The Four that Got Away, and Political Kids Arrested for Drugs

information compiled by Kevin Zeese-
Common Sense for Drug Policy

posted at DrugWar.com October 26, 2002

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President George W. Bush (R)

Question: Did George W. use drugs?

"George W. Bush certainly did drugs until 1974."
Source: Nicholas Kristoff, NY Times reporter who profiled Bush in a series of articles for the paper, 8/1/00 on NPR's Fresh Air

In August of 1999, Bush told reporters that he had not used illegal drugs in the past 25 years. Bush declared that if voters objected to his refusal to reveal more "they can go find somebody else to vote for."
Source: John Affleck, Associated Press; 8/26/99

"As I understand it, the current forms asks the question, 'Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?' and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is 'No.'"

"Not only could I pass the background check and the standard applied to today's White House, but I could have passed the background check and the standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United States--a 15-year period," Mr. Bush said. Spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said Bush had effectively denied drug usage in a period beginning 15 years before his father took office in 1989--or since 1974, when 53 year old Bush was 28.
Source: John Affleck, Associated Press; 8/26/99

"If voters don't like that answer, if voters want me to inventory something I did 25 to 30 years ago, then they can vote for somebody else," he said.

While Bush would not talk about drug use between the ages of 18 and 28, he responded to a question about whether he used drugs while he was in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973 by saying: "I never would have done anything to jeopardize myself. I got airborne and I got on the ground very successfully."

Last year, he explained his discretion as an effort to avoid leading the little ones astray. "If I were you," he told a reporter, "I wouldn't tell your kids that you smoked pot unless you want them to smoke pot. I don't want some kid saying, 'Well, Gov. Bush did it.'"

Sources: www.mapinc.org

It seems Bush will do anything to avoid the drug issue... When Bush was preparing for the New Hampshire primary in January 2000, it was reported that Bush canceled a street-walking tour of one community because, "about 20 people advocating legalization of marijuana were awaiting him there."
Source: Clay Robison & R.G. Ratcliffe, Houston Chronicle; 1/31/00

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President Bill Clinton

"When I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two and didn't like it," Clinton said. "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again."
Source: Michael Holmes, “Bush Rips Question About Drug Use But Refuses to Answer.” Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999. Abilene Reporter-News, Reporter-News.Com. Online. Available:
http://www.reporternews.com/abilene2000/elec/drugs0819.html.
Accessed: 10/24/02.

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House Speaker Newt Gingrich

“Smoking marijuana was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era."
Former US Representative Newt Gingrich admitting that he smoked marijuana when he was in college.
Source: Hilary Stout, Wall Street Journal; 8/8/96
Nov. 7, 1987: GOP Rep. Newt Gingrich admits he tried marijuana “once at a party.”
Source: ABCNews.com Political Nation, Dodging the Drug Question. David Phinney. Aug. 19, 2001. Online. Available:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/prez_questions990819.html. Accessed: 10/24/02.)

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Vice President Albert Gore

“During my junior and senior year of college, it was looked at in the same way moonshine was looked at in Prohibition days."
Source: Newsweek, 11/16/87

Mr. Gore said he first tried marijuana at the end of his junior year at Harvard and used it again at the beginning of his senior year the next fall. He also said he used the drug "once or twice" while off-duty in an Army tour at Bien Hoa, Vietnam; on several occasions while he was in graduate school at Vanderbilt University and when he was an employee of a Nashville newspaper (The Nashville Tennessean).…
Source: Adam J. Smith, “New Bio Alleges Gore Used Marijuana Regularly for Years,” January 20, 2000. DRCNet. Online. Available:
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/gore.html.
Accessed: 10/24/02.

In an interview with John Warneke, former friend and colleague of Gore at The Tennessean , the frequency of Gore's past marijuana use came into question. In 1988, Al Gore called his friend John Warneke and asked him not to talk to the press about Gore's past drug use. Warneke stated, "[Gore] called me three times in one morning and he said, 'Don't talk to the press at all about this.' That's a stonewall, and it's another form of lying. But I couldn't do that. But I was torn. I felt a debt to The Tennessean , a paper that taught me everything about the truth. And I had a friendship with Al. So I came up with this half-truth. And that was, that Al had tried it a couple of times with me and he didn't like pot."
Trapper: "So when did you and Gore smoke pot?"
Warneke: "We started in 1970, I think. At my house in Nashville. He likes pot. He told me he smoked it before. I smoked it with Al before he went to Vietnam. And he told me he smoked over there in Vietnam. But now that I know how Al talks about it as opposed with what he really does, I don't know what to believe."
Trapper: "But he was a senator's son at the time. Wasn't he worried about being caught?"
Warneke: "He was paranoid. When he smoked in my house he would run around in my house and he would close all the blinds. If it was night he'd turn all the lights out. He's look out the windows and make sure that no one was watching. And then he would light up. Talk about paranoia. We played pool in the dark once. That's how a senator's son smoked pot."
Trapper: "You haven't talked to him in 10 years?"
Warneke: "No, he hasn't called since the day he asked me to stonewall in 1988. And here I've been holding this lie up. I lied to the New York Times; I was in tears when I lied to them. And when my [second] wife died, I didn't get a letter or a note from him."
Source: Jack Trapper, salon.com; 1/22/00. This interview is available online at: http://www.salon.com/politics2000/feature/2000/01/22/gore

One former reporter at The Tennessean, Ken Jost, confirmed that Gore has used marijuana while at the Tennessean , but to a lesser extent than what Warneke reported. Three other staff members would not say what they did or did not see, including Tennessean editor Frank Sutherland and Warneke's former wife, Nancy Rhoda.
Source: Laura Frank and Sheila Wissner, The Tennessean; 1/28/00

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Noelle Bush Niece of President George W. Bush, daughter of Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL)

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle was sentenced to 10 days in the Orange County Jail on October 17, 2002 by Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead. Although Whitehead did not discuss the reason for her jailing in open court, it was clear that the sanctions came as the result of a Sept. 9 incident in whichcrack cocaine was found in her show while undergoing drug treatment at the Center for Drug Free Living, police reported. Noelle Bush was accompanied by her aunt, Dorothy Cook of Bethesda, Md., as well as her two attorneys. She was led away in handcuffs to be booked into the jail. Before Whitehead issued his order, Bush said, "Judge Whitehead, I sincerely apologize for what happened, and I promise to do well at the Center for Drug-Free Living." Whitehead told Bush that he was disappointed in her but he added he believed she could complete drug treatment successfully and was allowing her to stay in the program. "I want you to have some time to think and reflect on this," Whitehead said. "You should be disappointed that you let yourself down." The judge added that she hoped Bush learned a lesson. "You have to learn from your mistake," he said. "This is a great opportunity for yourself to see if you can do well." Bush was placed in the drug court system after she was accused of trying to use a fake prescription to buy the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in Tallahassee in January. Prior to Noelle Bush's sentencing an Orange County circuit judge denied a request from attorneys to close drug-court proceedings to the public.

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Morgan Grams (21) , son of Senator Rod Grams (R-MN).

Grams "was stopped in July in a borrowed rental vehicle after his father called the Anoka County sheriff for help finding his son. A deputy found 10 bags of marijuana and the beer cans in the Isuzu Rodeo," Source: Associated Press 1/12/00.
Grams had been previously jailed twice on drug-related offenses. Chief Deputy Peter Beberg "found Grams driving a sport utility truck with 10 bags of marijuana inside-an unspecified amount. A 17-year-old passenger was charged with possession of nine of the bags and later spent time at a juvenile detention center. The 10th bag was found under Gram's seat, according to a report by deputy Todd Diegnau,"
Source: Associated Press 11/14/99.

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Richard Riley, Jr. , son of Education Secretary Richard Riley

Riley, Jr. was sentenced to six months' house arrest in June of 1993 for conspiring to sell up to 25 grams of cocaine and 100 grams of marijuana in South Carolina. The initial charges carried a penalty of ten years to life in prison. Riley's light sentence allowed him to continue his work at an environmental consulting firm.
Source: James Bovard, "Prison Sentences of the Politically Connected," Playboy; July 1999.

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Gayle Rosten , daughter of former House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL)

Rosten was charged with possession of 29 grams of cocaine with intent to deliver in June of 1990. Rosten, facing up to 15 years in prison, plead guilty to a lesser charge and received three years probation and 20 hours of public service, paid a fine of $2800, and forfeited the car in which the cocaine was found. Three years later, Rosten was found with a gram of cocaine in her possession. In violation of her probation, Rosten could have faced up to three years in prison. However, the charge was dismissed by one judge, then reinstated after Rosten was indicted by a county grand jury. On April 12, 1994 Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Toomin ruled that the search of Rosten had been illegal. Ironically, Judge Toomin ruled that the packets of cocaine were admissible evidence against the two passengers that supposedly "dropped" the packets in Rosten's car.
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Cindy McCain, wife of former Presidential candidate John McCain (R-AZ)

Ms. McCain "admitted stealing Percocet and Vicodin from the American Voluntary Medical Team, an organization that aids Third World countries. Percocet and Vicodin are schedule 2 drugs, in the same legal category as opium. Each pill theft carries a penalty of one year in prison and a monetary fine." However, McCain did not face prosecution. She was allowed to enter a pretrial diversion program and escaped with no blemish to her record.
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Dan Burton, II (18) , son of Representative Dan Burton (R-IN)

Burton was busted in January of 1994 on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Allegedly, Burton II was transporting seven pounds of marijuana in a car from Texas to Indiana when he was caught in Louisiana. Burton II plead guilty to felony charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Rather than face ten to sixteen months in federal prison, Burton was sentenced to five years probation, 2000 hours of community service, three years of house arrest and random drug screening. Five month later police found 30 marijuana plants and a shotgun in Burton's apartment in Indianapolis. Under federal mandatory minimum rules, Burton should have received at least five years in federal prison, plus a year or more for arrest while on probation. State prosecutors decided that the total weight of marijuana from the 30 plants was 25 grams (about one ounce), thus reducing the charge to a misdemeanor. The Indiana prosecutor threw out all the charges against him saying, "I didn't see any sense in putting him on probation a second time."
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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John Murtha (35) , son of Representative John Murtha (D-PA)

Murtha received a sentence of 11 to 23 months in jail after pleading guilty to selling a gram of cocaine to an informant. Murtha has been busted for two burglaries in 1980 and for armed robbery in 1985. Murtha was on parole at the time of his arrest and could have faced more than ten years in prison if he'd been prosecuted under federal guidelines. The judge hearing Murtha's case allowed him to temporarily withdraw a plea bargain and resubmit it at later date so he could enter the jail's school-release program and continue his education.
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Susan Gallo (33) , daughter of former Representative Dean Gallo (R-NJ)

Gallo was charged with five counts of cocaine possession, five counts of intent to distribute, five counts of distribution, and five counts of conspiracy. Facing five to ten years in prison for each charge, Gallo plead guilty to one count of distribution and one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Gallo was sentenced to five years' probation in 1992.
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Warren Bachus (19) , son of Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL)

Bachus was busted in 1993 for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bachus was not convicted and in a "pretrial diversion remedy," he was set free. Bachus paid $56 in court expenses and was required to submit to drug testing twice in the following six months.
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Josef Hinchey (26) , son of Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)

Hinchey was charged with intent to distribute individual cocaine doses. Hinchey could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison. He plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and received a sentence of 13 months in prison. The prison term was suspended until Hinchey completed a drug-treatment program.
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Al Gore III (13) , son of Vice President Al Gore (D)

Gore was caught smoking what appeared to be marijuana by school authorities at St. Alban's School. Al III was suspended as a result of the incident. While the story appeared in the foreign press, the story was suppressed in the US media. London's Daily Telegraph charged, "The crusading American media and Washington's political elite have closed ranks to protect Vice President Gore from embarrassment over his teenage son's indiscretion."
Source: James Bovard, Playboy; July 1999

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Claude Shelby (32) , youngest son of Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL)

Shelby was arrested at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport on drug charges, where a US Custom's drug-sniffing dog found 13.8 grams of hashish in his possession. Shelby was given a $500 administrative penalty and turned over to Clayton County Sheriff's Department for prosecution.
Source: USA Today; 7/29/98

On July 24, authorities at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport arrested Claude Shelby, the youngest son of U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R_AL), for possession of 13.8 grams of hashish. Claude Shelby, 32, is married and has one child. Sen. Shelby is chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
(“Drug Charge,” USA Today, July 29, 1998, p. 6A).

U.S. Customs Service inspectors found the hashish in Shelby’s possession using a drug_sniffing dog. Shelby, who had arrived on a flight from London, was issued a $500 fine, which he paid on the spot. He was then turned over to the Clayton County Sheriff’s Department for state prosecution.

Responding to the incident, Sen. Richard Shelby responded that he and his family were “shocked and saddened” by the charge but that he would “stand by him through this difficult ordeal.” The senior Shelby added, “My position on fighting drugs is well known. It continues to be a priority for me regardless of personal circumstances.”

“The senator may find it hard to be stoic if his drug_fighting colleagues in the House have their way,” said Monica Pratt, communications director for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, in an op_ed in the Atlanta Constitution. Pratt was referring to the “Drug Importer Death Penalty Act” (HR 41), introduced by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R_GA), which would mandate a life sentence without parole for offenders who import “100 usual dosage amounts” of a controlled substance, and a death sentence for such offenders with a prior conviction for a similar drug offense . The measure does not define what amounts constitute “100 usual dosages.” Pratt said, “Under this broad definition, Claude Shelby’s 13.8 grams of hashish could be enough to qualify him for life imprisonment (Monica Pratt, “Congress comes into the courtroom,” Atlanta Constitution, August 12, 1998). The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines provide that 1 gram of hashish is the equivalent of 5 grams of marijuana and that 1 gram of marijuana is two doses.

“Luckily for the senior Shelby, he will not know the pain of visiting his son in prison for the rest of his life. . .Perhaps his son’s brush with the law will convince the senator that life_and_death sentencing policies are not trifling matters to be bandied about during election_year politicking,” said Pratt.

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Darlene Watts sister of US Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr. (R-OK)

Darlene Watts, 34, the sister of U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts (R_OK), the new House Republican Caucus Chairman, the number four position in the House leadership, was given a seven_year suspended sentence after successfully completing a boot camp program for nonviolent offenders. Darlene Watts was charged with possession and distribution of marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, and maintaining a property where drugs were kept. She pleaded guilty to six drug_related counts in March 1998
(Associated Press, “Watts’ Kin Gets Term Suspended,” July 20, 1998).