Hey, remember last month’s filing deadline, when Scott Milne finally made his gubernatorial candidacy official? At the time, he said he’d hold a formal campaign kickoff event around the Fourth of July.

Well, it’s the Third of July, and what’s this? 

Seeking to put his past behind him, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Milne on Thursday disclosed a series of health, legal and substance abuse issues he’s faced over the years.

In a written statement distributed to reporters, Milne said he was arrested three times in college — twice for driving under the influence of alcohol and once for “possession of a small amount of pot and cocaine.” He also disclosed that he suffered a stroke in 2006, but said he has since made a full recovery.

Ouch.

Double ouch with nuts.

I guess he might postpone the kickoff until this blows over.

Look, as far as I’m concerned, anything Scott Milne did three decades ago is irrelevant. (For any conservative Republicans, e.g. The Hack, who might latch onto this as anti-Milne fodder, I’d only ask, didja vote for W?) As is the ischemic stroke eight years ago, from which he’s made an almost full recovery.

Those facts don’t matter. But everything around them does. As a relative newcomer to politics, and as a very late starter in the campaign calendar, Scott Milne doesn’t have any time to mess around. He can’t afford any slipups, blunders, or obstacles in his effort to mount a last-minute, under-resourced challenge to a deep-pocketed incumbent. He can’t afford to give any potential supporters any additional reason to doubt his prospects. He can’t afford to generate doubts about his political savvy.

And yet, here we are.

The first question would be, why didn’t he clear the air before now? He officially became a candidate almost a month ago, but he’d been out there as the most likely Republican nominee for several weeks prior to that. He had to know this stuff would come out at some point; why not get it out of the way immediately?

It makes you think he’s politically tone-deaf. And that — not his past offenses or health issues — is a heavy, potentially fatal, blow to his chances.