ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gordon Campbell, 54, premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia, is shown in police booking photos after he was arrested for drunken driving yesterday morning in Wailuku.
Canadian governor WAILUKU >> The premier of British Columbia, Canada, was charged yesterday with driving under the influence of alcohol, after a Maui patrol officer pulled him over for speeding and weaving on a two-lane highway.
arrested for DUI
The British Columbia premier
was caught speeding on Maui
and failed a sobriety testBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comGordon Campbell, 54, whose elected position is equivalent to a governor in the United States, was stopped near the Napilihau residential subdivision about 1:23 a.m. while traveling alone in a rental car toward Kaanapali, police Sgt. Wendell Loo said.
"He could not perform the field sobriety test," Loo said.
Campbell said later in a brief statement that he was returning home after dinner with friends when he was pulled over.
"I have made a serious mistake, and I want to apologize to everyone including my family, my colleagues and the people of British Columbia," he said. "I do not intend to contest the charge."
Loo said Campbell was traveling in excess of the posted speed limit of 45 miles an hour. He said Campbell was taken by police car from Napili to the main police station in Wailuku.
Campbell failed the sobriety test in Wailuku, and his blood alcohol content exceeded 0.08 percent, the state's legal limit, Loo said. But Loo said he did not know Campbell's exact blood alcohol content.
Campbell was charged and held at the station in Wailuku until about 9:40 a.m. yesterday. He was released after posting $257 in bail. His arraignment is scheduled for March 24 in Lahaina District Court.
Nonresidents arrested for drunken driving are subject to the same procedures and penalties as Hawaii residents arrested on the petty misdemeanor charge and can arrange to enter a no-contest or guilty plea by mail without being present, usually through an attorney licensed to practice in Hawaii.
A first-time drunken-driving conviction carries penalties including a mandatory 14 hours of alcohol-abuse education and counseling and a 90-day driver's license suspension. First-time offenders also may face community service, a two- to five-day jail term and a fine of up to $1,000.
Campbell's Liberal Party won a provincial election in May 2001 to take over leadership of the provincial government from the New Democratic Party.
Campbell's visit to Maui coincided with the PGA Tour's Mercedes Championship golf tournament in nearby Kapalua. Several Canadians were involved with the tournament, but it was not clear whether Campbell was attending the event.
Before becoming governor, Campbell served as mayor of Vancouver for three consecutive terms from 1986 to 1993.
He was elected leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party in September 1993 and was elected to the British Columbia Legislature in 1994.
The former school vice principal is married and has two sons, according to the Premier's Office Web site.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
