AZ Sheriff and Republican Legislators Set to Challenge State Speed Camera Program
#1
TECH Veteran
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ Hometown: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 4,231
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
AZ Sheriff and Republican Legislators Set to Challenge State Speed Camera Program
The lawman fighting the law
Reported by: Steve Irvin
Email: sirvin@abc15.com
Last Update: 5:22 pm
There is an unwritten rule in law enforcement. You back up your fellow officers, even if they don't work for the same police department.
You don't just do it on the streets. You also do it in spirit, and more often than not... in policy.
Which makes Sheriff Paul Babeu that much more daring.
Babeu is the newly elected Sheriff in Pinal County and the first law enforcement officer in Arizona to voice his opposition to photo radar cameras, putting him in direct opposition to the Department of Public Safety.
He claims he's not alone.
"You'll find a lot of (police) chiefs who are against photo radar, but are afraid to speak out because of their position," Babeu told me Tuesday afternoon.
I don't know if he's right, but I do know he makes some good points.
Babeu says photo radar is sold as a safety measure, but he points out DPS has been willing to scale back its threshold for issuing a ticket... from six to seven miles over the speed limit, to eleven. With no points off your license, by the way.
If it's really a safety issue, why the wiggle room? And why not dock points along with the ticket?
Babeu sees it as a revenue shakedown, designed to swindle Arizona drivers out of more than 100 million dollars. By the way, do the math on this... at 165 dollars a ticket, the state is apparently projecting it will nail more than 600-thousand drivers during the course of the fiscal year. That's about ten percent of the state's overall population.
"It's turned into a Stalinist state," Babeu says.
He wants it put to a vote, and he was the first to put his name on a petition which is quickly swelling with signatures. It will likely wind up as a ballot measure.
That is, if it's not outlawed first.
District 6 representative Sam Crump will introduce legislation Wednesday to ban photo radar cameras on state highways.
One thing's for sure, lawmakers are likely to get an earful from their constituents, especially the nearly 75,000 and counting who've already been caught on camera.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/bl...2-MUGP-Jg.cspx
------
Lawmakers propose ban on Ariz. highway speed cameras
Jan. 14, 2009 04:26 PM
Associated Press
State legislators on Wednesday proposed legislation to scuttle Arizona's groundbreaking program of using speed enforcement cameras on state highways.
The main sponsor, Republican Rep. Sam Crump of Anthem, said speed cameras are annoying, unfair, intrusive and even dangerous because of backups as motorists abruptly slow down near cameras.
“It's the No. 1 thing I'm hearing from constituents as well as people outside my district,” Crump said. “Arizona has a proud heritage of leaving its citizens alone to the greatest sense possible, and I find that the photo radar speed cameras are really a violation of that heritage.”
Passage would shut down a new Department of Public Safety program launched in September. A contractor has deployed 69 of 100 planned mobile and stationary cameras that are triggered by radar or other sensors.
The bill would ban both state or local cameras on state highways but not affect those used by municipalities or counties on local streets and roads.
Crump said the prohibition could take immediately upon the bill becoming effective. Or the shutdown could be done in stages by first slashing the fines to only the amount necessary to pay the contractor to satisfy any requirements in the two-year contract, he said.
Gov. Janet Napolitano, who initially proposed the first-in-the-nation statewide program in January 2007, has said the cameras are intended to improve highway safety but Crump said it's apparent the real motivation is ticket revenue.
A DPS spokesman, Lt. James Warriner, said Wednesday the agency takes no position on the bill but thinks the cameras improve highway safety.
With some cameras still not deployed, Warriner said the agency is studying possible deployment of cameras on an additional Phoenix-area freeway but also is awaiting word from the incoming administration of Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer whether she wants implementation of the program to continue.
For now, Warriner said, “We haven't been told that they're not going to do it,”
Brewer, who is expected to become governor next week upon the resignation of Gov. Janet Napolitano to become U.S. homeland security secretary, has not staked out a position on the camera program.
However, she told The Associated Press in a recent interview that she'd heard lots of complaints from Arizonans about the program.
Napolitano won authorization for the program in the state budget enacted last June over opposition by most majority Republican lawmakers.
The budget did not include anticipated revenue from citations issued under the program, but a November budget-balancing proposal by Napolitano included $50 million of anticipated revenue in the current fiscal year, which is now half over.
Introduction of the legislative bill by Crump and 11 other representatives follows the recent filings of two separate petitions for initiative measures proposed for the 2010 ballot. One would ban photo-enforcement citation except for violations of more than 20 mph. The other would ban photo-enforcement citations.
Citations issued under the DPS program carry a $165 fine plus a surcharge taking the total to approximately $185. Courts can costs to serve citations on motorists.
One of the bill sponsors, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said motorists receiving mailed “notices of violation” generated by speed cameras can and should ignore them because they're under no legal obligation to pay at that point.
Only later, if a court issues an actual citation and it is served on the motorist is there a legal obligation to respond, Biggs said.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/w...as0114-ON.html
Reported by: Steve Irvin
Email: sirvin@abc15.com
Last Update: 5:22 pm
There is an unwritten rule in law enforcement. You back up your fellow officers, even if they don't work for the same police department.
You don't just do it on the streets. You also do it in spirit, and more often than not... in policy.
Which makes Sheriff Paul Babeu that much more daring.
Babeu is the newly elected Sheriff in Pinal County and the first law enforcement officer in Arizona to voice his opposition to photo radar cameras, putting him in direct opposition to the Department of Public Safety.
He claims he's not alone.
"You'll find a lot of (police) chiefs who are against photo radar, but are afraid to speak out because of their position," Babeu told me Tuesday afternoon.
I don't know if he's right, but I do know he makes some good points.
Babeu says photo radar is sold as a safety measure, but he points out DPS has been willing to scale back its threshold for issuing a ticket... from six to seven miles over the speed limit, to eleven. With no points off your license, by the way.
If it's really a safety issue, why the wiggle room? And why not dock points along with the ticket?
Babeu sees it as a revenue shakedown, designed to swindle Arizona drivers out of more than 100 million dollars. By the way, do the math on this... at 165 dollars a ticket, the state is apparently projecting it will nail more than 600-thousand drivers during the course of the fiscal year. That's about ten percent of the state's overall population.
"It's turned into a Stalinist state," Babeu says.
He wants it put to a vote, and he was the first to put his name on a petition which is quickly swelling with signatures. It will likely wind up as a ballot measure.
That is, if it's not outlawed first.
District 6 representative Sam Crump will introduce legislation Wednesday to ban photo radar cameras on state highways.
One thing's for sure, lawmakers are likely to get an earful from their constituents, especially the nearly 75,000 and counting who've already been caught on camera.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/bl...2-MUGP-Jg.cspx
------
Lawmakers propose ban on Ariz. highway speed cameras
Jan. 14, 2009 04:26 PM
Associated Press
State legislators on Wednesday proposed legislation to scuttle Arizona's groundbreaking program of using speed enforcement cameras on state highways.
The main sponsor, Republican Rep. Sam Crump of Anthem, said speed cameras are annoying, unfair, intrusive and even dangerous because of backups as motorists abruptly slow down near cameras.
“It's the No. 1 thing I'm hearing from constituents as well as people outside my district,” Crump said. “Arizona has a proud heritage of leaving its citizens alone to the greatest sense possible, and I find that the photo radar speed cameras are really a violation of that heritage.”
Passage would shut down a new Department of Public Safety program launched in September. A contractor has deployed 69 of 100 planned mobile and stationary cameras that are triggered by radar or other sensors.
The bill would ban both state or local cameras on state highways but not affect those used by municipalities or counties on local streets and roads.
Crump said the prohibition could take immediately upon the bill becoming effective. Or the shutdown could be done in stages by first slashing the fines to only the amount necessary to pay the contractor to satisfy any requirements in the two-year contract, he said.
Gov. Janet Napolitano, who initially proposed the first-in-the-nation statewide program in January 2007, has said the cameras are intended to improve highway safety but Crump said it's apparent the real motivation is ticket revenue.
A DPS spokesman, Lt. James Warriner, said Wednesday the agency takes no position on the bill but thinks the cameras improve highway safety.
With some cameras still not deployed, Warriner said the agency is studying possible deployment of cameras on an additional Phoenix-area freeway but also is awaiting word from the incoming administration of Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer whether she wants implementation of the program to continue.
For now, Warriner said, “We haven't been told that they're not going to do it,”
Brewer, who is expected to become governor next week upon the resignation of Gov. Janet Napolitano to become U.S. homeland security secretary, has not staked out a position on the camera program.
However, she told The Associated Press in a recent interview that she'd heard lots of complaints from Arizonans about the program.
Napolitano won authorization for the program in the state budget enacted last June over opposition by most majority Republican lawmakers.
The budget did not include anticipated revenue from citations issued under the program, but a November budget-balancing proposal by Napolitano included $50 million of anticipated revenue in the current fiscal year, which is now half over.
Introduction of the legislative bill by Crump and 11 other representatives follows the recent filings of two separate petitions for initiative measures proposed for the 2010 ballot. One would ban photo-enforcement citation except for violations of more than 20 mph. The other would ban photo-enforcement citations.
Citations issued under the DPS program carry a $165 fine plus a surcharge taking the total to approximately $185. Courts can costs to serve citations on motorists.
One of the bill sponsors, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, said motorists receiving mailed “notices of violation” generated by speed cameras can and should ignore them because they're under no legal obligation to pay at that point.
Only later, if a court issues an actual citation and it is served on the motorist is there a legal obligation to respond, Biggs said.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/w...as0114-ON.html
#2
11 Second Club
iTrader: (11)
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: anozirA
Posts: 1,597
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yeah... AZ is definitely littered with this ****.
Nothing more than an extra way to tax us citizens.
And it's true about people doing 80 mph, then slamming on the brakes close to one of these cameras.
Nothing more than an extra way to tax us citizens.
And it's true about people doing 80 mph, then slamming on the brakes close to one of these cameras.
#3
TECH Apprentice
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Blackwood, NJ
Posts: 363
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Now there's an honest statement if there ever was one . It's not like you HAVE to say that because of your job or anything like that. At least the other half of the system seems to be working.
#4
TECH Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Gulf Shores and DC
Posts: 3,877
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I loved them in England because there would be big yellow signs warning of "speed cameras in one mile" and the cameras were in ginormous yellow boxes (this was only on the motorway-equivalent of our interestate). So I would book it 100-120 MPH and slam on my brakes for the camera...and then I was off again. Never any cops on the road in the UK...I LOVED that.
W
W
#5
12 Second Club
iTrader: (6)
I was in Scottsdale last year and rented a Shelby Mustang GT - the Hertz Edition. Anyways, I'm out dirving around at night, hauling *** of course, when I get a big flash. I turned around and went back and it was one of those speed zone cameras.
Fortunately, nothing ever came of it. But, it kind of surprised me in the middle of the night to get a flash!!! I really thought I would have gotten a ticket from that crap!
Fortunately, nothing ever came of it. But, it kind of surprised me in the middle of the night to get a flash!!! I really thought I would have gotten a ticket from that crap!
#6
NKAWTG...N
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wichita, KS
Posts: 4,760
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
How do those camera's promote safety? If anything it reduces the number of LEO's on the highway. So if there is an accident or situation the LEO's will be farther away and fewer in number.
Doesn't sound like added safety to me. Just $$$ for the state.
Doesn't sound like added safety to me. Just $$$ for the state.
#7
TECH Regular
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Corvallis, OR
Posts: 448
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Traffic tickets are rarely ever about safety, honestly. The revenue is used to pay bills and support govt. sponsored programs. This is why you can get pulled over and ticketed for having a license plate light out, too dark of window tinting, license plate covers, and so on and so forth.
It can probably be proven, by independent citizens, that such traffic cameras have not reduced accidents/crime on the interstates they are used.
It can probably be proven, by independent citizens, that such traffic cameras have not reduced accidents/crime on the interstates they are used.
Trending Topics
#8
TECH Apprentice
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Blackwood, NJ
Posts: 363
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Traffic tickets are rarely ever about safety, honestly. The revenue is used to pay bills and support govt. sponsored programs. This is why you can get pulled over and ticketed for having a license plate light out, too dark of window tinting, license plate covers, and so on and so forth.
It can probably be proven, by independent citizens, that such traffic cameras have not reduced accidents/crime on the interstates they are used.
It can probably be proven, by independent citizens, that such traffic cameras have not reduced accidents/crime on the interstates they are used.
#9
10 Second Club
iTrader: (38)
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Phoenix, Az
Posts: 1,259
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
That is the truth. I've seen three people people get rear ended slowing down for the cameras. I hate the damn things. Traffic is moving along great and then it's nothing but brake lights last minute so people don't get flashed by the damn camera
#11
TECH Veteran
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ Hometown: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 4,231
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Pinal County shelves speed-camera program
Lindsey Collom - Jan. 22, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Pinal County supervisors Wednesday bid goodbye to photo enforcement.
Their vote to terminate their contract with Redflex, the company that operates the cameras, came at the recommendation of the county's top law-enforcement official, new Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.
"I'm against photo speed enforcement completely," Babeu said, walking the three-member panel through a detailed PowerPoint presentation. "Here in Pinal, it's failed miserably."
Babeu said speed cameras created dangerous road conditions and offered little financial benefit for the county. He plans to boost traffic enforcement through additional manpower.
Although Pinal County's contract with Redflex wasn't set to expire until Feb. 20, two mobile speed cameras have not been in operation on Pinal roads since Babeu took office Jan. 1.
The speed vans had been roadside in some of Pinal's most populous areas, including Apache Junction, Gold Canyon and unincorporated areas near Queen Creek, since mid-2007.
The county's program is separate from the one operated by the Arizona Department of Public Safety on freeways statewide.
The supervisors two weeks ago had tabled a vote on the Redflex contract because they wanted Babeu to prepare a report on camera enforcement in Pinal, including the financial impact on the county.
He reported Wednesday that the two cameras were activated 11,416 times from September 2007 through last month. Of those activations, 7,290 resulted in citations, but only 3,711 were paid.
Babeu said most of the total $134,199.43 in fines and fees from the paid citations covered administrative and operational costs, leaving the county with a net profit of $12,391.58 that Babeu dismissed as paltry.
Moreover, Babeu said, total motor-vehicle accidents increased by 16 percent in the same time period, and fatal collisions in the Queen Creek area doubled from three to six.
The sheriff said he couldn't be certain that speed cameras were to blame for the crashes, but he believes they were a factor.
Collisions were said to be the reason Redflex was implemented on county roads. Former Sheriff Chris Vasquez initiated the contract to minimize an increasing number of crashes on Hunt Highway, the main thoroughfare connecting north-central Pinal County with Maricopa County.
Babeu thinks that putting more deputies on patrol offers the best way to improve safety, instead of relying on cameras that "can't catch drunk drivers" or stop motorists involved in illegal or dangerous activities.
The sheriff has increased his traffic-enforcement unit from two to four deputies, and a fifth will join the team soon. Babeu said the changes were made at no county cost as part of a departmentwide reorganization.
Babeu estimated that the volume of citations issued annually by the Sheriff's Office would increase sharply as a result of having more deputies on the streets. He said the five-member team alone could generate 10,400 to 20,800 citations a year.
Supervisor Bryan Martyn, whose district was the primary operating area for the speed vans, said he received a number of letters from residents who favored speed-camera enforcement, but he "doesn't presume to tell the sheriff how to do his job."
"He believes he has a better solution to this public-safety concern," Martyn said. "What he's proposing is prudent and seems to make sense. If it goes as sold, you may be praying for photo radar again."
Babeu may answer those prayers in a different way. He wants to bring red-light cameras to the county.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...radar0122.html
Lindsey Collom - Jan. 22, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Pinal County supervisors Wednesday bid goodbye to photo enforcement.
Their vote to terminate their contract with Redflex, the company that operates the cameras, came at the recommendation of the county's top law-enforcement official, new Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.
"I'm against photo speed enforcement completely," Babeu said, walking the three-member panel through a detailed PowerPoint presentation. "Here in Pinal, it's failed miserably."
Babeu said speed cameras created dangerous road conditions and offered little financial benefit for the county. He plans to boost traffic enforcement through additional manpower.
Although Pinal County's contract with Redflex wasn't set to expire until Feb. 20, two mobile speed cameras have not been in operation on Pinal roads since Babeu took office Jan. 1.
The speed vans had been roadside in some of Pinal's most populous areas, including Apache Junction, Gold Canyon and unincorporated areas near Queen Creek, since mid-2007.
The county's program is separate from the one operated by the Arizona Department of Public Safety on freeways statewide.
The supervisors two weeks ago had tabled a vote on the Redflex contract because they wanted Babeu to prepare a report on camera enforcement in Pinal, including the financial impact on the county.
He reported Wednesday that the two cameras were activated 11,416 times from September 2007 through last month. Of those activations, 7,290 resulted in citations, but only 3,711 were paid.
Babeu said most of the total $134,199.43 in fines and fees from the paid citations covered administrative and operational costs, leaving the county with a net profit of $12,391.58 that Babeu dismissed as paltry.
Moreover, Babeu said, total motor-vehicle accidents increased by 16 percent in the same time period, and fatal collisions in the Queen Creek area doubled from three to six.
The sheriff said he couldn't be certain that speed cameras were to blame for the crashes, but he believes they were a factor.
Collisions were said to be the reason Redflex was implemented on county roads. Former Sheriff Chris Vasquez initiated the contract to minimize an increasing number of crashes on Hunt Highway, the main thoroughfare connecting north-central Pinal County with Maricopa County.
Babeu thinks that putting more deputies on patrol offers the best way to improve safety, instead of relying on cameras that "can't catch drunk drivers" or stop motorists involved in illegal or dangerous activities.
The sheriff has increased his traffic-enforcement unit from two to four deputies, and a fifth will join the team soon. Babeu said the changes were made at no county cost as part of a departmentwide reorganization.
Babeu estimated that the volume of citations issued annually by the Sheriff's Office would increase sharply as a result of having more deputies on the streets. He said the five-member team alone could generate 10,400 to 20,800 citations a year.
Supervisor Bryan Martyn, whose district was the primary operating area for the speed vans, said he received a number of letters from residents who favored speed-camera enforcement, but he "doesn't presume to tell the sheriff how to do his job."
"He believes he has a better solution to this public-safety concern," Martyn said. "What he's proposing is prudent and seems to make sense. If it goes as sold, you may be praying for photo radar again."
Babeu may answer those prayers in a different way. He wants to bring red-light cameras to the county.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...radar0122.html
#13
TECH Regular
iTrader: (5)
Last month I was in Phoenix and I honestly couldn't believe the amount of cameras they have on a single stretch of a highway. I couldn't believe the amount of cameras they had just on I-10 a few miles west of Skyharbor. Also, what is up with those Ford Escapes being parked on the side of the freeway? It's almost like Arizona is trying to be like California and find different ways to suck our wallets dry for their own benefit.
#15
11 Second Club
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Peoria, AZ
Posts: 710
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#16
TECH Addict
iTrader: (3)
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: limbo
Posts: 2,124
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I loved them in England because there would be big yellow signs warning of "speed cameras in one mile" and the cameras were in ginormous yellow boxes (this was only on the motorway-equivalent of our interestate). So I would book it 100-120 MPH and slam on my brakes for the camera...and then I was off again. Never any cops on the road in the UK...I LOVED that.
W
W
I dont like these cameras tho...
#17
TECH Regular
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Orlaanndoooo
Posts: 475
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Absolutely. Gives me hope for at least one place to live.
#18
TECH Fanatic
iTrader: (25)
Good riddance!
BHO only selected her because he is a tool.
I remember in `04 the media tried to put the idea out that she would be
picked by John Kerry for VP, all the while sinking AZ into debt and turning a blind eye to the border.
Shim even vetoed a bill that would make CCW`s valid for life.
Last edited by shoemike; 02-11-2009 at 12:08 AM.
#19
TECH Veteran
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ Hometown: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 4,231
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Photo Tickets Pad Campaign Coffers of Arizona Politicians
Arizona politicians have collected $36,265,795 in campaign cash from a tax on speeding tickets since 1999.
A tax levied on speeding tickets funds the re-election efforts of two-thirds of Arizona's politicians and provides lawmakers with a personal financial incentive to protect controversial photo enforcement programs. In 1999, a ten percent surcharge was imposed on all traffic tickets to create the "Citizens Clean Election Fund." The fund allows politicians to avoid tedious fundraising efforts.
After raising just $5 each from 220 people in a district, candidates for public office qualify for public financing money to match private expenditures. In effect, these lawmakers collect $16.50 for their campaigns each time a photo radar ticket is issued on an Arizona freeway.
This adds up to big money. In 2008, traffic tickets generated $10,095,771 in revenue for the clean elections fund. Out of this amount, $7,710,739 million was disbursed to lawmakers and candidates during the primary and general elections -- an average of $72,063 each. In just the past four months, the new freeway speed camera program has already added another $3.3 million to the total amount collected for lawmakers. Over the past four election cycles, Arizona politicians collected a total of $36,265,795 in campaign cash from the tax on speeding tickets. Opponents of the state photo ticketing program are crying foul.
"Photo radar pays for politicians to get elected," Shawn Dow, a volunteer for the activist group CameraFraud.com, told TheNewspaper. "Voters want the cameras gone but the politicians want them to stay since it pays for their election. This is the reason that the people believe our government is corrupt."
Dow raised the election funding issue before the state House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last Thursday while testifying against House Bill 2170. This legislation is portrayed as a repeal of former Governor Janet Napolitano's freeway photo program, but the text of the proposal actually allows freeway photo ticketing to continue against truckers and other holders of commercial vehicle licenses.
Some of the biggest supporters of photo radar are recipients of significant ticket funding.
"Photo-radar tickets aren't issued," state Senator Rebecca Rios (D-Apache Junction) told the Arizona Republic in February 2008. "They're earned."
Rios herself earned $35,634 in campaign funds from speeding tickets last year. Other legislators appear less supportive of photo radar by introducing legislation that make minor modifications to the way programs are run. State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), for example, introduced House Bill 2722 last year which would have mandated that the profits from any local jurisdiction's use of a speed camera on a state highway be directed into the Arizona Highway Patrol Fund so that it could be used to fund additional traffic ticketing details. Kavanagh has taken $156,654 in campaign funding from speeding tickets.
The clean elections fund does have other sources of revenue besides traffic tickets. A $5 check-off on income tax forms generated about $6 million which was spent on "voter education" efforts directed by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Money left over in the fund from the off-years without elections goes into the general fund.
Arizona politicians have collected $36,265,795 in campaign cash from a tax on speeding tickets since 1999.
A tax levied on speeding tickets funds the re-election efforts of two-thirds of Arizona's politicians and provides lawmakers with a personal financial incentive to protect controversial photo enforcement programs. In 1999, a ten percent surcharge was imposed on all traffic tickets to create the "Citizens Clean Election Fund." The fund allows politicians to avoid tedious fundraising efforts.
After raising just $5 each from 220 people in a district, candidates for public office qualify for public financing money to match private expenditures. In effect, these lawmakers collect $16.50 for their campaigns each time a photo radar ticket is issued on an Arizona freeway.
This adds up to big money. In 2008, traffic tickets generated $10,095,771 in revenue for the clean elections fund. Out of this amount, $7,710,739 million was disbursed to lawmakers and candidates during the primary and general elections -- an average of $72,063 each. In just the past four months, the new freeway speed camera program has already added another $3.3 million to the total amount collected for lawmakers. Over the past four election cycles, Arizona politicians collected a total of $36,265,795 in campaign cash from the tax on speeding tickets. Opponents of the state photo ticketing program are crying foul.
"Photo radar pays for politicians to get elected," Shawn Dow, a volunteer for the activist group CameraFraud.com, told TheNewspaper. "Voters want the cameras gone but the politicians want them to stay since it pays for their election. This is the reason that the people believe our government is corrupt."
Dow raised the election funding issue before the state House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last Thursday while testifying against House Bill 2170. This legislation is portrayed as a repeal of former Governor Janet Napolitano's freeway photo program, but the text of the proposal actually allows freeway photo ticketing to continue against truckers and other holders of commercial vehicle licenses.
Some of the biggest supporters of photo radar are recipients of significant ticket funding.
"Photo-radar tickets aren't issued," state Senator Rebecca Rios (D-Apache Junction) told the Arizona Republic in February 2008. "They're earned."
Rios herself earned $35,634 in campaign funds from speeding tickets last year. Other legislators appear less supportive of photo radar by introducing legislation that make minor modifications to the way programs are run. State Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), for example, introduced House Bill 2722 last year which would have mandated that the profits from any local jurisdiction's use of a speed camera on a state highway be directed into the Arizona Highway Patrol Fund so that it could be used to fund additional traffic ticketing details. Kavanagh has taken $156,654 in campaign funding from speeding tickets.
The clean elections fund does have other sources of revenue besides traffic tickets. A $5 check-off on income tax forms generated about $6 million which was spent on "voter education" efforts directed by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Money left over in the fund from the off-years without elections goes into the general fund.