It would save on Social Security benefits, and water and sewer and police and fire service, and some of the wear and tear on our roadways.  Oh, wait, I'm a Democrat, not a Republican.  Never mind.

What I don't understand is why in the entire article Jackman did not mention ONCE that Dave Albo is a traffic lawyer and he and his law firm stands to earn thousands of dollars from this scheme - not once.

The Washington Post staff reporters are just so loath to say anything negative about their frequent legislative sources in their print stories it's really pathetic.

I don't know what is.  Passing a law that will directly benefit you and your law firm, while screwing over the citiznes of Virginia?  Once again, why isn't anybody challenging Dave Albo this year?  SOMEBODY in that disrict, please stand up and run as an independent, reform, libertarian, I don't care.  Just give people a chance to vote against this guy!

Don't worry NHFBS, AMG is on the case.  AMG couldn't believe what it read this morning either.  AMG's take is over here:

http://albomustgo.bl...

Including about eight more points the Washington Post didn't bother to point out. 

did Tim Kaine signed this bill? Did he switch parties? If someone could answer this question I would be grateful. No one noticed that a TRAFFIC lawyer pushed this through? I think this will indeed throw our judicial system in to chaos.
Unbelievable.

of the greatest debacles ever in Virginia history.  Why did Tim Kaine sign this bill?  Someone will have to ask him, but my guess is that the answer is, "I tried to work with these people, but this is the best we could do in TWO YEARS of trying...it was either this or nothing."  As I've said many times before, I wish that Gov. Kaine had vetoed the transportation monstrosity, heavily amended it, or sent back his own version.  This thing accomplishes almost nothing, certainly does NOT solve Virginia's $100 billion traffic problem, raids the general fund and causes "chaos" as described in the Washington Post front-page article.  Heckuva job, eh?

Lowell-I guess you are right. Wonder if someone could get this bill tossed out in the next GA? Or are we stuck with it FOR EVER?

who gave us this monstrosity OUT OF OFFICE this November.  That means, first and foremost, the House Republican leadership, whose plan this was from start to finish.  Sure, they'll keep using the excuse that (whine, whine), "Tim Kaine signed the bill," but that's just an attempt to pass the buck. More to the point, there's no gubernatorial election this year, but EVERY SINGLE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SEATE is up for grabs.  When these "fees" start hitting people in July and August, something tells me the dynamics of the 2007 political season could be in for a bit of a shakeup. :)

Look your "hero" Tim Kaine had an extremly similar plan in his original transportaion bill

Additionally lest you forget once again from NLS...

However, there's plenty of "credit" for this $3,550 traffic ticket to go around here.  Let's not forget also supporting Albo's $3,550 ticket were "Democrats" David Bulova, Chuck Caputo, Steve Shannon, David Marsden (who also serves as Albo's bitch on the Courts of Justice Committee), David Poisson, and Mark Sickles.

Additionally, Kaine had the opportunity to amend the final bill and he did absolutely nothing about this.

Are you saying throw ALL of them out.  I might agree there :-p  but to pin this on one party is ridiculous.

Now go outside becuase its gorgeous out :-)
 

aware that this wasn't just rethugs. I know plenty of dems have their heads up their asses also. Even with stuff like this it will be a huge struggle to take the Senate and forget about the House (VA). I figure it will take at least 10 years to get back in the majority. God knows what shape this state will be in in 10 years.
I hold Kaine responsible. I'm very disappointed.
Now I am going outside, put the top down and try not to speed or forget to use my turn signal.

Lowell, is it possible to identify the legislators who voted to approve the bill that contained this requirement?

Shouldn't we go after those folks also...... both Democrats and Republican?  Albo did not do it all by himself.

There were no recorded votes on the Abuser Fees alone in 2007 because Kaine included it in his proposal and the Republicans had it in their original omnibus proposal.

There were some votes in 2005.  AMG listed them in the discussion here (look at the 4th comment):

http://albomustgo.bl...

Having said that, this was a Republican idea until Kaine picked up on it - just like the Estate Tax.  All of the 2005 votes were mostly party line (not entirely).

So, are you saying that for the final vote, Dems and Republicans voted on a bill they had not read and comprehended completely?

All three Hampton Roads Senators (Locke, Lucas and Miller) plus four of our nine delegates (Joannou, Spruill, Melvin and Ward) voted against this mess. I agree - I wanted Kaine to veto it as well.

My personal belief is that Kaine should have sent back his own version of a transportation bill, the way everyone except for the House Republicans wanted it, and then let the chips fall where they may.  What do you think?

He should have just let the chips fall where they may.  This stupid legislation is worse than if nothing had been done.

I keep hearing from the supporters of the plan that this was our only chance at getting some $$ for transportation, which I consider a load of BS.

I plan to picket Mr. Albo's law office with a bushel of lemons which will be distributed to each of his clients entering. This is an old technique we used to great effect in the Nader organization to embarass consumer rip-off artists. Someone beat me to it puleese!! Maybe someone could post Albo's office address to encourage a direct protest!

straight. He needs to be beaten up in the press. Every. Single. Day. Or voted out which I'm not holding my breath for.

To learn about Virginia DUI law and common defenses, please click on the items at left.  Our lawyers can help. Please contact our firm:
 
  Albo & Oblon, LLP
  (703) 312-0410. 
  2200 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 1201
  Arlington, Virginia  22201. 
 
Our office is located above the Metro's Orange Line-Courthouse stop.
 
Click on our office building for directions from your location.
 

 
 
  We also have branch offices in Fairfax County and Richmond.
 

...because, three years ago, I had the pleasure of a day in Arlington County Traffic Court.  Yeech!  Reduced the charge to speeding and got some points.  And I have had no tickets since.

So, am I, and everyone else with points on their license, going to be assessed this tax, or is there a grand-father clause?

Thanks Bad Love!

Albo's original bill had people paying $50 for every bad point on their record over 4.  That was removed in the 2006 legislation, but I think they jacked up the fees.

Albo's office scares the hell out of us also.

The Arlington Courthouse is next door and looks similar, but that's not a picture of the Arlington Courthouse.

tidbit I learned yesterday was that collection agencies will be collecting these big fines, not the state or the DMV. I think that you are not even given the opportunity to make payments but if you cannot pay it at court it gets tossed to a collection agency. So now, our credit will be ruined for a speeding ticket. I heard also that you will have to pay a tax every year based on the number of points on your drivers license.
I have no clue if any of this is true but if it is I'm more furious than ever.

Albo Must Go blogged on this yesterday and today, here:

http://albomustgo.bl...

and here:

http://albomustgo.bl...

The article which pointed out that Bob McDonnell's old law firm made $2,000,000 collecting traffic fines is here:

http://content.hampt...

To quote from AMG and the Virginia Pilot:

Oh yeah, and a bunch of money in Republican cronies' pockets as well?

But the hefty penalties could be a bonanza for the politically connected law firms that chase own unpaid court fines. In all but one city in South Hampton Roads, these firms have exclusive contracts that pay them as much as 30 percent of the amount collected. One of them, Huff, Poole & Mahoney of Virginia Beach, earned more than $2 million in collection fees in fiscal 2006. The contracts are awarded by local commonwealth?s attorneys, who get campaign contributions from the lawyers they hire.

Huff, Poole & Mahoney, [REPUBLICAN] Attorney General Bob McDonnell?s old firm, handles more of the work than any other firm in the state. It has the collection contracts in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, which brought in more than $1.6 million in fees in fiscal year. Additional contracts in Chesterfield and Essex counties pushed the firm?s total collection revenue to more than $2 million. Huff, Poole & Mahoney has a staff of two lawyers and 26 non-lawyers devoted to court collection work, according to David Zobel, the attorney who runs the unit. The firm compiled a collection rate of 58.9 percent and charged 29.2 percent in fees last year. The firm has given $6,000 in campaign contributions to [REPUBLICAN] Virginia Beach Commonwealth?s Attorney Harvey Bryant since 2001.

Bad driver fines a potential gold mine for connected law firms, The Virginia-Pilot, (June 23 ,2007).

Gee, Republicans screwing the poor? Since when?????????

This certainly goes along with the Republican philosophy of privatizing everything that government does.  It is the return of the infamous tax collector, familiar in history. The next step is to let the tax collector collect as much as he can, send the stated amount in to the government, and keep the extra for himself. Or, guess we are already there with the firms charging the victim for "representing" them in court, then collecting the fines? Like double billing? Just how is this going to work in real life?

Nearly all of the Hampton Roads cities outsource the collections. And not all of them are Republicans, either. I wrote about it earlier today.

It would seem that Gov Kaine should have some say so in terms of how fines are collected. The Administration's silence on this is profoundly disappointing.

Was this one of the items the Governor objected to in the budget negotiations or did he never even complain about this? He certainly never alerted the public that this poison pill was in the mash of bills sent to his desk.

He signed this into law and therefore bears some responsibility for it. It is time for him to grow a little backbone and explain to the public what this is all about and how he expects to rectify this mistake.

Then there is that list of Ds that agreed to the bill. The Ds should remember the next time they tell the rank and file to vote Democratic and don't pay attention to the what the candidates are saying that it just might not play well. This bill, originated by the Rs and agreed to by at least some Ds is a good argument for being an independent.

is obviously very busy trying to be a centrist and kiss up to the rethugs so he can have a 70% approval rating when he leaves office. I will make sure that my union gives ZERO money to the next democratic governor candidate. Neither Kaine or Warner have done much for labor but the old AFL-CIO keeps on shoveling money-and gets virtually nothing in return. So next election cycle I'm going to make sure they get nada from the largest union represented in Virginia.
I've had it with these so called democrats that turn into rethugs the minute they get in office. This pretty much is the last straw for me.

It appears all! So Albo and Rust might have been the orchestrator - but all agreed to it!

Kaine signed with a minimum of fuss. Thank you so much governor Kaine. Appreciate you hardly putting up a fight and standing up for us against the evil ones.
Thanks soooooooooo much.
I'm real pissed.

How many even knew about the traffic "fees" and how bad they would be?  I don't know, but I wouldn't assume that they knew, especially since the Republicans: a) negotiated this monstrosity in secret; and b) sprung it on everyone at the last minute, so they had no time to read it.  Tricky, tricky Republicans.

to stay ahead of the curve on this stuff but I totally missed this. But no one seemed to see it either, not in the media, not our locals (Deeds and Toscano-do they work for us or not?).
Guess we blew it.

If you don't have time to read the legislation you vote on, you don't have time to be a legislator. If reading legislation means that you have to stay up at night doing your homework, then we who cast our votes for you expect exactly that.

Ignorance is not a free pass for voting for bad bills.

This is bad law and Democrats went along with it and they should be held accountable.