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Wood Challenges Efforts to Oust Him

What?  Is this guy high?  Wait… don’t answer that. 

Rep. Jeff Wood (I-Chippewa Falls) is ready for a fight.

Wood, who faces expulsion from the Legislature for three arrests on driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, is raising detailed procedural questions about lawmakers’ powers to throw a colleague out of office.

His move could slow the proceedings against him. A special ethics committee is scheduled to hold a hearing in his case Wednesday, but Wood’s attorney, John Hyland, said last week he did not know if the case could be resolved before Wood’s term in the Legislature ends in January.

The fact is that the Dems who control the Assembly won’t kick him out until they don’t need his vote anymore.

Posted by Owen at 0755 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

1. And political motivations aside (I don’t doubt they exist), Wood’s lawyer is asking a lot of extremely relevant questions that the body should answer for itself before it proceeds.  There’s no excuse for a body that is deliberative in nature to effectively have no guidelines for how to move a quasi-judicial proceeding forward.  But as with lots of unused procedures, nobody bothers to contemplate the details until someone tries to use them.

   Posted by Recess Supervisor on February 15, 2010 at 1246 hrs
   
   
   

2. What happened to that Attorney General from Fond du lac that had a drunk driving problem?

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 15, 2010 at 1809 hrs
   
   
   

3. Nice that our legislators are being held to a higher standard and are encouraged to do the right thing.  ::sigh::

   What happened to that Attorney General from Fond du lac that had a drunk driving problem?

   Peg Lautenschlager—

   from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_Lautenschlager

   In February 2004, Lautenschlager made national headlines after pleading guilty to drunk driving in Dodge County, about an hour away from Madison. A Dodge County sheriff’s deputy reported to the scene to find her state-owned vehicle in the ditch, and her unharmed inside. Her preliminary breathalizer test at the scene showed that her blood alcohol level was 0.12, 50% above the legal limit of 0.08. Lautenschlager said that she had fallen asleep at the wheel, and had consumed only two glasses of wine earlier that evening. She was arrested, and later released to her husband. She refused a blood test, which is standard for a DUI stop in Wisconsin. (Dodge County Case Number 2004TR001348)

   A state Ethics Board investigated Lautenschlager’s case and ruled that some use of the state car for personal use exceeded state-allowed limits. Lautenschlager reimbursed some of the costs and paid a fine of $784. Her driver’s license was also revoked for a year.

   And she lost in the primary to Kathleen Falk, who lost to JB Van Hollen.

   Posted by hsgbdmama on February 15, 2010 at 1821 hrs
   
   
   

4. What I find most interesting is the fact that his lawyer is trying to have the proceedings thrown out under the guise of he “was not in an official capacity as a lawmaker during his arrests”...BUT I am willing to bet that Wood is charging the lawyer bills to the taxpayer!

   Sounds like he wants it both ways to me!

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 16, 2010 at 1530 hrs
   
   
   

5. Not only that, but he was supposedly in rehab in Minnapolis between the second and third OWI arrests:

   September 2009:
   http://www.chippewa.com/articles/2009/09/25/news/doc4abd2bcc1b055873429704.txt

   October 2009:
   http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/65373597.html

   Wood was absent for votes Tuesday in the Assembly. An aide said last week that he would miss votes that day and in coming weeks because he was participating in a 30-day in-patient treatment program in Minneapolis.

   

   Posted by hsgbdmama on February 16, 2010 at 1828 hrs
   
   
   

6. What kind of nightmare bizzarro-world do we live in when a politician as addled as Jeff Wood can’t even recognize that it is time to step aside? This is the sickness that has infected this nations political system, this is symptomatic of the disease of the political class. This is political nobles hanging on to someone that they can use until it is time to discard him.

   This is emblematic of what Wisconsin politics has become. We used to be known as a state of clean government… My how that has all changed in the last decade. A multi time drunk driver who refuse to step aside, despite the fact that he is clearly a raging alcoholic. A guy who was sleeping with a lobbyist who was influential on issues that he was voting on, jetting around the nation to meet with her on the dime of his campaign contributors, AND NOT REPORTING IT. A governor giving away favors to anyone and everyone that donates to his campaign. School board members flying out for safety in education conferences and treating them like four day benders, in which the only time they set foot into the conference is to get a free goody bag. Alderman going to prison for shaking down business owners. State legislators supporting ethanol mandates when members of their family are in the business…...

   I guess it may be too much to ask for virtue in politics, but boy things sure are bleak around here.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on February 17, 2010 at 0741 hrs
   
   
   

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