News Blog

The bad news coming out of the Warren administration is becoming serious.

This morning’s attention grabber: According to the Albany Times-Union and the Democrat and Chronicle, state troopers say they stopped Warren’s speeding car last Wednesday on the Thruway. At the wheel, driving Warren to Albany for the governor’s State of the State address, was Warren’s uncle, Reggie Hill, whom she has hired to be  her  security guard.

Troopers say the car was going 97 miles an hour. According to the T-U, Warren’s spokesperson, Chris Christopher, says Hill told her he was “exceeding 80” but wasn’t going faster than 90.

And, according to the T-U’s report, Christopher says Hill also told her that “it is standard security protocol to travel faster than the average speed" on the Thruway.

But, the T-U says this: “Vehicle and Traffic Law, however, gives no exception to abiding by speed limits — 65 mph on the Thruway — for security details. Only law enforcement officers in law enforcement vehicles responding to emergencies get to break the speed limit, the law says.”

This is terrible, on many fronts, beginning with safety: the mayor’s, and that of everybody else on the Thruway.

And you have to wonder whether Warren realizes just how bad this is. She was already under fire both for hiring security guards and for hiring her uncle as one of them. Since her election, some of her critics have been practically rooting for her to fail. This kind of stuff plays right into their hands.

Critics will also point to it as evidence that Warren is unethical and arrogant.

Whether the critics are right or this was a momentary lapse, it shows an astonishing lack of judgment. Elected officials and public employees are not above the law, and to justify dangerous behavior with an “everybody does it” shrug is appalling.

Warren has a lot on her plate right now. She has just added a major PR problem to the list.