The News Corp tabloids' Sunday political henchwoman Samantha Maiden has long been moral arbiter of politicians and their personal behaviour. Dumped federal minister Jamie Briggs is only the most recent, who Maiden said "got the boot because his alcohol intake left him running the risk of behaving like Les Patterson" and whose then chief of staff Stuart Eaton "managed to lose his taxpayer-funded mobile phone on a Hong Kong bar crawl". "That's pretty loose" she generously observed.

Then there was former Treasurer Joe Hockey (and his "millionaire wife"), who Maiden called "a flog" and generously observed that "the karma bus is coming for Joe Hockey". There but for the grace of God go the rest of us, right?!

And now Maiden has fronted Goulburn local court charged with mid-range drink driving and of twice disobeying the instructions of police. Pretty loose, huh?

Veteran journalist Samantha Maiden.

No, actually – it's unbelievably loose. She blew 0.136, and that's after they'd taken her down to the station. Totally shit-faced. Sorry, who's channelling Les Patterson?

On Wednesday morning, according to The Goulburn Post, the Magistrate "ordered a pre-sentence report be prepared to look at alternatives to jail". The matter has been adjourned until May 18.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday March 20 and cannily, Sydney's Daily Telegraph ran a small mention of it on page six the following day (compared to its full page on Fairfax Media executive Antony Catalano's court appearance). Miraculously, the story cannot be found on any of News Corp's news websites.

For the record, Maiden was driving back from Mark Textor's birthday party at his home outside Canberra, also attended by Treasurer Scott Morrison, who's never been a flog in Maiden's eyes. Maiden drove The Australian columnist Chris Kenny to the party, and guests at the event thought she was going to sleep in her car. If only she'd caught the karma bus. Then she wouldn't have been run over by it.