Arizona Republican thwarts GOP push to ban red light cameras

A brief moment of sanity broke out at the state Capitol this week as a Senate panel voted to kill a bill that would have asked voters to ban red light cameras.

For 16 years, Republicans have been trying to clap a lens cap over those demon cameras.

Last year, Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-“Flagstaff,” came close, but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill, on account of wanting to save lives and all.

So, now Rogers is running another photo radar ban to speed up to Hobbs’ veto stamp — and, at the same time, a separate bill to bypass the governor and put a proposed ban on the November ballot.

Rogers says cameras violate our rights

Rogers wants to actually change the state constitution to ban the cameras, believing she has a constitutional right to not to be photographed as she blows through red lights.

“This is a fundamental right to not have cameras watching us when we drive,” Rogers told the Senate Transportation, Technology and Missing Children Committee on Tuesday.

Of course, there is no fundamental right to privacy on a public street, though I can certainly see why Rogers — who claims to live in a trailer in Flagstaff but actually has a home far outside her district in Chandler — would want to invent one.

Fortunately, there was one Republican who broke with the herd to kill Rogers’ referral to the ballot.

It seems Sen. Frank Carroll, R-Sun City West, doesn’t see why voters in Flagstaff or Ajo or Phoenix should be able to decide whether Paradise Valley or Mesa or Scottsdale can use cameras to help police traffic.

“This to me should not be a statewide question, it should be a local question, so I will be a no on this today,” he said.

The bill was defeated, 4-3, with Carroll and the panel’s three Democrats voting to kill it.

Carroll broke ranks, defeated the bill

Well, you’d think Carroll, a staunch conservative, had suddenly become a traitor to the Republican cause.

The MAGA mouthpiece over on KFYI sounded as if he was going to have an aneurysm — though not so much because of the cameras but because of the prospect of a photo radar ban driving more Republicans to the polls for the presidential election.

“This would have been a good thing to drive people to the polls even more,” KFYI’s Garret Lewis sputtered. “This is just so disgusting that Frank Carroll would do this.”

So disgusting … that a Republican would advocate for local control.

Meanwhile, one overwrought “patriot,” Gail Golec, followed Lewis’ request to swamp Carroll’s office with calls, imploring people on social media to put pressure on Carroll to change his vote.

“He was the only Republican that voted against putting this on the ballot for the Peoples vote and he has 24 hours to change his mind,” Golec wrote. “Call and Email Now. We need to ban the Red Light Cameras in AZ once and for all! These cameras are in violation of our 4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. The same Constitution he swore to uphold.

“The reason he is voting with the Democrats, the red light camera fines, literally contribute to the legislators campaign funds. It appears he is choosing his pocketbook over the People!”

That’s a reference to the fact that 10% of the money from civil penalties and criminal fines, including traffic tickets, is used to fund politicians’ Clean Elections campaigns. People like Golec believe that’s why politicians, some of whom use go the public funding route, are unwilling to give up the cameras.

Republicans used to like local control

In other words, Carroll is corrupt because he didn’t vote as his fellow Republicans commanded?

That seems a stretch.

But then it’s also a stretch to proclaim the cameras are unconstitutional, given that the courts have repeatedly ruled otherwise.

Bottom line: Carroll voted for local control. He voted to support the police, who are overloaded and need the assist from cameras to keep the roads safe.

Once upon a time, that’s something Republicans would have supported.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Red light camera ban in Arizona comes to a screeching halt