Millions in Photo Ticket Fines to Fund Governor’s Race

The sound you will hear on June 22nd is the Arizona cash register opening wide and millions of dollars collected by an Unconstitutional ticketing scam being sent to Politicians to publicly fund their campaigns.

Two events made a transaction of this magnitude possible. The first, as mentioned prior, was the decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld matching public funds in Arizona’s “Clean Elections” system. The second, was Candidate        Buz Mills (R) paying himself approximately $1.8M through May 2nd, as his campaign reported. Mills is a Yavapai County business man who is running with his own funds.

The Clean Elections Fund, mainly photo ticket money, will match that amount starting on June 22nd, meaning that the Gov, Jan Brewer, who refused to end the state contract with Redflex when she took office, will be cashing in to the tune of almost $2M for her incumbent campaign.

State Treasurer Dean Martin, who is running on the Republican side as well, will also see that same amount deposited in his campaign fund.

Isn’t it lucky that there’s $181 to play with for each photo ticket fine, so that the campaigns of incumbent politicians can be so well funded?

An appeal of the decision by the 9th Circuit Court that allows for this system to continue is being planned, but the US Supreme Court is the next step up. It seems unlikely that the November election will be affected.

Regardless of which side you fall on in the Clean Elections debate, photo ticket money should not be included and will no longer be an issue once the Ban Photo Radar in Arizona initiative is voted on and passed in November.