| Just when Montanans were starting to wonder if money and power really did mean you could get away with anything, Melville rancher and congressional candidate Dennis McDonald had the guts to call a spade a spade and voice his concern about Rehberg's actions. Thank you.
Here's the deal, folks: In spite of what Rehberg's "crisis manager" says, the facts speak for themselves.
After the accident, Rehberg's "crisis manager" tried to deceive Montanans by saying that Rehberg's BAC was "only" .05 (when tested at the hospital 3 hours after the accident.) Unfortunately, this means that at the time of the accident, Rehberg was legally drunk.
BAC levels decrease at a rate of .015 per hour. So 3 hours before Rehberg was tested (the time of the accident) Rehberg's BAC was .095. Because Rehberg was impaired, he was incapable of judging whether Barkus was sober, and he took his two young staffers on the boat with him.
Here's another major point: Rehberg failed to designate a sober member of his party who could make sure everyone got home safe before everyone started drinking. State and federal experts spend millions of dollars every year for decades on DUI prevention and the importance of designated drivers. Trying to say that you don't know about designated drivers in today's world is like trying to say you didn't know smoking was bad for you.
Finally, what we have here is a shameful pattern of alcohol-induced bad behavior. I can think of at least 3 other incidents:
This one, when Rehberg drank half a dozen shots of vodka, jumped on a horse, fell off, got trampled by another horse, broke a rib and allegedly called the locals "cone heads." Initially Rehberg's spokesman told reporters the Congressman had no shots of vodka. Then the Congressman admitted he had "two or three." And later, a Marine colonel who was on the trip told Roll Call Rehberg really had six shots.
And then there was this. Rehberg's reelection campaign report lists a nearly $300 expenditure on Feb. 25 for "lodging" at the Tune Inn, a storied dive bar on Capitol Hill. An inn, the Tune Inn is not. "There's a cot in the basement," a bartender explained. "But usually people just pass out on it."
And then there was the bar brawl involving Rehberg and his thugs in Missoula.
And these are only some of the recent incidents that have made the papers. |
