Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, was arrested Thursday morning on an outstanding warrant for failing to pay a speeding ticket.
According to court records, Adair was cited in March in Santa Rosa for driving 85 mph in a 55 mph zone. A warrant was issued later that month after Adair failed to show up in court.
Adair was not booked into the county jail in Roswell after his arrest, a source tells me, because he resolved the citation beforehand.
The source told me Adair’s arrest was “purely, purely political.” The source said a local Democrat who keeps an eye on such things reported the warrant to authorities.
The arrest comes in the midst of a bitter Republican primary in Roswell that has pitted two factions against each other in a public battle for control. Signs have been torn down and letters to the editor of the Rowell Daily Record have accused candidates and politicos on both sides of wrongdoing.
It is highly unusual for anyone to be arrested on an outstanding bench warrant, especially a controversial Republican state senator days before a bitter primary election.
I’m surprised Adair was ever cited. The unspoken rule is that legislators are allowed to speed to Santa Fe. If they are pulled over, police officers almost always tell them to slow down, but don’t cite them.
It should not be that way, but it’s normally the reality.
Not so in Adair’s case, apparently.