{"id":2574628,"date":"2026-02-28T06:41:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-democratic-lawmaker-apologizes-for-being-intoxicated-during-hearing\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T06:43:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:43:55","slug":"watch-democratic-lawmaker-apologizes-for-being-intoxicated-during-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-democratic-lawmaker-apologizes-for-being-intoxicated-during-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Democratic Lawmaker Apologizes for Being Intoxicated During Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatch-democratic-lawmaker-apologizes-for-being-intoxicated-during-hearing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2574628&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Washington state House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon apologized after being intoxicated during a critical hearing on House Bill 2289. The episode disrupted the session, with the committee chair recessing to remove him briefly before he returned, and it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-puts-democrat-senator-in-his-place-for-rejecting-god-given-rights\/\" title=\"Trump Puts Democrat Senator in His Place for Rejecting God-Given Rights\">drew strong backlash<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/n-h-representatives-hold-drive-in-legislative-session\/\" title=\"N.H. Representatives hold drive-in legislative ...\">fellow lawmakers<\/a>, including GOP Rep. Michelle Valdez, who criticized him for being drunk on the job and suggested the incident reflected poorly on Democrats and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-announces-california-gubernatorial-run-as-newsom-recall-nears-threshold\/\" title=\"Republican Announces California Gubernatorial Run as Newsom Recall Nears Threshold\">state budget<\/a>.Fitzgibbon issued a groveling apology, saying he <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >deeply regrets consuming alcohol<\/a> before the committee work and that it was a painful, embarrassing mistake he won\u2019t repeat. The incident was described by observers as a serious lapse and a PR disaster for his leadership.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Washington state House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, a Democratic representative, has issued an apology after he was caught intoxicated during a critical hearing.<\/p>\n<p>The Wednesday evening hearing turned into a PR nightmare for Fitzgibbon, when he was participating in an executive session on House Bill 2289, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_67872395-61b5-4e44-a798-f149f235f923.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Center Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The entire affair was, in simple terms, a disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Fitzgibbon was so clearly out of it that the committee chair called a recess in the middle of the session to remove him from the room.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old lawmaker would return just moments later.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>You can watch a video of the concerning behavior from Fitzgibbon below:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o2p5W77Wnkc?si=iTo0AHcwZRGK-Jyf\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I am grateful to all the members of this committee, all the members of the House for putting forward their ideas and making sure that the operating budget that we&rsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cdc-director-schools-can-open-without-teacher-vaccines-but-require-mandatory-masking\/\" title=\"CDC Director: Schools Can Open Without Teacher Vaccines But Require Mandatory Masking\">ve put forward<\/a> does not forget that the people we are working to represent, people that we are working to lift up and support don&rsquo;t always have a voice in this process, and their voice is carried forward by the members of this body,&rdquo; said Fitzgibbon, whose hair The Center Square described as &ldquo;disheveled.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He appeared glassy eyed, with speech slurred as he urged support for the legislation,&rdquo; the outlet added.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps realizing how bad a look this was, Fitzgibbon issued a groveling statement apologizing for his behavior, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/komonews.com\/news\/local\/rep-joe-fitzgibbon-house-majority-leader-washington-state-apologizes-for-consuming-alcohol-before-committee-work-concluded-politics-olympia-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KOMO-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I deeply regret and apologize for the fact that I consumed alcohol before the work of the Appropriations Committee was completed on Wednesday, and the result was obvious,&rdquo; Fitzgibbon said. &ldquo;This was a serious mistake for many reasons. Being impaired in that situation was harmful to my work and to my co-workers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He added: &ldquo;This was a painful and embarrassing lesson, one I won&rsquo;t forget, and I will not put myself and others in this situation again in the future.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Again, I apologize.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the &ldquo;painful and embarrassing lesson&rdquo; and the apology, Fitzgibbon was promptly lambasted by his fellow Washington lawmakers for the boozy incident.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to The Center Square, local GOP Rep. Michelle Valdez condemned Fitzgibbon&rsquo;s drinking &mdash; while adding quite a shot at the Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The sad part is you have to understand: He is responsible for our state and for Washington Democrats and also for our state budget,&rdquo; Valdez told The Center Square. &ldquo;He has so much power, and it is so disenfranchising to know that he&rsquo;s drunk on the job.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>She then added the zinger: &ldquo;To be honest, if I was in charge of our state budget and destroying the state, I&rsquo;d probably drink, too.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democratic Washington state House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon apologized after appearing intoxicated during a crucial hearing. The Wednesday session on House Bill 2289 turned into a public-relations fiasco when Fitzgibbon seemed impaired; the committee chair even paused the meeting to remove him, though he returned moments later. The Center Square noted he looked disheveled, appeared glassy-eyed, and spoke with a slurred voice as he pressed for the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Fitzgibbon later issued a groveling apology through KOMO-TV, saying he deeply regrets consuming alcohol before the committee finished its work and that his impairment was a serious mistake that harmed his work and coworkers. He called it a painful and embarrassing lesson that he would not forget and vowed not to repeat the behavior. Despite the apology, he faced sharp criticism from fellow lawmakers. GOP Rep. Michelle Valdez condemned his drinking, stressing that he has substantial power over the state budget and noting it is disheartening to see him drunk on the job, even joking that if she were in charge of the budget, she might drink too<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2574629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Joe-Fitzgibbon.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[50410,3679,16930,4133,5894],"class_list":["post-2574628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-controversy-2","tag-hearing","tag-intoxication","tag-news","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Joe-Fitzgibbon.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574628"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574632,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574628\/revisions\/2574632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2574629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}