“Tick tock” from governor’s staff about evening with Burt

As you may have heard or read, WHO-TV obtained the video of the February 11, 2009 traffic stop of Representative Kerry Burt (D-Waterloo) which eventually led the police to file drunken driving charges against Burt.  Burt is heard on the video saying this: "It's not so much what I've been drinking, but who I've been drinking with."  (Here is the WHO-TV story.) The police report obtained by WHO-TV shows the cop wrote that Burt whispered "the governor" had been his drinking partner earlier that evening.

Troy Price, Governor Chet Culver's press secretary, emails the following response this morning to my email inquiry about this matter, indicating the governor's last contact with Burt was about five hours before Burt was pulled over by the Ankeny policeman:

On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, Governor Culver attended a reception and dinner at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Des Moines. The Governor was driven to the hotel by Iowa State Trooper Scott Bogdanski, arrived at approximately 7:00 p.m., and joined several people, including 15 to 20 legislators, at a public reception hosted by the Iowa Pharmacy Association.

Shortly after 8:00 p.m., the Governor joined about 12-15 others who had attended the reception – including legislators, members of the public, and Representative Kerry Burt – to have dinner in the Embassy Suites’ restaurant. The Governor stayed with the dinner group for about 45 minutes and then was driven by Trooper Bogdanski directly to Terrace Hill, where he arrived at 8:55 p.m. and remained for the rest of the night with his family.

The Governor was not in the presence of Representative Burt at any time that night after leaving the Embassy Suites restaurant.

In regard to the Governor’s reaction to this incident, he does not have any additional comment on this criminal proceeding.