All Rights Reserved
Send your comments to:
MATT STANISZEWSKI FINALLY HEADING TO JAIL
January 25, 2008
Washington-Washington’s greatest embarrassment, councilman Matt Staniszewski has finally accepted the obvious, that there is a price for drinking and driving.
Staniszewski finally plead on Wednesday to two charges of driving under the influence. Staniszewski’s plea which resulted in a minimum six month sentence was the product of the councilman facing the prospect of even harsher punishment if he had taken his chances in court.
New District Attorney Steve Toprani accomplished in 16 days what his predecessor John Pettit did not over nearly a year, getting the area’s most well known alcoholic to admit his wrong doing.
Staniszewski, like many in trouble with drugs and alcohol, was unwilling to both accept his responsibility for his actions and accept that alcohol and drugs were destroying his life.
Staniszewski has been the subject of many questions during his tenure in office, most centering on his behavior, his actions while driving and his apparent unsafe loss of weight. Once a healthy weight, Staniszewski was noticed to have dropped massive amounts of weight. The result was a man that looked like he was heading for disaster.
But the quick actions of the new District Attorney’s office might have averted a tragedy before it happens, either for Staniszewski or some poor innocent victim on the road. Staniszewski will face a minimum of 2 90 day sentences to be served consecutively and a maximum of sixteen months according to District Attorney Chief of Staff Steven Fischer.
