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| Jaye's Macomb County Jail mug shot |
By Chad Selweski
@cbsnewsman on Twitter
Dave Jaye, the infamous former state senator who
struggled for years with excessive drinking, was arrested on Sunday night for
disorderly conduct after engaging in an apparently drunken confrontation with a
jogger on the Macomb Orchard Trail in Washington Township.
According to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department, Jaye
at the time smelled of alcohol, was slurring his speech and looked “sloppy”
when he was detained by deputies near Campground Road and Van Dyke. He was
riding a bike with beer cans in his backpack when he had a verbal confrontation
with the jogger and said: “Don’t make me come after you.”
Jaye refused to take a portable breathalyzer test so his
blood-alcohol level at the time is unknown. Michigan’s disorderly person law
includes provisions for evidence that a person may have been intoxicated, based
on what the arresting officers witnessed.
The only member of the Michigan Senate ever to be removed
from office by his colleagues, Jaye, 56, was arrested and jailed by sheriff’s
deputies shortly before 10 p.m. when the frightened jogger called police. The
former lawmaker was also chanting while riding on the trail but sheriff’s Lt.
John Michalke refused to identify what the chant consisted of.
A longtime Jaye friend said that the controversial former
lawmaker had returned to Macomb County about six weeks ago to rehabilitate the
Washington Township home that he lived in during his years in the state
Legislature and still owns.
Joe Munem said that Jaye had been consistently sober and
had shown no signs of a relapse after struggling with drinking problems for two
decades.
“I wouldn’t have thought something like this would have
happened at this point in his life. I have not seen Dave drink in … 10 years,”
said Munem, a former political consultant from Sterling Heights.
After his removal from the Senate in 2001 for drunken,
assaultive behavior at a gas station, Jaye eventually moved to South Korea,
where he taught English as a second language to adults. He has also lived in
China, teaching American business customs at the university level.
More recently he established residence in Bonita Springs,
Fla., where he landed a county government job handling recycling programs and
grant writing.
At the time of his arrest on Sunday, which occurred after
dark, police found no evidence that Jaye had physically harmed anyone, and he
appeared to be uninjured despite his erratic bike riding. He was wearing
camouflage shorts and a white T-shirt in addition to the black backpack.
Jaye was formally charged on
Monday in a video arraignment handled by the 42nd District Court in Romeo. The former
lawmaker was granted a $1,000 personal bond and was released.
His next court date is Sept.
25 in the 42nd District Court.
Known for his vociferous, politically incorrect comments
and his conservative Republican politics, Jaye’s political career began with a
2-year stint on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners in 1985-86.
He was elected to the state House in 1988 and served
there for 10 years until he won a special election to replace the late state
senator Doug Carl. Among the many reasons for his Senate expulsion, the most
cited were his three drunken-driving convictions.
His expulsion trial in front of a Senate panel received
frenzied media coverage and produce big newspaper headlines across the state.
After attracting considerable media attention for 15 years, his
attempted political comeback after being expelled fell flat in a Sept. 11,
2001, special election that was completely overshadowed by the terrorist
attacks in New York and Washington.
Yet, Munem said he saw a “more mellow and mature Dave
Jaye” in recent times, a man who had become more health conscious and had hopes
of creating a new chapter in his life in the business world, not in politics. Munem
said he has no idea what could have triggered Jaye’s behavior on Sunday.
“In my conversations with him, he’s been fairly upbeat
and positive,” Munem explained. “He’s demonstrated a lot of
self-confidence about what he wants to do next.”
Ok Chad...What exactly is your obsession with Joe Munem? Nothing against Munem, but you are obviously very taken with him by writing countless articles about his every mood, opinion and extracurricular activities. We've seen columns about his Facebook threads, theatre gigs and his troubled friends. Not exactly newsworthy. We can all see that you've fallen for his charms. Just ask him out already!
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