State Rep. Jeff Wood, I-Chippewa Falls, was convicted of drunken driving and possession of drug paraphernalia Monday and sentenced to 45 days in jail and a $1,615.50 fine after pleading no contest to a 2008 Operating While Intoxicated charge.
Wood was also sentenced to attend drug and alcohol treatment, his driver’s license was revoked for 27 months and an ignition interlock — a breathalyzer device that connects to a vehicle’s ignition system and will not start if the driver has alcohol on his or her breath — will be installed on his car for 24 months.
Wood pleaded no contest to third offense drunken driving and possession of drug paraphernalia, a deal resulting in prosecutors dropping a charge of marijuana possession.
He is scheduled to begin his jail sentence Monday with work release privileges.
Wood was arrested in December 2008, just one month after winning reelection, along I-39/90/94 after crashing his car into a highway sign and urinating on the side of the road.
Still, the question of how this conviction will impact his career in the legislature remains unclear.
“People in Wisconsin are awfully forgiving when it comes to a first offense with an OWI. But a third offense, you have to be really darn good to be excused for that kind of behavior in my opinion, especially in such a short period of time,” Nina Emerson, a law professor at University of Wisconsin, said.
Emerson said she thinks the climate in Wisconsin is very tolerant of drunk driving in general, pointing out that there have been other high profile cases of Wisconsinites in power being pulled over for driving under the influence.
Former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager was arrested for drunk driving in 2004 but did not step down and ran unsuccessfully for reelection. Current Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, pleaded guilty in 2005 to driving with a prohibited alcohol content and had his license revoked for six months.
In Wisconsin, a first offense for an OWI is a civil forfeiture, similar to a speeding ticket, rather than a misdemeanor. It does not become a felony until the fifth offense, while in most states an OWI becomes a felony on the third offense and in all other states a first offense is a misdemeanor, Emerson said.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed a law last December that would change a fourth-offense OWI to a felony if it occurs within five years of the last offense.
Wood has been charged with five OWIs, three of which occurred during his term in the Assembly. He was convicted of drunk driving in 1991 and 1992, and currently has cases pending in Marathon and Monroe counties.
Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, filed a resolution in October to expel Wood from the Assembly as result of these charges. A vote was tentatively scheduled by the Democrat majority for April 20, but Wood attempted to force a vote overnight last Friday while Nass was at a visitation for his mother’s funeral. The Assembly 47-47 tied on the vote to remove the resolution from the Committee on Rules..
“In my 20 years in the State Assembly, I have witnessed some pretty lousy tactics by both parties. However, the cowardly and despicable conduct overnight by Rep.Wood and some Democrats is an all time new low,” Nassh said in a statement.
Most Democrats in the Assembly favor a softer measure than expulsion, with some recommending censure. The state last removed a legislator from office in 1917.
