Stop influence of lobbyists

I thank the Herald for the excellent coverage of the ongoing controversy about red-light cameras. My blood pressure climbed when I read March 11, in response to Sen. Duffy's bill to ban the red-light cameras, a closed-door meeting with proponents, critics, and lobbyists took place. It gets more interesting, and is symbolic of everything that is wrong with the red-light cameras and money tainting our state government.

The lobbyist is Al Ronan, a big lobbyist in Illinois, whose lobbying firm was convicted of bid rigging McCormick Place contracts under the Ryan administration. So why is he representing out-of-state corporations like Redspeed and Redflex meeting behind closed doors with our legislators? What could possibly go wrong? I don't believe these activities benefit or represent the citizens of Illinois.

The Herald's investigations have shown these cameras are not about safety, but revenue generation for towns and camera companies. The cameras push our country toward a surveillance society. The revenue aspect is taxation without representation. Another downside to this and other government surveillance is that these systems are ultimately used by politicians to attack political opponents. And this is exactly what happened.

During senate hearings, they tried to harass and intimidate Sen. Duffy by showing video of his ticket for not making a complete stop for a right turn on red. The infraction was years ago before he was a senator. My question is, how long do they keep these videos? Once you are caught, the state or the camera companies keep video of you and your car forever? Why?

The whole ugly business needs to be stopped. The pervasive influence of corporations and lobbyists must be prevented from turning the state government against the people and for the profits of two out-of-state corporations.

Jay Cech

St. Charles