Drunken-driving charges have been filed against former DFL candidate Hubert "Buck" Humphrey, the grandson of the late Hubert Humphrey and the son of the former Minnesota attorney general.
4th DWI results in charges for politician-lobbyist 'Buck' Humphrey
October 16, 2017 at 5:01PM
Humphrey, 47, of Plymouth, was jailed Oct. 4 and charged in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of third-degree driving under the influence of alcohol. Both counts are gross misdemeanors.
Humphrey caught the attention of the State Patrol in Brooklyn Park about 1:35 a.m. by speeding on Hwy. 610 near Zane Avenue, patrol spokeswoman Lt. Tiffani Nielson said Sunday.
The charging document said that Humphrey was traveling 78 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone, when he was pulled over. The trooper detected a smell of alcohol and saw that Humphrey's eyes were bloodshot and watery. Humphrey said he had two beers before driving.
Humphrey failed a field sobriety test, and a preliminary breath test at the scene measured his blood alcohol content at 0.106 percent. Nearly 90 minutes later, another breath sample measured 0.08 percent.
Humphrey did not respond to messages left Sunday.
His driving history in Minnesota includes a drunken-driving conviction in 2012.
In 2002, when Humphrey ran for secretary of state, rivals called attention to his two drunken-driving arrests in Washington, D.C., one in 1993 and one in 1994.
They said they publicized those arrests because Humphrey, as state director for Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, declared Republican George W. Bush's DWI in 1976 was fair political game.
Humphrey countered that neither arrest in the nation's capital led to a conviction. In one case, he said, he was required to attend a safe-driving class, and the other lacked evidence to prosecute.
Buck Humphrey lost the secretary of state race by 3 percentage points to Republican Mary Kiffmeyer.
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Buck Humphrey is the son of Hubert Humphrey III, the state's attorney general from 1983 to 1999.
Along with leading Gore's effort in Minnesota, he did the same for Hillary Clinton in 2008.
More recently, he has worked as a political lobbyist.
Paul Walsh
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