OC Political

In another episode of politicians behaving badly we found out that Lake Forest Councilman Peter Herzog was arrested for a DUI that allegedly took place on November 17th. This is the second such story of DUI we have posted to this blog in the past few months after Chris Nguyen broke the identity of former Assemblyman Richard Robinson being arrested for DUI in Sacramento.

The only other politician that we have posted about who faced trouble from Tony Rackauckas was an article written by me on Buena Park Councilman Miller Oh allegedly dodging child support payments. It is important to note that Miller Oh has not yet resigned from the Buena Park City Council, although he will likely have trouble trying to get re-elected in 2014 if he does try it.

I remember back in my Red County days following the story of Westminster Councilman Andy Quach getting busted for a DUI. He had the honesty to plead guilty to the charges and actually retained his seat on the Westminster City Council when it was up.

The jury is still out on Herzog (no pun intended) as to whether or not he will contest the charges. H/T to the Orange County Register who appears to have broken the story yesterday. Kudos to Sarah de Crescenzo from the OC Register for authoring the piece.

LAKE FOREST – Longtime Councilman Peter Herzog was driving with a blood-alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit when he was arrested outside his Lake Forest home in November, according to a complaint filed Jan. 24 by the District Attorney’s Office.

According to the complaint, Herzog, 57, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent.

“This has been expected, and we’ll continue to move on from here,” said Herzog when informed of the complaint Monday.

Herzog has been a member of the Lake Forest City Council since he was elected in 1994, and has served as mayor six times.

Witnesses called police Nov. 17 to report a possible drunken driver near Lake Forest Drive and Regency Lane. The witnesses, who said the person was driving erratically, trailed the vehicle to a home on Coventry Lane.

Deputies arrived, identified Herzog as the driver and arrested him on suspicion of drunken driving, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The councilman has been charged with driving under the influence. The District Attorney’s Office complaint notes Herzog’s blood-alcohol content topped 0.15 percent, a level that under state law could affect sentencing or terms of probation.

Herzog is scheduled for arraignment March 14.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7307 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com

Correction: The complaint in this case was filed Jan. 24 by the District Attorney’s Office. Because of a reporting error, the date was incorrect in an earlier version of this story that appeared on ocregister.com.

Herzog was back on the Councilman during the dark days of no transparency (my opinion) in Lake Forest. They still have some of the worst meeting minutes kept in Orange County. Recently Lake Forest has elected some more business/freedom friendly Republicans in Dwight Robinson, Adam Nick, and Scott Voigts.

We will keep readers posted as more information comes out on the story.