Mike McGavick, the former Safeco Insurance chief executive, revealed during his U.S. Senate campaign yesterday that he once had a Maryland drunk driving charge while serving as an insurance lobbyist and he regretted his handling of layoffs at Safeco.

Mr. McGavick--a Republican who is running against Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., in the November election--made unsolicited revelations about "the very worst and most embarrassing things in my life for you to know" on the Web writing in his campaign Blog.

Mentioning the fact that there had been a recent suit filed alleging he improperly took a $28 million severance package when he left Safeco, Mr. McGavick wrote: "I know that the character attacks against me will not stop. So, how about I just tell you directly the very worst and most embarrassing things in my life?"

Mr. McGavick said he regretted his divorce from his first wife and the fact that he was cited for DUI in 1993 while driving his second wife, Gaelynn, "home from several celebrations honoring our new relationship."

Mr. McGavick told the Seattle Post Intelligencer that the DUI charge, in Montgomery County, Md., was dismissed after he was fined, underwent a year's probation and took an alcohol awareness course.

At the time, Mr. McGavick was a lobbyist with the American Insurance Association in Washington. He said he was still haunted by the event.

In his professional life, he said he regretted that while at Seattle-based Safeco, after a round of layoffs in 2001 and with results improving in 2002, "I told my team that I thought the worst was behind us because I believed that it was. This led to real and justified hope by my Safeco colleagues that there would be no more lay-offs.

"I was wrong to raise such hopes. Several months later, it became clear that we still were not competing effectively, and it was not until after another round of layoffs that we really were able to turn the ship and set the company on the course it is on today."

Mr. McGavick said "the heart-wrenching decisions to let people go will stay with me forever."

He also admitted to running a congressional campaign that unfairly accused a candidate of supporting legalization of marijuana.

Candidate McGavick said he apologized for his mistakes and hoped that he could now get back to discussing real campaign issues.

Special Reports /

McGavick Discusses DUI Charge, Safeco Layoffs

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