Class of ‘05 Lawmakers’ Drinking and Driving Is Double the State Average

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 7/1/2010 | Ken Braun

[MichCapCon]

Former Michigan House Speaker Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, was arrested Feb. 12 for suspicion of drunken driving. This is the eighth alcohol-related driving incident for the 110 House members who took the oath of office with DeRoche when he became the speaker in January 2005. That’s a rate of almost 7.3 percent over five years — more than double the state average for drinking and driving arrests, according to data compiled annually by the Michigan State Police.

Six lawmakers committed the eight infractions, with two of them chalking up two each since 2005. Media accounts show that one of those two — former Rep. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit — was convicted once in 2004, again in 2006, and was pulled over a third time earlier this year.

Michigan law now requires a mandatory felony record and the potential for a 5-year prison sentence for three or more drunken driving convictions during a lifetime. Prior law had set a more lenient standard of three convictions within any ten year period. It was this House class of 2005 that voted on Dec. 13, 2006, to impose the stricter standard, and Smith was one of less than a handful of lawmakers to vote against the change. His second stop for drinking and driving took place that same year.

After leaving the Legislature, Smith became a lobbyist for the Detroit Public Schools...

[SunkenCiv]

...former Rep. Virgil Smith, D-Detroit -- was convicted once in 2004, again in 2006, and was pulled over a third time earlier this year... Prior law had set a more lenient standard of three convictions within any ten year period. It was this House class of 2005 that voted on Dec. 13, 2006, to impose the stricter standard, and Smith was one of less than a handful of lawmakers to vote against the change. His second stop for drinking and driving took place that same year. After leaving the Legislature, Smith became a lobbyist for the Detroit Public Schools.

I hope he had nothing to do with the drivers' ed. Thanks MichCapCon.