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  1. #1
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    MADD at Drunk Drivers, but Not Influential Ones

    Radley Balko | January 13, 2007, 11:34am

    A few months ago, Delaware state Rep. John C. Atkins was pulled over in Ocean City Maryland under su ion of drunken driving. Immediately after getting pulled over, he flahsed his Delaware Legislature ID, after which the officer assured him that he wouldn't be arrested. Problem is, Atkins took a roadside breath test which came back at .14, well over the legal limit.

    Atkins wasn't arrested. His car wasn't impounded. He wasn't even fined. Instead, he was allowed to call a friend, who came to pick him up and take him home. Atkins was arrested hours later after a domestic dispute with his wife. He pled guilty to one count of "offensive touching."

    All of that is bad enough. Stranger still is the fact that, months later, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has put out a press release expressing their full support for the Ocean City Police Department in declining to arrest Rep. Atkins. MADD says it entered the debate to express its full support for the arresting officer, who apparently has pleased the group by making hundreds of drunk driving arrests over the years (no word on how many of them were politicians).

    Even worse, it appears that details of Atkins' traffic stop were kept secret until after last November's election. This article , dated October 29th, explains how Atkins went on a local radio talk show to explain the 911 call and arrest for the domestic dispute. Atkins apparently assured the listeners that "no alcohol" was invovled in the altercation with his wife.

    I wonder how many other people who blow .14 in a roadside breath test, go home and "offensively touch" their wives, then publicly lie about it get such staunch public support from MADD?

    I also wonder if it has anything to do with Atkins' seat on the Delaware legislature's public safety committee, or his past votes on MADD-favored DWI issues.

    As for Atkins, after public pressure, he has finally asked the legislature's ethics committee to look into his actions on the night of the 29th.

    http://www.reason.com/blog/show/117866.html


    Awesome, good to see that even the most noble organizations in America are totally full of as well.

  2. #2
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    Oh, and spare us the "he is a republican" thing. This isn't about that.

  3. #3
    i hunt fenced animals clambake's Avatar
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    It's not like he drove his car into a river and drowned some chick. The bar has been set higher.

  4. #4
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    It's not like he drove his car into a river and drowned some chick. The bar has been set higher.

    I knew, absolutely knew, someone was going to throw that joke out there.

  5. #5
    Retired Ray xrayzebra's Avatar
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    Driving a car into the water and abandoning someone to drown is a joke. You
    have a strange sense of humor.

  6. #6
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    Driving a car into the water and abandoning someone to drown is a joke. You
    have a strange sense of humor.

    Come on Xray, how many people have made a joke about Teddy's involvement in that over the last 30 years? It's nothing new.

  7. #7
    Retired Ray xrayzebra's Avatar
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    ^^It is still not a joke. The state of Mass. treated it as such and Kennedy's
    punishment indicated so. The man who committed the crime is a joke for
    that state. But his deed wasn't!

  8. #8
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    ^^It is still not a joke. The state of Mass. treated it as such and Kennedy's
    punishment indicated so. The man who committed the crime is a joke for
    that state. But his deed wasn't!

    Anyway, back to the point of the thread..........

  9. #9
    "Have to check the film" PixelPusher's Avatar
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    What was MADD's connection to Rep. Watkins anyway? Why should they care about his re-election campaign? I'm pretty sure drunk driving laws/enforcement is something any politician of any party would support (unless you're one of those fundamentalist libertarian types).

  10. #10
    Alleged Michigander ChumpDumper's Avatar
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    He should do some PSAs for MADD now.

  11. #11
    Veteran exstatic's Avatar
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    He should do some PSAs for MADD now.
    Hopefully, they wouldn't turn out like Lucy's Vega-mita-vitamin commercial.

  12. #12
    Fantasy Football Guru Guru of Nothing's Avatar
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    BADD ?

  13. #13
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    If you have cash you can drive as drunk as you want to drive. MADD is pure bull .

  14. #14
    uups stups! Cant_Be_Faded's Avatar
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    I knew a dude in high school who got a free trip to washington DC to speak at a MADD conference

    the only thing was, he wasn't a mom
    go figure

    i get it i get it

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