I’m blogging from Philadelphia today after grabbing a red-eye through DFW last night. I’m exhausted, headachy, a little disoriented… all the symptoms of a hangover… you know, kinda the way Venus Velazquez must feel right now after driving her campaign off a cliff last night.
Seattle City Council candidate Venus Velázquez was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the Seattle Police Department.
“I take the charge very seriously. I take the process very seriously,” Velázquez said this morning. “I don’t feel good about it.”
No Venus, I bet you don’t. And neither do a lot of people who have invested an awful lot of time and money into helping Velazquez get elected. Time and money, I’m guessing, that will totally go to naught.
Velázquez said, “I was not impaired, I had drinks at dinner, as many of us do. I don’t even have a speeding ticket.”
Reminded that according to court records, she was cited for speeding in Seattle in 1995, she responded, “Well, that was a long time ago.”
Oy. Have our local politicians learned nothing from the whole Jane Hague affair?
The correct response might have been “I’m mortified. It was a terrible, terrible lapse of judgment, that will never, ever happen again. We all make mistakes, and I promise to learn from mine…” or something like that. But to try to make excuses on something as serious as a DUI…? That’s just plain dumb.
Truth is, Velazquez is both petite and buff — not an ounce of excess fat on her — and it is very possible that two drinks with dinner could put her over the legal limit while it might take more than twice that for a seasoned pro like Mike McGavick. But she refused to submit to the breath test, so we’ll never really know, which quite frankly doesn’t work in her favor.
And besides, that’s not really the point. Maybe she was .11. Maybe she was .05. But she never should have been behind the wheel of a car, let alone speeding — not as a candidate in a high profile city council race, not on the day the absentee ballots started arriving in the mail, and certainly not after a couple drinks. There is no excuse, and any attempt to make one just adds one more lapse of judgment to the list.
I like Velazquez, and she may still get my vote. But I think she just cost herself the election.
UPDATE:
Velazquez has issued a formal statement. I think it hits most of the right notes. We’ll see if it helps.
Will Richard Pope mount a write-in campaign aimed primarily at her?
The Piper
When will you humans figure out you shouldn’t drink ANY alcohol if you’re gonna drive?
On those very rare occasions when I show up at DL, I either drink water or soda pop, or nothing at all. No one has ever seen me drink a beer at DL, not even one. You should have ZERO alcohol in your system when you drive. It takes 12 hours to purge all the alcohol from your body. This is not hard to figure out. The airlines figured it out ages ago. If you’re a commercial airline pilot, you can’t drink 12 hours before you fly. If every driver in America took this rule to heart, DUI deaths would drop to zero.
Add Democrats Kelli Linville and Whatcom County Executive Pete Kremen to the list if you’re so into DUI politicians there Goldy.
And Roger Rodent; we all know the real reason is because your med. coupons and food stamps don’t qualify as payment for alcohol purchases or taxi fare.
@4 Show me a rabbit and I’ll show you a hard-working, self-supporting, pillar of society! Show me a Republican and I’ll show you a welfare bum.
N.B. — Here’s a little item of history that may interest you, Mark. Congress created the food stamp program to subsidize farmers. That’s why it’s administered by the U.S. Agriculture Department instead of Health and Human Services. Let’s see, who do farmers vote for? Most of ’em are Republicans.
Republican farmer = food stamp leech
What a load of politically correct horse manure.
First, yeh.. Velasaquez got caught but why in hell would we anrt our politics based on catch-me-if-you can? By this standard, I hope that Barack has no traceable subscriptions to anything more racy than Time magazine or maybe National Geographic and that noone finds out what sort of Lingeries Hillary wears.
Second, Roger I am so happy you don’t have a beer when you are at DL. But tell me do you do anything else that is mood altering? Do you ever argue? Have coffee or tea? Fantasize about Jessica Rabbit? Worse yet, do you ever listen to Goldy while driving a car?
Yes CH2OH is disabling. AND I will bet Venus was stopped for some good reason. If she is, as Goldy suggests, unable to hold her booze, then this was a dumbass thing to do.
And, if she is more qualified that the staid and boring Bruce Harrel .. whom should I vote for?
@6…RR…
If you want to start a campaign to eliminate them, which is what it sounds like, sign me up.
I’ve seen people purchase all sorts of non-elgible crap at my local Safeway.
The Piper
Speaking of farmers, a lot of our agrarian cheap labor conservatives are complaining their crops are rotting in the field because of “labor shortages.”
The reason there’s an agricultural “labor shortage” is because in rural areas the farm jobs tend to be a long way away from housing, making farmworkers dependent on cars to get to work, and when gas prices go up and already-low farm wages don’t, so that it costs more to get to work than they can earn, it’s not feasible to work.
Try paying MORE MONEY, farmers. You can’t expect farmworkers to subsidize these high fuel prices on their already inadequate incomes.
But, of course, the Republican farmer’s solution to this crisis is not raising farm wages but taxing urban residents to provide more subsidies to farmers. We have food stamps; how about “gas stamps” for farmworkers? I thought of it first …
Because of the ethanol craze, the price of some ingredients that go into beermaking have gone up 500% over the last year. Big price increases for beer are coming to a tavern or grocery store near you soon.
@11:
They use hops to make ethanol? That’s a new one on me.
@12…T…
But they do use beer to make ethanol…
The Piper
David, both Venus Velazquez and Jane Hague are petite and very lean.
I”ll give Velazquez the benefit of the doubt that she was in a hurry to get home and inadvertently crossed the line. If Velaxquez’s only ticket was a speeding ticket 12 years ago, I”ll give her a pass
Since Roger Rabbit has posted 7 of the 11 posts to date on your article, I’m more interested in Rabbit’s drinking than Velaquez and Hague’s
@14…KCD…
If she’s so smart and drove so sober, why did she refuse a breathylizer? After that, no one will give her the benefit of the doubt since they’ll wonder what it was she wanted to hide.
The Piper
Also @14…KCD…
You ever seen Jane Hague? Lean, yes; petite, no.
The Piper
What is wrong with you people? How can so many people justify DUI??? For crying out loud, the woman, petite or not, has really, really poor judgement! She got in a 4,500 pound car, with an even drunker person as a passenger, and drove home. She was in Ballard, and it that is a really loooooooooooooooooong way to Mount Baker, where she lives. Assuming she had to drop off the drunk campaign staff, Venus was going to be driving drunk on the streets of the city that she wants to govern for at least 40 minutes! There are at least 100,000 potential victims between Ballard and Mount Baker, and most of them are liberals.
Our police officers have more important things to do than arrest candidates who can’t wait till they’re home to boozzle up.
For you friggin morons who are thinking with your penises instead of your voting brain cells (Hell yeah, she’s hot), not only did she drink & drive, but she didn’t have a drivers’ license on her person. She tried to cover the evidence with “minty fresh breath”. She refused to get off the telephone, as instructed THREE TIMES, at the police station. She refused the breathalizer test.
How much more do you need? How can you wacked out lefties be so hung up on Venus? She’s hot, but you are thinking with your dicks. Get over it. She’s married anyway, and already has 3 kids.
Do we really need another problem council member? Haven’t we had enough grief with the city council?
Bruce Harrell is an honorable guy who runs an honorable business. He was recognized for his honor in high school, and he continues to do honorable things. Dull, yes. Frankly, right about now, I could use a lot more dull and a whole lot less excitement on our city council.
Based on this calculator http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm two drinks for a 100 pound person in 0 hours would equal .07, within the legal limit. Had she only had two drinks she should have just taken the breathalyser as she likely would have been legal. Legal=no crime=no scandel
My hunch is she had more then that, perhapses a lot more, and her drunken self thought it better to have some degree of deniability. Either that, or she’s a Tim Burgess level idiot and has no place in elected office.
Venus kind of lost me with her recent racist remarks. Had I known she was a lush, she may have earned back some of my respect. But, being a lush and then getting behind the wheel… that’s a whole ‘nother story. Bad judgment. She should roll with me. I always bring a sober friend to assure my safe return home.
17 ” How can you wacked out lefties be so hung up on Venus?”
Not a single post here has made any excuses for her. Rather, she’s getting deservedly reamed. There is not the slightest evidence of anyone being “hung up” on Venus other than your references to her “hotness.” Delusional projection–another common characteristic of Republicans.
Let me be clear: I am no Republican, and am indeed a liberal, albeit with a uterus.
Hague and Velazquez, if convicted of DUI, should lose their driver licenses for six months, with jail time and impoundment of vehicle if the offense is repeated. But DUI by itself should not prevent them from holding public office.
George W. Bush was arrested for DUI in Maine in 1976.
22
Dick Cheney, of course, racked up a couple of them in the 1960s and probably got a free pass from Wyoming law enforcement once he made it politically.
venus = burnt toast
total lack of smarts
down the tube
there is no tolerance for drunk driving, this is not 1957
she is lying about her consumption
CAB CAB CAB CAB – VENUS ARE YOU READING – GOOD ADVICE FOR ALL
50.00 fare would have been a good investment
Um yah only a couple drinks? Where is the liar onslaught Goldy? This lady could only make it three months in the public eye without a major mistep. I’m expecting Daryl to crawl out of his cage and start the bashing. Now this page has supported Pope, a psychopath, Venus a DUI offender and McIvor a choker and adulterer. Nice endorsements boys keep up the great work.
I’m still waiting for the calls for resignation.
‘No’ on Initiative 960, Approve 67, Reject 8206, Approve 8212, Reject 4204, Approve 4215, ‘no’ on I-25 and Approve Medic One (1). Voting for Dan Satterburg, Scott Noble, Gael Tarleton, Alec Fisken. Voting ‘no’ on the Prop 1 transit proposition (it really is a waste and poorly thought out). I am tired now.
@4:
Then by your rationale, I guess your a Republican. Good luck to you gov’t cheese monger.
@26…BO…
In re Medic 1/EMS…I will also vote to support it. Having been carted to Evergreen Hospital more than once (severe leg wound and atrial fibrillation), I know the value of quick medical response.
But that doesn’t prevent me from loathing the funding mechanism for that and other things like housing. Excess levies force us to choose to tax ourselves on top of regular property taxes in order to fund, strangely enough, very popular programs.
But the general KC County budget contains millions and millions of $$$ in pork and waste that we’ll never have the opportunity to have a say on except if we go to the courthouse and testify before the Council or write a letter or e-mail.
Let’s turn this around: fully fund emergency medical services, veterans and homeless housing, and similar stuff, then stick programs like the funding for the Federal Way Symphony, et al, on the ballot for levy support.
I would be willing, however, to fully fund mental health therapy and psychotropic medication for Julia Patterson who increasingly can’t keep her temper in public. Outbursts such as the one on Dori Monson’s show today indicate her desparate need for intervention and serious help.
The Piper
Goldy,
So Venus Vodkaskez MIGHT still get your vote?
Why?
Is it her exquisite decision making ability? “Well, I have been drinking, the election is 3 weeks away, I think I will drive very fast now”
Is that the leadership you crave on the city council? How many DUI’s disqualify her from your vote? Three? Four?
If she had hit someone, would that do it? Or would she have had to kill someone with her car?
It is her racism and sexism that disqualified her from my vote. But I guess that is so 1960’s of me. And I am guessing there will be no welcome sign for HA at Councilman Harrell’s office.
I am also expecting the flood of fund raising/ass kissing money from developers to Mr. Harrel in the weeks ahead will make the Halliburton/Bush connection look like a splish and splash.
Venus should get Bobbi Bridge to hear her case; one drunk to another
ps, her weight has no bearing on her drunkness; her legal limit is the same (% wise) as a football players.
Peter says:
Hague and Velazquez, if convicted of DUI, should lose their driver licenses for six months, with jail time and impoundment of vehicle if the offense is repeated. But DUI by itself should not prevent them from holding public office.
George W. Bush was arrested for DUI in Maine in 1976.
Great Point Peter, everybody makes mistakes, even Roger joined the Army instead of going to Canada. My new moto today is if they hold public office vote them out. Let some else new screw it up, then maybe it will improve.
Peter says:
Hague and Velazquez, if convicted of DUI, should lose their driver licenses for six months, with jail time and impoundment of vehicle if the offense is repeated. But DUI by itself should not prevent them from holding public office.
George W. Bush was arrested for DUI in Maine in 1976.
Great Point Peter, everybody makes mistakes, even Roger joined the Army instead of going to Canada. My new moto today is if they hold public office vote them out. Let some else new screw it up, then maybe it will improve.
Peter says:
Hague and Velazquez, if convicted of DUI, should lose their driver licenses for six months, with jail time and impoundment of vehicle if the offense is repeated. But DUI by itself should not prevent them from holding public office.
George W. Bush was arrested for DUI in Maine in 1976.
Great Point Peter, everybody makes mistakes, even Roger joined the Army instead of going to Canada. My new moto today is if they hold public office vote them out. Let some else new screw it up, then maybe it will improve.
According to the police report, Vodkazquez tried to mask her breath with a “mint odor”, then refused to comply with the officer when he warned her three times that she needed to get off the phone. After she got off the phone, she tried to trip the arrest up by asking the officer for legal advice. Then, she refused the breathalyzer.
Oh yeah, she crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic at 50mph on Market, which is posted at 30mph.
Still voting for this upstanding example to our children, Goldy?
Mike @29,
Eat me. Then read the post. Then eat me.
(No, really. Read the post. I shouldn’t have to explain it to you.)
Was Venus on the phone for 20 min trying to get sober…if so, she should have blown on the alcohol test
my bet is socialist seattle finds way for her to get off. you and me would never dodge not taking the test…
Goldy is in love – or – maybe has dreamed of the wares??.
She will be forgotten as a civic leader for ten years or more.
Repeat – there is no tolerance for drunk driving, none.
Goldy is not from Seattle, and often, it tells.
In many ways we are blue nose here, and the strange drinking laws are part of it. AND, the horror of and distaste for drunk drivers is not new.
Goldy, get your pointed ears open, and do not become a hack for a drunk driver. Even if she gives you fantasy fucks.
Over, so over. Nothing can rescue this lady. Exit stage, end.
She is on the ballot, but should shut down her campaign. She will be a sore looser. Bad decision Venus, bad, bad, bad.
Bad campaign staff as well, someone should have had their brains in gear, took her keys, and called a cab…. remember, friends don’t let friends drive drunk. Truth.
Poor Goldy, delusions of power, gatekeeper to dear fireball Venus on the council, all swept away. Too bad she isn’t a non drinking Mormon. Too bad.
Having a Great Cigar and a beer to celebrate another Massive democratic SCHIP tax increase……….
Bye Bye SCHIP
Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
#37 — You mean kind of like socially conservative Idahoans find a way to live with a Republican senator that fucks boys in the airport men’s room? And a Republican Senator and his soiled diapers and $300 whores?
But, you can rightfully point out that no Rep. senator driving around in soiled diapers ever got arrested for drunk driving!
If I ate you, I bet your nose would taste like Vodkaskez’s ass.
OK Ok
She screwed up, had a drink and misused a car.
Lets see …..
Abe Lincoln and Tom Jefferson has clinical depressions.
Tommy fucked his slave.
Abe lawyered runaway slaves back to where they done belonged.
JFK fucked Marilyn.
Bill Clinton had worse judgement.
GW Bush used coke and went AWOL and talks to Jesus.
Jimmy Carter had a problem with a Pookah.
Ronnie Reagan wore diapers.
FDR had a live in mistress.
IKE somehow acquired a multi million dollar estate on the meager presidential income.
Adams was responsible for the Alien and Sedition Acts
Grant was a drunk,
LBJ picked up beagles by the ears
Rudi wears dresses and live with gays
Hillary wears boxer shorts
Romney wears holy long johns
Barack Obiwan refuses to wear an itty bitty flag pin.
lets see ,, that leaves us with Coolidge, Washington, Harding, Wilson ……..
Thank heavens for Harry Truman … oops he came from a pretty crooked machine.
I guess i will have to vote for Dennis Kucinich. I will be the doesn’t even drink aspartame!
By the way, I understand that Bruce Harrel reads Hustler and has been known drive AND do his nails at the same time!!!
Frankly, neither Harrel nor Velasquez is impressive. They are walking, talking ads for the demise of Seattle civic governance. Soon Seattle will be as well governed as the Seattle School District. BUT!!! .. we will have a council chamber full of clean livin’ teetotalers.
err ahhh
isn’t anyone here interested in the issues?
Got any more softballs for me, goldy?
Her statement sounds like she has a hangover. Not well done. Not sincere.
Yuk. Crashing and burning.
anyone know the % of people refusing to take a breath/blood test who get acquited, reduced sentence?
Seems balls are the theme for the day – I have lots of stories, some while sober, some while drunk.
With just a little push I can post for hours. Like an online book.
nice well connected white lady – mommie – no priors – easy plead – fine, go to class, 100 hours of community service – no driving for 90 days – easy – hubby is an attorney I believe
her career crashing will mitigate as well – some tears on the pretty face – court room of family and friends – remorse and more remorse – children and grandmother/mother at her side
20 glowing letters from very prominent folks – used to support her – easy
Seattle Jew– You gave HARDING a pass???!?? He fucked his mistress in the foyer closet of the White House, and pretty much gave away federal property to his friends. Before Bush he was considered the most corrupt president.
Despite all the pieties above, I don’t care much about DUIs, but this really pisses me off.
For once in your wretched life, busdriver, you’re spot on. After the Jane Hague thing– DUI arrest, denials, waffles, bullshit– Venus says, “Oh, crap, they’ll never catch me, so I’ll get shitfaced. I’m not like that drunken whore Hague!”
I grew up in the Jesse Unruh school. He had a little speech he gave to newly-filed Democrats: “I don’t care if you love your dog, I don’t care if your wife understands, I don’t care if it’s your family tradition. So long as you’re our candidate, you will NOT fuck the family dog until after Election Day. If you do, I’ll see to it that you fall down a well so deep you’ll never be heard from again!”
Venus needed a manager like Jesse.
I was leaning toward Bruce Harrell anyway.
Venus is out..
Venus says she will “take responsibility”. I guess that means she’ll be setting her case on for a guilty plea, huh? At least that’d put her a notch above Jane….
heck, you lib lovers of color should elect her. Sounds like she’d provide great “colorfull” quips and actions in her role on council. I can’t see her sitting quietly.
Can’t wait to hear her “take responsibility” by pleading innocent..
Wrong on – you and your hate is so pathetic. Your life collapsed when Dean Logan left town.
You live in Hague’s district? What did she do? She “took responsibility” by pushing her court date past the election before a friendly judge.
Not THAT is “colorful”. Moron.
Hey Wrong On – I know you’re a real piner for a Dino-styled camelot in Olympia so why don’t you go read some of Dino’s “ideas” ghost-written by his idea man Lou Guzzo.
That should tide you over till Nov 2008.
Here’s the link.
The delicious irony of the object of Goldy’s lust getting tagged for a DUI is exceeded only perhaps by his shrillness about the DUI topic when he sponsors an (albeit deeply lame) social gathering called “Drinking Liberally”.
Goldy is truly the less accomplishged mirror image of Tim Eyman.
No drinking and driving. Period.
I’m smaller than Venus and I know my limit even with dinner. I know that I’m not drunk after two drinks but no, my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders and I hand my husband the keys.
This isn’t being pious or judgmental. It’s what ADULTS do. We grow up and make decisions about how we act as adults. If we are going to drink a lot we either let others (not drinking) drive or stay at home.
I love the way Venus admits to not being a great driver. What makes her think she is better after a couple of drinks?
Does she still have good qualifications to be City Councilwoman? Sure. Good ideas and energy. Sure.
The maturity? No. Because you don’t say, there for the grace of God go I. Because ADULTS don’t make those excuses or rationalizations for bad behavior that could kill someone.
This was not a mistake. An accident, something you didn’t mean to do or that happened because of things out of your control, that’s a mistake. She knew what she was doing and went ahead and did it. That she had staffers around her who would allow her to do it says something.
How can so many bright people be so stupid and self-destructive?
Last word; even Barbara Bush, that paragon in pearls, defended George’s drunk driving arrest during the last election even though her remaining daughter (one daughter died of cancer as a child) was in the car with him. And if he had killed her last daughter, would she have been as forgiving?
Just a comment regarding the effect of alchohol on a “petite” and “buff” person.
A lot of us fall into the trap of using calculators or tables to figure out how many drinks we can safely have and still drive below the .08 B/A level. Most of those calculators or tables rely upon the user entering their body weight.
But what most of us fail to realize is that FAT DOES NOT ABSORB ALCHOHOL. Therefore, a big guy approaching 300 lbs should enter his “normal” weight – that is, what he would weigh if he was down to his high school weight (in most cases). If you do that, you suddenly find the numbers are quite a bit different – those four drinks you think you think can safely drink over two hours suddenly become only one. But muscle will absorbe and burn off alchohol, so if you “bulk up”, you can take that into account.
Better yet, play it safe, and use the “12 hour” rule proposed by earlier posters.
What I hate are the business dinners where the only drinks served are wine and water, and there are frequent toasts. The waiters keep re-fillling the wine glasses before they are half empty, so you never really know how much has been consumed.
I did the ballot tonight – and voted for Harrell. I really had not decided in that race, but suspect many voters are in exactly the same place.
Goldy, you are disgusting on this race. She is a flake, will not win and should get back to the private sector.
I hate drunk drivers, as I always see my self killed by them on the road. I do not drink so it is easy to keep my blood alchol ratings down.
Bye bye Venus, it is over.