So this bears watching…
Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) is in stable condition in hospital, after a motor boat in which he and four other people were riding crashed into rocks on a Montana lake.
Details of the incident remain sketchy, but a spokesman for the state parks department called the accident “serious” and said it occurred between 10pm and midnight.
All five of the people in the boat have been hospitalized. One was Montana GOP state senator Greg Barkus. The names of the other three people, intriguingly, haven’t been released.
The state is probing the accident. A spokesman said investigators will look at who was driving the boat, and whether drugs or alcohol were involved, saying that “those are common in any accident investigation.”
In 2004, Rehberg injured himself after falling off a horse during a congressional trip to Kazakhstan. An anoymous email that circulated on Capitol Hill in the weeks afterward alleged that he’d been drunk when the fall occurred. Rehberg’s spokesman admitted that he’d drunk vodka that night, but denied he was drunk.
Rehberg’s office has not yet commented on the boating accident. A spokesman did not immediately return TPMmuckraker’s call.
Late Update: Rehberg’s office has released the following statement, revealing that two of the unidentified three people were staffers in his office:
Last night Congressman Rehberg and two members of his staff were passengers in a boat that was involved in an accident on Flathead Lake near Bigfork. Denny is in stable condition and is doing well. His thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved. We will continue to provide information as it becomes available.
