He also fell asleep while waiting to be processed -- something my spouse has used as evidence in DUIs s/he has prosecuted successfully in King County, fwiw. S/he did tell me it, "would have been better if he had barfed."

When the officer asked McGavick how much he had had to drink, he replied, "Oh, I don't know - two, maybe three beers."

That's EXACTLY what EVERY drunk driver says. Seriously: go to court and watch the parade of guys who had "two, maybe three" or "a couple a" beers. To a cop's ears, that phrase sounds like "I'm severely fucked up, ossifer, please arrest me".

I was riding with a friend once who got pulled over, and as a joke (he had had one beer about three hours previously) he answered "oh, a coupla beers". The cop had him out of the car before the rest of us even knew what was happening. The cop was visibly pissed that my friend wasn't impaired.

And shouldn't a big time insurance exec know that "Oh, I don't know - two, maybe three beers" is the absolute WRONG answer?! More proof that he was out-of-his-mind blotto.

Well certainly too much was being made out of old DUI. However, what sort of an idiot is this guy? He brings up the DUI in the first place but LIES about it? It take a bit of creative talent to make a DUI look worse than it already is.

He also got divorced. Maybe he actually killed his first wife?

That Siesta Mike is such a lightweight. Two beers? It takes me @ least 6 Elysian IPA's to fall off my bike.

Cantwell looks like she can down a few.

Six? Piker.

There you go - I was right. Not only is he a bigger Liar than you knew, he was so drunk he had to have had the equivalent of at least six very stiff martinis or two vodka soaked watermelons.

Friends don't let friends vote for lying DUI drunks who hate America.

good point, FNARF. If you can't handle a full 12-pack, you shouldn't play the game.

12? Im speaking pints here gentlemen. And I said "@ least." Lets see you ride your cruiser with 12 pints Will. =)

Fnarf, English is my second language..whats a piker?

I once told by a lawyer that if you don't submit to any tests and don't commit any of the three Ps, (Puke, Pass Out, or Piss yourself) you're pretty likely to get out of a DUI charge.

A "piker" is a overly cautious or stingy person. An amateur. Houghton Mifflin says "someone of no boldness or ambition, someone who ventures little and always plays it safe."

Cruiser? Um, with 12 pints.

It would have to be a vehicle I'm used to driving. In daylight. In Eastern Washington - where it's flat.

I'd like to correct some earlier assumptions I made. I just read the PDF at the PI and it shows Mike weighed 180 pounds at the time, so it is technically possible that he had fewer than six stiff martinis with a .17 b.a. reading.

Even 90 minutes later.

Doubtful, but possible.

I would like to see Cantwell produce an ad with a dramatization of McGavick's arrest. I hate Cantwell's guts, but I'd even chip in $100 or so for her to do it.

Anyone know what happened to his insurance rates?

Note the Washington Post blogs haven't caught up to date on this one.

Anyone out there in their mid-30s weighing 180 pounds? They should be in that ad. But first you have to drink enought to blow .17 after 90 minutes.

I think everyone here is missing the point: He was driving a WHITE MAZDA MIATA.

And that's the problem with Washington! Too many talking heads and too much mud smearing, and not enough getting drunk and getting handcuffed to cop desks! I'm going to bring the drunken publicness back to Congress!

Two questions based on current Washington State law: In order to qualify for the deferred prosecution, did he have to undergo an evaluation and then legally be declared an alcoholic? And, were his "education" classes in reality another word for outpatient rehab? If he was busted in the Evergreen State today, that would be the case in order to receive the opportunity to have it erased from his driving record. Was that also true in Maryland in 1993?

My question is this: does Washington State really need its very own lying, reckless, irresponsible, alcoholic, multi-millionaire Republican politician representing it in DC? It seems that there are enough of them there all ready and that they have made quite a mess of things.

McGavick is a Bush supporter. He's a big business, Catholic male anti-birth control and abortion man. He's undoubtedly pro-war, just hasn't been public about that particular issue.
He's a Republican drone. Do not fool yourselves into thinking he's a "moderate."
He's a lying, looting corporate shill.

Chuck:
You are correct about defferred prosecution under current Washington law. Not only does the defendant have to have an evaluation stating they are an alcoholic very likely to reoffend without treatment, but the defendant must also state that he or she personally believes this is true. The deferred prosecution treatment program is also very time consuming. And it cost several thousand dollars, so it can be difficult for low income or jobless persons to take this route.

I have no idea of the state of Marylin law in 1993.

Note: Because the deferred prosecution is a once in a life time deal in WA, it may be inadvisable to do a deferred prosecution on a first DUI (as crazy as that may sound) because the penalties for a 2nd DUI are so much more severe it may be best for the alcohol lover to save this "get out of jail free" option in case he gets a second one.

ON the otherhand it can't help but be a positive not to have it on your court or insurance record.

Chuck:
P.S. A WA criminal court wont "legally declare someone an alcoholic" but uses the opinion declaration of the acreditted chemical dependency evaluator as the basis for letting the defendant invoke the deferred prosecution law.

It is possible to be involuntarily committed to a hospital as an gravely disabled alcoholic in a civil proceding in Superior Court. This comes closer to a legal declaration of someone as an "alcoholic." But still relies on the opinion of an "expert." Note: now days almost all persons "involutarily" committed as alcholics are really indigent persons volunteering to involuntary hospitalization in order to gain access to scarce extended inpatient alcohol treatment.