Was Tom Garrett Drunk When He Made His Staffers Pick Up His Dog's Poop?

I was talking with a friend of mine, a top congressional staffer, the other day about a drunk congressman. He mentioned-- without judgment-- that it would be easier and far quicker to make a list of sober members of Congress than a list of the alcoholics serving in that branch. No wonder a deranged-- and possibly senile-- lunatic like Trump can run circles around them!

Tom Garrett is a far right backbencher from Virginia's 5th district, which runs from the DC exurbs around Warrenton and the Bull Run Estates clear down through Charlottesville, Farmville, Bedford, Appomattox, Gretna and Danville to the North Carolina border. The district has an R+6 PVI and Trump beat Hillary there 53.4% to 42.3%. When Republican incumbent Robert Hurt retired in 2016, state Senator Tom Garrett beat Jane Dittmar 207,758 (58.2%) to 148,339 (41.6%). He's a Trump lackey with one of the worst attendance records in the House.

Last week Garrett and his wife were accused by his congressional staffers of using them as personal servants. With an Ethics Committee certainly in the offing, he went back and forth several times about retiring and then announced on Monday that he had to leave Congress to seek treatment for alcoholism. Remember, this is a jackass who had been palsy walsy with the KKK and neo-Nazis who caused mayhem at last August's Charlottesville white supremacist rally.

The Republican Party is likely to pick state Delegate Nick Fretias (who doesn't live in the district) to run against already-nominated Democrat Leslie Cockburn, a progressive who beat the DCCC/Blue Dog candidate J.D. Huffstetler. about a month ago. (Cockburn is another official Democratic nominee who the DCCC has been refusing to get behind.) She's been outraising Garrett, as of April 8, $715,038 to $432,330. Currently Cockburn has $271,114 in her war chest and Garrett has $133,275. Freitas, who has been running for the U.S. Senate against Tim Kaine, currently has $251,694 in his war chest.

Garrett is the 44th House Republican who will either retire or not seek reelection this year, according to CNN’s retirement tracker.

His announcement walks back his previous statement on Thursday when he said he would continue his reelection bid in a bizarre and rambling press conference.

"Yesterday, in frustration, I said, 'I don't know if I can do this anymore'-- in the last 24 hours I've had an opportunity to think and pray a lot,” Garrett said Thursday. “And guess what? This country was founded by people who took great risks to do what they thought was right and the sacrifices that my wife and I make are not small, but they pale in comparison to those who play God in their lives.”

He added, ”And with that, I will tell you that there is no way in heck that I'm not going to be back here in 2019 as a member of the Congress representing the 5th District of Virginia because too darn much is at stake."

The change of heart also follows a bombshell report from Politico last week where ex-aides accused the congressman and his wife of treating them like servants, including having them do menial tasks such as picking up groceries and clothes and cleaning up after the family dog.