Ohio Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ed FitzGerald did not have a valid driver’s license when Westlake police found him with a woman who was not his wife at 4:30 in the morning two years ago.
That’s according to The Columbus Dispatch which noted that if, as FitzGerald said, he drove his car home after he drove the woman, Joanne Grehan, to her hotel, he would have been violating Ohio law which says someone with only a temporary permit has to be with a licensed driver.
It’s not clear if Grehan had a valid Irish driver’s license, but if she did, it would have made it legal for FitzGerald to drive while she was in the car, but not after he dropped her off.
At the time, FitzGerald had only temporary driving permits for 2008 to 2009, 2010 to 2011, and 2011 to 2012. He got a regular driver’s license on November 15, 2012, according to the Dispatch.
The news comes a few days after Cleveland.com published a story about FitzGerald and Grehan found by Westlake police in the car at 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2012 first broke. FitzGerald and Grehan have both said nothing untoward was happening when police found them in the parking lot. FitzGerald said that they were just trying to map out directions to get Grehan, a member of an Irish economic-development delegation, back to her hotel.
As the Dispatch noted, if FitzGerald had been driving by himself between 2007 to the end of 2012, he would have been breaking the law because he did not have a full and valid driver’s license.
“This was a mistake,” FitzGerald said through campaign spokesman Daniel McElhatton. “I apologize, and since 2012 I have had a valid driver’s license.”
According to McElhatton, FitzGerald let his last driver’s license expire. McElhatton didn’t say in what year FitzGerald last had a regular driver’s license.
