STATE COLLEGE (AP) — A real estate executive seeking an open congressional seat in central Pennsylvania acknowledged Thursday he had been drinking and was in no condition to drive when he crashed his car a year ago, then left the scene.

Republican Matt Shaner, who announced this week he will seek to replace the retiring U.S. Rep. John Peterson, said in an interview Thursday he made a big mistake when he left the accident site without speaking to police.

No one was injured in the single-vehicle accident Jan. 19, 2007 in Patton Township. But Shaner was fined more than $500 after pleading guilty to running a stop sign, failing to report an accident and accidents involving damage to an unattended vehicle or property.

Asked if he thought he was drunk at the time he ran off the road, Shaner told The Associated Press: “I had too much alcohol to be driving. I may have been.”

“I was in a condition where I shouldn’t have been driving my car, and I handled the situation very poorly afterward,” he said. “It was probably the biggest mistake of my life.”

Shaner, 28, of Port Matilda, is president of Shaner Investments. He once worked for former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and was the county chairman for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign.

Peterson, a Republican representing the Fifth Congressional District, which winds through rural north-central Pennsylvania, announced last week he will retire at year’s end after six terms.

According to a police report, Shaner told authorities the morning after the crash that “he had been drinking and probably was under the influence.” But in an interview last February with the Centre Daily Times, he denied having admitted alcohol was a factor, saying there had been miscommunication.

The newspaper also reported that Shaner, who was alone in the car, had called District Attorney Michael Maderia, a friend, after the accident.

Madeira confirmed Thursday that Shaner had called for advice after the crash. He said he told him he couldn’t help because of his position as prosecutor.

“The public understands that I used bad judgment,” Shaner said. “I won’t go into it issue by issue ... I’m not going to get into any inconsistencies.”

Police said no one was at the accident scene when officers arrived, and that nobody answered the door when they went to Shaner’s home immediately afterward.

Shaner said he won’t get behind the wheel again if he has had too much to drink.

Like Peterson, Shaner said opposes a plan passed by state lawmakers in July that would place tollbooths on Interstate 80.