Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Caught Red Handed

Lake County's lead-foot State Senator, Dan Duffy, got his 15 seconds of fame this week. And not once but twice, yielding a total of 30 seconds. And in the way that no elected official ever wants to get their 15 seconds, courtesy of the YouTubes. Duffy was caught double-timing it through some intersections by his bĂȘte noire -- the municipal red light camera. In Illinois a right turn is permitted at a red light. However only after a full stop. The devil is in the details!

Duffy's is the second car through the intersection ...

YouTube

Another smooth Barrington Stop observed at the same intersection a couple days later ...

YouTube
A note to LakeCountyEye Ops: consider a Toyota Prius for these occasions. When nabbed blowing a red-light, your LakeCountyEye always pleads that the Toyota's gas pedal was stuck. Plus the Prius is economical, reduces your carbon footprint, and is one sweet ride. A win-win for everyone. For those LakeCountyEye Ops who happen to also be a local state senator, the Toyota Lexus may be substituted for a Prius.

If Duffy is in the habit of texting his email while behind the wheel, he may not have seen the red-lights. That may also account for this email Your LakeCountyEye received from Senator Duffy a while back ...

Have you had enough of Red Light Cameras?
If you want them removed, I need your help!


My bill, SB2466 calls for the repeal of all red light cameras in Illinois. The bill does NOT repeal cameras at construction sites or railroad crossings. To view complete details of this and other bills, please always refer to www.ilga.gov. This is the same web site the legislators use to research bills and all information is available to the public.

SB2466 has been filed and is currently sitting in “assignments”. Once it assigned it will be moved to a committee. It must pass out of committee to go to the senate floor for a vote. It will not pass without your HELP! The bill will have to pass both the House and Senate to become law. We need to build as much support as possible for SB2466. If you support this bill, please send an email to every legislator in the General Assembly (please see email list below for every legislators email address). Legislators read their emails and gauge the priority they put on bills based on the number of emails and calls they receive. The more emails, the more support for SB2466 there will be.

Here is a sample email you can use. Please feel free to “cut and paste” this sample email and send…or write whatever you would like. The emails should not be too long. Main point to highlight is that you SUPPORT SB2466 and will hold all legislators accountable who do not support the bill. Always list “SUPPORT SB2466 – Repeal Red Light Cameras” in the subject heading of your email. Cut and paste all email addresses and re-send to all legislators at LEAST once a week.

Please forward this email to family, friends and associates who will help us in our effort!

Sample email:
I strongly support Senator Duffy’s bill, SB2466 – Repeal of all Red Light Cameras. Ohio and Minnesota have already repealed these cameras and Illinois must do the same. These cameras have proven to be all about REVENUE and not about safety. Since the cameras have been installed, studies have shown that accidents have actually INCREASED in the intersections where cameras are located.

Over 90% of tickets issued by these cameras are from turning Right on Red. If that is a problem in certain intersections, shouldn't towns first install “No Turn On Red” signs at troubled intersections?

Corruption is a serious problem in Illinois and these cameras are making a bad situation worse. Elected officials (legislators, mayors, village administrators) are making deals with camera companies without consulting their constituents. Politicians are receiving large campaign contributions, towns / villages are receiving piles of cash from these cameras AND camera companies are receiving 30-50% of every ticket issued! That is a clear "conflict of interest". Camera companies are making millions of dollars a month from hard working Illinois citizens.

We all are Innocent Until Proven Guilty. However these automatic tickets make us Guilty Until We Prove We Are Innocent. For a $100 ticket citizens must pay over a thousand dollars to hire a lawyer, take time off work and go fight a camera. There is also NO uniformity in the law as to how these tickets are issued. Every town sets their own criteria regarding “how” and “when” red light tickets are issued. That “inconsistency” from town to town is a violation of Illinois state law.

Please join me in SUPPORTING SB2466. I will be watching to see how you vote.

Thank You,

Dan

Dan Duffy
State Senator
26th District
Support SB 2466 - Repeal Red Light Cameras

Duffy, that day, apparently was in a mood to take no prisoners. His request to ...
please send an email to every legislator in the General Assembly
was augmented by the email addresses of all 118 House members and 59 Senators attached to the message. And with easy to follow instructions ...
Cut and paste all email addresses and re-send to all legislators at LEAST once a week
Needless to say all 177 legislator's email addresses wound up being reproduced at various libertarian and anti-red-light-camera websites. Like, for instance, this one ...
The smallest minority
This, by the way, is how professional spammers build up their email databases. Spammers don't copy-and-paste email addresses by hand, but they use computer programs to harvest email addresses from websites. Any website with a posted email address is fair game.

Your LakeCountyEye surmises that the Senate Transportation Committee -- which holds hearings on SB 2466 this week -- must've quickly found out who was watching to see how they voted. (Or whom amongst them could benefit from some low-cost over-the-counter Viagra.) Because they returned the favor by FOIAing Duffy's red-light-camera arrest record. Which by now is all over the Interwebs, courtesy of the YouTubes.

Punk't!!1!!

13 comments:

Old Oak said...

Poor Dan! First the eviction and now TWO tickets. I'm worried about the poor guy. He wouldn't get my vote for dog-catcher, but I'm nonetheless concerned. Maybe Ed Sullivan jr. can do an intervention, get poor Dan to settle down and get control of his life again. This is just sad. Perhaps Dan and Joe Walsh should form a support group. They can swap stories of the bitter taste left in one's mouth after each episode of utter stupidity.

Crazy4glf said...

At least Mr. Duffy stands for something and now we know why :).

This is not to say that I agree with him, especially since many a municipality has bought the equipment already.

However, given the flip-flop nature of Mr. Kirk, among others, its a bit refreshing to see a GOP'er stand for something (and I'm not referring to the jobs task force a certain public official was appointed to while performing two of his own :)

Now, if only some GOP'ers can stand for healthcare reform that goes beyond tort reform and amnesty for insurance companies, financial industry reform, and adequate infrastructure, they'd be on to something.


Next up: Tea Partiers for those with pet rocks; America's next crisi.

edsullivanjr said...

Mr. Crazy,

I realize you love to criticize me for my two jobs. I actually hope you continue into and through the election. Every time you do I get to bring to people’s attention how my office is run and how it is a model in Lake County. By now you should know that my staff is in your township assessor’s office helping the new administration get up to speed. I plan on coming up over the GA break. I will email you so you can join us in your official capacity.

Rep. Ed Sullivan

Anonymous said...

Of course Eddie, jr is up in Avon bringing the new assessor up to speed. Except it's up to speed on keeping the percentage of his salary he promised to return and getting him up to speed on alienating the voters. Perhaps junior can also get him up to speed on spending all day on the internet as well?

edsullivanjr said...

Mr. Anon (10:10),

The voters that elected Mr. Carus will make the ultimate decision as to whether promises made were promises kept. Quite frankly I have not followed what he promised and my involvement up there is not political. I have always helped out my fellow assessors when asked. If I based my decisions only on politics I certainly would not be helping out a township that has a board member that constantly criticizes me. I have always kept my promise as it regards to donating my salary so I am not sure what your comments refer to other than a blatant attack. I will have to check my exact records but I am fairly certain it is in excess of 30k with most of the money going to schools and the American Cancer Society.

Rep. Ed Sullivan

Old Oak said...

Okay, Mr. Sullivan, since you're following this post, care to comment on Senator Duffy's lie regarding his unfair ticket? Don't you think his indignation over his 'unfair' ticket is unseemly? Don't you think an Illinois Senator ought to avoid the mere 'appearance' of impropriety, let alone Duffy's outright falsehood?

edsullivanjr said...

Mr. Prairie,

I was actually following the attack on me not the post. There is no need to respond to the post as the issue has not run its course. There will be more to the overall story that has not been reported in the “media”.

Rep. Ed Sullivan

Old Oak said...

Well, Mr. Sullivan, to scour the blogesphere in search of attacks upon yourself seems like a lonely and, shall we say, paranoid pursuit.

What more to the story can their be? Was Duffy's car stolen, twice, perhaps by a Guantanomo-held terrorist's family attempting to make their way to Thomson?

Why is the media the 'media' in your comment? Are you saying that the Daily Herald has it out for Duffy? That this is a vast liberal media conspiracy?

You were given the opportunity to stand up for truth last night; to stand up against legislators with a hidden agenda, with axes to grind, with a vengeful purpose that perverts the process and does not serve the people. And all that you could muster was blatant innuendo about the 'media'. You better hope they arrest those jihad-car-stealing-red-light-running terrorists soon, because otherwise this will splatter all over you too. As of now, Duffy's a liar, and you, well, you're just searching for your own attackers. Go figure.

Old Oak said...

Rep. Sullivan. The opportunity to do the right thing, not taken, is a yoke, a burden you will carry from now until November. You COULD have stood for the truth. You COULD have stood for fair, honest legislation. Instead, you are seconded by party bosses; muzzled by the Springfield GOP power brokers. We know now where you stand.

Anonymous said...

Yep, Sully's reply was just pathetic. He better hope there's more to this story than just the FOIA and who requested it. As it stands right now, he had the chance to repudiate a liar and didn't.

Anonymous said...

Hey,

Remember when "slow eddie" was helping out his buddy Tom double Cross with all the legal issues surrounding the Hebda campaign? How much did all that lawyer crap cost?

Friend of Mr. Crazy

edsullivanjr said...

Dear friend of Mr. Crazy,

I think the term “slow” is a better way to describe you. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say computer illiterate if you like. Don’t go on any Celebrity Apprentice shows as your problem could hurt your chances. Maybe you are a rookie to the political world and just don’t know how to look these things up. Anyway, I attached a link to an A-1expenditure report of Cindy’s campaign from January. The A-1 report shows an expenditure for “Legal Services”. I believe there will be an additional expenditure for “Legal Services” on her next report. That report will be a D-2 semi-annual report due sometime in July.

The real question relates to Sente’s “Legal Services”. I believe Madigan spent quite a bit of money trying to throw Cindy off the ballot. Should those “Legal Services” be treated as an in-kind? Most people would say yes as Madigan spent campaign dollars that benefitted Sente. I do not see any A-1’s for Sente regarding “Legal Services”. Maybe someone should bring that to the attention of the State Board of elections. Thanks for reminding me.

http://www.elections.state.il.us/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?id=22597

redtail said...

In what possible world is a petition challenge to a candidate an in-kind to an opponent?

If that was the case, Sandy Cole and Bonnie Thompson Carter should have reported the legal expenses the Republican Party of Lake County spent bouncing their last opponents off the ballot in 2008. Did they? I thought not.