A new controversy is surrounding the campaign of congressional candidate Jane Dittmar after conservative bloggers reported Dittmar was allegedly charged with drunk driving in 1999.
The posts alleged Dittmar, the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s fifth district race, was under the influence when she was involved in a single-car accident that occurred in Albemarle County.
Dittmar denied these charges in a statement on her campaign website.
“My DMV record has never had a DUI violation,” she said.
A background report from LexisNexis that was conducted by The Daily Progress showed Dittmar was arrested in Albemarle County in 1999 and charged with drunk driving. The report also alleges she had an unrestrained child in the car with her at the time.
The charge was mentioned in the Albemarle County Police Department’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request published by Steve Albertson on The Bull Elephant, a conservative news website.
Although the charge is shown on LexisNexis, there are no formal court records of a charge that was filed, a charge that was dropped or a conviction.
“Regarding this traffic violation, I was guilty of a traffic accident — nothing more, nothing less,” Dittmar said. “I have never been convicted of a DUI violation.”
Dittmar added that she has also “always properly restrained my children in the car.”
Over the summer, the DUI charge and conviction in the LexisNexis report was confirmed by Dittmar’s attorney to be an error.
“I was charged with reckless driving because of the accident, and that’s what I pleaded guilty to,” Dittmar told The Daily Progress. “We are not sure why a DUI charge appears on the LexisNexis report because that charge was never prosecuted.”
The Dittmar campaign blames the release of the report on her opponent, Republican state Sen. Tom Garrett, citing this as an attempt by him to “deflect attention from his failing campaign.”
“I’m disgusted that my opponent, who should understand due process, would sink to this level,” Dittmar said in a statement. “He is desperate. He is polling badly and knows he may well lose this race, and so he’s opted ‘to go low.’”
The Garrett campaign, however, said this attempt to place blame on them for the release of this information is false, and they will not use the information about this arrest in radio, television or print advertisements.
“I cannot reason as to why she is attempting to change the narrative to ‘sleazy Republicans’ rather than owning up to her poor choices,” Garrett campaign spokesperson Andrew Griffin said in a statement.
Griffin added that “during that same time frame, Sen. Garrett was honorably serving in the United States Army.”
The Dittmar campaign and LexisNexis did not respond to a request for comment.
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