Wisconsin Rep. Jeff Wood, I-Chippewa Falls, didn’t get thrown out of office for having three drunken driving convictions, but his colleagues Tuesday decided to censure him. http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/91694409.html
The state Assembly voted 73-24 to rebuke Wood, who just a day earlier pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 45 days in jail and more than $1,600 in fines for his third offense of drunken driving and possession of drug paraphernalia. His begins his incarceration next Monday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
A proposal to take Wood’s seat away from him, which was brought by Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, was tabled in a 49-48 vote.
In a particularly pithy quote to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Tuesday, Nass complained, “We are supposed to be lawmakers, not lawbreakers.”
But other Wisconsin lawmakers argued that it was up to voters, not the state Legislature, to get Wood out of office by calling for a recall.
Wood, 40, was convicted of drunken driving charges in both 1991 and 1992. He also has two cases of allegedly driving under the influence last fall pending in Marathon and Monroe counties.
Wood, who has said he won’t run for reelection, told a judge Monday that he is in treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, and hasn’t used them for nine months and six months, respectively.
As part of his newest sentence Wood’s driver’s license will be suspended for 27 months.
