Editor’s
note: when Charlestown was shopping for a contractor to provide the town with a
risk-free system of red light enforcement cameras, the subject of this article,
RedFlex, was one of two bidders. To me, RedFlex seemed more competent than the contractor chosen primarily by Town Council Boss Tom Gentz, Sensys. He chose Sensys because he believed – wrongly and against evidence to the contrary – that Sensys was a Rhode Island company.
That
was three years ago and today, we have a red light camera system that has not generated a nickel in revenue either for Sensys or for Charlestown. Why?
Because this Swedish company with a Florida headquarters has no clue how to do
business in Rhode Island. Click here for more detail on our problems with
Sensys.
But their
competitor RedFlex apparently has a different business model as you will see as
you read on. I wonder if they tried it in Charlestown. – W. Collette
Over
the past decade or so, unless you’ve been a pedestrian, it is highly probable
that you’ve encountered intersection red light cameras. They have grown in use
dramatically since New York City implemented the nations first system in 1993. Originally
touted for safety, instead Red Light cameras have become nothing but cash machines for
city and state authorities.
Now,
it has been admitted that Redflex, one of the nation's largest red light camera companies, bribed public officials in
return for implementing red light camera systems in their towns. In a release issued Friday,
the prosecutors pursuing the case against Redflex executives and agents,
revealed that the former CEO of Redflex, Karen Finley, has pled guilty to
charges of bribery.
From December 2005 to February 2013, Finley served as CEO of a red light camera enforcement company. As part of her plea agreement, Finley admitted that, between 2005 and 2013, she participated in a scheme in which the company made campaign contributions to elected public officials in the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati through a consultant retained by the company. According to admissions made in connection with her plea, Finley and others, including another executive of the company, agreed to provide the conduit campaign contributions with the understanding that the elected public officials would assist the company in obtaining or retaining municipal contracts, including a photo red light enforcement contract with the City of Columbus. Finley also admitted she and her co-conspirators concealed the true nature and source of the payments by the consultant’s submission and the company’s payment of false invoices for “consulting services,” which funds the consultant then provided to the campaigns of the elected public officials.
Finley
had already been found guilty for
bribing an Ohio politician with automobile and condo access.
This is what happens when you privatize civic functions. The
incentive becomes to generate revenue, not to do the job, and that opens the
door for greed to set in. What is remarkable in this case is not that bribery
happened, but that so little of it has yet been revealed. What we can expect is
for far more to appear in the future.
Author Nathaniel Downes is the a native of New Hampshire, now living in
Seattle Washington developing the next-generation superpowered MMORPG, City of Titans. Feel free to follow Nathaniel Downes on Facebook or Google Plus. He has just released his first book, available
in Hardcover, Paperback, and Kindle.
