MINNEAPOLIS-
Now Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is the running mate of US Vice President Kamala Harris. His 1995 drunk driving arrest in Nebraska – long before he entered politics – is once again coming under fire.
Walz was a 31-year-old teacher when he was stopped near Chadron, Nebraska, on the evening of September 23, 1995. In March 1996, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving.
Here’s a look back at the events and the aftermath when Walz launched a political career a decade later and joined the Democratic presidential nomination last week:
The case
According to court documents, Walz was filmed by a Nebraska State Trooper driving 96 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone. The trooper wrote that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. Walz failed the sobriety test and the preliminary breathalyzer test.
He was taken to the hospital for a blood test and then booked into the Dawes County Jail. In a transcript of his March 13, 1996, hearing, the prosecutor is quoted as saying that his blood test showed a blood alcohol content of .128 percent, compared to the legal limit of .10 percent. Walz’s attorney said in court that Walz thought someone was following him because the officer was approaching quickly and did not immediately turn on the red lights.
The defense attorney acknowledged that Walz had been drinking, but argued for a fine because his blood alcohol level was “relatively low.” He also noted that Walz was a teacher at a local high school and “felt terrible about it, I guess he was really disappointed in himself.”
He said Walz reported the incident to his principal, resigned from his coaching position and offered to quit his teaching job “because he felt so bad.” He said the principal persuaded him to stay as a teacher and Walz now explains to his students what happens if you are caught driving under the influence. Walz lost his license for 90 days and was fined $200.
Walz said he stopped drinking alcohol after his arrest and now prefers Diet Mountain Dew.
The incident appears
A Republican blogger uncovered court documents in 2006, when Walz first ran for Congress, ultimately upsetting incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht. Some news outlets in the southern Minnesota district reported on it, but it did not become a major issue in that campaign. It was largely forgotten until Walz ran for governor in 2018 and it was mentioned in a more detailed report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He told the paper it was a moment of self-criticism and a nudge to change his behavior. His wife, Gwen, recalled to the paper telling him, “You have obligations to people. You can’t make stupid decisions.”
Distortions
The arrest was reopened after Harris selected Walz last week, and Republicans and media outside Minnesota began to scrutinize his past. The most important revelation was that Walz campaign staff in 2006 gave false information to the few news outlets that covered it at the time.
His campaign manager told the Rochester Post-Bulletin that he was not drunk. She said Walz could not have understood what the officer was saying to him because his service in a National Guard artillery unit had left him hard of hearing, and suggested he may have had balance issues as a result. She also falsely claimed that the judge who dismissed the drunken driving charge reprimanded the officer for not realizing that Walz was deaf.
His campaign spokeswoman made similar comments to KEYC-TV and The Journal of New Ulm: “The drunk driving charge was dropped for one reason: It wasn’t true.” She claimed he failed the breathalyzer test because of his deafness and that the officer had Walz drive to the police station and leave alone.
The court records make no mention of an ear problem, and it is clear that the police officer took him to jail. The transcript showing him admitting to being drunk in court apparently did not surface until 2022, when Minnesota-based conservative website Alpha News reported on it.
The Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why its former campaign staff provided false information.
Walz underwent ear surgery in 2005 to correct his hearing loss.
