February 13
...serving up your daily dish.
Bloomfield town councilman and former mayor hopeful Ray Tamborini was arrested for drunk driving on Saturday night, Baristanet has learned from sources inside Bloomfield town government and the Bloomfield Police Department.
Sources say Tamborini, who is Emergency Management Coordinator for Bloomfield, was driving a town vehicle when he crashed into two parked cars on Broad Street. According to sources, his alcohol level was 1.6, twice the legal limit.
Over at NJ.com's Bloomfield Forum there are already calls for Tamborini's resignation:
Bloomfield Police were the first to respond. When they realized that a township councilman was involved, Bloomfield officers at the scene made a wise decision by turning the investigation over to the NJ State Police.
Drunk driving should not and will not be tolerated, especially when an elected official engages in this type of conduct.
As a mother, I strongly believe that there should be an outcry from the public for Councilman Tamborini to immediately resign his seat.
Tamborini has not yet returned our call.
UPDATE: Further confirmation. A spokesman for the NJ State Police confirms that it did receive a call at 11:04 pm Saturday from the Bloomfield Police Department requesting help administering a breath test to a local official. A state officer was sent.
Vice President Dick "Deadeye" Cheney has two DUIs on his record.
Just thought I'd mention that. No agenda or anything.
Seriously, if a DUI makes you ineligible for office then we need to remove a whole lot of people from office right away. The time to decide that someone has bad judgement is before they use electronic voting machines to steal the election.
Posted by: DBK | Feb 13, 2006 11:30:17 AM
Ok, so his blood alcohol level was 1.6
Is that the reason why he was in an accident or was it the weather? There's a lot of crooked cops around town too, do they have to resign? NO, everything gets covered up.
Posted by: Jackie | Feb 13, 2006 11:36:47 AM
He should certainly be punished/fined for the DUI but lose his job over it? No.
Posted by: Miss Martta (Trolidarity) | Feb 13, 2006 11:39:04 AM
Why was he driving a town vehicle? Was he allegedly drunk while doing town business, or was he allegedly using the town vehicle for personal reasons?
Posted by: appletony | Feb 13, 2006 11:50:16 AM
Have him pay the fine and any other punishments normally meted out for the offense and ask him to attend rehab (at his own expense). I agree he doesn't need to be run out of town on a rail or asked to resign his post. If he does his job well post-DUI then he can serve as an example that one can make mistakes and still redeem oneself. (This is for the mother calling for his immediate resignation.)
Posted by: glee | Feb 13, 2006 11:58:50 AM
You have to understand that he spends a lot of time in a certain bar in Bloomfield and I'm only surprised this didn't happen sooner. However, that said, if he truly admits he has a problem and enters a rehab program, then I think he could stay on; but he needs to come to terms with this, and make a decision to deal with it.
Posted by: mauigirl52 | Feb 13, 2006 12:02:41 PM
Do you think the town would fire a Department of Public works employee if he was drunk while working and crashed into two cars, why should it be anything different for an elected one. The man should resign.
Posted by: taxpayer | Feb 13, 2006 12:07:10 PM
They should just have Club Soda Kenny host a roast & then move on.
OK that's just a cheap joke. If what mauigirl says is true, then I think she's absolutely right.
Posted by: crank | Feb 13, 2006 12:09:19 PM
He crashed a town vehicle while drunk and he is the Emergency Management Coordinator. Uh, yes, his resignation should be demanded and rendered up forthwith. Since he is elected I doubt he could be "fired" except in the next election. But resign? Yes, he should.
If Cheney had a DUI during his term, he should resign too.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Feb 13, 2006 12:15:43 PM
(p.s. I have zero tolerance for driving while intoxicated, zero)
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Feb 13, 2006 12:16:50 PM
To be fair, Cheney's two DUIs occurred years ago.
I didn't pay attention so I didn't realize he had crashed a township vehicle. It's an interesting issue at that point. Does he use it for personal business? That isn't right. Was he drinking while on official business? Also an issue.
Posted by: DBK | Feb 13, 2006 12:26:16 PM
So is the bar (or where ever else he was coming from) also responsible for the damage? Is that the law here like it was where I lived previously?
Posted by: max | Feb 13, 2006 12:58:15 PM
Goodness I hope not. Where did you live previously?
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Feb 13, 2006 12:59:02 PM
If he was using a town vehicle to go bar hopping he should resign immediately.
That Dick Cheney is some piece of work, eh? I guess it took them a good 24 hours to get the story straight.
Posted by: montclair_is_crazy | Feb 13, 2006 1:03:07 PM
MIC,
I suspect a conspiracy going straight to the top!
I am giddy with excitement that Democrats are going to try to make some hay with this. Giddy I tell you.
please...please...please!
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Feb 13, 2006 1:05:05 PM
"Goodness I hope not. Where did you live previously?
Oregon. The law there makes serving alchol to people who are drinking to much illegal. The bar stops pouring for someone who has had too many already or is obviously drunk. Either that or they don't let them drive away. Even at parties, the hosts can find themselves sued for over serving their guests.
Posted by: max | Feb 13, 2006 1:10:33 PM
Nah, the Dems don't have the testicular fortitude to make a fuss about anything at this point. But let's all imagine this scenario: Hillary Clinton hits some guy backing her car up on Saturday morning and for some mysterious reason no one in the free world hears about it for nearly 24 hours later. Could you imagine????? There would be conservatives standing on the steps of her office crying for a federal investigation. Druge would be all over it. Ann Coulter would be going on about how it evinces the Clinton arrogance, etc. O'Reilly would be frothing about how this is not the kind of character we want in people running for higher office. There would be a firestorm. The Dems can't create a good firestorm if their lives depend on it. Hell, at this point are am sure more ink was spilled on Whitewater land deals than the entire Iraq war debacle.
Posted by: montclair_is_crazy | Feb 13, 2006 1:12:23 PM
Max,
Most states have laws making it illegal to serve drinks to those who are visibly intoxicated, but to hold them responsible for their actions is crazy.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Feb 13, 2006 1:13:58 PM
So, you'd like the Democrats to have balls enough to aspire to be just like Ann Coulter and O'Reilly.
Wow. Says it all MIC.
Posted by: Right of Center™ | Feb 13, 2006 1:16:02 PM
ROC, if there are laws against it, that means the civil suite for recovery of damages can dip into the pockets of those involved. I didn't mean that they would be ticketed but if it happens too often, a bar might find itself losing its liquor license.
Posted by: max | Feb 13, 2006 1:16:26 PM
i'd like to know how mauigirl knows that he hangs out at a certain bar all the time.
it takes one regular to know another.
Posted by: Left Of Center, like Suzanne Vega | Feb 13, 2006 1:17:33 PM
MIC - Don't forget that somehow in the course of this mythical investigation it would be discovered that Bill Clinton cheated on HRC again...and more money would be spent investigating this non-issue than investigating 9/11 and the Hurricaine Katrina Response combined.
Posted by: Lisa | Feb 13, 2006 1:20:05 PM
Well, I guess the Cheney incident confirms what most Americans already know : The man is just not a straight shooter - with anyone.
Posted by: man in the street | Feb 13, 2006 1:21:42 PM
Montclair is Crazy,
It's like the eavesdropping brouhaha: the public mood will determine whether a "firestorm" is sustainable. Listening in on transnational phone calls with one end in a possible Al Qaeda safe location and the other in the U.S. has the support of a pretty big part of the population. Similarly, with this Cheney incident, you might find that a fair part of the public is in favor of lawyers taking some non-fatal birdshot to the face.
Posted by: appletony | Feb 13, 2006 1:23:03 PM
