THE SENATE ON Thursday took a step towards opening an ethics investigation into Sen. Michael Brady, a Brockton Democrat who was arrested for drunk driving last year.
Brady admitted to sufficient facts in the case against him and the case was continued without finding on June 4. Brady did not plead guilty and if he stays out of trouble and completes alcohol training, the charges against him will be dismissed.
Senate President Karen Spilka had obtained the transcript of the proceedings in Quincy District Court. She announced a referral of the Brady matter to the Ethics Committee on Thursday, after a closed-door Democratic caucus.
“The Senate has referred the question of the conduct of Senator Michael D. Brady to the Senate Committee on Ethics, in accordance with Senate Rule 12A,” Spilka said in a statement.
Sen. Eric Lesser, a Longmeadow Democrat, is chairman of the Ethics Committee.
“The Committee will do its job in this matter. According to the rules of the Committee, our proceedings in this investigation will be confidential, and there will be no further comment at this time,” Lesser said in a statement released by his office.
The committee has the authority to summon witnesses, and if the committee finds that rules were broken, it can recommend discipline, including “reprimand, censure, temporary or permanent removal from the position of committee chair or other position of authority, suspension with or without pay, or expulsion.”
Brady was arrested by Weymouth Police after 2 a.m. on Saturday, March 24. Brady, who is now 57, was allegedly weaving all over the road, failed multiple field sobriety tests, told police he had been drinking, and also informed the officer he was a senator.
Officer Christopher Dangelo said Brady had bloodshot and glassy eyes, a “thousand-yard stare,” and reeked of alcohol, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case.