Reckless
From the online legal reference dictionary.
Reckless:
“Characterized by the creation of a substantial and unjustifiable risk to the lives, safety or rights of others and by a conscious and sometimes wanton and willful disregard for or indifference to that risk that is a gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would exercise in like circumstances.”
Could it be that politicians in Washington State are creating substantial and unjustifiable risk to the lives, safety and the rights of their constituents by a conscious and sometimes with a wanton and willful disregard and indifference to that risk?
Let’s apply the standard to the political class here in Washington State to see for ourselves if they’re acting recklessly.
We all know that Automated Ticketing Machines aren’t about safety, they are about money. Click here to find to study after study showing how Automated Ticketing Machines increase accidents at intersections.
Very recently Peoria, Arizona released their year-over-year accident data showing massive increases in accidents at intersections were Automated Ticketing Machines were installed.
And this from the City of Redmond Police Department for the months of March and April 2011:
- 90% of all violations are for turning right on red.
- Over $500,000 in citations were issued for rolling rights on red.
- The city issued $560,000 in tickets for those two months with the city accepting 9 out of 10 of the vendor’s recommendations for tickets.
- That $560,000 bought essentially no decrease in accidents.
From KIRO Radio’s MyNorthwest.com:
- “Rear-end accidents up at Redmond red light camera intersections”
- “They stopped short of the light because they indicated they didn’t want to get a ticket,” Redmond Police Commander Shari Shovlin told MyNorthwest.com. “It’s not a shock to us. We did expect that might occur.”
They actually expected an increase in accidents!
Is expecting more accidents a justifiable risk to the lives, safety or rights of anyone who drives in Redmond? Is putting you and your loved-ones at a greater risk of being in an accident, all to make a buck, the standard of care a reasonable person would exercise?
It appears that politicians – from the state legislature in Olympia down to the city councils – don’t care if they put you and your family at risk as long as they can feed their insatiable appetite for money. In fact, State Representative Cindy Ryu of the 32nd Legislative District said to me that she didn’t care how much money the camera companies made, or their friends at Goldman Sachs, as long as the cities got their money.
Politicians have all seen the same studies showing accidents increase. They know that Automated Ticketing Machines create hyper-responsive drivers that put you and your family at risk of serious accidents. It seems they care more about money than they do about the safety of you and your loved-ones.
Washington State Campaign for Liberty has been working hard to fight these Automated Ticketing Machines.
Last year we took the fight to the Mukilteo City Council by filing an initiative, gathering the necessary signatures and getting the measure on the ballot. The citizens of the city of Mukilteo voted down the cameras by 71%. Since that time the Mayor, City Council and their friends from Arizona have pressed forward with a lawsuit taking us all the way to the Washington Supreme Court where we are still battling!
This year Washington State campaign for liberty got HB 1823 introduced in the House of Representatives to repeal traffic cameras in the state. Thanks to transportation committee chairman Rep. Judy Clibborn of Mercer Island, we didn’t even get a hearing on the bill that had almost a full one third of the Washington House of Representatives as cosponsors!
But don’t worry – Campaign for Liberty isn’t going to stop until we repeal Automated Ticketing Machines!
Help us continue our statewide fight – sign the online petition here and then forward it to your friends.
This year we also helped launch initiatives in five cities.
In Bellingham, Campaign for Liberty members worked with Young Americans for Liberty leader Johnny Weaver and other groups gathering the necessary signatures to put the measure on the ballot this November.
In the city of Monroe, Campaign for Liberty partnered with Voters Want More Choices, Ban Cams, and The Seeds of Liberty to gather enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. Rather than face the voters, the money-hungry Mayor and City Council unanimously decided by a conscious and willful vote to ignore their citizens and sue them. Does that kind of blatant abuse of power strike you as something that a reasonable person would do in a like circumstance?
In the city of Longview, Campaign for Liberty member Tim Sutinen partnered with other local citizens and went to work gathering enough signatures to qualify their initiative to be on the ballot. How did the greedy politicians react? They first tried to ignore us but a pending court order made them change their minds. Then they too filed a lawsuit against the very citizens they are there to represent! The Mayor and City Council continue to show their indifference to the risk they are placing on the citizens of Longview by willfully disregarding the voters.
In the city of Wenatchee Campaign for Liberty partnered with Voters Want More Choices, Ban Cams, and Wenatchee We the People. The City council immediately found an activist judge who issued the order for us to stop collecting petitions. Apparently the Wenatchee City Council doesn’t care if they put you or you or loved ones at risk so long as the money rolls in.
And the battle in Redmond continues – it appears that the necessary signatures will be gathered. How will the Redmond City Council respond? Only time will tell.
Help us continue the fight sign the online petition here and then forward it to your friends.
I leave it up to you to decide whether the politicians are acting recklessly or not. It appears to me that they are willing to put you and your family a greater risk of accident, all in the name of money. When they don’t get their way, they resort to bullying tactics dragging citizens into court.
This summer, when you see your State Senators or Representatives at parades, town halls or picnics let them know you want a repeal of Automated Ticketing Machines.
Lawsuit Filed Against Mukilteo Traffic Camera Initiative
Now that Mukilteo City Council wisely listened to their constituents and sent the Traffic Camera Initiative on to the November ballot, are Mukilteo officials conspiring to find a back door way to stop it?
Yesterday we received some astonishing news. A lawsuit has been filed by an associate of Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine and Mukilteo City Executive Joe Hannan against the City of Mukilteo to stop the Mukilteo Traffic Camera Initiative from reaching the ballot this November.
The plaintiff is Christine Preston, who court papers indicate represents “an unincorporated association of Mukilteo residents”. Would it surprise you to learn that Ms. Preston and Mr. Marine are involved with Mukilteo Kiwanis, the organization of which Mr. Hannan is currently president? Cozy, isn’t it?
Curiously enough, the lawsuit asserts the very same argument that Mr. Hannan presented to the Mukilteo City Council in his capacity as Mukilteo City Executive in concert with City Attorney, Angela Belbeck. That argument being that the citizens do not have the authority to use their constitutionally protected right to the initiative process in this matter – a markedly creative interpretation of law!
Who is representing Ms. Preston and her shadowy associates? The very same attorney and law firm that defended traffic camera company American Traffic Solutions in a previous Washington State suit! Of course, ATS is the company with whom the city very nearly engaged to install traffic cameras before the liberty-minded initiative coalition brought this to the attention of the public. Makes you wonder who is footing the legal bills, doesn’t it?
Where does this leave the traffic camera initiative? Who is tasked with arguing our side of the case? Since the City of Mukilteo is the defendant, City Attorney Angela Belbeck would be arguing against the very opinion she asserted. What do you think, doesn’t it seem like we’d be asking the fox to guard the hen house?
Washington State Campaign for Liberty must try to save the initiative we worked so hard to get on the ballot. We need your help! Imagine the dangerous precedent that could be set by failing to fight this challenge to our constitutionally protected right of initiative!
What can you do to help?
- Contact the City of Mukilteo at 425-263-8018 and insist that they retain separate counsel to represent them in this case, independent from the representation of City Attorney Angela Belbeck who has already compromised her ability to defend the city from this frivolous lawsuit.
- Make a donation to Washington State Campaign for Liberty to help us in this fight.
We need to raise $5000.00 immediately to help fund our efforts.
Every donation – of whatever size – gets us one step closer to defeating this suspicious suit and securing your rights.
It’s Official: Traffic Cameras on the Mukilteo Ballot November 2010
At the time of our last update, we knew that we had enough signatures to be qualified to put our traffic camera initiative on the ballot but we also knew we had to go back before the Mukilteo City Council. It should have been just a rubber stamp. Of course, there was a chance that the council could skip putting Mukilteo Initiative 2 to a vote of the people and adopt the measure themselves. That didn’t happen.
In fact, for a few tense moments it sounded like the council was going to vote against forwarding the initiative to County Elections to be included on the ballot.
The Mukilteo City Executive, Joe Hannan, had prepared an Agenda Bill for the council’s consideration. In this document, Mr. Hannan attempted to make the case that since the State Legislature had granted Mukilteo City Council authority for traffic cameras, it was an issue that “is not subject to the powers of initiative and referendum”. Mr. Hannan would have you believe that the Legislature has the power to grant you rights.
Mr. Hannan presented three options for consideration to the council:
- Council could forward Mukilteo Initiative No. 2 as presented to the County Elections for a vote in November, 2010.
- Council could adopt an ordinance including the conditions described in Initiative No. 2
- Council could request a November, 2010, advisory vote of residents asking if they want camera enforcement in either school zones and/or at intersections
There was more debate, consternation, and gnashing of teeth than the ultimate 5-1 vote in favor of option 1 would seem to indicate. In the end, the council voted to allow the initiative to be placed on the ballot, but at least several members were emphatically unhappy about it!
- Reverses the decision by the Mukilteo City Council to install red-light cameras and speed cameras (they unanimously reversed their decision already)
- Requires 2/3 of the council and a majority vote of the people if they ever try again
- Removes the profit-motive for cameras by limiting the fines to the cost of the least expensive parking ticket in Mukilteo (Everett Herald reports that’d be $20)
- Mandates an advisory vote any time cameras are proposed.
As we get closer to November, there will certainly be a campaign against Mukilteo Initiative 2. In fact, Council President Randy Lord indicated in his remarks that he would be personally campaigning against the initiative.
Listening to the comments of the council members, it became clear that there was some confusion among them about the effects of the initiative. We will certainly have some educating to do to prevent misinformation as election day draws near.
As for today – we came, we saw, we conquered! The good news is that we won the battle and lived to fight another day. The bad news, is that we have to do more fighting before we win the war . We’re counting on you to back us up. Won’t you help?
Mukilteo voters will have their say on Automated Ticketing Machines. Unless…
…the City Council takes the overwhelming response to our petition drive as a mandate and votes to pass the petition language without putting it on the November ballot. It’s the subject of a special public meeting on Wednesday, July 7th. (You’re invited!) As reported by the Mukilteo Beacon, Mayor Marine stated, “I can’t speak for the council, but the voters will have their say.”
We learned today that the Snohomish County Auditor’s office has officially certified sufficient petition signatures to put Mukilteo Initiative 2 on the November 2010 ballot. It didn’t come without a fight!
As you may recall, we were notified that our first batch of petitions delivered contained a number of disqualified petition signers. The legal process allows petition circulators a specified period of time in which to deliver additional petitions.
We initially calculated this second deadline to be Thursday, June 24th. However, based on the completion check date by the Snohomish County Auditor’s office, the actual deadline was determined to be Monday, June 28th. We met the date for second submission and turned in plenty of petitions – over 1000 when we only needed 407!
Then, in a suspicious turn of events…
…the mayor, city attorney, and City Council met on Monday, June 28th in a secret session – canceling their regularly scheduled public meeting. Some have alleged that the – as yet undisclosed – subject matter of the meeting was to determine if the Council could avoid delivering the second batch of petitions to the Auditor’s office, railroading our petition efforts.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the mayor and council – who used tricky tactics to get the authority for Automated Ticketing Machines pushed through while a known opponent was out of town – may have been willing to stoop to holding secret meetings to try to stop the voters from getting a chance to weigh in. Nonetheless, you would think that they would understand by now that the citizens of Mukilteo are interested in open, honest and transparent government.
What’s next? We celebrate!
WHO: Volunteers, supporters, petition signers
WHAT: A “Qualification Celebration”!
WHEN: Thursday, July 1st 6pm-8pm
WHERE: Mukilteo Lodge
Join your fellow volunteers and neighbors to celebrate our success! Please help get the word out, anyone is welcome. We’re a volunteer organization which means we can’t afford to provide refreshments, but we hope you’ll come for the company!
Mukilteo Initiative 2 In A Nutshell
- Reverses the decision by the Mukilteo City Council to install red-light cameras and speed cameras (they unanimously reversed their decision already)
- Requires 2/3 of the council and a majority vote of the people if they ever try again
- Removes the profit-motive for cameras by limiting the fines to the cost of the least expensive parking ticket in Mukilteo (Everett Herald reports that’d be $20)
- Mandates an advisory vote any time cameras are proposed.
Do you support this kind of work?
Washington State Campaign for Liberty is a grassroots organization. We take our cues about the projects we should pursue from our membership. If this is the kind of work you can support, we’d sure appreciate your donation so that we can do more of it…and get the word to more people.
Could you spare a couple bucks to help? If you’re able, please donate today.
You can also help by forwarding this message to your friends and letting them know that they can sign up for our mailing list at www.wacfl.com.
Mukilteo City Council Flip Flops, Reverses Vote Authorizing Traffic Cameras
As a wise man once said, “When you hold a politician’s feet to the fire, they start to see the light!”
We’re pleased to report that the Mukilteo City Council is starting to see the light. As many of you know, Mukilteo resident Tim Eyman approached Washington State Campaign for Liberty and BanCams.com, asking for help in keeping red light trafffic cameras, more aptly named Automated Ticketing Machines, off the streets of Mukilteo. We went to work collecting signatures for Mukilteo Initiative 2, Let the Voters Decide on Red Light Cameras.
Can I get a shout out to all our hardworking volunteers? They deserve our hearty thanks!
The evidence sends a clear message.
First, we reported that a mere two weeks after the petition was filed, we had the signatures we needed. After the municipality threw out a batch of our signatures, we hit the streets again and are busy collecting another huge stack of petitions.
If you recall, the last time Automated Ticketing Machines went before the council, they voted to give the Mayor the authority to sign a contact with a red light traffic camera company. Of course, in an underhanded move, they waited until Council Member Kevin Stoltz, a known opponent of the traffic camera scheme, was out of town before they took a vote.
Yesterday, June 21st, the City Council decided to revisit the issue. What happened? They have reconsidered. It turns out that, after thinking about their behavior, the City Council decided that maybe they acted a little to hastily.
In an unanimous vote, the Mukilteo City Council rescinded their prior decision, removing the permission for Mayor Joe Marine to sign the deal to install those cameras.
What’s the moral of this story?
We must continue holding our politicians accountable! You see, the Mukilteo City Council thought they could get away with a little bit of funny business when no one was looking.
Now they know we’re watching.
What’s even better? This issue is being monitored by the media. That means now, politicians in other cities know we’re watching them too.
Here’s what the media is saying about Automated Ticketing Machines in Washington State:
- Seattle Times – In Mukilteo and elsewhere, folks are taking the initiative to get traffic cameras out of their lives
- Kiro Radio – Mukilteo backs off plan for red light cameras
- Everett Herald – Mukilteo to seek alternatives to red light cameras
- Snohomish County Tribune – Eyman to council: It’s your move
- Everett Herald – Lynnwood’s red-light cameras: for safety or profit?
Our Work Isn’t Over Yet!
We can’t afford to let up! Mukilteo City Council has repented of their bad behavior…for now. But there’s no guarantee that they won’t try this again in the future. We plan to make sure they can’t…by letting the voters decide.
Join us! Please become a member of Washington State Campaign for Liberty or join our email list (see the sign up form in the column to the right), and invite your friends!
