Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, has been sentenced to three years probation after pleading no contest to driving under the influence.
“Min was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers in May on suspicion of DUI and for having a blood alcohol level over the legal limit,” reported the Orange County Register’s Hanna Kang. “He was stopped by California Highway Patrol officers the night of May 2 while in Sacramento, less than two miles from the Capitol, according to the CHP arrest report.”
Min, who was driving a car owned by the Senate Rules Committee, was observed driving through a red light without his headlights on.
“0.15 man, I couldn’t even believe that s—, man,” Min asked the arresting officer. “How many drinks is that usually?”
Min continued, “And I assume this is all going to the Senate leadership and all that, too?”
In the aftermath of Min’s arrest, he faced calls to drop out of the race to succeed Rep. Katie Porter in the 47th congressional district, most notably from former Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda. “If it was a Republican candidate who got a DUI, Democrats would demand exactly that,” said Rouda. “Let’s not be hypocrites — join me in calling on Dave Min to quit the race.”
Rouda, followed by Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley and Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, threw his support behind Joanna Weiss as the Democrat of choice.
This editorial board concurs with Rouda.
While Min has expressed remorse for getting caught driving under the influence, he also sought to downplay the implications of what he did. First, Min deleted a tweet “describing a fatal DUI accident as ‘gut-wrenching.’” Then, his campaign sought to do damage control by commissioning a survey which found that “only” 19% of those polled thought his DUI arrest was an effective line of attack.
Dave Min, who has proven himself an ineffective lawmaker beholden to the California prison guard union, should drop out of the congressional race. Perhaps if he completes his probation, he can be considered a credible candidate for public office again. But he has shown himself to be unworthy of public office, unworthy of public trust and unworthy of election to Congress.