so? Nothing really, just that the Mayor of Eufaula, Robert Dean Smith was recently arrested for allegedly violating his probation stemming from his 2008 DUI. At that time he pled guilty to DUI, having an open booze container in his car and for a traffic violation.

The story is here and here among other places.

The Mayor is also accused of using a city credit card to buy gasoline – felony embezzlement – unrelated to his drinking problem. Or is it?

Los Angeles Budget Official Drinks While City Budget Crumbles

Miguel Santana DUI

Walking In L.A.!

The financial situation in Los Angeles is so serious, according to the city controller, that the city will run out of cash in a month. Read here. So what is the city’s top budget analyst doing about it? Apparently driving around drunk in a city car! Here's the story.

Los Angeles’s City Administrative Officer, Miguel Santana, was arrested March 26, 2010 by the California Highway Patrol for allegedly driving under the influence after attending a charity event.

The CHP reported that Santana was speeding in a car owned by the city when he was pulled over. It was a Honda Civic. Hmm, at least he was getting good gas mileage! Santana was arrested in Covina, near Citrus Avenue and Navilla Place. He failed a field sobriety test. He submitted to a blood-alcohol test, but the CHP refused to release the results.

Santana had apparently been working on trying to solve L.A.’s $212-million budget deficit, which is expected to more than double next year. Four thousand jobs are on the line. Is the mayor sure he has the right man for the job? Santana reportedly entered treatment and will be away from his office for weeks.

Being arrested is one thing, being convicted is another. But if Santana is convicted and has his driving privileges suspended, he will be Walking in L.A.!




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California State Senator Roy Ashburn Has Lots of Explaining to do After DUI Arrest

Think one little alcohol related incident won’t ruin your day, or have much effect on your life? Perhaps that is what California State Senator Roy Ashburn thought as he left a Sacramento bar around 2:00 a.m. and drove off. That’s probably not what he is thinking now. After police saw him driving erratically, he was pulled over and arrested for DUI. That in itself could be a big deal for a Republican who has tried to position himself as being strong on moral family values. In such a case, just one DUI could ruin a person’s career. Well, as we hear so often on commercials: but wait, there’s more! It is alleged that the bar from which the conservative state senator emerged in his drunken stupor was none other than Faces, a well-known Sacramento gay bar!

Stories are all over the internet. For a story on his arrest, see this short AP report. For the more provocative stories concerning where may have been, see here and here.

Hey Senator, take a walk on the wild side? For the purposes of the Drunk Politician Blog, we could care less whether or not someone is gay, straight, Democrat or Republican. The point is that a person’s sexual orientation or political philosophy doesn’t have anything to do with substance abuse. Alcohol does not discriminate! Alcohol is a strong contributing factor in putting Senator Ashburn in the position he is now in.

There is some dispute about whether the senator really did come from a gay bar. See here. Perhaps this is just some political hit job perpetrated by opponents of California’s Proposition 8, a voter initiative which officially makes marriage in California between a man and a woman. Senator Ashburn is known to have been in favor of Proposition 8. He has also taken a position on other legislation for which he has been labeled as being “anti-gay.” He has made lots of political enemies.

Forget the political debate for a second. The point we are making here is that were it not for his excessive alcohol consumption and his apparent decision to drive while intoxicated, would Senator Ashburn be in the center of this controversy now? Most definitely not.

In the military, Senator Ashburn’s DUI would be classified as an alcohol related incident and annotated in his record book. This is just one occasion of alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse differs from alcohol dependence, in that it is not a disease. A person can abuse alcohol without being an alcoholic. A person may drink too much and too often but still not be dependent on alcohol. Some alcohol related problems include not being able to meet work, school, or family responsibilities; drunk-driving arrests and car crashes; and drinking-related medical conditions. Under some circumstances, even social or moderate drinking is dangerous--for example, when driving, during pregnancy, or when taking certain medications.

Something else Senator Ashburn should have considered is that alcohol depresses your central nervous system, lowers your inhibitions, and impairs your judgment. Drinking can lead to risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex - but we won’t go there in this post!



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