In February 2004, Lautenschlager made national headlines after pleading guilty to drunk driving in Dodge County, about an hour away from Madison. A Dodge County sheriff's deputy reported to the scene to find her state-owned vehicle in the ditch, and her unharmed inside. Her preliminary breathalizer test at the scene showed that her blood alcohol level was 0.12, 50% above the legal limit of 0.08. The police report stated that she refused a blood test.
As expected, Peg declared her remorse and promised to never do it again. I heard that she actually apologized to the MADD Mothers and acted as a temporary poster child for them. She did not challenge her arrest and simply paid her fine. We did learn that she also used her state issued car inappropriately for personal use and had some other accidents with it for which she received a slap on the wrist.
It is disappointing that she would admit guilt on only "two glasses of wine". She either lied about how much she drank or took an OWI charge despite her sobriety. It would have been nice to have someone of her stature acutally stand up and fight for what is right. She could have led the fight to eliminate the BAC laws in Wisconsin if she had the courage to do so. If she actually was intoxicated and impaired at the time of her arrest, well then I guess she did the right thing after all. We will most likely never really know.