Mark Udall, the Democrat Senator from Colorado was charged with two felonies, and had his car seized for transporting drops back in 1973 according to Colorado Peak Politics. This Udall Democrat is quite the liar. He claimed that he was arrested in 1973 for marijuana, and spent a night in jail. But the newspaper article from 1973 tells a totally different story. Udall never spent time in jail, and it wasn’t marijuana he was transporting. The drugs were identified as amphetamines.
|
| Mark Udall charged with 2 felonies, car seized for transporting drugs in ’73 |
|---|
“Yes. When I was 21, I was pulled over by an Arizona State patrolman for possession of marijuana. My dad thought it would be a good lesson for me to spend the night in the local jail.”
That’s not exactly how it went down. Here’s the real story, as compiled by newspaper clips from 1973. Late on Saturday, February 17, 1973, Udall was driving a 1969 Datsun station wagon with Louisiana plates. He was pulled over. On the front seat, two highway patrolmen found three ounces of marijuana and (this is the part he left out) “dangerous drugs”, which were identified as amphetamines. The patrolmen seized Udall’s car for “transporting drugs”. He was charged with two felony drug counts. According to an article in the Arizona Daily Sun, “initial felony charges were reduced as requested by the County Attorney.”
The newspaper went on to explain that this is a normal part of the plea bargaining process. We’re sure that Udall’s beloved father, Mo Udall, didn’t help at all with his plea.
Speaking of, what about his dad, Mo Udall “teaching him a lesson” by having him “spend a night in jail”? Well, that’s not true either. According to the Arizona Daily Sun, Udall was released that same night. And, here comes another lie.
The punishment for Udall’s crime was a little bit stiffer than he let on. He was fined $300 (that’s about $1,500 in today’s dollars), ordered to spend one night in jail (not by his father), and put on probation for six months. In addition, the state of Arizona seized the car he was driving in a civil action. The car was valued at $1,500 then, or about $8,000 in today’s dollars.
Is transporting drugs and felony drug charges a youthful indiscretion? It seems like a bigger deal than just a night in jail, as Udall described. But, what’s a bigger deal is that when Udall was asked about this episode in a candidate questionnaire, he lied. He glossed over the fact that this was a months-long legal battle, he lost his car, he was on probation, and that he was transporting “dangerous drugs”.