A state legislator can be heard on video tape claiming that a legislator cannot be arrested and documents related to his arrest suggest he also claimed to have been drinking with the governor.
The video from the camera mounted in an Ankeny cop’s squad car was obtained by WHO-TV in Des Moines and played on its 10 o’clock newscast last night. The tape was a routine recording made by the policeman who stopped Representative Kerry Burt at around two o’clock in the morning on February 11.
Burt, a Democrat from Waterloo, can be heard saying he’s a fireman and asking to be let go as a "professional courtesy." But also claimed legislators have special immunity and cannot be arrested.
Then, Burt offered up this: "It’s not so much what I’ve been drinking, it’s who I’ve been drinking with."
According to the cop, Burt then whispered in his ear that the governor was his drinking partner.
Governor Culver’s press secretary confirms Culver attended the same reception and dinner in downtown Des Moines that Burt had, but Culver press secretary Troy Price says the governor was home at Terrace Hill by 8:55 that evening, about five hours before Burt was stopped by the cop.
Burt, a former University of Iowa football player, was first elected to the Iowa House last November. Burt is challenging his drunken driving arrest and his trial is scheduled for late next month.
Earlier this month the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa called on Burt to resign after a state audit found Burt had listed a relative’s home address as his own to enroll his children in the Price Lab School at the University of Northern Iowa, saying himself over $35,000 in tuition.
