TORONTO, Ont. – Coun. Ana Bailao has pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol level over 80 milligrams as part of a plea deal that saw an impaired driving charge dropped.
Bailao, who entered her plea Monday, will be prohibited from driving for a year and must pay a $1,000 fine.
“I made a bad choice,” she said while wiping tears from her eyes at a news conference. “I take full responsibility for that and I accept the consequences.”
“I do not and have never condoned drinking and driving and this situation has made me intimately aware of the dangers this behaviour can cause. For the hurt and offense I have caused others, I sincerely apologize.”
She came to the decision against the advice of her lawyer.
“On a political level, it’ll pay off for her because now she can put this behind her,” councillor Joe Mihevc told CityNews. “Ethically and morally, she’s doing the right thing.”
The Ward 18 Davenport councillor was charged with impaired driving and having a blood-alcohol level over 80 milligrams after being stopped by police near Bathurst and Harbord streets on Oct. 16, 2012.
She was driving without her headlights on while returning from the Mayor’s Ball for the Arts at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Bailao, 36, was first elected to office on Oct. 10, 2010, replacing former councillor Adam Giambrone.
She sits on several committees and agencies and headed a task force that saved many Toronto Community Housing properties slated for sale and has continued to serve on council since she was charged.
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I feel for her, her punishment is being a public figure and having to be the poster child for D and D and what will happen. The tears are due to her thinking Why? This does not only affect her its affects her family as well. They are defending her as well. This is what family does! Trust me her family is paying the price for this too! She had to please not guilty this is what you are told to do in our legal system. Now my issue is that the charge of DUI got dropped and she is prohibited from driving for one year and pay a fine of only $1000.00. Well folks coming from an insurance stand point that is an awesome deal! If the charge stayed she would be paying high rates for about 5 years. Example of an annual rate in Toronto is over $5000.00 with a criminal code offence. Its cheaper for her to higher a driver or take a cab. So after one year she gets in her car and pays the rate of a “good driver”. What about those other’s who did not get that same deal who too were firs time offenders? This does not sit well with me. An impaired driving charge is an impaired driving charge.
I do not understand why everyone is feeling sorry for her. She was sober when she decided to take her car to a party and she was sober when she decided to lie about it.
She apologized and it seemed to be a heart felt one. This may help ground her to realize that she must follow the same laws and rules as the rest of us and demonstrate such to other politicians.
Those of you who want her to resign, why? After this experience she is probably a better rep in office. Are you then saying anyone caught driving while impaired should also loose their job? Don’t be rediculous, she has had to do it to the world at a press conference. Most of us certainly couldn’t do it.
She demonstrates courage and leadership to stand up and say, “I did it and I’m sorry for it”. Olivia Chow wouldn’t have the courage to do the same.
so will the tax payers have to pay for her cab fares for the next year ?!?!?
I’m saddened by some of the comments above. MADD tries to raise awareness about drinking and driving not abstinence. It is indicative of very poor judgment when someone drives after drinking and it is an inexcusable tragedy when someone else’s life is forever altered or taken because of that poor decision. She only got caught once but it would be foolishness to think this was the first time.
If she can’t make good decisions about drinking and driving how,as a public official, can her judgment be trusted for the serious business of the city? It’s not a coffee shop where she works, she should resign, or be fired now that she has a criminal record.
I’m for abstinence, alcohol destroys lives whether you drive or not.
George:
I agree with you. if blowing .050 means losing your licence for a week, then so should texting while driving and being too tired. It has got alittle ridiculous.
They have done tests and texting is the equivalent of being over .080 , actually around .12.
So I guess texting should be a crime also.
I have a sympathy for Counsellor Ana Bailao a first time offender of driving with a blood-alcohol level over 80 milligrams legal limit.
This is illegal and she should not represent her constituency for this offence.
VIVEK
It is not enough she should lose her job
Why would she lose her job? This is an issue outside her hours of work. She wasn’t drinking on the job! She went through the court system and that’s that. It’s over. it’s done. This shouldn’t affect her job!
She has made amends (finally) and apoligized. That should be the end of it. If any of us were caught in a similar situation I doubt our employers would be aware much less require our resignation. This is her first offence, it’s over.
I have a great sympathy for Counsellor Ana Bailao a first time offender of driving with a blood-alcohol level over 80 milligrams legal limit.
Nobody in their right mind should condone drinking and driving BUT there are many buts often ignored and unreported. The “church ladies” of MADD have managed to elevate drinking and driving to one of the worst possible offences and in the process to criminalize reputable good citizens. There is no other criminal offence average law abiding citizens may be facing in their life time than this one!
Ffirst time offender, like Ana Bailao, without causing any accident of any kind, fully cooperative with the police force and the courts, with marginal alcohol level over the legal limit, often are treated unfairly by the zealots of MADD and the industry it has created. First time offenders are given a criminal record, have their drivers’ license suspended for unreasonable length of time (over and above the mandatory three month automatic suspension) in effect placing them under some kind of house arrest. This in addition to paying hefty legal fees and fines of all kinds. Over and above that many of these first time offenders especially the young professionals who dared to have couple of drinks in the office party have their long term career prospects destroyed with a criminal record that makes them not employable in many industries. Their ability to travel abroad is also curtailed, and it causes tremendous family disruptions, many side effects including the inability to earn a living by driving to their place of work. As result, according to MADDs own website, about 80% of those drivers is forced to drive with suspended license to earn a living.
MADD stats are skewed to make public believe that two glasses of wine creates road killers. In fact only 22% of car crashes are due to drinking and driving (a serious number but not as high as the MAAD campaign makes the public believe). To skew statistics MAAD lamps together marginal over the drinking limit stats with higher readings (80 to 160). Yet talking on the Phone, texting, fatigue, emotional upheaval including road rage may cause more traffic accidents often without leaving behind a trail of criminal record!
MAAD and the multibillion dollar industry it has created is not interested in the public safety as they make you believe. They seldom advocate for breathalyzers been put in the cars of first time offender that would prevent them from driving under the influence and safeguard the public interest. Instead they are interested in the punishment of first time offenders and advocate always lengthier drivers’ license suspensions and heavier monetary penalties. To this effect they want to lower the drinking legal limit not realizing that because one defines a person as drunk by drinking a drop of wine does not mean that in reality this person is drunk.
The drinking and driving law has become an ass and needs to be rehabilitated as much as those 20% repeat offenders of drinking and driving that cause all kinds of problems for the rest of us. If Police was to target the “big guys” such as the Air Canada center and their beer drinking patrons after a game instead the Mayor’s Ball counsellors they would have way more catches than the poor and unlucky Ana Bailao
George
@ George I am a non-drinker and I fully agree with what you are saying. This MADD organizaton has and continues to turn good people into criminals and ruins their lives over a mistake. It is insane that someone would loose their ability to earn a living, by taking their DL away, because of an indiscretion by driving after 2 drinks (in an hour), The other alternative is to pay a lawyer a fortune to get them off. I feel for the people that have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law by making a misjudgement. There must be a better and fairer way?
I had to pay all the legal fees and deal with a temporary suspension once, even though I wasn’t drinking and driving. I was given a breathalizer that came up with an error message. After blowing through it more than ten times, they just arrested me on the spot for failure to provide an adequate sample. It took me years to recover from it financially. I paid all the legal costs just to have a couple of monkeys for cops show up for court without getting their story straight. The judge threw it out after the second cop’s testimony was the opposite of the first cop’s. Great to be innocent, but I couldn’t get my 10k in legal fees back.
Forget drunk driving, pursue all the traffic offences that kill, whether you are drunk or not. Improper lane changes and running red lights, etc.
or for that matter. pursue people who read while their driving.
Two out of three ain’t bad. She admitted she did something wrong; she pleaded guilty. Now all we need her to do is the really honest thing – RESIGN.
Anna, if you take full responsibility and accept the consequences of your actions, you can’t just say the words… you must step down from your position as Councillor. That’s what you call taking responsibility. I wouldn’t want you representing me as Councillor. Think of your constituents instead of yourself.
So Ana replaced Adam Giambrone – who got ousted from office for being a bone-head himself… and she was coincidentally leaving the Mayor’s Ball (Rob Ford)… this makes perfect sense. It’s a triangle of idiocy.
Drinking and Driving is NEVER OK.
I applaud her admitting guilt in this case, and accepting the consequences for her ‘choice’. We all make mistakes, and thankfully no one was injured. Let’s hope she learns, and many others out there learn from this. It was better to admit fault so that we can begin the process of moving forward, rather than watching with furor her missteps as she and her lawyer would have attempted to muddle this through the system. Happy to see this decision.
So much for her swearing up and down that she was innocent at the time of her arrest !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At least she pled guilty when she went to court.