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Political bad eggs of the decade
By: Nikki Schwab and Tara Palmeri
Washington Examiner
11/19/09 9:00 PM EST
With Thursday's reports out of Hollywood that Sen. John Kerry's daughter Alexandra was arrested on suspicion of DUI, the senator's daughter joins the list of prominent politicians' kids who have gotten in trouble with the law. Yeas & Nays took a look over the past decade to bring you the most prominent political offspring who were cited, charged or arrested for bad behavior.
The least offensive on the list is Vice President Biden's daughter Ashley, who was arrested in 2002 at the age of 21 on a charge of obstructing a police officer outside a Chicago bar when her friend threw a soda can at the cop.
In 2001, President George W. Bush's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, were arrested at 19 for dabbling with alcohol. Barbara Bush was charged with underage possession, and Jenna Bush was charged with using a fake ID to buy a drink.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle, then 24, was arrested in 2002 for calling in a fake prescription of Xanax at a Tallahassee Walgreens.
Robert Lugar, son of Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., was arrested in 2001 for marijuana possession in McCordsville. Lugar was pulled over for his expired plates, but once the sheriff caught a whiff of marijuana in the car, a plastic bag of weed was discovered under the Jeep's floor mat.
Few D.C. natives can forget the morning when Patrick Kennedy crashed his Ford Mustang into a Capitol Hill barricade in 2006. The son of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., was not arrested on the spot but eventually was charged with driving under the influence of prescription drugs, specifically Ambien.
Former Vice President Al Gore's son, Al Gore III, keeps getting nabbed. In 2002 he was arrested for suspected drunken driving. He was arrested in marijuana possession cases twice. He was first arrested in 2003, at age 21, and then again in 2007 when he was pulled over for going 100 mph in his eco-friendly Prius.
The most scandalous political heir of recent years is Kwame Kilpatrick, son of Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich. The scandal-ridden former mayor of Detroit was jailed in 2008 after violating his bail when he took an unauthorized trip to Canada. Kilpatrick was originally indicted on charges of lying under oath about an affair with his chief of staff, which was brought into question when several former police officers accused him of forcing them out of jobs because of their investigation into the mayor's romance.
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