Robert Watson Ousted From Top Job After Pot Bust, Arrest

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The top Republican in the Rhode Island House, who was arrested in Connecticut two weeks ago on charges of driving drunk and possessing marijuana, was voted out of his leadership position Tuesday.

Republican lawmakers decided Rep. Robert Watson will be replaced as minority leader by Rep. Brian Newberry.

Police arrested Watson at a police checkpoint in East Haven, Conn., on April 22. Watson smelled of alcohol and marijuana and performed poorly on field sobriety tests, according to a police report documenting the stop. The officer who detained him said he found a bag of marijuana and a wooden pipe in his pocket.

Watson, who is from East Greenwich, a wealthy town of 13,000 residents in the center of the state, drew criticism in February after he gave a speech to the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce in which he said facetiously that state lawmakers had their priorities right "if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana."

Source