Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel apologized after becoming so drunk at a college football game that she had to leave the stadium in a wheelchair.
“I attended a tailgate on an empty stomach,” Nessel wrote in a Facebook post about her intoxication at the Oct. 30 Michigan-Michigan State football game.
“Much to my surprise, MSU tailgate’s tend to have more alcohol than food, so I thought it seemed like a good idea to eat 2 Bloody Mary’s, since as long as you put enough vegetables in them, it’s practically a salad. As it turned out, this was not a brilliant idea. Also, I might be a terrible bartender,” she joked.
Nessel issued the statement two days after a conservative watchdog organization requested documents about the incident through the Freedom of Information Act.
Nessel, a graduate of the University of Michigan, attended the game with University of Michigan Regent and Republican Party state Chairman Ron Weiser, she wrote in the post. Michigan State won the game, recovering from a nine point halftime deficit.
Nessel’s friends recommended that she leave the game “so as to prevent me from vomiting on any of my constituents (polling consistently shows “Roman showers” to be unpopular among most demographics).”
“I had a few folks help me up the stairs and someone grabbed a wheelchair so as to prevent me from stumbling in the parking lot. Like all smart people attending festivities where drinking occurs, I had a designated driver. I went home, fell asleep on the couch, and my wife threw some blankets on me and provided me with some water and Tylenol for what she knew would be a skull-crushing hangover the next day,” Nessel continued in the post.
Nessel added that although her staff encouraged her to hire a public relations firm to issue a statement in the aftermath of the death of her communications director, she felt that posting on her personal Facebook page was the correct way to address the situation.
First elected in 2018 alongside Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Nessel rose to prominence in 2020 when she asked then-President Donald Trump to avoid her state after he declined to wear a mask during a tour of a Ford auto plant. Nessel took a hard line in enforcing COVID-19 restrictions in the state, including arresting non-compliant business owners. (RELATED: Michigan AG Files Felony Charges Against Jacob Wohl And Jack Burkman For Voter Suppression Robocalls)
Nessel’s chief Republican opponent for her 2022 reelection campaign criticized her admission.
“To say this is troubling doesn’t begin to describe it. We deserve so much better from our attorney general. And, no, she doesn’t get any credit for transparency when she waited two weeks to release this at 5pm before a holiday,” former Michigan House Speaker Tom Leonard wrote in a statement.