Citizen Effort Red Lights a Red Light Camera Bill
This week, citizen activist and blogger Rich Neumeister alerted Minnesotans about a bill introduced by Alice Hausman (more publicly known for her gun grab bills): allowing cities to install cameras at intersections to catch drivers who run red lights. Jeff Kolb alerted readers here, and others (like powerhouse researcher Sheila Kihne) jumped on social media to alert others.
Looks like our work is paying off, via John Gilmore at Minnesota Conservatives:
The bill was tabled after relentlessly negative testimony that followed supportive testimony which had any effect but that. These proceedings were well described on Twitter by Tom Scheck of MPR (@tomscheck) & Megan Boldt (@meganboldt) of the Pioneer Press, among others.
The Hausman horror bill could still be resurrected but the smart money is that it will not. There is a senate companion bill that may or may not get a hearing. Disturbingly to me and other republicans, two GOP senators have authored that bill: Sen. Julie Rosen & her poodle Sen. John Pedersen. We have met the enemy and, not for the first time, it is us. I can cut Sen. Rosen some slack on the Vikings stadium give away of taxpayer dollars to millionaires. I can. But this craven, Stalinist imposition of cameras upon us makes her and Pedersen unfit for office.
Besides more big brother legislation (sadly co-authored by 2 Republicans), Gilmore also followed the money:
Shortly after I received the cheerleading email for this legislation, I sent it to a number of extremely competent republican activists. Suffice it to say that we tweeted the results of what we found simply by using The Google.
Could not, you know, alleged reporters do the same? Work backwards from the front group Traffic Safety Coalition to Redflex, the Australian company who bought four lobbyists (and apparently at least two GOP senators) to push the legislation, to Resolute Consulting, who "manages" the Traffic Safety Coalition non-profit! Who owns Resolute Consulting? Greg Goldner, a thug who has greased the skids for the loathsome, greasy Rahm Emanuel.
Oh: Redflex got into a lot of trouble in Chicago, too. If you're too corrupt for Chicago, you set some kind of record. Redflex actually stopped trading its stock recently because of investigations into its affairs.
Read the whole thing, and I hope this inspires you to pay attention and take action. Thanks to all involved, especially Rich Neumeister, who with Gilmore, helped take viral activism to a new level this week.
Cross-posted at FreedomDogs.