WH ambassador nominee withdrawn after drunken-driving arrest

The White House withdrawal Thursday of the nomination of Washington lawyer and major Obama campaign bundler Timothy Broas to be ambassador to the Netherlands came 10 days after Broas was charged with speeding, drunken driving and resisting arrest in Chevy Chase.

Broas, 58, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer and partner in the D.C. office of Winston & Strawn, was stopped June 19 at 1:18 a.m. and ticketed for going 47 mph in a 35 mph zone on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase, not far from his home, according to court records.

The White House has declined to explain the unusual move — a day before the full Senate was set to vote on a number of ambassadorial nominations — except to cite “personal reasons.” It could not be determined whether the Senate was going to take up Broas’s nomination.

The charge on his citation said he was stopped for “driving, attempting to drive vehicle while impaired by alcohol.” The incident was first reported by the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News.

Broas was a top Obama campaign fundraiser in 2008, raising between $200,000 and $500,000. Prior to his ambassadorial nomination in April, he had raised more than $500,000 for the reelection effort, CPI reported. (Continues)