Jeff Wood, man of principle

The Democrats managed to find 50 votes in the Assembly to pass their budget at 5:20 AM yesterday morning. Among the 50, State Representative Jeff Wood (I-Bloomer).

Wood is a former libertarian. Later, as a Republican member of the legislature, Wood was co-author of TABOR, the proposed Taxpayer Bill of Rights. He quit the Republican Party after a clash with party leadership and became an independent.

He also became a three-time drunk driver caught with marijuana in his car and has lied to his constituents ever since.

His constituents might want to ask the former libertarian how he could vote for the most radical, anti-business, tax-raising budget in state history. They might want to ask what deal was cut in the dark night behind closed doors.

Then they might remember Wood's statement that he culd not resign from the Assembly because he needed to represent them during the budget process. Some representation they received.

Wood, of course, could prove to his constituents he did not cut a deal with the Democrats just to protect his own seat. He could promise to resign after the budget passes.

It's not going to happen.

Update! Just reading through the Budget Blog by Greg Bump at WisPolitics. If you want a measure of Jeff Wood's quality representation, his changed votes are a good start. How convenient to change his vote on Amendment 4 after the roll call so it would not be decisive, but if he had voted correctly at the time of the roll call it would have made the difference.

Wood left his principles at the party

A number of Assembly Republicans (including Leah Vukmir, Rich Zipperer, Bill Kramer, and Don Pridemore) attempted to change the rules for approving tax increases in the state legislature. Instead of a simple majority, the rule would have required a 2/3 super-majority vote.

Of course with the Democrats in charge the bill did not pass. It failed 53-43 along partisan lines.

But how did Assemblyman Jeff "Ganjaman" Wood (I-Plowed) vote? After all, he was once the sponsor of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). Surely our independent Doobie Brother in the Assembly sided with the Republicans on this issue?

Unfortunately, no. Wood voted with the Democrats. When Wood left the Republican Party because they had lost their way, was he standing in front of a mirror when he dictated the press release?

It's sad to see a politician reach the end of their political career. Sadder still to see the politician throw away whetever principles he might have had hoping to curry some favor from the party they hope will save them.

Big bust in Dane County

No, not the breast-feeding bill in the state senate, a drug bust.

Members of the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force intercepted a shipment of 70 pounds of marijuana as it arrived in Sun Prairie late last week, and that in turn led them to more marijuana in an east Madison apartment building, according to search warrant documents filed in court Tuesday.

According to the court filings, members of the task force were present Friday when a bus from Mexico arrived in Sun Prairie and watched as a man and a woman got off the bus and carried four duffel bags to the rear of a pickup truck waiting nearby.

The search warrant documents say the two individuals consented to a search of the duffel bags just as Madison Police Officer Denise Markham arrived with her drug-sniffing dog, Sadie. The dog indicated two of the bags had controlled substances in them, and the bags were searched and found to contain 35 pounds of marijuana each.

Any of them know State Representative Jeff Wood?

Clear-cut Wood

Deb Jordahl takes State Representative Jeff Wood to the woodshed:

Wood’s legislative voting record, however, exposes him as just another politician who promises one thing and does another.

In 2007, Wood defied his party leaders by voting with the Democrats in opposition to their budget, not because it violated the principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility, but because the Republican budget didn’t include a costly new government biofuels center.

Wood’s political transformation was completed late Wednesday when he cast the 51st vote in favor of a Democratic plan to raise more than $600 million in taxes on hospitals, businesses and consumers. Democrats, who lost two of their own members in opposition to the plan, needed Wood’s vote to prevent Republicans from claiming that each of their fifty members cast the “deciding vote “to raise taxes.

Cynics have to wonder what Democrats promised Jeff Wood in exchange for his latest betrayal. Whatever the quid pro quo, Wood will soon discover that his new friends are just as two-faced and opportunistic as he.

I would add that Wood did not exactly have a fiscally-conservative reaction to the governor's budget speech:

The Legislature's lone independent, Rep. Jeff Wood of Bloomer, said it's difficult to judge the governor's budget proposal immediately because this budget address, like all of them, was really just a broad outline.

"The devil is in the details," Wood said, noting the proposal to save money by cutting Department of Natural Resources services centers and Division of Motor Vehicles offices could be a major inconvenience for west-central Wisconsin residents, depending on which of those offices are closed.

Wood has a pre-trial hearing on March 9th for his soon-to-be third drunk driving conviction. Keeping that in mind, was this headline intentional?

"He stopped drinking"

In light of the revelations in the Dan Bice column on State Representative Jeff Wood's past troubles with alcohol, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reiterated their support for Wood's resignation. This prompted a response from a reader,

Jeff Wood should stay in office. Let he who is without sin throw the first stone. He stopped drinking. What about the lawmakers still drinking?

The lesson should be, tax and regulate marijuana to fill the state budget gap and raise the penalties for DUI.

But Wood is like a lot of us. He made a mistake. Let him serve, then let voters decide.

"Your honor, the defendant may have killed his parents, but he's stopped killing people. Who among us would punish an orphan? If there is a lesson here, let's tax guns and bullets, and raise the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon."

The analogy isn't exact, but you get my point. "He stopped drinking." Yes, it was hard for him to continue drinking and smoking the pot pipe with his hands handcuffed behind his back. He also stopped hitting signs, snowbanks and medians, and ceased to be a menace to the roads.

Jeff Wood, at the movies

You knew this was coming. The video has been released for State Representative Jeff Wood's arrest on December 12. You can hear him deny to the officer that he hit anything before the officer caught up with him, and then you can watch the field sobriety test.

A more complete picture of State Rep. Jeff Wood

Dan Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel fills in the blanks on some of Wood's history with alcohol. Among the incidents was an attempted theft of a leather jacket, passing out at a McDonald's and then getting belligerent at a detox center, and the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

In 1989, Wood and a 22-year-old buddy were accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl whom they picked up at an underage drinking party in Chippewa Falls. The criminal complaint quotes Wood, then 19, as saying he had oral sex and intercourse with the girl in the back of his friend's car. Wood then took over the wheel while his friend went to the back seat with the girl.

Under a deal with prosecutors, Wood pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, was put on a year's probation and was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service and pay court costs. The charge was expunged from his record after a year.

The incident was raised during his 2002 campaign, but Wood dismissed the matter by saying he didn't have sex with the girl.

In a follow-up interview, Wood told Bice to direct questions about these past incidents to Wood's attorney, one he hasn't hired yet and that he told a radio station he had no intention of hiring.

Despite the night of dangerous driving under the influence and the arrest for drug possession, despite the past arrests for driving under the influence, Tom Giffey of the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram wants to punish Wood by having him receive treatment for his alcoholism.

Some might demand that Wood resign his seat in the Assembly too. Someone who makes such bad decisions - Wood was also convicted of drunken driving for incidents in 1990 and 1991 - shouldn't be in a position to make decisions on the behalf of the public, the argument goes. We're sensitive to this reasoning. Nonetheless, Wood's behavior, while dangerous and regrettable, didn't pertain directly to his job. Unlike other officeholders - again, Blagojevich comes to mind - he isn't accused of trying to make underhanded deals or sell his influence to the highest bidder. Instead, he's accused of doing something far too many people in Wisconsin do: getting behind the wheel after drinking too much.

Everybody else is doing it, why not Wood? Perhaps we might arrange a debate between Giffey and Mike Nichols of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has a different position with the state in mind for Wood.

Stenzel is still alive. He is now 84 years old. His attorney, Jerome Buting, told me that the man is now nearly totally blind. No matter what, said Buting, Stenzel will continue to "pay his own personal debt" because he still feels terrible.

If his original sentence stands - something Buting is now trying to get a judge to amend - he will remain in prison until about a week before Wood's term expires.

Bill and Kathy Szeflinski, the parents of the children who were killed, don't take a position on whether Stenzel should be let out.

Personally, I wish someone had the power to get both Wood and Stenzel out of the places in which they sit. Barring that, if Wood wants to insist on sitting in a state building for the next couple of years, maybe he can volunteer to serve some of Stenzel's time.

By the way, for those editors that want to punish Wood by making him write legislation, Michael Horne took a look at some of the more interesting legislation pushed by Wood in recent years. The Assembly Democrats seem to have embraced the troubled Wood and have given him three committee assignments. I wonder how Democrats within the caucus feel about cozying-up with a three-time DUI, drug-possessor, with a history of sexual assault of a minor? And given the more complete picture of Wood's character, do Tom Giffey, any of Wood's Assembly colleagues, or for that matter any of his constituents, still feel he should continue to be a holder of elective office?

What were Jeff Wood's first words when he got pulled over?

What were Jeff Wood's first words when he got pulled over?

Any donuts, officer? I got a serious case of the munchies. 8 (25%)

Is this the way to the Bong Rec area? 8 (25%)

I bet you never saw a 1998 Buick do that before. 10 (31%)

I was at a biofuel meeting and got high on mother nature. 4 (12%)

Was I playing Bob Marley too loud on the radio, officer? 2 (6%)

The winner: "I bet you never saw a 1998 Buick do that before."

Thanks to everyone who participated. I'll have an update on the Wood situation a little bit later.

Wood should write 100 times, "You should not drink and drive"

Add the Appleton Post-Crescent (is that a half moon?) to the list of newspapers that wants to punish State Rep. Jeff Wood by making him write legislation.

They found Wood's car pulled over, with Wood urinating on the highway's shoulder. He had smashed into a caution sign, which he originally denied to police, and a snowbank before stopping. His blood alcohol content was 0.15 percent, about twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Marijuana was found in his car.

The State Patrol charged Wood with operating while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He had previous convictions for drunken driving in 1990 and 1991. He has apologized and said he accepts "full responsibility."

Unfortunately, Wood isn't the first state official to get caught driving drunk. But, as the latest, especially in this time of increased focus on the issue, he could take a stand on changing the laws to better reflect the seriousness of the problem in the state.

Everybody else is driving drunk, why not Wood?

Seriously though. Wouldn't it be better to ask the other 98 members of the assembly to draft tougher laws and ask the pot-smoking, three-time drunk driving Wood to resign?

A legislator unfit to serve

State Rep. Jeff Wood (I-Bloomer) is hardly the first legislator in Wisconsin to be arrested for OWI. The fun part about making a list is that, invariably, some name will be forgotten, as a conclusive list is so long.

In this week's column for the Waukesha Freeman, I argue a cultural change must take place as well as a legal change if we are to reduce drinking and driving. This cultural change must include, and be led by example by, the state legislature.

A cultural change must accompany the legal change. It is no secret Wisconsin’s culture is permeated with the influence of alcohol. Our universities are notorious. Attendance at sporting events is often more about the alcohol consumption off the field rather than the play on the field. And it’s also no secret that we’re paying for it every day with the lives of our citizens. Reading the record of Wood’s night of allegedly driving under the influence, it’s a miracle nobody was killed. Unfortunately, it’s likely that during that night somewhere else in Wisconsin there was another alcohol-related crash. It’s likely that night saw another person unable to return home to their family because a drunken driver killed them.

Our elected officials represent the best and the worst of us. Just as Illinois has a culture of political corruption, Wisconsin has a culture of drinking, and it’s prominent in our elected officials. Hamlet’s Danes at a wedding feast have nothing on the late afternoon cocktail session at some of Madison’s watering holes. Can we trust those elected officials to change Wisconsin’s drinking culture enough to keep the intoxicated drivers off our roads?

The change in our drinking and driving culture must come through leadership and example. Jeff Wood can start a new trend in taking responsibility by resigning. If not, the judge sentencing Wood should make him an example.

Drinking, even alcoholism, is not a disqualification to serve. After all, it's not as if legislators are making life-and-death decisions requiring absolute sobriety. There is no sense of urgency in any vote in Madison that cannot wait for a pot of coffee and a hangover to dissipate.

But a third arrest for OWI, coupled with possession of marijuana, is certainly enough of a misjudgement to render the officer-holder unfit. Wood deserves points for facing his constituents as quickly as he did. But as the week wore on, his media appearances looked less like a sincere accounting than they looked like half-honest damage control.

Wood claims he needs to continue to serve because of the importance of the coming state budget. However, he is (by his own volition) a man without a party with which to caucus, and he no longer holds any position of responsibility thanks to his behavior. The governor has already indicated his budget proposal may be delayed as the state waits for the federal government. If Wood were to do the responsible thing and resign now a special election could be held for his seat, giving his constituents the voice in the state budget Wood claims he's clinging to his legislative seat to preserve.

Journal Sentinel editors sober up on Jeff Wood

Sometimes it just takes a little prodding. David Haynes for the J/S editorial board noted my criticism of the newspaper's weak response to State Rep. Jeff Wood's arrest and the subsequent editorial became the first in the state to call for Wood's resignation.

Wood and any other legislators with direct experience with drunken driving can best prove they have learned their lessons by passing a law that makes the third offense a felony.

Judgment is seriously flawed any time a person gets behind the wheel drunk. It is acutely flawed if after two previous offenses, a driver does it again. The consequences should reflect that truth.

We haven't asked resignation of others in the past, but the toll of drunken driving in Wisconsin is too hard to ignore. It's time to take a stand. Wood should go.

Does Herb Kohl Twitter while watching games?

The Milwaukee Bucks are following me on Twitter. Do you think the players are sitting around in the locker room checking on their Blackberries for my latest updates on hot dog stands, drunk legislators, baseball parks and Mayor Nelson's fashion sense?

By the way, you can follow me and follow my blog on Twitter, too.

The cooperative Jeff Wood

“I cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so throughout the entire process.” State Rep. Jeff Wood

The trooper noted damage to Wood’s car, including a flat tire and damaged rim that suggested the car had been driven some distance after the tire went flat. Wood said he didn’t know how it happened and suggested it may have occurred while he was parking. - WisPolitics.com

I guess "cooperated" means not physically resisting arrest and needing to be tasered.

By the way, who gave Wood the marijuana?

Don't forget to vote in our poll (left hand column), what were Jeff Wood's first words when approached by the police?

Ed Garvey asks a good question. No, really.

Madison lefty celeb Ed Garvey comments at the GarveyBlog*:

You know the rest. Cops approached, checked his car, found two bags of marijuana, arrested him, and gave black eye to Dem majority in the Assembly. Whoa Nelly! Gotta wonder if he got his $88 per diem.

* see the things I do for you people?

Jeff Wood gets mild reproach from state's newspapers

Despite the outrage on the state's editorial pages about the small penalties handed out to drunk drivers, when given a chance to editorialize on a public figure's dangerous combination of drinking/driving/marijuana, the state's editorial boards can only manage a mild "tut, tut." If any of these editors sat in judgement on the sentence to be handed to State Rep Jeff Wood, it would be time to open the bar because the drinks would be on him.

While swerving all over the roads, Wood hit a caution sign. The Wisconsin State Journal points out, "that sign could have been a person." That's right, Wood could have killed someone. What does the WSJ propose should happen to Wood? Should he resign? Should his peers in the legislature think of an appropriate punishment? Should Wood's constituents call for his resignation? What about jail time?

With a new legislative session beginning next month, it's time to get serious. Assuming he keeps his seat, Wood should be the first to sponsor legislation in January cracking down on Wisconsin's drunken-driving scourge.

Whoah. Let's not go crazy here. Propose legislation? Wow. I know it was both possession of marijuana and operating while intoxicated, but proposing legislation might mean he'd have to talk to his staff.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the advocate for tougher drunk driving laws in the state right now, surely would have something a bit more draconian in mind. Ricardo Pimintel wrote in the "Across the Board" editorial blog a letter to Wood,

And we wonder if you would have made this grievous error in judgment if authorities had access to sobriety checkpoints. They may have served as a deterrent.

Ordinarily, this latest arrest -- you are among at least six legislators now who have faced drunken driving charges -- might constitute a conflict of interest, so to speak. We think you can model proper behavior in a couple of ways. 1. Don't ever do this again. and 2. Show that the lesson learned here is that you realize that you posed a risk to yourself and others and that legislation is needed to deter such behavior in others.

To be fair, Pimintel did call for a third conviction to be a felony, but did not suggest what should happen to Wood. But he gets to write on the blackboard 100 times, "I will propose new legislation supporting checkpoints." Oh, and it wasn't really Wood's fault because he was improperly deterred.

Pimintel should just give Wood a hug and tell him, "There's really no bad boys. It's just your environment."

The Chetek Alert actually asks if Wood should be forced out of office.

In the end, Jeff Wood should not be forced out of the Assembly. However, he may want to think long and hard about resigning in order to send the right message to his constituents. They can then choose to elect him to the position again in the next election if they feel he is still the best candidate for the job.

Now there's commitment to treating drunk drivers seriously. Wood should "think long and hard" about resigning. How long? A weekend? Should he be sent to his room without any supper while he thinks about it? They don't even ask Wood to write any legislation.

Latest update on Wood's situation:

WXRO is reporting that despite the distance in time between drunk driving arrests, Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey will charge Wood with a third offense OWI, and the marijuana found in his car is sufficient for Wood to be charged with marijuana possession. Third offense OWI can result in a one-year jail term and a fine of up to two-thousand-dollars.

Former Speaker Huebsch wishes Jeff Wood was still a Republican

Former Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch told the Chicago Sun-Times Rep. Jeff Wood showed "remarkably poor judgement" when he was arrested for drunk driving.

Rep. Mike Huebsch, the former Republican speaker who clashed with Wood, said the lawmaker showed "remarkably poor judgment" in driving drunk.

"And you can't explain the illicit drugs," Huebsch said. "That's inexplicable as to why he had them, what he was doing with them, what he was thinking."

At the same time, he said he wished Wood would not have chosen to leave the Republican Party.

Is Huebsch serious? What pipe is he smoking? Instead of wishing Wood was still in the Republican Party, Huebsch should have said, "I think it's a sad end to a strange political career, and the quicker Wood resigns the better it will be for the legislature and Wisconsin."

Jeff Wood's third arrest for OWI

State Representative Jeff Wood was not telling the whole truth when he was being interviewed by WAYY-AM.

WAYY: Was this first time OWI for you, Jeff?

JW: Not exactly. When I was a teenager I got drinking and driving, but it's been over twenty years.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting, and as the arrest report reveals, this is actually Wood's third arrest for OWI. The other two were in 1990 and 1991. As Wood is 39-years-old, he was 21 and 22, and the arrests were less than 20 years ago.

Given the anger surrounding the arrest when it was thought this was a first-time arrest, what will be the reaction of Wood's constituents now it is revealed this is actually the third time?

Wood's court date is January 26th.

By the way, here is his interview with TV 18 in Eau Claire:

The report is clearly made with the assumption this was Wood's first conviction.

If nothing else, I think Wood should be removed from office for repeated use of the word, "dranken."

WAYY interview with Jeff Wood online

The WAYY-AM interview with Jeff Wood the morning after his arrest is available on-line. Part 1 and Part 2.

"The trooper detected an odor of intoxicants, Wood’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and Wood’s speech was slurred"

Wispolitics.com has the latest on Rep. Jeff Wood's arrest for possession of marijuana and drunk driving. According to the arrest report, Wood had two bags of marijuana totalling 4.9 grams and a four-inch pipe.

The arresting trooper reporting coming up on a car that was pulled over on Interstate 39/90/94 with its emergency lights flashing. The trooper said Wood, I-Bloomer, was urinating on the side of the road when he came upon him.

According to the report, Wood told the trooper he had pulled over to talk to his wife on his cell phone. The trooper detected an odor of intoxicants, Wood’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and Wood’s speech was slurred.

Witnesses had called police to report a car driving erratically on the interstate. One of the witnesses said the driver had driven into the median and struck a sign.

The trooper noted damage to Wood’s car, including a flat tire and damaged rim that suggested the car had been driven some distance after the tire went flat. Wood said he didn’t know how it happened and suggested it may have occurred while he was parking.

The report apparently does not indicate if Wood was trying to write his name in the snow.

Update! The crash report indicates the vehicle was towed due to the damage and that Wood's license plate was found at the site of the collision with the sign.

Jeff Wood has some pretty nifty driving skills when drunk. And, a new poll question.

The account of Jeff Wood's drunken driving. It's a miracle he didn't kill himself or someone else.

Wood was weaving for several miles as he drove north on Interstate 90 in south central Wisconsin, the report shows. He then drove off the median on the left side of the road and smashed into a yellow caution sign and a snowbank.

The witness who reported the hit-and-run crash to authorities said Wood's 1998 Buick Skylark went airborne before returning to the road.

"His car picked up about 4 or 5 feet and came slamming back onto the highway," truck driver Gary Coughlan, 38, said in a telephone interview Monday. "I really thought he was going to shoot across the highway at me."

Wood kept driving, said Coughlan, who wrote down the lawmaker's license plate number and called authorities. A state trooper arrested Wood within minutes. His blood alcohol content was 0.15, well above the legal limit of .08, the report said.

In the meantime, we at the Wigderson Library & Pub have a new poll question.

What were Jeff Wood's 1st words when he got pulled over?
Any donuts, officer? I got a serious case of the munchies.
Is this the way to the Bong Rec area?
I bet you never saw a 1998 Buick do that before.
I was at a biofuel meeting and got high on mother nature.
Was I playing Bob Marley too loud on the radio, officer?