Critics Seek Ouster of Politician for 'Habitual Drunkenness'

Vienna Township Trustee Randy Taylor says the allegations against him are “good, old boy” politics. (Screenshot: WEYI-TV)

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Trustees in a southeast Michigan township are asking Gov. Rick Snyder to invoke a little-used statute and remove a local politician from office because of alleged “habitual drunkenness.”

Vienna Township Supervisor Randy Taylor’s critics claim he once nearly fell out of his chair during a meeting, frequently smells of alcohol, experiences behavioral swings ranging from trancelike to boisterous, and engages in drunken conversations with constituents that he later can’t remember, The Detroit News reports.

Those and other allegations are among the findings of Peter Doerr, who was hired by the Board of Trustees to investigate Taylor.

The 60-year-old Michigan Election Law Act 116 lists habitual drunkenness, extortion, official misconduct and felony convictions as grounds for removal from office.

Snyder has referred the request to Attorney general Bill Schuette, who is investigating the statute. Officials say they aren’t aware of “habitual drunkenness” ever having been cited in a request to oust someone from office.

When Taylor was charged with habitual drunkenness last spring, Catherine Mulhaupt, director of member information services for the Michigan Township Association, told The Flint Journal/MLive the charge “doesn’t come up very often, mostly because people live in glass houses and the process isn’t spelled out by law.”

At the time, Taylor said his critics had been looking for a way to oust him from office.

He had served for four years on the township’s Business Development Authority and eight years as a township trustee, but the allegations of drunkenness didn’t surface until he became a township supervisor two years ago. The dustup is an example of “good, old boys” playing politics, Taylor claims.

“In 14 years’ time, none of this seemed to be evident until I became supervisor, and it wasn’t a job they wanted me to have,” he told The Flint Journal/MLive in October.

“From Day One, they haven’t wanted me” he said. “They made that clear.”

Taylor reportedly said during the attorney’s investigation that he had been taking medication – including OxyContin, Fentanyl, and Vicodin – for back pain management and other health problems, and sometimes had a beer while taking the narcotics.

Taylor said last spring that he no longer drinks.

“I decided to quit because it has never been an issue and I thought well this is one way to show that it’s not,” he told , WEYI-TV.