A member of Congress is in hot water after using his status to try and get out of a parking ticket.
According to Park Police documents, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) received the $25 ticket late on the evening of March 13 after he parked his Ford SUV on Daniel French Drive next to the Lincoln Memorial in a spot marked "NPS Vehicles Only."
When Gohmert returned to his vehicle, the documents say, he put the citation under the windshield wiper of the citing officer's cruiser, along with one of his Congressional business cards, which bore a handwritten note reading, "Oversight of Park Services is my job! Natural Resources Thus the congressional plate in window."
Gohmert then sought out another Park Police officer and told him that he had wrongly received a ticket because he had a congressional placard on his car's dashboard.
One of the Park Police officers who spoke to Gohmert described the placard as "a small white placard with red writing ... The placard said 'Congress' on top and had a letter/number combination underneath. I have never seen a placard like this and it did not state anything to do with the National Park Service."
According to the officer, Gohmert closed his car door in a "querulous manner" and drove off, saying again that he would not pay the ticket.
A spokeswoman for Gohmert told The Dallas Morning News Thursday that the Congressman would pay the ticket if necessary
