Freshman Florida Congressman Arrested for Cocaine Possession

Of course he would be from Florida! GOP Rep. Trey Randel, representing the Fort Meyers-Naples area of Florida, was arrested in D.C. for possession of cocaine. From Politico:

Rep. Trey Radel, a Florida Republican elected in 2012, will be in court Wednesday on charges that he possessed cocaine.

Radel, 37, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday.

He faces a maximum of 180 days in jail, as well as a fine of up to $1,000. Radel has missed all four votes in the House this week.

He gave a statement saying he "struggles with the disease of alcoholism" and is going to seek treatment and counseling and is sorry for letting everybody down.

If he had been caught with cocaine in Florida, it would have been a felony there, risking him jail time and loss of his voting rights (not that either of those things would have probably happened to him). The Washington Post noted that Randel is a co-sponsor of federal legislation to reform mandatory minimum sentences for drug violations (and is a lover of rap music).

Read the whole story (and more of Radel's statement) here.

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Comments

[mr lizard]

I'm i the only one that prefers his reps and senators to be on illegal drugs?

[Copernicus]

The saddest thing is the the GOP tend to no re-elect their coke-heads. Trey? I feel for you buddy.

[Copernicus]

Wow, 'the' for 'that' and 'no' for 'not'. I refuse to believe I did that. There truly are squirrels. (A skeptic becomes a believer)

[Being Waterboarded]

I always chuckle when I hear people complaining that our congress critters "don't work hard enough" when they are off golfing or whatever. They find it odd that I wholly encourage congress vacations. In fact, I'd just as soon pay them an exorbitant salary and tell them to never show up to work.

[Robert]

So you'd prefer the laws of the US remain the way they are now forever rather than ever risk changing them?

[Juice]

If the laws stay words on paper and the enforcers all take permanent vacations...

[Hugh Akston]

So did the DCPD mistakenly arrest one of the Important People? Or has Randel not been in town long enough to be in unarrestable club? Or is it just because DC is Obama's town and Randel just sits on the wrong side of the aisle?

[Old Man With Candy]

If Obama had a son, he would look like Trey. Do lines like Trey, as well.

[Austrian Anarchy]

They do it from time to time. Remember that drunken Kennedy in DC. I mean the most recent one.

Thinking it might be for the tour buses or something and they need to add a new site one on occasion.

[Episiarch]

I imagine, Hugh, that sometimes there's no way not to arrest even an "important" person; maybe there are too many witnesses, or there's a complainant, or something. Also, I have a feeling that sometimes the "do you know who I am?" crap pisses off a cop enough that the arrest is worth it to them.

[BakedPenguin]

Or the cop knows exactly who the person is, and also knows they don't have any real juice in the system. First term House Rep in the party out of power? If Radel tried the "do you know who I am" shit, he's just dumb.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-He gave a statement saying he "struggles with the disease of alcoholism" and is going to seek treatment and counseling

Well, then the cocaine was probably medicinal, to get him off the bottle.

Seriously though, this should not be a crime, and the fact that he was trying to reform drug laws is another mark in his favor in my opinion.

[BakedPenguin]

Going to his website, it looks like he's a Tea Partier (and other partier, too). Might as well be one of us.

Sucks that he got arrested. I don't think Ft. Meyers / Naples voters will be all that forgiving.

[Spartacus]

That's my congressman! Woo hoo!

I am a Ft Myers voter, and I will be very forgiving, unless there is an LP candidate on the ballot. I didn't vote for him the first time because we had an LP candidate, but he has generally not been as bad as I expected.

Frankly, I am disappointed he did not issue a statement saying "yeah, I snort coke. So what?"

[Swiss Servator, kirsch anyone?]

"Of course he would be from Florida!"

OK, that got me to laugh.

[JidaKida]

Sometimes man you just gotta roll with it dude.

http://www.Privacy-Web.tk

[Michael]

Reading some Facebook comments about this on another site just made me realize exactly how proudly ignorant many self-professed liberals are. Behold the following trillion gigawatt rail gun of blistering stupidity:

"Normally it wouldn't be a big deal to me but this POS introduced a Bill to end MINIMUM Drug sentences. WHAT A HYPOCRITICAL POS"

[Chief Justice John Jay]

Ha! That is delightful in so many ways. And depressing in so many other ways.

It never occurred to me that there might be people who think "mandatory minimum" means the sentence would otherwise be longer, but no, of course there are.

[jamosi]

They really are that stupid?

[thorax232]

Legalize. Shut the government down. Nuff' Said

[jamosi]

Its Radel not Randel.