17 November 2015

College student Denise Juneau was busted twice for drunken driving

Mike Dennison at KRTV has the details. But the immediate push that shoved this history into today’s sunlight probably came from an anonymous commenter at Intelligent Discontent who writes under the pseudonym of Pogo Possum:

After posting my reply to Pogo, I sent the following email, under Flathead Memo’s electronic letterhead, to Juneau’s campaign (link in original):

Date: 13 November 2015
To: press@denisejuneau.com
Subject: Request for Comment

At intelligentdiscontent.com, commenter Pogo Possum suggests that there may be police reports on Ms. Juneau’s driving record.

Has Ms. Juneau ever been arrested and/or convicted of driving offenses? If so, when, where, for what, and what was the outcome?

Thanks for your help,
James Conner

Juneau’s campaign did not respond to my inquiry. But somehow, Dennison got the story.

Juneau earned her first DUI at age 19, her second (which sent her to the slammer for seven days) at age 22. Since then she’s stayed sober behind the wheel, earned a master’s degree and a law degree, and twice won elections for statewide office.

Would this have come out without Pogo’s push? I suspect so. Candidates who run for federal office are subjected to intense opposition research. Ask George W. Bush, John Walsh, or Bill Yellowtail.

Yellowtail himself was a candidate for Congress in 1996, losing to Republican Rep. Rick Hill by a 52 to 43 percent margin. At the time of his candidacy, revelations about his past surfaced including a felony burglary in college, a failure to pay child support for five years and spouse abuse. Helena IR, 29 April 2000.

Will having been a drunk driver hurt Juneau? I doubt it. Although once a sinner, she’s long been saved.

But this may take some joy out of the campaign for Democrats hoping to tar and feather Ryan Zinke for, say, having too much fun on shore leave as a young naval officer.

One question does remain. Will I ever get a response to my inquiry to Juneau’s press aide?