When an apology is needed: Who has said it best?:?President Obama, Rep. Trey Radel, CBS’s Lara Logan and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford are among the latest saying, “I’m sorry.” Who delivered the best apology?
They talked about how much the congressman would have to pay for it. They talked about the quality of the drug for sale. Finally, they made a deal: $250 for 3.5 grams, an amount generally bought for personal use.
Outside, in a car, the drug and money changed hands. And then, suddenly, there were feds outside the vehicle.
Before that moment, Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) had built a remarkable double life in Washington — and built it in record time.
He had been in Congress just 10 months. But he already had made a name in the House as an energetic and media-savvy freshman, willing to battle party elders to cut spending.
And, in the same 10 months, he also had become connected to the city’s drug trade: Court documents say he bought cocaine on several occasions. Radel, it turned out, had managed to attract the attention of the Capitol press corps and the Drug Enforcement Administration before Congress even took its Thanksgiving break.
With that purchase in Dupont Circle on Oct. 29, Radel could no longer keep his two lives separate.
On Wednesday morning, the 37-year-old lawmaker pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug-possession charge in D.C. Superior Court. He was sentenced to one year of probation and will undergo drug counseling and treatment in Florida.
“I am so sorry to be here,” Radel said in court. “I have let my constituents, my country and my family down. I want to come out of this stronger, and I intend to do that, to be a better man, a better husband and continue serving this country.”
He gave no indication that he planned to resign.
Prosecutors said Wednesday that Radel did not receive special leniency because of his position. He was charged with a misdemeanor, they said, because D.C. law classifies simple possession of any drug — except PCP — as a misdemeanor. If prosecutors thought that Radel had intended to sell the drug, he would have been charged with a felony.
Charging documents say that Radel bought cocaine “for his personal use and also, on occasion, [to] share it with others.”
William Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Radel received the same punishment as many other people facing the same charge. In 2012, he said, nearly 700 people were charged with misdemeanor cocaine possession in the District.
“Only a small fraction received any jail time as a result,” Miller wrote in an e-mail.
Radel is a former TV anchor and conservative radio host who grew up in Cincinnati as the son of a funeral-home director. He is married to former TV journalist Amy Wegmann Radel. They have a young son.
Radel was elected by a wide margin last fall, taking a seat left open when longtime Rep. Connie Mack (R) ran for the Senate.
That was the start of his public life in Washington: a hyper, ambitious 10 months in which Radel sought ways to stand out in the crowd on Capitol Hill. He focused on social media, filling his Twitter feed with short video clips, rapid-fire jokes and allusions to old-school hip-hop.
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