Panel can't decide punishment for Wis. lawmaker

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An Assembly ethics committee has decided not to recommend any punishment for troubled state Rep. Jeff Wood.

The panel deadlocked on whether to expel Wood from the Assembly and on whether to reprimand him. The full Assembly could still choose a punishment, though.

Wood, a Chippewa Falls independent, has been arrested three times since December 2008 for driving under the influence. Rep. Stephen Nass, a Whitewater Republican, has introduced a resolution to kick Wood out of the Assembly.

The six-member ethics committee has been weighing what punishment the full Assembly should mete out to Wood in response to Nass' resolution. Republicans on the panel argued Wood presents a danger to the public and has brought such disrepute on the Legislature he deserves to lose his job. Democrats countered Wood's constituents have not mounted a recall attempt and his cases haven't been resolved.

Tags: drunk driving, news, wisconsin, crime, legislature