Christine Radogno speaking on the Senate floor.
Radogno, Dillard and Brady.
Those are the three names to remember if you get get a computer=generated speeding ticket as a result of legislation that just passed the Illinois State Senate and is headed for a House vote.
The legislation, Senate Bill 965, passed 32-24.
It takes 30 votes to pass a bill.
Three Republican State Senators voted for the bill.
Do the math.
If Radogno, Dillard and Brady had voted “No,” the bill would have failed.
Christine Radogno.
She’s the top Republican Party leader in the State Senate.
What was she thinking?
Kirk Dillard in Crystal Lake.
If we believe Jim Tobin, the bill’s primary purpose is to raise revenue. It’s not for the kids.
Tobin has credibility on his charge that Mayor Rahm Emmanuel will use the money to pay pensions for city employees because he was the first to point out that the Democrats’ 67% income tax hike would go to pay state pensions (one of which I receive for having served as State Representative for 16 years, McHenry County Treasurer for 4 and as a state bureaucrat for 4).
In any event, GOP Leader Radogno was following the lead of Chicago Democrats, not her suburban constituents who will complain loudly when they start getting this $100 tickets.
Kirk Dillard.
The man who almost won the Republican nomination for Governor in 2010.
He’s a suburbanite.
As with the residents of Radogno’s district, Dillard’s constituents will be hurt by this bill.
Bill Brady in Crystal Lake.
Word is that he wants to run for Governor again.
Maybe he would have won last time, if he had not been one of the DuPage County Republican State Senators (along with Dan Cronin and John Millner) who forced a 200% RTA Sales Tax hike on the Republican collar counties.
What was he thinking?
Bill Brady.
He’s from Downstate, so a very, very few of his constituents will ever get one of these $100 speeding tickets.
But, doesn’t he want to run for Governor again, too.
When opposition research is being done, might not someone find an article like this pointing out that he voted to shaft suburban drivers who venture into Chicago?
Is is possible that they just wanted to please Rahm Emmanuel?
If so, why?
It’s just unbelievable what’s happening this year with tax hikes, fee hikes, this hike, that hike. Instead of cutting costs, it’s a political grab for more money from a struggling economy. Obviously politicians are only concerned about votes and campaign contributions from special interests. Politicians know not enough citizens in private industry will vote to make a difference…people it’s only democracy if you actually participate in it.
Metra hike
Illinois Toll authority hike
Income Tax hike
Speed Camera revenues (Are these cameras only going in Chicago reduced speed zones such as school zones and the reduced speed is now in effect 24×7?)
Com Ed hike
What am i missing? I know there have been other hikes.
I hope a reporter summarizes all the hikes.
Very disappointed in all 3 of them. I really don’t understand their motives on this one.
What’s wrong with letting lawbreakers get caught and have to pay fines? The speed limit is supposed to be the Speed Limit. It is illegal to speed. Period.
So, if you speed, then you don’t have anything to cry about. You speed? You pay. My thanks and appreciation to these three and to all the others who voted for speed cameras. Now we need Photo Radar all over the state.
If you don’t speed, you don’t have anything to worry about.
Get a GPS unit with the capability of accepting an external database containing the location of speed and red light cameras.
Databases with this information are available, either free or at a nominal cost, online and allow your GPS to warn you before you encounter either a speed or red light camera. Most databases are regularly updated to remain current and reflect changes as new units are added or old ones removed.
From personal experience, both Garmin and Magellan GPS units provide a utility to convert the lat and long coordinates in the databases into a user created “points of interest” file to be uploaded to the GPS unit.
When you are driving, your GPS unit will remind you that you are about to enter an intersection with a red light camera or a zone controlled by a speed camera.
You have the right to know where these units are – that’s why they are required to put up warning signs. Let your GPS unit add an additional visual or audible “nag” to remind you of your responsibilities to obey the traffic laws.
Per Sen. Dillard, the Chicago Red Light bill is a work in progress and not a final bill.
As a Republican I believe in local control…that is why their Mayor & City Council are elected.
The bill is limited to Chicago only and it is it’s City Council not Springfield which allows the cameras. Chicago police say Chicagoans hit school kids at a 60% rate greater than New York….the problem is real.
The Chicago Tribune editorialized it is not about revenue but safety. Dillard is a sponsor of abolishing the real problem right turn on red cameras.
There is a 5mph grace period and it is not a moving violation.
Dillard was thinking of his constituents on the METRA vote. His district has the 4 busiest stops in Chicagoland. Fares are going up double digets & it would be A LOT more without the bill.
You fail mention the DuPage County property tax relief, or tens of $millions driver pension concessions in the bill or that 60% of DuPage sales taxes are paid by non-residents.
The DuPage Cty. Bd. Chairman, the Sheriff and Joe Birkett strongly supported the bill too since it saved deep cuts to law enforcement as the counties received a share too.
Metra riders and homeowners thank Sen. Dillard….so too should Chicago school children and their parents!!
Take that money and put it in a pool. Subtract the total from the local school district requirements and you give a property tax break to the local people. That would be a win-win solution.
Lemme get this straight: the “law and order” crowd is FURIOUS about an attempt to use cameras in public places to enforce the law.
Does this mean we should also stop eavesdropping on every US citizen’s international phone calls and stop making everyone who looks “foreign” produce identification whenever a cop feels like asking?
Me thinks it’s a bit of “hey, I want you to stop THOSE people from breaking the law, but I want to be free to break the laws I think are stupid or inconvenient.”
Which sounds a lot like hypocrisy.