Mike McGavick, the Republican Senate challenger in Washington State came clean today on a drunk driving incident from 1993.
In a wide-ranging interview, he also discussed his divorce, a political dirty trick and payroll slashing at his old insurance company.
The divorce, his regret over an earlier campaign tactic, and layoffs at Safeco Insurance Co. had all been noted in previous campaign coverage. Word of the DUI in 1993 was new.
McGavick said he had no indication that opponents were about to divulge the drunken driving incident or any other shortcomings he mentioned.
On his Web site, McGavick said his first biggest failure was his first marriage. The second was the DUi incident, about which he wrote:
“The second terrible mistake, which was difficult to discuss with my teenage son, was that I was cited for DUI when I cut a yellow light too close in 1993. I was driving Gaelynn home from several celebrations honoring our new relationship and should not have gotten behind the wheel. Thankfully, there was no accident, but it still haunts me that I put other people at risk by driving while impaired. All in all, it was and remains a humbling and powerful event in my life.”
McGavick retired from Safeco to run for the six-year Senate term. He is challenging Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell.
Welcome to the big leagues Mike. Lesson number one – if skeleton’s occupy one’s closet, clean them out the day you file for candidacy. Holding back on stuff like this is only going to make matters worse when the media grabs hold.