Recently, Governor Terry McAuliffe managed to fight off a veto that would have given Virginia drivers more rights to fight tickets issued by traffic cameras:
Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s controversial veto of a driver-rights bill survived by one vote Wednesday.
Lawmakers were poised to override the Democrat, who rejected legislation giving camera-ticketed motorists a second appeal.
“Any finding in a district court that an operator has violated a (traffic law) … shall be appealable to the circuit court in a civil proceeding,” declares House Bill 1040, reiterating state law.
The House of Delegates initially passed the measure unanimously. It cleared the Democrat-controlled Senate 38-1.
The House on Wednesday overrode McAuliffe’s veto 48-19. Yet in a dramatic turnaround, the Senate fell one vote short.
Twenty-six Senate votes were needed to override, but the governor’s opponents mustered only 25. Democratic Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, and Republican Sen. William Stanley, R-Moneta, did not vote.
This in itself might not sound like too big a deal, but of course this veteran Clintonista who, during the gubernatorial campaign enjoyed the glowing title of “Businessman” in a number of Washington Post articles, is apparently giving his state the business:
Hunton and Williams, a law firm that represents Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia, a leading red-light camera company in the United States, was one of McAuliffe’s political supporters.
The McLean lawyers gave $25,000 to McAuliffe’s inauguration and $10,599 to his gubernatorial run, as well as $10,000 to the state Democratic Party.
Red-light cameras are popular moneymakers with local officials. Watchdog.org reported that the state’s largest city, Virginia Beach, netted $3.5 million through its ticket-issuing cameras in 2011.
That’s right, our governor is in essence using red lights to take money from Virginians to line his pockets. But it’s all about safety and not clogging the courts, right? Wrong.
Watchdog.org subsequently found that Virginia Beach illegally shortened the timing of its yellow lights to generate still more ticket revenue.
McAuliffe asserted that HB 1040 would have clogged the courts. Yet officials say photo enforcement is already shaky. A Virginia Transportation Research Council study concluded:
“If the person fails to respond (to a mailed ticket), he or she is not considered to have been satisfactorily served with notice.
“The average citizen is probably not aware of this loophole, but if word were widely disseminated, such knowledge could completely undermine the effectiveness of red-light camera programs, as citations issued to violators would lose their practical impact.”
HB 1040, by Delegate Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth, grants drivers the right to contest $50 civil fines in circuit court within 10 days.
So why am I supporting the governor in this case? Because elections have consequences, and I think that this is an opportunity to show Virginians what they’re getting when they vote for Democrats. I’ve already argued back in 2012 that the best cure for Obamacare is to have the American people fully experience it. How about reaching out to our elected officials who supported the veto?
The ones who voted against the override were:
NAYS–Barker, Edwards, Favola, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, Puckett, Puller, Saslaw, Wexton–13.
While two missed the vote. They might deserve some attention as to how they missed a veto override that failed by one vote:
NOT VOTING–Colgan, Stanley–2.
How about asking the journalists who glowingly covered McAuliffe why they ignored this story? I reached out to The Washington Post myself, directly e-mailing authors Ben Pershing and Scott Clement from the article I mentioned earlier. It turns out that Pershing has moved on, and as far as I can tell wrote briefly for Politico and now seems to only be on Twitter. Clement responded to me, informing me of Pershing’s departure as well as the fact that he has changed assignments. He directed me to his successor, Jenna Portnoy, who was also kind enough to respond to me. She is new to the position and asked a few questions, but most likely this is the end of that story. The lesson learned is to reach out sooner while stories like these are still fresh. If only Little Bob would quit cutting into my blogging time…
Anyone who generally votes Republican can pass this along to the party leadership the next time they ask for money. A fair question would be why they chose to pour money into the gubernatorial campaign for a RINO who was coasting to victory rather than a focus the funds on a principled conservative in a closely contested battleground state race.1
Any conservative groups out there with some funding want to have some fun? Start putting up billboards near these red light cameras showing people who is benefiting and who voted against their right to appeal.
Will all of this have any meaningful impact? Probably not, but the number one thing politicians fear are citizens that are paying attention. Just look at how many Democrats are scurrying like rats off of the Good Ship Obamacare. Maybe forcing the officials who upheld the governor’s veto will think twice before falling in behind the next extremist agenda item. Maybe we can start putting a more public face on the extremism that has taken over the Democrat Party and make it harder for the mainstream press to ignore. Or who knows, with a small miracle and enough people responding on enough issues maybe our state legislature will prevent McAuliffe’s intention to inflict Medicaid expansion onto the state of Virginia. But the proposed expansion is a separate post for another time…
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1 That was a rhetorical question. The establishment GOP’s hatred for the Tea Party isn’t exactly a secret.
Cross Posted from Brother Bob’s Blog
