This just in!
U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick [(Repugnant)] was stumbling drunk when he was pulled over by a Montgomery County, Md., sheriff's deputy 13 years ago, and he lied about how much he had had to drink, according to the deputy's arrest report.
More below... He's got more apologizing to do I see:
McGavick failed all of the standard field sobriety tests before his arrest and fell asleep in the jail while waiting to be booked, said the report, which was obtained Thursday night by The Seattle Times. His blood-alcohol level was .17 percent, more than double the legal limit of .08 percent in both Maryland and Washington. The report notes that the blood-alcohol test was administered an hour and a half after McGavick's arrest, meaning that the level was higher when he was behind the wheel.
McGavick, a Republican, is challenging Sen. Maria Cantwell. He has characterized his drunk-driving arrest one of "two great failures" in his life. The other was a divorce.
The deputy pulled McGavick's white Mazda Miata over about 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 21, 1993, after he watched it "drive through a steady red signal." McGavick said last week, when his campaign acknowledged the existence of his drunk-driving arrest, that he had he cut a yellow light too close.
The deputy approached the car and reported that when McGavick rolled the window down he "could detect a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from the interior."
"(I) then asked McGavick know much he had to drink tonight McGavick responded, 'Oh, I don't know - two, maybe three beers," the report said.
Last Friday, McGavick acknowledged that he had been drinking beer for hours at three parties before he was pulled over.
Blood-alcohol level calculators available on the Internet note that a 180-pound man would have to drink more than eight beers in an hour to achieve a blood-alcohol level of .17 percent.
So we know that McGavick lied to a cop. On edit: This is news because these facts were not what Mike McGavick revealed when he "apologized" for his arrest last week!
The second terrible mistake, which was difficult to discuss with my teenage son, was that I was cited for DUI when I cut a yellow light too close in 1993. I was driving Gaelynn home from several celebrations honoring our new relationship and should not have gotten behind the wheel. Thankfully, there was no accident, but it still haunts me that I put other people at risk by driving while impaired. All in all, it was and remains a humbling and powerful event in my life.
No red light, he says he "cut" a yellow light. What the hell does that mean?
What else do we know about McGavick?
One of McGavick's funders is Washington Mutual.
Here's what they've been doing to make money of late:
There's no way to camouflage what Harold, a former computer technician who asked BusinessWeek not to publish his last name, is about to face. He's disabled and has one source of income: the $1,600 per month he receives in Social Security disability payments. In September, 2005, Harold refinanced out of a fixed-rate mortgage and into an option ARM for his $150,000 home in Chicago. The minimum monthly payment for the first year is $899, which he can afford. The interest-only payment is $1,329, which he can't. The fully amortized payment is $1,454, which his lender, Washington Mutual (WM ), gets to count on its books. WaMu, no fly-by-night operation, said it couldn't comment on Harold's case, citing confidentiality issues. A spokesman says the bank "accounts for its option ARM product in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles." WaMu has about $12 billion in loans negatively amortizing right now, up from $2.5 billion in 2005, estimates CreditSights' Hendler. In a written statement, WaMu said "borrowers who request an adjustable loan with payment options should understand those options and potential adjustments throughout the life of the loan. We make detailed disclosures to customers that are designed to develop a more informed consumer of mortgage products and ensure that our customers are comfortable with the loan products they select.
So McGavick's being funded by the types of crooks that are peddling predatory lending practices, and are likely to impoverish many of their homes' wealth.
"Open Mike" if you have followed the above Opensecrets link, also gets money from some PACs...tied to the Rubberstamp Repugnants..."Heartland Values PAC," "Impact America," "KITPAC" are all Republican Senate PACs.
Of course, yeah, McGavick's another Bush clone, and he's lying about it. I only hope the Cantwell campaign picks up on where McGavick's getting his campaign funding
.
I e-mailed McGavick's campaign 3 days ago, hoping to get a response to the following questions. To date, nothing but thunderous silence in response to these questions:
1. Under what circumstances would you consider the President assuming authority outside the bounds of the constitution? Do you think that the President is entitled to violate the FISA law?
2. To what degree should Iraq's leadership acknowledge Israel's right to exist?
3. To what degree do you believe that "terror" should be fought against besides, simply not having fear?
4. What did Iraq, Iran, or North Korea have to do with the 9/11 attacks?
5. Why should we expect that you would be an advocate for citizens, given your contributions from PACs tied to sitting Republican Senators, who have been such a miserable failure in holding the President accountable? Why should we expect that the recommendations of the 9/11 commission would be any more heeded with your presence in the Senate, given who has financed your campaign?
6. Why should we expect that you would side with the citizens of the State of Washington against insurance companies, when you have received large amounts of campaign financing from them?
7. What is your position on teaching "intelligent design?"
Update: But wait!
There's more! Evidently McGavick put his foot in his mouth...
U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick has embraced and defended Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens, a benefactor of the Washingtonian's campaign and an antagonist of McGavick's opponent, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell.
McGavick has also harshly criticized Stevens, a fellow Republican -- but without realizing until this week that it was Stevens he was criticizing.
After an anonymous senator recently slapped a parliamentary hold on legislation to open government contracting to public scrutiny, McGavick lambasted the maneuver on his campaign Web site April 24, calling it evidence of "more dysfunction in the Senate."
"This is a sad state of affairs when a senator (or senators) secretly prevent legislation to remove secrecy," McGavick wrote. "The American people have a right to know how their money is being spent. We need senators who are willing to hold their colleagues accountable for this sort of thing, regardless of party."
The mystery senator turned out to be Stevens.
He's a
defender of Senator-Bridge-to-Nowhere? Or just a flip-flopper?
Geez.