The most important power that the President of the Senate possesses is not the power to introduce legislation, amend legislation, or vote on legislation.
It is the power to assign legislation to committees, knowing full well that the committee assignment will determine whether a bill lives or dies.
This background is instructive, because it helps frame the decision by a Senate Committee to kill legislation that would have put a stop to photo radar madness. The proliferation of photo radar has, in some respects, become the embodiment of government at all levels running amuck.
A Denver-area motorist put it even more directly:
With you, sir, Colorado Peak Politics agrees.
So when a Senate committee kiboshed a bill that would have banned these intrusive, photographic gremlins, it tells you a little something about where politicians stand on big government running amuck.
In particular, it tells you where President Brandon Shaffer stands on photo radar. And it's not with the people.
“Citizens overwhelmingly do not want big government using cameras, it’s too bad we could not move the bill forward,” said state Senator Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley), who was the sponsor of the bill to kill photo radar. “Cities should be focused on improving safety not on generating more revenue.”
The photo radar systems have proven to be completely ineffective at reducing traffic accidents, but great generators of government dollars.
Just take the investigation done by Todd Shepherd of Complete Colorado:
CompleteColorado.com purchased a full day's worth of tickets produced from the red light camera at 36th and Quebec, and found that of the 51 tickets issued, 48 were written to vehicles in the right lane. Many, if not most, were turning or preparing to turn right on red.
Much like tax increases such as Prop 103, which Shaffer supported and voters rejected 2:1, Shaffer seems to always stick on the side of higher government revenue, whether or not the citizens of this state agree with the means it receives that additional revenue.
And that is reason #4578 that Brandon Shaffer will get slaughtered in his Congressional campaign.
This is why I’ve left party politics altogether. I wouldn’t support this lunatic if he was a republican or a democrat. I know the argument that we could get someone worse if we don’t put up with our party member making a goof once in a while, but I have my agenda, and I vote only my agenda. This jerk has got to go. The facts are in and they are clear. I don’t want to hear “yeah but” any more. They’ve all got to go. Career politics is not the answer. 2 terms should be an anomaly.