Maryland's Attorney General Is Getting Slammed For Attending An Underage Drinking Party
Twitter/@baltimoresunMaryland Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Gansler is under fire after he attended a Delaware beach party where teenagers, including his son, were drinking alcohol.
The Baltimore Sun's Erin Cox and Michael Dresser had the full details of the party Thursday morning. Gansler told the Sun that he didn't remember anybody drinking at the party - despite an evocative picture that accompanied the original story and was posted on Instagram.
And even if the teens were drinking, he said, he shouldn't have a responsibility as a parent - or a law-enforcement official - to stop it.
"Assume for purposes of discussion that there was widespread drinking at this party," Gansler said, who added that he only stopped by the party to speak with his son. "How is that relevant to me? … The question is, do I have any moral authority over other people's children at beach week in another state? I say no."
The situation got even stranger Thursday afternoon, when Gansler held a press conference to discuss the incident. Gansler told reporters that, in the picture, he was reading a text, not taking a photo. He also said that his son was the DJ at the party, and that he wasn't completely sure if the liquid in the red cups was beer.
"It could be Kool-Aid instead of beer," he said.
Here is a particularly cringeworthy exchange Gansler had with a reporter earlier:
Gansler released a statement on his Facebook page later Thursday.
"As a parent of a 19-year old, I face the same issues as many of you. How do we get it right?" Gansler said in the statement.
"How do we draw the balance between helping our college teenagers make good choices and when to pull them back? You try to always make the best decisions. In this case, maybe I should have done something differently."
Gansler is running in next year's election against Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown. Polls have consistently shown Brown with a sizeable, double-digit lead in the Democratic primary, but about one-third of Maryland Democrats are still undecided.
Gansler's adventures made it all the way to Barstool Sports, which headlined its story, "Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler Crushing It At A High School Party."