MD Legislator's Hypocrisy re: Drunken Driving

[Bertha Venation]

The wife of a Maryland legislator (who is trying to get a stiffer penalty in MD for refusing a breathalyzer test) was arrested for drunken driving in December. She called him -- her attorney -- for advice and he told her to refuse the test.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21948-2005Mar9?language=printer

Arrest of Senator's Wife Brings Political Paradox

What a lousy headline. I'd write "Political Hypocrisy."

~snip~

Maryland's lax policy on the breath test has long been considered one of the biggest loopholes in the state's drunken driving laws, which often leaves police without their best evidence that a motorist is legally drunk and allows repeat offenders to escape steeper punishments.

As many as 32 percent of Maryland drivers suspected of being impaired refuse the test. "We've got to get that number down," the senator said yesterday.

~snip~

Erin Giannetti declined to comment yesterday and referred questions to her husband, who has won several accolades for his work opposing drunken driving, including the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Legislative Excellence Award in 2002. She is employed by the lobbying firm Capitol Strategies and is working on two state legislative bills that would institute stiffer penalties for adults who provide alcohol to minors.

~snip~ (emphasis added)

Erin Giannetti admitted to having five drinks that night in celebration of her graduation from the University of Maryland School of Law. At the time, she was on probation for a drunken driving conviction in Howard County in 2003, police and court records show. Terms of her probation include abstaining from alcohol.

~snip~

Good Christ, this story is just RIFE with hypocrisy! It reeks! Makes me wish I lived in the guy's district so I could vote the fool out.

[Zuni]

1. I heard about it this morning

He authored a bill that would make it illegal to refuse a breath test, then tells his wife to refuse it.
Shame

[Bertha Venation]

2. Unbelievable.

Did you hear about it on WTOP? I don't remember them talking about it, but then, I rode in about two hours late. Maybe it was an early story.