As the TV character Thomas Magnum used to say, I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong. I’m not saying red light cameras are a high-tech solution to the traffic crash problems in Florida and elsewhere, though some may say they are in fact a solution to the traffic cash problem here. What I’m writing about today is sometimes called the spirit of ingenuity, which is of course closely related to the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention.

A red light camera ticket, unlike one given in person to an actual driver based on an officer’s personal knowledge, is dependent upon one thing, and one thing only: the license plate. It makes sense then that industrious people have thought up ways to defeat the high-tech enforcement systems with high-tech solutions. I’ll look at a few here.

First, the age-old staple. A piece of cardboard and a magic marker. Here is what you end up with:

Sometimes people are nice enough to write in their tag number and even the expiration decal. The enforcement problem arises when you look at the way the camera law is written (s. 316.0083). The law deals with the registered owner. The registered owner is presumed liable, and is of course identified via the license plate. Since anyone with a piece of cardboard and a magic marker could make one, and the DMV does not issue cardboard tags written in magic marker, the violation could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt (the standard for traffic court). Of course, if the letters and numbers are not there, then the registered owner cannot be determined.

Second, the flip-up tag. Apparently motorcyclists have been using this device for years- from what I can tell mainly the hardcore wheelie down the interstate at 100 MPH crew. I’ll say up front when I rode 30 years ago and when I ride now riders such as those give all of us a bad name. Now that’s out of the way, back to the topic. A flip-up tag is a relatively simple thing to build. A solenoid powered by 12 volts hooked to a bracket or arm and up, up, and away. Here’s a video I found on YouTube that shows one:

Note that company appears to be in England, where cameras are far more prevalent than here in the land of the (formerly) free. They are used for parking and speed enforcement.

Finally, while that is basic, here is one that is certainly high-tech. It uses glass that is rendered non-transparent when power is applied. The product is called a Ghostplate. Here’s a demo video:

This could be carried one step further, as red light camera locations are well known and many navigation units have warning features to alert the driver to the location of a camera. Seems like an easy hack to output the warning to power the plate blocker or flipper when approaching a camera location, or to even incorporate a GPS system into the plate system so it activates automatically. I’d wager somewhere someone is writing code to do just that.

I’m not advocating people break the law here. I’m observing that when the freedom and rights of people are severely restricted and violated, a natural course of events will take place. When the law changes to make people guilty until proven innocent, that’s pretty severe. As an extreme example, when the Germans occupied France in the 1940′s, the French resistance organized and helped to restore freedom to their nation.

Now for the kicker for all of the above- if you are a police chief or other administrator and want to ensure this does not take place in your jurisdiction there are two things you can do here. One is a simple answer.

First, you could station an officer at each camera location to catch those flipping or blocking plates- and an officer is the only way you will catch them. Since this activity is illegal, your officers could write tickets for it. However, let’s look at one reason why the cameras were installed in the first place- because we can’t have an officer at every intersection 24/7. Maybe this is not a good answer.

The simple answer? Don’t use for-profit automated ticketing devices. Use your police officers. Each and every one of the above methods is ineffective against an officer on a traffic stop. You’ll also get about $100 more in the fine, although you won’t have the blank check for part of it that the cameras give you. On the plus side, you may find things like drunk drivers and wanted fugitives when you allow your cops, not cameras, to do lawful police work. Trust me, it’s a win. The families of the victims saved from those drunk drivers may never thank you for it, but I certainly will.

Yesterday was a long day. It started out with a county commission meeting wherein I was able to speak about two things of interest:
1. The government spending money, and

2. Property rights.

After that, I reinforced an economics 101 lesson. Later in the day, I analyzed and made a short summary post of the “conservative” Florida energy bill, HB 7177. After that, it was time to look at “Stand your ground”, the Florida self-defense/use of force law that is now the focus in central Florida.

I’ll start at the commission meeting. As I’ve written about elsewhere here, we (the taxpayers) have now spent over $75,000 to build a new home for a woman that was living in a decrepit trailer. I brought my Realtor.com printout with me showing 7 homes for sale under $50,000. I was pleased to hear our county coordinator ask the question (for thought) do we really need to be doing this? A prior issue was road construction, where it was learned we only got 75% of the requested grant for a project. The coordinator correctly identified that funds are limited in all areas. He even used the term “free money” jokingly- we get along well and he said that for my amusement. The point here is our nation is over $15,000,000,000,000 in debt (that’s 15 trillion), so the gravy train derailed some time ago.

The next topic of interest was code enforcement, specifically property rights. This entailed the reading of the proposed code by an attorney. Fairly dry stuff and I stepped outside to return a call during part of it. When I came back, though, one part caught my eye- the ability to enter premises to inspect for unsafe buildings. The attorney stated that if entry was denied, an inspection warrant could be obtained. Being very familiar with this after helping my friend Sharon with the mandatory septic tank inspection issue this past legislative session, I knew this law did not apply to owner-occupied family residences- the government cannot get an inspection warrant for an owner-occupied family residence.

After the attorney had finished, I asked if the ordinance applied to all buildings, and was told it did. I pointed out the inspection warrant statute, and the attorney admitted I was right. He called this the legislature “tying their hands” as I was sitting down. I mentioned to my neighbor who sits next to me in the meetings that it was protecting our liberty.

I suppose it is all in the perspective.

Some will say REAL ID will prevent terrorism and keep us safer, and others that red light cameras will prevent crashes and keep us safer. I say both will fail when the big one comes- be it a well-planned and foreign government supported terror attack- or even one using US citizens, or an impaired or inattentive driver such as the one that killed three people in Tallahassee last month *before* he got to the red light camera intersection. In the meantime, the average Joe and Jane will be penalized in this pursuit of safety. Incidentally, both of these can be lawfully prevented to the extent humanly possible by good police work. We will never stop all of them.

After the meeting, I went to get a haircut. My regular barber died last year, so it has taken a while to find another. I saw his shop now had a new owner, so I went in and asked for the price. It was $15. I thanked the girl and left. I had been paying $10, and had actually found another girl that cuts hair for $8. I thought this was a good example of economics in action. If something is priced too high, it makes little sense to spend the extra money when you can get an equivalent service or function for nearly half as much. Guess what? We are back to the housing.

One of the commissioners stated people needed help, and kind of insinuated I didn’t think they needed it. I told him that was not what I intended at all- this situation goes back to last August, when I started to gather the community, not the government, to help the woman. After I was told my actions endangered her government home, I stopped my efforts. I tried to impress upon them that we had a lot of resources in our community we could make use of, and that when a problem was dumped on the government, they created a bureaucracy and the cost went up (these are not my words but the words of one I will be voting for in the upcoming Presidential race). The housing agency (CDBG) was a perfect example of this, as they have a 40% overhead before any nails are driven. As a bit of salt in the wound, the county cannot use it’s local preference vendors due to federal law prohibiting this practice. I recall the first Sheriff I worked for would never take federal grants for the reason he did not the strings that came with them. Three decades later and those strings have not changed.

The lesson to be learned here is that we the people can do things like this more efficiently than the federal government- and we already have agencies at the state and local level to do so. Let us keep more of our money instead of spending it on overhead to administer these inefficient programs. Next, there is no need to build someone a new home when there are a large number of either empty or for sale homes priced well below the cost of the new home.

A CDBG supporter that spoke after me said, since it is a federal program, we cannot buy a used home, so we had to build a new one. He went on to list the total amount in millions that CDBG and similar programs have provided over the years, and how we could never match that privately- my commissioner echoed these thoughts. I got to thinking about this- those millions are a lot of money over the years. I recently watched a show about the June 1944 Normandy D-Day invasion. Had Gen. Eisenhower looked at the hundreds of thousands of German soldiers in Normandy, he could not have decided not to invade. However, he was cut of different cloth than the CDBG supporter and my commissioner- he engaged the Germans and won not only the battle, but the war. Of course, he didn’t do it by himself- just as one person cannot fix the problem of housing for the poor.

To try and quote President Reagan from memory, the government isn’t the solution, it is the problem.

Wow! 1,000+ words go by quickly. I’ll write about renewable energy and self defense another time. It’s almost time for my 45 minutes of sleep for the day.

Mr. Sensenbrenner is not from Florida, but he really deserves to be in the picture based upon his record.

No, it’s not about the TV show that is apparently fairly popular. Instead, I’m writing about the killing of liberty by specific politicians at the federal level. I’ve written about some of them and awarded them the title of liberty-killers, so this post will seek to document and expand the list. Perhaps it will be of some help in the fall at election time. Up front, I wish to thank my friends Andrew Nappi of the Florida 10th Amendment Center and Attorney KrisAnne Hall for their research on the issues and the politicians.

There are many ways to categorize this data- by constitutional amendment violated, by politician, by bill number, etc. My goal is to make this as user-friendly as possible, so I will break it down by the issue/bill, and then by politician. The list will not be all-inclusive, and to keep this as short as possible will focus on two recent bills that affect our liberty and will only include our Florida federal elected officials- plus the president if he signed a bill.

HR 347, the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011″

What this bill does is infringe upon our right as citizens to peacefully assemble as identified in the 1st Amendment. Please read KrisAnne’s explanation of it here, and donate to help her keep doing what she is doing.

This bill was sponsored by Rep. Rooney (R-FL), and co-sponsored by Rep. Deutch (R-FL).

The following Florida representatives voted for it on Roll Call #73 on February 27, 2012:

• Rep. Sandy Adams [R, FL-24]
• Rep. Gus Bilirakis [R, FL-9]
• Rep. Vern Buchanan [R, FL-13]
• Rep. Kathy Castor [D, FL-11]
• Rep. Ander Crenshaw [R, FL-4]
• Rep. Ted Deutch [D, FL-19]
• Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart [R, FL-21]
• Rep. Alcee Hastings [D, FL-23]
• Rep. Connie Mack [R, FL-14]
• Rep. John Mica [R, FL-7]
• Rep. Jeff Miller [R, FL-1]
• Rep. Richard Nugent [R, FL-5]
• Rep. Bill Posey [R, FL-15]
• Rep. David Rivera [R, FL-25]
• Rep. Thomas Rooney [R, FL-16]
• Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R, FL-18]
• Rep. Dennis Ross [R, FL-12]
• Rep. Steve Southerland [R, FL-2]
• Rep. Clifford Stearns [R, FL-6]
• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D, FL-20]
• Rep. Daniel Webster [R, FL-8]
• Rep. Allen West [R, FL-22]
• Rep. Frederica Wilson [D, FL-17]
• Rep. Bill Young [R, FL-10]

The bill passed with a vote of 388-3, so it is safe to conclude the above are “true believers” since they could have voted against it to posture politically.

On the Senate side, where it was S 1794, both Sens. Rubio and Nelson voted for it, where it was passed by “unanimous consent” so there are no vote records.

The bill was signed by the President on March 7, 2012.

HR 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), greatly expanded the power of the military and added the United States as a battlefield in the war on terror. As a side note, it was a defense authorization bill that gave us REAL ID in 2005. Again, I will defer to KrisAnne Hall’s expertise here:

This bill was sponsored by Rep. McKeon (R-CA) and co-sponsored by Rep. Smith (D-WA).

The following Florida representatives voted for it on Roll Call #932 on December 14, 2011:

• Rep. Sandy Adams [R, FL-24]
• Rep. Gus Bilirakis [R, FL-9]
• Rep. Corrine Brown [D, FL-3]
• Rep. Vern Buchanan [R, FL-13]
• Rep. Kathy Castor [D, FL-11]
• Rep. Ander Crenshaw [R, FL-4]
• Rep. Ted Deutch [D, FL-19]
• Rep. John Mica [R, FL-7]
• Rep. Jeff Miller [R, FL-1]
• Rep. Richard Nugent [R, FL-5]
• Rep. David Rivera [R, FL-25]
• Rep. Thomas Rooney [R, FL-16]
• Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R, FL-18]
• Rep. Dennis Ross [R, FL-12]
• Rep. Steve Southerland [R, FL-2]
• Rep. Clifford Stearns [R, FL-6]
• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D, FL-20]
• Rep. Daniel Webster [R, FL-8]
• Rep. Allen West [R, FL-22]
• Rep. Frederica Wilson [D, FL-17]

Again, both Florida Senators Rubio and Nelson voted for this bill in Roll Call #230 on December 15, 2011. The president signed it in the dark of night on December 31, 2011.

Does anyone else see a problem when you have an extreme liberal such as Mrs. Schultz voting with “conservatives” such as Mr. West and Mr. Rubio for both of these bills?

There are unfortunately many other liberty issues to write about at both the state and federal level. This is a sad similarity to the miracles of Jesus as written about by John in John 21:25- they would require more books to be written than the world could contain. We must remain vigilant and vote OUT liberty-killing politicians and then vote IN those that will read, understand, and FOLLOW the Constitution as each of the above has taken an oath to do.

You may have heard the phrase on the right in an irritating TV commercial, but I can relate to it.

It’s April, and it’s been a couple of years since I wrote in detail about one of my least favorite things, income tax and the IRS. If you’ve browsed around the main site here, you may have seen the “penalty” I pay each year due to my age. In a nutshell, since I knew what I wanted to do for a career at a young age, I started at a younger age than most that enter police or fire-rescue work. The amount of years spent working was not less than someone that did something else for say 5-10 years, but I now have the privilege of paying not only my normal taxes, but a 10% penalty on top of them. Having worked in law enforcement for over 25 years, I was always of the mindset that a penalty meant you had done something wrong, but that is out the window when dealing with the tax code.

Now for the 2012 rub. I file electronically (e-file) each year, and have done so for probably the last 15+ years (when did Al Gore invent the Internet?). Each year, no issue with filing. My goal is to not get a refund (this means you have loaned the government money interest-free) or to have to pay anything come April 15. Unfortunately, the way my retirement works is that I have no choice in the matter, and due to frugal living these past few years, we have gotten a refund.

After I filed, or thought I had, an error message popped up. I thought this was odd, as the return had passed the error checks. I made the corrections, and tried to re-file. It went through OK this time. A few hours later, I got an email from the IRS saying my return had been rejected due to the SSN already being used. Since it was the weekend, I couldn’t call the IRS until Monday. Knowing computers as I do, I suspected the first e-filing had perhaps gone through (even though my software did not show this) and this had caused the rejection. From my law enforcement background, the other possibility was someone had used my SSN.

Fast forward to Monday. I called the 800 number for the IRS and dismantled a carburetor while on hold (credit to the inventor of the speaker phone). I eventually got to accounts and spoke to a lady in Dallas Texas. I informed her of the above- and was kind of surprised I did not have to enter any information such as name, SSN, etc. She was of the opinion someone had used my SSN to file. She could not tell me the status of my return. I knew from research the IRS has an ID Theft hotline. Should I call it? She said no, they could not do anything until the IRS had determined an ID Theft had taken place. My only option was to paper file, let it go to the intake location, and they would flag both returns and try to contact the people filing to sort it out. My next question was the time frame. It is 6-8 weeks just to find out if an ID Theft was responsible for this. She closed by asking if there was anything else she could help with? I asked her to vote for Ron Paul (click for his taxes page) so we could avoid having problems like this in the future. Not likely, since he wants to put her out of a job by doing away with the IRS.

First, did I mention the government is holding my money interest-free? Second, I pursued ID thieves in the last 5 years I worked in law enforcement. They are complex cases, but it should not take 6-8 weeks just to determine if a crime has been committed. One of the more noteworthy cases I worked involved a construction worker that had lost his license. The person that found it put it to use (this is one reason why I’m a supporter of standard photos when renewing licenses, REAL ID would not address this sufficiently) by doing a number of things in the false identity- there were a total of 5 counts of ID theft, 1 of license fraud (yes we arrested people for this before we had REAL ID- it was called REAL police work), and 2 of title fraud. I eventually located the suspect in Baltimore, Maryland and the local police there picked him up on an arrest warrant. I looked at my case file for that investigation. I received it on January 14 and closed the case by warrant on January 23- the suspect was arrested on January 22, so it was 6-8 days, not weeks.

As I write this, there is a direct tie-in to something else I’ve written about: E-Verify. This program is SSN-based, so if someone uses yours, will you be locked out of a job for 6-8 weeks while the government tries to figure out if someone else used your SSN? Why is it so many are willing to trust the same type of people that run the IRS with the responsibility for verifying eligibility for employment?

I like to offer solutions- and for taxes have already done so, but it is worth repeating. It’s a process of two things that are linked to each other: Spending and taxes. Unless we reduce spending to constitutional levels, all the tax reform/flat/fair taxes will not matter. Once we have spending in check, then we need to assess how we tax ourselves. While I really oppose income taxes, until we can do away with them entirely, the concept I support is that of being taxed on gains- not income. If you make $3,000 a month and it costs you $2,000 just to live (housing, food, power, phone, etc.) so you can go to work to make income, then you should not be taxed on any part of the $2,000. It’s income, but it’s really not since it goes out right away and you can’t spend it on something else. If you didn’t spend it, you wouldn’t be able to work. Seems simple, so it will never fly with the IRS.

In my time, I could bust an ID thief in 6-8 days. The IRS needs 6-8 weeks to figure out if someone else used my SSN. Maybe in 6-8 years enough people will be upset enough to do something about it, but by then the number of people actually paying income taxes will likely be an underwhelming minority. Choose your leaders wisely- we have less than 6-8 months to do so.

Last October, I wrote about my efforts to assist a member of our community. The woman was living in a terrible mobile home and had applied for a government home under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. My point of view at the time was that we as a community could help this woman in a far more efficient manner than any government program. As it turned out, I was persuaded to allow the government program to go through, as my actions would have endangered her receiving the government home. This was reflected in the October 6, 2011 meeting minutes:
17. Citizen Paul Henry gave an update on community help provided to Mrs. Johnson-Bellamy’s living situation and stated that communities could help each other without the need for federal assistance programs. Citizen Dick Bailar responded that Mrs. Johnson-Bellamy was in line to get a home and that any work done on her current home could disqualify her from receiving funds.

It’s now one day shy of April, or about 6 months later. Let’s see how this has worked out.

As a part of the upcoming April 5 commission meeting, I saw a change order for her new home. I need to back up here. When the home was first authorized, the cost was to be about $65,500. Here is the form showing the initial cost as of July 2011 (personal info removed, click to enlarge):

Here is what I wrote about this last October (keep in mind she has been trying to get something done since June 2011):

“Meridian has submitted papers to the Board of County Commissioners for the October 6 morning meeting that on page 11 show the cost to rehabilitate or renovate the widow’s property was estimated as $65,500. This is in line with cost per square foot estimates in the Tallahassee area for 2010 that I found of around $75/foot for basic construction- an 875 square foot home would cost $65,625.”

As a refresher, Meridian is the go-between for the taxpayer money and the private contractor doing the work. See the October post for their rate schedule for anything beyond the contract amount, as well as information as to why there is a 40% overhead before the first nail is driven when the CDBG is used. With the lowest-paid employee making $45/hour, it’s great work if you can get it. A “change order” means something from the original plan has to be changed. This invariably means more money must be spent.

At the March 1, 2012 commission meeting, we learned that the cost for the foundation had gone up around $4,000 and that local people (called local preference) could not be used on the project due to it being a federal grant. That brought the total to $69,006. Here’s a copy of the form that shows the money (click to enlarge):

There was another change order in there for another government home that showed over $6,500 in added expenses, which pushed the total over $70,000, so this is not a unique situation.

This latest addition of the well brings the total to $75,503. Here is the form showing this change order (click to enlarge):

The net result in dollars: The original $65,500 is now $75,503. This is over a 15% increase. Of course, the home is not done yet. Will anything else need a change order, and if so, how much will it cost the taxpayer?

The solution

When I first looked into this, I was told by a man that refurbishes mobile homes he could basically rebuild her trailer for $5,000. Seemed on the low side, but even if we (the community) helped out, we could have her in livable quarters- maybe not a new home- for well under the original $65,000. It would not have taken almost a year to do so. As an example, when I spoke to my son about this last year, he suggested the use of an existing home on the market. Even if the taxpayer had paid for her to buy an existing home, based on my research at the time, one could have been found for under $50,000, and then her land could have been sold to offset the cost. Either way, she could have been living in that home in well under 3 months.

The housing of convicted prisoners, such as in the prison here, is a necessary function of government. The providing of government housing should not be. When we turn over our problems to the government, they inevitably create a bureaucracy, and this causes the cost to go up. This has been proven once again with the CDBG for the woman’s home. The solution? We as the community (our churches, our family, our friends) must step up for the needs within our community. It can happen- last October I had over $1,000 pledged to help this woman in just a few days. If we continue to turn these needs over to the government, we all pay the price.

The fellow pictured above is known to some of us older folks for wanting “Just the facts, ma’am”, although it is questionable if he ever actually said that exact line in the TV Show Dragnet. Like Sgt. Friday, I also want just the facts for why red light cameras are being used.

A 2011 posting in an Ocala paper got me to wondering how many crashes in Tallahassee were due to red light violations? And by red light violations, I mean the straight-through “blowing the red light” kind. These are the types that result in death or serious injury. If there were a large number of them, then it would indeed be a best practice for law enforcement to take action at these locations. If the response was to place a red light camera at the intersection, while I do not agree with this type of enforcement, at least there would be a factual basis for doing so.

Back to the Ocala story. Mr. Burt Eno is “a retired University of Central Florida engineering professor and an environmental activist” who lives in Dunnellon. He pulled the data used in red light camera applications for the City of Dunnelleon. Here is an exceprt:

I now have copies of the city’s Florida Department of Transportation applications for the camera installations which further prove my point. Appended to the DOT applications were copies of traffic accident reports from mid-2009 to mid-2010 meant to justify the need for the camera installations.

Mr. Eno did in in-depth investigation to determine how many true red light violations had caused crashes in Dunnellon. The results?

In summary, none of the 27 accident reports submitted with the three camera installation applications pertained to red-light-running and none of them involved right-hand turns.

I am in the process of collecting this data for Tallahassee. Once I find out where to get it, I will be glad to share it so others can do so for their city.

As a final note, I have asked the media to do this, but the response has been at best lukewarm. The recent March 17 fatal crash in Tallahassee is being improperly reported as being at the intersection of Tennessee and Monroe and involving a vehicle running the red light. In fact the first harmful event took place well south of the intersection, as did the collision which took the lives of the three people killed. Based on how the police department has reported it, this crash did not involve a violation of Florida Statute 316.075, running a red light. An irony here is that the camera for this part of the intersection had been down for three days and no one knew it until after the crash.

I will update this posting as I locate facts.

UPDATE

I visited the DOT HQ in Tallahassee and got the contact info for a public records request. After an email to him, I received this:

Mr. Henry:

Your request will incur a “special service charge” pursuant to Florida Statute 119.07(4)(d) to provide these records. The nature and volume of your request will require “extensive use of information technology resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by personnel of the agency involved, or both,” to locate, retrieve and copy/scan the records requested.  The total estimate of costs to provide electronic copies of documents responsive to your request is $24.00 (1.5 hours labor x $16 per hour).  If you would like an electric copy of the documents, please send a check, payable to Florida Department of Transportation, to the attention of Tammy Johnson at the address listed below in my signature block.  Once the Department receives payment, we will begin compiling the records responsive to your request.  Please contact me with any questions you may have, thank you.

Heather M. Lane

Assistant General Counsel

Office of the General Counsel

Florida Department of Transportation

P.O. Box 607

Chipley, FL 32428-2162

I will be glad to forward the contact info if anyone else wants to request the applications for their city.

Update, 4/11/12

I now have the applications. Unlike the Marion County ones, there were no crash reports with them. A cover letter from the DOT contained in the applications says:

1. Attach a letter from the Permittee or from the chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Permittee in support of a Traffic Infraction Detector at the location requested.

In support of installing a Traffic Infraction Detector at an intersection, the following should be considered:

• Traffic crash data
• Traffic citation data
• Law enforcement officer observations
• Video surveys of violations

It also allows for a traffic engineering study in lieu of the letter.

Tallahassee elected to do the video survey. In a July 19, 2010 letter, Allen R. Secreast, P.E., who is employed by the City of Tallahassee in “Traffic Mobility Management” wrote to the DOT. This particular letter dealt with the area of Ocala Road and West Tennessee Street, and referenced two other intersections that were using cameras to permit “monitoring red light runners.” In his letter, he stated “These intersections were selected after a recommendation from the Tallahassee Police Department based on the increasing number of violations and severity of collisions.”

Later in the letter, he states “We support the installation of red light cameras at this location after a recommendation from the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) based on records for this intersection having the highest number of crashes in both 2008 and 2009 of all intersection crashes worked by TPD. Also a video validation survey performed by the City’s vendor (ACS) at this intersection indicated there were 225 potential violations recorded in a 16-hour period.”

A table graphic was enclosed that supported the potential violations (click to view):

The coding for this portion is not explained. As an example, one column says “Right Turns to 50″ and some rows have a time in them while others are N/A. There are also a number of columns titled 0/10, 1/10/, 2/10, 3/10, and %3/10.

There was a similar letter for each of the other camera locations, and the justification language was little changed.

So it would appear the cameras were installed where the crash rates were the highest intersection crashes in 2008 and 2009, but there is no hard data to support this- and I have questions about crash location classification based upon the recent triple fatality that did not take place at an intersection but was apparently reported as being at the intersection.

I’m still working on getting the data for those years. It may take the media to do so- the state sells individual crash reports online (one of those great public-private partnerships that drives the price up) for $16 each, and you need a lot of information to get them.

What I found online was very interesting. The City of Tallahassee has an online portal where you can view incident data, to include traffic crashes, for up to the past 180 days. They also summarize their data. What is interesting here is that according to the Tallahassee Police Department, in the past 180 days, there were:

• 865 hit and run crashes
• 468 injury crashes
• 3,273 non-injury crashes

Here is a screen capture showing the data. I added today’s date there to place it in time (click to view):

If you add these up, you get 4,606 crashes in the past 180 days. Since 180 days is 6 months, doubling this number yields an annual rate of 9,212 crashes.

According to the State of Florida in the publication Traffic Crash Facts, the crashes for Tallahassee for the last identifiable 5 years (2010 and 2011 data was not available) were as follows:

Needless to say, each of these years was well under 9,212, so something does not add up. I think the city is inaccurately recording their incident data. This may be something as simple as getting several calls reporting the same crash, or perhaps the hit and run crashes are also being reported as either injury or non-injury crashes. That’s the problem with raw data dumps. Unless it is analyzed, it may not be accurate. Of course, if it is accurate, we have more than doubled the 2009 crash rate since the cameras were installed in 2010.

At any rate, the data to support or refute the need for these cameras is out there, and apparently has already been used. I just need to find it.

Tickets- get your tickets here

While I was online, I found traffic citation data for Tallahassee. The state keeps track of how many tickets are written, what level of agency writes them, and generally what they were for. In 2010, TPD wrote 13,963 moving violations.here is the data (click to view):

Of these, the numerical ranking was:

1. Speeding, with 6,100
2. Careless driving, with 1,944
3. Other violations, with 1,334
4. Running a red light, with 1,160

Note that these are uniform traffic citations- tickets- not notice of violation mailed tickets, so camera activity is not factored in here. I noted not one red light violation ticket was found not guilty. That says our police officers are making their cases. I do not fault the cops on the street here- and aggressively support them writing the tickets, not a for-profit company in another state that places the burden of proof on the defendant.

Two good examples of this came to mind recently-

1) If a DUI driver is stopped for running a red light by a police officer, they are prevented from killing or injuring someone at another red light. A camera won’t take the drunk off the road.

2) If Tim McVeigh had been ticketed by a camera in 1995, we would not have solved the Oklahoma City attack as soon as we did. It was an Oklahoma State Trooper that caught McVeigh, not a camera. traffic stops often lead to the detection of other crimes, as that one did. We’ll never have that with a camera.

Again, I support the cop on the street- which is what I did for a majority of my law enforcement career- I’ll admit my bias here.

That’s a pile of numbers, but it is very apparent to me the men and women of the TPD take traffic enforcement seriously. They are writing plenty of tickets that carry a hefty fine and points, and their enforcement is similar to what is causing our fatal crashes- until you get to speeding and red light running, where the enforcement greatly exceeds the fatal crash rate. In fairness, DUI is a criminal non-moving violation, careless driving tickets are usually from a rear-end crash, and fail to yield are from entering or leaving a highway- so these two tickets will nearly always be from a crash. In 2009, the last year before the cameras were legal, the causes of Florida’s fatal, injury, and non-injury crashes were as follows:

Here’s the raw data (click to view):

Running a red light caused only 2.85% of our fatalities in 2009, 4.12% of our injuries, and 2.89% of non-injury crashes. Here is how it ranks numerically in fatal, injury, and non-injury crashes:

Fatal

1. DUI (all drugs and alcohol), with 26.44% (criminal- not a moving violation)
2. Careless driving, with 26.44% (#2 ticketed offense)
3. Other, with 16.34% (#3 ticketed offense)
4. Speed, with 11.82% (#1 ticketed offense)
5. Fail to yield, with 10.44% (#5 ticketed offense)
6. Running a red light, with 2.85% (#4 ticketed offense)

Injury

1. Careless driving, with 39.33% (#2 ticketed offense)
2. Fail to yield, with 17.37% (#5 ticketed offense)
3. Other, with 15.96% (#3 ticketed offense)
4. Following too closely, with 4.31%
5. Running a red light, with 4.12% (#4 ticketed offense)

Non-injury (property damage)

1. Careless driving, with 38.49% (#2 ticketed offense)
2. Other, with 17.36% (#3 ticketed offense)
3. Fail to yield, with 12.74% (#5 ticketed offense)
4. DUI/drugs, with 7.51%
5. Improper lane change, with 3.71%
6. Following too closely, with 3.66%
7. Running a red light, with 2.89% (#4 ticketed offense)

A to-the-point conclusion

The facts thus far have allowed me to make one conclusion- if a $250 ticket and three points will not deter a driver from running a red light, how will a lower fine and no points do so?

I will update once I am able to review the crash reports fro 2008 and 2009 for the Tallahassee camera intersections.

There is an old saying of “You get what you pay for.” I was thinking about this recently. Most of us pay rent or a mortgage payment. The value we receive in so doing is a place to live. Likewise, we pay a power bill- the value is the electricity we utilize. Ditto buying food at the grocery store- you receive something of value for your money spent.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could live for free, with free power and free food? We know short of being in prison, that’s not going to happen.

Why then is it a difficult thing to do to pay those fighting for our liberty? In keeping with the above, we pay our soldiers (not enough in my opinion) to protect our nation, and our police officers to enforce our laws, our firefighters to put out fires and rescue people in distress. Of course, car salesman, attorneys, and everyone else that provides something of value is usually paid. This posting will also show how much those working against our liberty are making.

While the common perception of a lobbyist is that of a slimy back-room deal character, by definition, it is generally one that tries to influence legislation via legislators. Ever called or written to your Congressman? Technically you are lobbying but you’re not a lobbyist unless someone is paying you to do so. What if you did this with not just your legislator, but every single one that sits on a committee- sometimes as many as 15? Then multiply this by three committees, so it is usually upwards of 40 legislators on just one bill. Throw in time spent reading bills to see if there is anything of concern hidden (which is how we caught RFID in 2012), the cost of fuel to get to where the legislators are, sometimes the cost to park, and something to eat during an 8 to 10 hour day. Is it any wonder lobbying is a $120 million a year industry in Florida?

Lobbyists in Florida file forms every three months showing what range of compensation they have received. If you were not paid, you report 0. If you get over a dollar and less than $10,000, you are in the $1-$9,999 range. It is similarly broken down in increments as more money is made. I will pick on one of my favorite groups, the American Traffic Solutions lobbyists. These are the folks that lobby for red light cameras. For the final quarter of 2011, American Traffic Solutions utilized 7 groups of lobbying firms, and of course the firms each have several lobbyists – I have included their quarterly amount shown on the state’s website:

While the exact amounts are not disclosed, it is a safe bet the firms were paid closer to $9,999 than one dollar. For the sake of this posting, I’ll average them down to $2,500, and use a middle amount of $15,000 for the one over $10,000. That gives us $2,500 x 6 plus $15,000 or $30,000 for just 3 months out of the year- although it could have been as much as $79,999. Keep in mind that is one company for one issue. This of course does not count the government lobbyists such as the one from the Dept. of Highway Safety, who makes $82,000/year, and all of the local government people who come to the legislature to lobby on issues on our tax dollar. My county recently spent $20,000 on two lobbyists for a single issue that was resolved in about two weeks.

We face far more attacks on our liberty than just one.

There is illegal immigration, the education our kids receive in school, and Agenda 21 to name just a few. Yet unlike the plethora of lobbyists unleashed by just one company, we have only two lobbyists fighting for your liberty in Tallahassee. If you look up my compensation report, you’ll see I’m also in the $1 to $9,999 range. My actual compensation was $1,250. For the cost of this money, I wrote two bills, met with dozens of legislators, burned a lot of gas, read a lot of bills, and spoke at several county commissions, legislative delegations, and committees. As most know, the driver license and red light camera bills were killed by Rep. Brad Drake. The RFID language was stripped out, so we are safe for another year on that front. Breaking this income down, there are 12 weeks in a 3 month reporting period. Using a 40 hour work week (this is less than the time I actually spend on political issues each week, as my wife sometimes reminds me), this means there were 480 available work hours for this time frame. $1,250 divided by 480= $2.60 per hour. Minimum wage in Florida is now $7.67/hour.

Now imagine if we had the equivalent of just one of the above lobby groups working for the cause of liberty in Florida. We could expand our focus, and become a much more effective organization in the Campaign for Liberty (catchy name, eh?).

If liberty holds any value to you, it’s up to you to pay for it. You indeed get what you pay for, and as with a similar saying, if you don’t pay now, it will cost a lot more later. It takes either very little from individuals- or very much from just a few. I’m open to either. I think what we’re doing returns value. Do you?

Donate here for the Florida Campaign for Liberty. You can donate by credit card online or by check or money order by mail. I personally thank you for any help you can give. I’m hopeful you can see how your money is being used, and you can see the value returned to you.

Because of Florida Campaign for Liberty’s tax-exempt status under IRS Sec. 501 (C) (4) and its state and federal legislative activities, contributions are not tax deductible as charitable contributions (IRC sect 170) or as a business deduction (IRS sect 162(e)(1)). Florida Campaign for Liberty is a 501(c)4 lobbying organization which neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office and claims no responsibility for the actions of individuals or groups of individuals who use the Florida Campaign for Liberty logo or name or who may claim to act as representatives of the Florida Campaign for Liberty without prior written consent of the Florida Campaign for Liberty.

Red light camera locations expanded

Webster defines a knave as a male servant. We all know about greed these days. When I saw two more red light cameras being installed in Tallahassee yesterday, I had to wonder how many crashes there had been to justify their installation. As many know, Tallahassee already has an inordinately high number of cameras for a city of its size. Anyone receiving a ticket is then indebted to the city, a knave if you will (read my thoughts as to someone criminally impersonating another towards the end here). For the other half of this, the greed, we refocus on the safety vs. revenue argument for these cameras.

I poked around online, and found some relevant information. Red light cameras were authorized by the legislature in 2010, so the last year of data as to where to install them would be 2009. I found this page that had a nice picture on it that graphed out the location of the crashes, and added other data, such as if a DUI (drunk driver) was involved. If you’re not aware of it (hopefully you are not drunk while reading this), drunk or inattentive drivers will not be stopped by a camera- they simply will not see it if they cannot see a bright red light. Make sense?

When I analyzed the data, I found there were 14 traffic crash fatalities in Tallahassee in 2009. Cross-referencing the locations of the crashes with the locations of the cameras that were installed in 2010, I found ONE of the locations had a camera installed. Seems justifiable, right? Maybe so on the face of it, but when you look at the crash data, you’ll see it involved a drunk driver. So much for a camera being effective.

I challenged the media to dig into this on WCTV’s site. It’s apparent they will not do so- in my career with the FHP the media often reported by press release. It is rare to find a journalist that will dig into things like a camera company VP impersonating local people online to push for cameras to be installed.

Shouldn’t the public know that these cameras are either for safety, as a response to intersections where people have been hurt or killed by red light runners, or as a revenue stream for the city?

On a related topic, another Florida City, Milton, recently adjusted its yellow light timing to DOT standards. There are so few violations there now that the cameras are a financial liability. I have to ask- if they are for safety, what difference does it make how many tickets are issued? Shouldn’t the goal be no violations, and hence no tickets? When a private entity like camera company ATS is involved, this cannot be the case. Unlike a real police officer, who does not work for a private for-profit company, who can do so many other things besides take pictures of license plates, a camera is limited to one function.

While I’m on this topic, a couple more things crossed my mind:
1. When my motorist rights bill, which did not ban cameras but instead made changes to the ticketing and court process as well as requiring independent testing of the cameras was gutted (all of the above language was removed) in the Senate, an aide told me the fiscal impact would be millions of dollars. If the cameras were truly about safety, why would this matter? My bill did not prevent those getting tickets from paying them.

2. It’s been said to be a good cop you need to think like a criminal in order to catch them. I arrested my share during the years I worked in law enforcement, so I suppose I developed that ability. When I first researched the red light camera issue, one of the things I read about was something called “pranking.” What this involved was “friends” getting a phony tag of one of their buddies and using a similar car to drive through red lights. As I’ve written about on the REAL ID site, you can buy a high-quality driver license with working magnetic strip in China. License plates are no different, and you don’t have to buy them in China. Less than 30 seconds with a search engine, and I found this site. They sell replica state license plates, and are based in Florida, so Gov. Scott would likely be pleased criminals are spending money in-state. How good are they? Here is what they claim:

“Our authentic looking replica license plates are so close to the real thing you won’t be able to tell the difference (comment: and I’ll bet a camera won’t either). We use the highest quality aluminum and acrylic materials to produce a long lasting weather resistant product.  Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations, these custom car plates are the highest quality available anywhere.
Our state plates have authentic raised 3D lettering and come in a high polish chrome frame with a durable clear cover. ”

Of course, it is illegal to “prank” someone or to counterfeit a Florida tag, but I mused what would happen if someone did so to say… Tallahassee Mayor John Marx. Let’s say the Mayor drives a green 2011 Prius, and his tag is ABC 123 (disclaimer- I have no idea what the Mayor drives or what his tag number is). You wouldn’t need to hire a private investigator to figure this out- just sit outside City Hall and see what he drives to work. A criminal then buys Florida tag ABC 123 and borrows or rents a green Prius (as an observation, I think there are more Prius per square mile in Tallahassee than the rest of Florida).

The criminal then puts the purchased tag on the Prius, and if they are truly devious waits until the Mayor is somewhere when no one else can account for his whereabouts. Even if the mayor can do so, keep reading. The criminal drives through every red light camera intersection in Tallahassee several times- we’ll say this amounts to 20 tickets in one day. The Mayor, as the registered owner of the tag, then gets 20 tickets in the mail.

Since the camera cannot identify the driver, and the Mayor knows it wasn’t him, what can he do? Not much. Here are the legal defenses to a red light camera ticket under the law (s. 316.0083(d)1.):
a.?The motor vehicle passed through the intersection in order to yield right-of-way to an emergency vehicle or as part of a funeral procession;
b.?The motor vehicle passed through the intersection at the direction of a law enforcement officer;
c.?The motor vehicle was, at the time of the violation, in the care, custody, or control of another person; or
d.?A uniform traffic citation was issued by a law enforcement officer to the driver of the motor vehicle for the alleged violation of s. 316.074(1) or s. 316.075(1)(c)1.

OK, you think, he’s off the hook; look at c.! Think again! Here is subsection 2. a. that directly follows:
a. An affidavit supporting an exemption under sub-subparagraph 1.c. must include the name, address, date of birth, and, if known, the driver’s license number of the person who leased, rented, or otherwise had care, custody, or control of the motor vehicle at the time of the alleged violation. If the vehicle was stolen at the time of the alleged offense, the affidavit must include the police report indicating that the vehicle was stolen.

Here is the legal quandary: The Mayor doesn’t know the name of the criminal. He can’t fill out an affidavit. His car was not stolen. His car was not used to commit the offense. But he can’t disprove it.

In summary, he’s screwed.

Now forget it is the Mayor of Tallahassee, who by virtue of a high profile job may have the tickets dismissed. Let’s say it’s John Smith, who has no such clout. His only mistake was driving an ordinary car that once the plate is changed is indistinguishable from another of the same model. Even if the criminal doesn’t bother to match the car and just clones the tag, the burden remains upon Mr. Smith. Do you think this is far fetched? Keep in mind England has used cameras for many traffic enforcement duties, from speed to parking, then read this news story from January 2012:

Man appeals over parking fines after numberplate cloned

One final alternative- on the last one of the red light violations, the criminal is stopped by a real police officer, who discovers the phony yet realistic tag. They arrest the driver for the counterfeit tag. The Mayor is then off the hook for the other 19 tickets. The irony is the criminal can’t be liable for them either, as his vehicle did not display the proper tag. A camera can never do the job of a real police officer, and tickets from real police officers are not of the guilty-until-proven-innocent variety.

Don’t be fooled by all of the money involved. Demand the city show crash (not violation) statistics to justify any camera usage. Red light cameras as currently used are bad things. We will be back in the 2013 legislature with a revised motorist rights bill. We’ll keep coming back until enough legislators have seen the light as it were, and not a red light.

Boring data follows; you can stop reading if you’d like!

Here is a bunch of data in support of my research, from the linked site for the 2009 crashes, and from the City of Tallahassee’s website for camera locations.

2009 City of Tallahassee  fatal traffic crashes by date, location, and if a camera was installed at the location in 2010

Jan 9, 2009 01:06 AM
1414 Chowkeebin Nene, Chowkeebin Nene
Camera: No

Jan 14, 2009 01:49 AM
Sr-61, Live Oak Plantation
Camera: No

Feb 4, 2009 02:40 AM
Us-27, Idlewild Drive
Camera: No

Apr 21, 2009 04:44 AM
Sr-155, N Meridian Rd
Camera: No

Jun 19, 2009 06:17 AM
Alabama Street, Richmond Street
Camera: No

Jun 24, 2009 06:52 AM
2700 N Monroe St, Lakeshore Dr
Camera: No

Aug 27, 2009 08:24 AM
Woodland Dr, Sunnyside Dr
Camera: No

Oct 14, 2009 10:17 AM
1776 Old Bainbridge, W Tharpe St
Camera: No

Oct 28, 2009 10:02 AM
Sr-61, S. Monroe Street
Camera: No

Nov 6, 2009 11:05 AM
Old St. Augustine Rd, 1471 Old St. Augusti
Camera: No

Nov 7, 2009 11:36 AM
700 Georgia St, 700 Georgia St
Camera: No

Nov 15, 2009 11:35 AM
W. Tharpe Street, Burns Drive
Camera: No

Dec 12, 2009 12:57 AM
Paul Dirac Rd N, Orange Ave
Camera: No

Dec 27, 2009 12:31 AM
Sr-263, W Tennessee Street
Camera: Yes

Note for December 27 crash:

Vehicles: 1
Persons: 2
Pedestrians: 1
Fatalities: 1
Drunken drivers: 1

Tallahassee camera locations as of March 14, 2012:
* Tennessee Street / Monroe Street
o Eastbound Approach
o Northbound Approach
o Southbound Approach
* Killearn Center Boulevard / Capital Circle Northeast
o Northbound Approach
o Westbound Approach
* Ocala Road / Tennessee Street
o Eastbound Approach
o Northbound Approach
o Westbound Approach
* Capital Circle NW / W. Tennessee Street
o Eastbound Approach
o Westbound Approach
o Northbound Approach
* Apalachee Parkway / Magnolia Drive
o Eastbound Approach
o Westbound Approach
o Southbound Approach
* Capital Circle SE / Apalachee Parkway
o Eastbound Approach
o Westbound Approach
o Northbound Approach
* Capital Circle NE / Mahan Drive (effective March 14)
o Northbound Approach
o Southbound Approach

The younger crowd may not know what this term means. Allow me to explain. When one “bellyaches”, they complain about a topic. It’s something we all engage in. What I’m writing about today is complaining and not doing anything about it, notably when given the opportunity to do so.

Seeing as how April 15 is next month, probably one of the largest complaint areas will be taxes. If you browse this site, you’ll see my fair share of complaints, and if you dig deeper, a solution that involves constitutional spending.

My complaint, or bellyache today deals with those that moan and grumble about something and then don’t do anything about it. I’ve seen this firsthand in my campaign against REAL ID. I hear a laundry list of complaints about how “I had to go to (name of county) and get a paper from 30 years ago just to renew my license.” If I follow up and ask what they did about it, invariably the answer is nothing. A few good people took the time to contact their legislators. That was partly how the 2012 REAL ID bill got on the radar.

More recently, an all-volunteer organization I’m involved in had a bit of internal friction and dissension over the rules, and violations of same. I have no doubt rules were violated, but once that had happened, we had the choice of dwelling on it (some call this living in the past) or moving on and working on a solution so these circumstances wouldn’t happen again. If you look at the legislative process, this is basically what happens there- something takes place, and legislation is introduced to address the situation. In the case I am writing about, a committee was established to revise the rules. Input was solicited from all. To their credit, several people submitted ideas, and these were incorporated into some revised rules. A deadline was established for submission of ideas, and they were required to be submitted in the proper format.

There were a few complaints during this time, yet none of these were submitted as a proposed rule- or any proposed rule. Since I write a lot, I offered to take any idea and format it into a proposed rule, and asked they be submitted to me that same day (the deadline for submission at this point was the following day). For all the complaining, I received suggestions from two people- one of which was actually unrelated to my offer to help and had already been addressed in the main rule change. I ended up taking one of the complaints and wording it as a proposed rule.

Getting things changed, as I’ve observed here, takes two things: Time and money. While most of us have more of the former than the latter, lack of either is not a free pass on the bellyache express. As an example, I recall working with a trooper when I was first stationed in Miami. He, like me, was from SW Florida, and neither of us enjoyed living in Dade County. He got his transfer to SW Florida, and I was fortunate to get mine a few months later. Within a short period of time, he was complaining about working in SW Florida as he had about Dade County, and soon had a transfer request to go elsewhere. While I usually didn’t pay much attention to what other troopers did as far as workload, I found this person had a pattern of slow work that resulted in the rest of us having to pull more than our share of the workload. As a result, eventually none of us wanted to work with him. It didn’t take me long to recognize this was a “black cloud” person that would never be happy. He eventually left the FHP and law enforcement.

More recently, one of our politicians had come out in support of some legislation that many in the volunteer organization did not like. Several in the organization complained about the politician’s support of the bills. As it turned out, our organization was holding a meeting at the Capitol when the politician would be there. One of our members set up an opportunity for us to speak to the politician. While many complained, only one of us went and spoke to the politician about the issue.

With issues like REAL ID and other liberty issues, there are several that will do the work. If you don’t have the time, send a few dollars to the Florida Campaign for Liberty. You’ll get more out of that than sitting on the couch or in front of the computer complaining. If you have some time, we need a lot of help. Can you appear before your County Commission and get a resolution signed? Can you pass out flyers at the tax collector’s office? There is a lot of work to be done as we prepare for the 2013 legislative session. There are many issues, I’ve just used one I’m involved in as an example.

My point in writing this is to encourage those that want to get something done to do so… step up, stand up, speak out (in a productive manner), whatever it takes. There are many that will work with you or otherwise help you. However, if you continue to sit and complain and do nothing else, especially when given an offer of help to do so, you’ll find, like the aforementioned trooper, that nobody wants to work with you.

Could this be the new face of the GOP?

Yesterday I had the chance to speak at the Senate Budget Committee hearing. Well, actually half a chance to speak. I was able to speak about the repeal of the mandatory septic tank inspections, and then on the energy bill (SB 2094), not at all. The committee was pressed for time, and no public comment was accepted for it. This bill is a companion to Rep. Scott Plakon's HB 7177.

These energy bills deal with renewable energy. While I was sitting in the hearing today, I perused some of SB 2409. Here are some excerpts of the latest amended version:

• authorizing a municipality to collect special assessments to pay the additional costs to purchase renewable energy for the municipality
• providing a sales tax exemption for materials used in the distribution of biodiesel, ethanol, and other renewable fuels;
• increasing the amount of available tax credit each fiscal year
• redefining the term target industry business, for purposes of a tax refund
• exempting from regulation under ch. 366, F.S., the sale of electricity to the public for the purpose of electric vehicle charging stations;

There's even a new parking violation for parking a non-electric vehicle in a charging station's parking space, and a directive that cops shall ticket the vehicle- no warnings here! Perhaps the spaces will be outlined in green just as the disabled parking spaces are in blue.

Many in the Tea Party movement I've talked to don't like these bills. Here is why:

A "special assessment" by the government is a tax increase.

The Tea Party movement supports mainly three things:

• Limited constitutional government,
• Fiscal responsibility, and
• Free markets.

These two bills fall into all three- in this case, they are closely related.

First, we have a section in the Florida Constitution called Article 7 Section 10. here's what it says:

Pledging credit.—Neither the state nor any county, school district, municipality, special district, or agency of any of them, shall become a joint owner with, or stockholder of, or give, lend or use its taxing power or credit to aid any corporation, association, partnership or person

Why is this in our Florida Constitution? It's actually very basic. Let's say you are in the business of making and selling baskets. People use your baskets to carry things, and have done so for years. All is going well, but one day some people say it would be more efficient to use a box to carry things, and make a bunch of unsubstantiated claims as to how your baskets are ruining the environment. The government gets involved, and gives a tax credit to the box company. All of a sudden, you can't compete with the box company, so you either go out of business or start selling boxes.

Second, it's fiscally irresponsible to push a product that is detrimental to the taxpayer. The costs to the taxpayer will not be offset by the benefits.

Finally, when the government uses its force to tamper with the free market to inflate a commodity, in this case corn, it's little different than bailing out an automaker or a bank. A tax credit means less tax revenue is coming in, while a bailout is tax revenue going out. The taxpayer loses either way, unless the tax credit is directly to all of them that pay taxes- of course, the bill has some tax credits for homeowners, but just like the IRS, you must first jump though some hoops to qualify and not everyone will be able to do so.

These bills heavily promote Ethanol fuel, called "blended fuel" in the bills. In this case, the taxpayer with a vehicle is paying more and coming up short in gas mileage. Keep reading.

Seeing as how I have a fleet of vehicles, I've been doing some experimenting on fuel use. I have to go to Georgia to buy it, but I can get 100% gasoline there. I tested a 1998 Dodge truck with 5.9L V8, a 2009 Dodge car with 5.7L V8 (yeah, it's got a Hemi), and my 31 year old Suzuki motorcycle. Here is what I found (there are a lot of boring statistics and math here, so for short-attention span readers, Ethanol blended gas gave me at least 11% less MPG, so you burn more gasoline to go the same distance):

E10= 90% gasoline, 10% Ethanol. E0= 100% gasoline:
1998 Dodge truck, 5.9L V8
E10: 15.3 Avg MPG
E0: 17.5 Avg MPG (after two tanks), a 14.3% increase

2009 Dodge car, 5.7L V8
E10: 21.9 Avg MPG
E0: 24.6 Avg MPG (after one tank), a 12.3% increase

1981 Motorcycle- could not accurately measure the gas since I have to use 5 gallon cans to fill it, so I used distance to reserve. Below figures were from the last tank full I ran.
E10: 120 +/- miles to reserve
E0: 134 miles to reserve, an 11.6% increase

I did not change my routes or driving habits, and nothing other than checking oil levels and tire pressures were done.

Even allowing there will be no harmful effects to an engine (which I am not convinced of at this point), the numbers are all against Ethanol.

Cost of E0 fuel is 8 to 9 cents/gallon more, i.e. $3.74 ys. $3.65, which is 2.4% more @ 9 cents/gallon. I'm getting at least 11% better mileage for a cost of only 2.4% more.

Beyond 10% it of course gets worse:

Example of 100 gallons used in a vehicle that averages 20 MPG on E10 and 22 MPG on E0.

100 gallons of E0= 2,200 miles traveled.

100 gallons of E10=90 gallons of gasoline= 1,800 miles traveled on the 90 gallons of gasoline. To make up the additional 400 miles, the car must burn 20 more gallons of gasoline, so you've used 110 gallons (90+20) of gasoline to go the same distance as 100 on E0.

Above the 10% factor and you are using even more gasoline to go less distance:

14%: Example of 100 gallons used in a vehicle that averages 20 MPG on E10 and 22.8 MPG on E0.

100 gallons of E0= 2,280 miles traveled.

100 gallons of E10= 90 gallons of gasoline= 1,800 miles traveled for the gasoline used. To make up the additional 480 miles, the car must burn 24 more gallons of gasoline, so you've used 114 gallons (90+24) to go the same distance as 100 on E0.

Then there are the subsidies, the added cost of all of this regulation to blend in the Ethanol, the energy used to do so, and the higher feed prices for livestock as just a few. Other than inflating the price of corn, what have we gained by this large-scale tampering with the free market?

Oh, and if you don't recognize the guy in the top photo, it's Van Jones. He "served" as the "Green Czar" (or Special Adviser for Green Jobs) in the current administration until he departed one weekend. Based on the above, I'd say he's got a good shot at getting that job back if  Mr. Gingrich or Mr. Romney wins the election- if the Florida Legislature is indicative of how Republicans legislate energy bills and in the process ignore their own Constitution.

I told a friend I'd have some fun with Photoshop on this subject, so here it is- click to enlarge: