It’s a classic, and occasionally overused TV news trick: the secret-camera Gotchya! But in the case of beer-guzzling Fourth Judicial District D.A. John Newsome – who was videotaped by KOAA in Colorado Springs drinking 134 ounces of the sudsy stuff over a five-hour period – the reporting was both newsworthy and entertaining.
Newsome at first disputed the story, which showed him imbibing at least seven beers (two of them twenty-ounces) at a couple of Colorado Springs bars during work hours and then wielding his El Paso County-owned vehicle through town. But he later apologized, saying, “I realize I need to be setting the standard for setting an example, and that's what I'll strive to do."
Colorado Springs police says they can’t investigate the D.A. for DUI since any legal evidence would be impossible to obtain at this point.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t charge Newsome with full-blown shmuckery.
For last week’s Shmuck, click here.