Wood’s Third Drunk Driving Arrest
State Rep. Jeff Wood (I-Bloomer) could be facing his third-offense drunken driving charge.
An arrest report released today said Wood has two prior convictions for drunken driving in Eau Claire County in 1990 and 1991. A third offense can include a fine of $600 to $2,000 and 30 days to 1 year in jail.
According to his driver’s license record, Wood was convicted of drunken driving for incidents on June 2, 1990, and Oct. 26, 1991. His license was suspended for about six months after the first incident, and for almost 18 months after the second incident.
Funny how he didn’t bother to mention that it was his third time in any of his responses to media.
Then there are the sordid details:
Wood was urinating by the side of the highway when a state trooper pulled up behind him after receiving a report that a car had drifted onto the median and smashed through a caution sign.
Wood told the trooper he had pulled over to talk to his wife on the phone, but admitted he was urinating.
The trooper asked Wood whether he had hit anything, but Wood said he hadn’t. Wood’s tire was flat and his front license plate - which was later found by the smashed road sign - was missing. Asked about the condition of his 1998 Buick Skylark, Wood told the trooper the damage might have happened while he was parking.
Wood’s blood-alcohol level was 0.15, almost twice the legal limit for driving. The trooper arrested Wood and then found a “marijuana smoking tube” and $35 worth of marijuana in two bags in Wood’s car, according to the report.
If he continues to refuse to resign, his constituents should recall him.
I’m guessing he’s not a fan of the ‘three stikes and you are out rule.’
What a clown. I guess if you drink that much beer - you just can’t wait until you can drive to a gas station and use the rest room like everyone else.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 1614 hrs
no way .15 gets him that screwed up!
he musta had the marijuana in his system too!Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 1628 hrs
Resign? Recall? Hell, we should “recall” his driver’s license—for good.
Posted by scott on December 16, 2008 at 1634 hrs
I’m not excusing his behavior, but it is worth considering that this offense was 17 years after his last offense. His prior two offenses both occurred in his early 20’s. Lots of people do stupid things in their early 20’s that they grow out of.
Now, yeah, I suppose maybe he’s been doing it for 17 years and just didn’t get caught. It’s also possible that he’s grown up a little in the intervening 17 years and that this is a one-time screw-up after an irresponsible youth. Or perhaps the truth is somewhere in-between. As with every traffic crime, you can only be arrested for it if you get caught, so we’ll never know the answer.
Also, when it comes to an Assembly member, a recall effort is probably not worth anyone’s time or money. A recall petition can’t be filed until the officeholder has served at least 12 months of his term. It can’t be circulated until 60 days before that - so the earliest a recall effort can even begin is next November.
Submit a petition in January 2010 and then you’re looking at another six-week lag if there’s no primary, 10 weeks if there is. You may well not be seating a new member until March or April of 2010, and by then session is over. You’ve spent a bunch of money to hold one (or two) elections to elect someone to sit around and do nothing but campaign for the next election six months later.
There’s no way Wood wins re-election in 2010. He probably won’t even run. And for the next year, the only person who can make Jeff Wood leave is Jeff Wood. Guess we’ll see what happens.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 16, 2008 at 1637 hrs
Then keep the pressure on until he resigns—his constituents deserve better.
Posted by hsgbdmama on December 16, 2008 at 1720 hrs
If he resigns, do they hold a special election for a new representative?
I hope that if he has a problem (if this wasn’t a one-time act of dumbassedness), he gets some serious help. Thank God he hit a sign and not a person.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 1728 hrs
If he just would have carried a Gatorade bottle to pee in none of this would have happened.
Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on December 16, 2008 at 1805 hrs
Are you one of his constituents, hsgbdmama? Who are you to tell them what they do or don’t deserve? They sent Wood back to the Assembly just over a month ago, when he was a two-time OWI offender. Is there something so terrible about the third time that makes it *that* much worse than the other times?
With these sorts of matters, the biggest issue is usually timing. Had this happened before the election, Wood probably would have lost. But it didn’t, and he didn’t. Such is life.
Wood’s safe from recall for at least 14 months, he’s a full-time legislator - why would he leave without another job lined up? That would be irresponsible to his family, whose needs he’s probably putting before those of his constituents (and he’s hardly alone in that regard).
He’s not going anywhere unless he decides it. And there’s no mechanism by which to apply any pressure to him.
(And to Wendy, yes, Gov. Doyle would have to call a special election to fill Wood’s seat if he were to resign. Three cheers for not being Illinois!)
Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 16, 2008 at 1909 hrs
Recess:
The only reason I think this becomes such a big issue now is:
1. It is his 3rd DWI not to diminish the fact that 1 and 2 happened long ago, but it does show some lack of accountability and judgement, on his part.
Playing Devils advocate lets say this renewed push for tougher drunk driving laws goes somewhere this session, how does it look to the rest of Wisconsin to have a 3x (Twice convicted) DWI offender look?
It seems to me that he can’t vote for it, and he can’t vote against it, and he can’t excuse himself from a potential vote.
Now matter which way you look at it, hes got a problem.
He has basically neutered himself on the entire issue.
Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on December 16, 2008 at 2047 hrs
Well, at least since he’s no longer a Republican, there wasn’t also an underage boy in the car with him.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 2142 hrs
Yeah, and if he had been a Democrat, he might have driven into a canal & left the boy & the car in the water.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 2151 hrs
Let’s put aside the OWI and even the pot charge for a second. Let’s look at his honesty.
He told a radio station that he had an OWI when he was a teenager. That was his only other time, he said.
Well, if that was true, then his 1990 and 1991 charges, plus this one will make it four.
But, we don’t know because he has established at least one fact - he is a LIAR. He either lied about the one when he was a teenager (which would be the one he had at age 21 in 1990, or at 22 in 1991 (when he refused to let them take his BAC).
Even if we put everything else aside, he is still a liar and his constituents should pressure him to resign.
I guarantee you that the next Jeff Wood lie will be established when he fights the drug charge, despite his promise that he would take his punishment and he would not fight the charges.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 2205 hrs
Here is another interesting question. And one that may have a perfectly legit reason but in running a CCAP of Mr Jeffery S. Wood why would these 2 prior Drunk Driving arrests not appear?
Again I am just asking….I am not thinking that their as anything fishy happening…
Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on December 16, 2008 at 2232 hrs
Tosa voter, are you referring to Gary Studds or Barney Frank?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 2252 hrs
I’m telling you, this culture of inebriation is ruining Madison! We must immediately stop electing these Independents to positions of power! 100% of the Independents in the legislature have now been indicted on criminal charges!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 2311 hrs
Anyone that knows about the sordid details of Jeff Wood’s first DUI can’t rule out his reelection yet. I won’t go into it, but it was an issue when he was first elected and was ignored by his constituents at the time, even causing a backlash against his opponent for 3rd parties using it. I’m not saying this more recent event will be treated the same, it does show a pattern and can’t be chaulked up to youthful indiscreation. But it is less sensational than the first arrest was. Basically,I wouldn’t bet my house that he couldn’t win that district again with 23 months of forgive and forget.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2008 at 2322 hrs
Lefty:
Do you mean his second offense where he hit a parked car and left the scene and got 30 days for it?
That story came out this evening.
Or is there something even better that happened in his first OWI? We would love to hear about it. It’s going to come out one way or another now.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 0004 hrs
CCAP doesn’t keep everything forever. If it did there are people that would retrieve pages of traffic offenses and if I search on someone that I know would be one of those people it only has the most recent stuff.
Lefty, Wood ain’t running again. He burned that bridge when he filed as an independent.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 0007 hrs
There was no CCAP in 1990 and 1991 and counties have no obligation to put up all the old data.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 0839 hrs
Maybe Wood should hire me as a driver and aide. Hitting a parked car didn’t disqualify McGee. He had a better lawyer.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 1047 hrs
Here is another interesting question. And one that may have a perfectly legit reason but in running a CCAP of Mr Jeffery S. Wood why would these 2 prior Drunk Driving arrests not appear?
Again I am just asking….I am not thinking that their as anything fishy happening…
I was wondering the same thing. The county decided to report his still unsatisfied 1990 judgment of $367.50 on CCAP, as well as 2 issuing worthless check charges from 1992.
Why skip the OWI’s when reporting old offenses?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 1104 hrs
To #21, your answer is back at #19. Whether this old data got uploaded to CCAP probably depends on the county in which the offense occurred. Some counties were much further along with computerized records than others. What did/did not get posted to CCAP from the pre-CCAP days depends largely on what a given county chose to do.
Do you know for certain that “the county” where these other judgments were filed was also the county where Wood’s OWI offenses occurred?
Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 17, 2008 at 1340 hrs
RS, no I am not one of his constituents. But if it were my representative in this situation—picked up for drunk driving and possession and not disclosing that it was not first time—yes, I would demand his resignation.
It has nothing to do with party affiliation; it has to do with conduct, taking responsibility and accepting consequences.
Our elected officials should be held to a higher standard. All of them. Period. So yes, we all deserve better.
Posted by hsgbdmama on December 17, 2008 at 1413 hrs
#22 RS, it’s the same county (Eau Claire). I wasn’t as clear on that in my post as I should have been.
Why report the unsatisfied judgment and the two worthless check charges, but ignore the two OWI’s?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 1525 hrs
$35 in two bags? Did the cop walk into a bar and start asking folks, “what would you pay for this dope?”
And when it’s broken down in multiple bags, I always thought there was an “intent to distribute” brought into the charge.
Posted by Dave Casper on December 17, 2008 at 1536 hrs
Our elected officials should be held to a higher standard. All of them. Period. So yes, we all deserve better.
We deserve better than what? Charlene Hardin? Blogo? You get what you vote for.
A higher standard than what? Regular people?
Fewer and fewer people of quality or high moral standing want to be an elected official. They can make more money, have more free time, take less crap, and get more done doing just about anything else.
Paul Ryan? Screw him (according to this blog) he supported the auto bailout. Too bad he didn’t drive drunk instead of trying to subsidize autos…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 1833 hrs
Ding ding ding, we have a winner at #26, folks!
Here are the main groups of people who run for the Legislature:
1. People who have public policy experience who are knowledgeable and looking to serve their community. This is the smallest group, by far.
2. Struggling small business owners who are looking for a way to supplement their income and score really sweet benefits for their family.
3. People for whom a paycheck in the mid-$40’s is the best they’ll ever do. These guys tend to be the lifers.
4. Old folks who are looking for something to do in retirement. The sweet bennies don’t hurt here either.
So yes, part of it is that Wisconsin voters rarely demand better. Of course, many voters now believe that it’s important to elect someone just like you, which doesn’t help the quality of representation either. That’s how you get Jeff Wood.The other problem, of course, is that given the nature of the workload, nobody with a good job is going to hang it up and run for office. As John said, if you’ve got a college degree and a decent skill set, almost anything is better paying/easier to handle than being a legislator. People pick through your personal life and drag you through the mud, and for what? The chance to hang out with a bunch of deadbeats and idiots… er, fellow legislators?
As I’ve said a million times, Wisconsin needs to go one of two ways. Either double the pay so that people who are actually qualified will show interest (an investment of just $7-8 million annually), or cut their pay by 75% and scale the legislative calendar way, way back so that the job isn’t such a time commitment.
Until Wisconsin does one of the two, it’s going to continue to have one of the least competent full-time legislatures in the U.S.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 17, 2008 at 1922 hrs
RC: I may have been a winner but your trumped me and nailed it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 1931 hrs
As I’ve said a million times, Wisconsin needs to go one of two ways. Either double the pay so that people who are actually qualified will show interest (an investment of just $7-8 million annually), or cut their pay by 75% and scale the legislative calendar way, way back so that the job isn’t such a time commitment.
I agree with that.
Posted by Owen on December 17, 2008 at 2011 hrs
Owen is half-correct. Doubling the pay would not work, but cutting it in half would.
Jeff Wood, btw, is a decent guy. There but for the Grace of God go many of the posters here.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 2110 hrs
I’m in with RecessSuper and Owen. George: cut it in half?
Is that what GE or any other well run company does when they are recruiting top people? The investment of double pay could bring an expoential cost/benefit.
Lowering the pay will undoubtably lower the gene pool of good candidates.
There but for the Grace of God go many of the posters here.
There but for the grace of God, was the car your daughter was driving that he almost hit. I am no saint but I had a Jeff Wood close encounter at 23 and it scared me straight.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2008 at 2209 hrs
My definition of a ‘decent guy’ doesn’t include drunks and 39 year old potheads. But hey - that’s just me.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 18, 2008 at 1021 hrs
Jeff Wood made a big mistake.
Apparently several of those who have posted on this topic have led more exalted lives.
I think Jeff is a decent guy.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 18, 2008 at 2100 hrs
Jeff Wood made a big mistake.
Apparently several of those who have posted on this topic have led more exalted lives.
I think Jeff is a decent guy.
No George once is a mistake.
3x is a habit!
And just exactly what kind of MORON gets drunk and then tokes up right before a 200 mile drive?
Free advice to Jeff Wood:
Next time use Meth!
Jus’ sayin’
Posted by Michael J. Cheaney on December 18, 2008 at 2149 hrs
Hey Jeff…..who sold/gave you the pot? You have a sworn duty to uphold the law. It is time to come clean on this. It might be the only thing that saves you
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 18, 2008 at 2302 hrs
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