Facing possible removal from office, Wisconsin State Sen. Jeff Wood was convicted of his third drunken-driving and possession of drug paraphernalia charges Monday. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/91518534.html
The legislator was immediately sentenced to 45 days in jail and fined $1,600, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
On Tuesday the Wisconsin Assembly is set to try to drum Wood, an independent from Chippewa Falls, out of office because he has been arrested three times in the past year for driving under the influence. Republicans will seek a vote on his expulsion.
Rep. Steve Nass, a Republican from Whitewater, last fall brought a resolution seeking to remove Wood from the Assembly, based on his legal problems.
Wood, who already had drunken driving convictions in 1991 and 1992, will start serving the sentence for his latest conviction Monday. Although Wood will have work-release privileges, his driver’s license is being revoked for 27 months. He must also have an ignition interlock put in any car he drives for two year, according to the Journal Sentinel.
Wood will also have to enroll in drug and alcohol treatment.
The state senator currently has other charges pending against him, in Marathon and Monroe counties, of driving under the influence of prescription drugs.
A two-thirds legislative vote is needed in order for Wood to be removed from office, the Journal Sentinel says. Democrats believe that Wood should be reprimanded or censured, not kicked out of his senator’s seat.
