State Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) says the time is now for Representative Jeff Wood (I-Chippewa Falls) to be purged from office. Nass introduced a resolution last week to expel Wood from the Legislature.
“Every day that ticks off and goes by indicates that the legislature unfortunately wants to do nothing regarding driving under the influence,” says Nass.
The Republican from Whitewater says his chamber’s Democratic leadership has not stepped up.
Wood, on Wednesday, received his fifth arrest for driving while intoxicated, his third within the last year.
Meanwhile Nass is confident about that his resolution “would pass overwhelmingly” if it gets to the floor.
“I am not sure how any member of the legislature defends a no vote, after five times being arrested driving under the influence,” says the Whitewater lawmaker.
This was the second time in a month that Wood was arrested for being impaired by prescription medicines. In each case, alcohol was not found in system. Wood had been arrested three previous times for drunk driving, the latest being last December, when authorities also said they found marijuana in his car.
Two-thirds of lawmakers would have to vote to expel him. It has only happened once in state history. Back in 1917 senators expelled Sen. Frank Raguse, a Milwaukee Socialist, because he refused to retract statements his colleagues considered disloyal to the U.S. government.