The top Republican of the House of Representatives kept his DUI under wraps for over a year before the Denver Post broke the news on January 17, just two weeks after Lynch announced he is running for Congress. In September 2022, Lynch was pulled over driving 90 mph with a blood-alcohol content double the legal limit. He was arrested for drunk driving and possessing a firearm while intoxicated.
Footage of the arrest shows Lynch asking the trooper to call the Colorado State Patrol’s lobbyist at the Capitol when he was asked to do a roadside sobriety test, though he quickly changed his mind. He also asked a trooper to "keep the press out of this" while handcuffed in the back of the police vehicle.
Now that the press is in it, Lynch's future in politics is up in the air. When the news finally broke, he declined to step down as House minority leader or to drop out of the race for the 4th Congressional District, but some of his caucus members tried to force his hand.
Lynch barely survived a vote to remove him from leadership on January 22. House Republicans were split 9-9 during the vote, with one member absent; a second vote was scheduled for early January 25 as his detractors said they'd lost trust in Lynch and were angry that he did not disclose his DUI to the caucus before he was elected minority leader in November 2022 — two months after his arrest.
Less than 24 hours before that second vote, Lynch said that he was stepping down as minority leader. His announcement did not mention his plans for the CD4 run.
Lynch is the newest member of a pretty exclusive club. Only a handful of Colorado legislators (that we know of) have been arrested for drunk driving during their time in office.
So that Lynch knows what kind of fallout to expect, Westword has compiled this list of the other known Capitol offenders and what happened to them:
Representative Matt Gray, 2022
Gray was arrested in April 2022 while attempting to pick up his children from their elementary school. Police said the Broomfield Democrat called a fellow legislator, Senator Faith Winter, to the scene after school staff accused him of being intoxicated; he also told officers that he was friends with District Attorney Brian Mason.At the time, Gray claimed he was suffering from a panic attack, not under the influence of alcohol, but he refused a roadside sobriety test and would not provide a breath sample or a blood test. During a court hearing, Gray’s attorney said he had consumed some alcohol earlier in the day to try to calm himself. He pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired and was sentenced to probation.
Unlike with Lynch, word of Gray's arrest spread immediately. Within a week, Gray announced he would no longer seek reelection, finishing the last two weeks of the legislative session and then leaving the House when his term ended eight months later.
Two days after Lynch's DUI arrest came to light, Gray appeared to address the disparity between their situations in a post on X: "I burned for everyone to see and he was protected. But I’m healthy now and every way I’m different than him I’m proud of."
Representative Dan Pabon, 2016
Pabon was arrested in March 2016 after a stop for an illegal turn revealed he was drunk. Pabon had been drinking at the Governor's Mansion during a legislative function earlier that night, but continued drinking at Sam's No. 3 in downtown Denver before he was pulled over. During the arrest, the Denver Democrat told the cop he was a state representative and asked not to be arrested, imploring the officer to call his supervisor and the city attorney. He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and received probation. He also had to attend a victim impact panel — a new program established by a bill Pabon himself sponsored earlier that year.
Days later, Pabon apologized for his behavior on the House floor, sobbing while asking for forgiveness from his colleagues and constituents. Though he initially said he wouldn't step down, Pabon ultimately gave up his leadership role as speaker pro tem of the House.
Pabon was re-elected in November 2016, eight months after his arrest. But he dropped his planned run for the state Senate in 2018.
Representative Laura Bradford, 2012
Unlike the other legislators on this list, Bradford was never arrested. In January 2012, she was pulled over for suspected drunk driving after she left a bar near the Capitol where she had been drinking with lobbyists, legislators and Capitol staffers. Although police said she smelled of alcohol and failed a roadside sobriety test, the Grand Junction Republican was not arrested, and officers sent her home in a taxi. At the time, police claimed Bradford invoked legislative immunity to get out of the arrest, citing a little-known antiquated state law that prevents lawmakers from being detained during the legislative session. But police later admitted that their officer had lied and that Bradford had explicitly asked to be treated like a regular citizen.
The suspected drunk driving and confusion over the officer's lies resulted in an ethics probe into Bradford and her suspension as chair of the House Local Government Committee. She was later reinstated as committee chair, but not before she threatened to leave the Republican Party over her treatment.
Bradford announced that she would not run for re-election in March 2012, two months after the traffic stop. Multiple Republican challengers had already signed up to face her in the primary election following the incident.
Senator Bill Cadman, 2004
In another instance of a DUI flying under the radar, Bill Cadman was busted for drunk driving in December 2004 but the news didn’t come out until 2015 — shortly after he was appointed president of the Senate. He had been a state representative for four years at the time of his DUI. The Colorado Springs Republican was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 25 after leaving a caucus meeting. Police charged him with driving under the influence, but Cadman claimed his blood-alcohol content was just under the legal limit, later pleading guilty to driving while ability impaired; he was sentenced to probation and community service.
The revelation of his decade-old arrest did not impact his position as head of the Senate. He remained in office and in leadership until he was term-limited in 2017.
In 2015, he described his DUI to the Denver Post as a poor choice, but "a great lesson."
Representative Betty Boyd, 2001
Boyd was arrested in May 2001 with only three days remaining in her first legislative session. The freshman lawmaker was on the way home from a party when she was stopped by police for driving while ability impaired. She pleaded guilty the following June, according to an archived Denver Post article from August 2001.The Lakewood Democrat reportedly wrote a letter to her legislative colleagues three months after the arrest, apologizing for her actions and "any embarrassment my poor judgment...will bring on the Colorado General Assembly."
Despite the rocky start, Boyd went on to have a long career in the Colorado Legislature, continuing to serve in the House until 2006. She was then appointed to the Senate by a vacancy committee, where she remained until 2013. She advanced all the way to Senate president pro tem, the second-highest ranking position in the chamber. Boyd made a bid for Senate president in 2009 but failed to get the votes.
Ironically, much of Boyd's time in the Capitol was spent legislating alcohol- and drug-related issues. She sponsored bills seeking to let convenience stores and restaurants sell beer, ban vaporized alcohol machines and restrict the sale of cold medicines that can be used to make drugs, and supported legislation to set DUI standards for drivers under the influence of marijuana.
Representative Russell George, 1999
George made the rare decision to publicly reveal his DUI himself, announcing on the House floor in February 1999 that he had been arrested for suspected drunk driving only days before.George said he was stopped for an illegal lane change after a night of partying with his friends. He failed the roadside sobriety test and was taken into custody, arriving at the Capitol for work mere hours after being released on bond.
The Rifle Republican’s drunk-driving incident came less than a month after he was appointed Speaker of the House. In an emotional speech, he vowed not to let the arrest distract him from his duties as speaker, and received a standing ovation from his fellow legislators.
He continued serving in the House’s top post until he left office in 2000. George went on to direct the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Transportation. Governor John Hickenlooper awarded him the Governor’s Citizenship Medal in 2018.
Senator Tom Norton, 1990
Norton was charged with driving under the influence in May 1990, according to an archived Denver Post article from August of that year. Police said he was weaving while driving home from a political function at around 1:40 a.m., and tests later showed his blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit. The Greeley Republican received a suspended ninety-day jail sentence and community service.Norton continued serving in the Colorado Legislature for eight more years, and was Senate president for six of those years — the most powerful and prestigious position in the Capitol. He ran unopposed in both the primary and general elections in 1990 (mere months after his DUI) and in 1994.
More than two decades after the fact, Norton told the Denver Post that he was an alcoholic at the time of his DUI, but had since sought treatment and stopped drinking.
After leaving the legislature, Norton unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1998, but landed a job leading the Colorado Department of Transportation instead. He was elected mayor of Greeley in 2009, a position he maintained until his retirement in 2017, capping off a long and successful political career.
Maybe there's hope for Lynch after all.
This story has been updated to reflect Lynch's announcement that he is leaving his leadership position, and to add three more legislators popped for DUIs.
