This story probably deserves its own post, so I cut and pasted from the Anonymous comment on the last post.
Pomona city councilman arrested
By Lori Consalvo on October 8, 2008 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
POMONA - City councilman Elliott Rothman was arrested for drunken driving Tuesday night, said police officials.
The city has not released any more information on the incident.
Rothman was elected to the City Council in 1996 and re-elected in 2002, and 2006, according to his biography on the city's Web site. He has served as council member for the past 12 years in District Five.
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22 comments:
beatcha' guys
http://idrinklocalyoucantoo.blogspot.com/2008/10/beers-on-me-today.html
Rothman should pull out of the council & election. He needs to get himself some help. It's obvious he has issues to deal with and we as citizens shouldn't have to go through it with him.
I'm voting for George Hunter.
Mark
I think as a city, we get a bad rap, we don't need to solidify that claim with a drunk mayor.
Next thing you know, he'll be claiming to be the "Maverick" candidate.
Ed- you'll have to come by the bar to get it...
I'm actually not at dba today, but I am at dba tomorrow- if you can afford to sit a bit, I will definately buy you a beer, sir!!!!
Meg, good point- but you can't get a beer unless you're celebrating.
you seem to be on the fence- which is a good place to be right now on the subject, given the circumstances.
however, i like to be the "i told you so," guy.
it's just one of those things- we all know people and personality types, and while some deserve the benefit of a doubt- not all of us our afforded such.
it is definately this man's turn to be put in the position of an average citizen, and maybe- just maybe he won't think of himself to highly anymore.
---i pray it humbles him and those like him.
anyhow- meg, i will gladly buy you a beer tomorrow at dba if you intend to show up as well
*too highly
Wow. Oh, wow. While I think that the DUI laws in this state are kind of uptight[1], I cannot believe that the dude would drive impaired in the last month leading up to the election.[2][3] I mean, c'mon.
Maybe he'll be just one more voice raised against those DUI checkpoints.
[1] I managed to fail a field sobriety test last year, five hours after drinking a single beer. They let me drive away after I blew a 0.0 on their portable breathalyser. Standing out in the cold for a half an hour doing coordination tests for no good reason can be kind of a bummer.
[2] I suspect that we should use the word 'alleged' somewhere in here.
[3] Although I guess that the last month of a campaign would be just when all the pressures build up and you start to do dumb stuff. :-(
Ignoring K who appears to be drunk when he drives and has the coordination to match, how many of us can really predict our blood alcohol content (bartenders not included)? As a cyclist with only some plastic and lycra between me and 3000 pounds of metal, I'm not excusing DUIs, just wondering what life would be like if our cars had breathalyzers built in.
Now, in reference to K's last footnote, is it reasonable to assume that Mr. Rothman only did this stupid thing in the last 30 days before an election, or is it more probable that he's done it before, but wasn't caught?
I might stop by tomorrow and reveal myself (gasp). No guarantees though.
One of the things I have noticed about Rothman is that he is frequently late and/or leaves meetings early. You could probably go through the minutes and compare how often he is late to the others. He did have a heart attack in 2005, so that might explain some of it, but not all. The other thing is that I distinctly recall during a council meeting, either in 2004 or 2005, that he was publicly called out for not being on the various and sundry commissions and posts to represent Pomona. I don't recall whatever came out of that, though, since shortly after that Mayor Cortez died and it was apparently forgotten.
I dunno, Ed -- given my all-too-long daily commute, I'm not as worried about the drunk drivers as the drivers on the phone, the drivers who were up all night with a cranky baby, the drivers who are involved in a vigorous argument with their passengers, and the drivers who are much more important than me and obviously must drive past me.
But, yeah, the DUI thing isn't pretty.
Tibbi, you don't have to buy me a beer, but I'll endeavor to cruise by dba tomorrow after work. Ed, Calwatch, y'all gonna meet me there?
I'll be there, anytime after 6pm
hope to see you guys there
I think I may stop by after my meetings as well.
with Rothman expensing over 29,000 in tax payer money and Hunter LESS than 1,000 i think it becomes more obvious which of the two council members are better choices
I agree with anonymous/Mark, except that I'm voting for Hassan Alyassin! He has some good, honest ideas.
-Krystal
Rothman's bio and pic for those of us out of Pomona: http://www.ci.pomona.ca.us/city_departments/city_council/pdf/Elliott%20Rothman.pdf
Tibbi, this cross bloginating is cofusing.
LOL, so K, would it be wrong to assume that you're advocating for nanny-cams in cars so we can apprehend those types of marauding miscreants, too. I was only pondering the benefits to driver and passerby alike, when in the near future breathalyzers are an option for your car. Your proposal, although worthy of consideration, is a little over the top for me! :-)
But now, K, I just called you a bad driver and uncoordinated, and you came back with......?
Oh, you wound me, Ed! :-) I'm actually a pretty good driver -- after getting my little Miata 150,000 miles ago, I went out and ran a bunch of autocrosses[1] and track days. I'm comfortable with oversteer and understeer and off-camber turns and emergency stops and low traction situations. What my skills don't help me with are the folks around me in the 6,000 pound vehicles that could crush me without even noticing.[2]
Scary as the idea of nanny-cams is, the black boxes in new cars can already play back information from the last few seconds before a crash. Give 'em 10 years, and I'm sure that they'll have video, too, and the ability to tell you whether your tie is on straight. I can see the win of being able to figure out who caused an accident, but I'd kind of prefer to have my privacy. :-(
[1] Autocrosses are kind of very short (one minute) time trials set up with cones in parking lots where you can drive your car hard without much chance of hitting anyone or anything. It's excellent training, and if I didn't drive so far every day that I never want to see another car again, I'd still be doing it.
[2] Let's the realistic -- given the amount of commuting I do, there's still an
excellent chance that I could do something very stupid and get myself or others
hurt or killed. It just takes a few seconds of being tired or distracted and -- boom...
I don’t condone drinking and driving by any means….But don’t you think it is odd that they pulled this guy over because the light was out over his license plate? Not that I was voting for him to begin with, he is an IDIOT when it comes to representing the city and those who live in it. On the other hand he is a good guy to get things done for his constitutes. I think a big number of them would have been backing him in this election. The timing of this could have not been worse for his campaign or better for his opponents. Sounds crazy but there are lots of ways to control an election. (a license plate light?)
Anyone from law enforcement out there who could anonymously shed light on whether knocking out the license plate is a method used to obscure detection in some way? Just wondering, if it's not as minor as it certainly seems.
Of course, it still is a violation and if his blood alcohol content exceeds the legally permissible level then he shouldn't have been driving.
Interesting...Chief Romero comes out blasting Rothman for implying that he has the Police Dept's support...and the next day, Rothman is arrested for an alleged DUI?
Anybody know what Mr. Hunter does for a real job...I wonder what his private sector work experience involves?
Rothman is known by many to drink & drive on a frequent basis. He has some favorite watering holes like the Elks Lodge where he allegedly hangs out with Xavier Alvarez, the water board disgrace who claimed to be a 25 year Marine veteran and a Medal of Honor winner. I personally confronted Rothman on this issue and of course he put it on Norma Torres, but he lied because now I have found out he endorsed him too. Allegedly Rothman has made claims he was in the Marine Corps, but he has never served one day in the military. He also hangs out at a sports bar near the Shilo Inn and a restaurant bar near the Armed Forces recruiting offices in Pomona. Back to the DUI --- he made the claim that he was a life time member of MADD which Monica Rodriguez reported was incorrect quoting a spokesperson from MADD. She was correct, there is no longer any membership with MADD. Let me repeat that - there is no membership in MADD. There used to be many years ago as also quoted from the spokesperson from MADD. But wait, Mike Suarez with all of his website savy says, that's curious, as I have downloaded a membership form from the internet. But what Mike does not tell you is that he has accessed the archived website pages of MADD where there is an obsolete membership form that is not used nor would it be accepted by MADD. Congratulations Mike for finding the obsolete form and for navigating the readers away from the real issue. Then Leslie Hedges says if the reporter had researched further, that she would have discovered that any family member of a victim killed by a drunken driver is automatically a member for life. Let me repeat - there is no membership and I did research. And then Leslie goes on to say that in its urgency to pillory Rothman, the Daily Bulletin has seriously misled readers. Wrong Leslie, it is you and Mike Suarez that has misled readers from the real issue. By the way Leslie, the last time I checked modern society does not use a device consisting of a wooden board with holes for the head and hands, in which petty offenders were formerly locked and exposed to public scorn. What Rothman did is anything but petty. It does not matter whether his BAC comes back under .08 or not, he drank alcohol and then drove a vehicle. But let us look at the facts. Mrs. Rothman's father was killed by a drunk driver and that is tragic. What is equally tragic, is that Elliott Rothman has not learned from that tragedy. I am terribly sorry for Mrs. Rothman's loss. I have seen death from my time in Vietnam and from the some 175 funerals I assisted in while providing military honors during the same time frame. I confronted Rothman on this issue of his DUI and told him he should drop his candidacy for Mayor because he was a disgrace. His response was that he would not drop out of the race. He said he was confident that the blood sample would be under the .08 limit. How sad that he is more concerned about being Mayor of Pomona instead of reflecting on the possibility of killing someone while driving under the influence of alcohol. What he did is is conflict and the complete opposite of what MADD represents. And this person wants to be Mayor of Pomona. What his actions really reflect is his lack of judgement, responsibility and accountability. He does not deserve to be Major of Pomona, not only for this action, but his many other unprofessional actions as a councilmember. PAY ATTENTION CITIZENS OF POMONA - this person's leadership abilities are severely lacking and he is a disgrace to his family and to this community. The Daily Bulletin once said that Rothman was vulgar. They were right because on most occasions when I have had the displeasure of talking with Rothman, he had profanity spewing out of his mouth like water over Niagra Falls. Does Rothman any semblance of morality or belief in a greater being. DO NOT VOTE FOR ROTHMAN! PLEASE...
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