Lena Taylor and the Traffic Citation

UPDATE, February 15, 2009: Politics a factor in voiding state senator's ticket
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It seems that recently there have been lots of instances of elected officials abusing their positions, power, and privileges.

The latest: State Senator Lena Taylor

Daniel Bice writes:

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn decided Thursday to reinstate a traffic ticket against state Sen. Lena Taylor after the Milwaukee Democrat had successfully lobbied lower-ranking officials to drop it.

"Citation L172194-1 will be reissued to the Senator," Flynn said in a statement. "Those persons issued citations may pursue all the legal remedies available to them to contest the citation."

Taylor, who ran unsuccessfully for county executive last year, didn't return calls - but she issued a statement that said she'd accepted the citation and had paid it.

The twice-elected senator was pulled over during rush hour last Friday evening after two cops said they witnessed her crossing the center line and driving southbound in the northbound lane of N. 35th St. near W. State St.

Here is what Officer Seann Cleveland wrote in abbreviated fashion on the ticket:

"We both observed the listed veh cross to the left of the double solid yellow line and into the N/B lane. The veh continue driving S/B passing several vehicles so she could make a left hand turn into the drive way of 1018 N. 35th St. It should be noted this was just north of W. State St., which is a very busy intersection."

Cleveland described Taylor as "very irate" after she was stopped.

"(Taylor) stated . . . we 'shouldn't waste our energy for the stop and she can't be expected to wait for the light,' " the officer wrote. "Taylor was very argumentative and appeared her intent was to provoke an argument w/ us officers."

If you hadn't gotten the picture already, Cleveland wrote that the 42-year-old pol was "very argumentative" once again after she received the ticket for driving on the wrong side of the center line. The ticket was for $121.60 and could count four points on her license.

Taylor, a practicing attorney, had an earlier run-in with cops on the Saturday before election day in November. In that case, she was detained by officers and advised about the state electioneering laws but not charged or ticketed.

...Asked if the lawmaker called or visited the Milwaukee Police Department, spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz directed the question to Taylor.

But sources within the department said she did contact officials at the 3rd District headquarters to complain about the citation.

Not long after, Acting Capt. Edith Hudson rescinded Taylor's ticket.

All of this happened while Flynn was busy in Washington, D.C., this week. No Quarter contacted his office Thursday about the decision to drop Taylor's ticket.

In response, Flynn declined an interview request but issued a statement late Thursday.

In it, he said he first learned of the situation when notified by Assistant Chief Gregory Habeck. Hudson had given Habeck a report detailing her decision to let Taylor off the hook.

The assistant chief reviewed the report and concluded that Hudson's action "did not appear to be consistent with department policy," the statement said. After reading her report and department policy, the statement continued, "the Chief concurred with Assistant Chief Habeck's assessment."

Here's a line from the ticket:

THE DRIVER, TAYLOR, WAS VERY IRATE AND STATED SHE DIDN'T FEEL WE "SHOULDN'T WASTE OUR ENERGY FOR THE STOP AND SHE CAN'T BE EXPECTED TO WAIT FOR THE LIGHT."

I can understand why Flynn reinstated the ticket.

I'm getting sick of this. I'm tired of hearing about elected officials taking advantage of the taxpayers to foot the bill for their personal travel expenses.

Now this incident with Taylor is a case of an official demanding that she's above the law. That reflects very poorly on her character and her qualifications to serve.

This woman is a state senator. She ran to be the Milwaukee County Executive. (Thankfully, she was defeated by Scott Walker.)

I don't think it's too much to expect our elected officials to respect the law, nor is it too much to expect them to willingly be held accountable after breaking the law.

I wonder if Taylor has had other traffic violations dismissed after throwing a fit.

If I had to guess, I would say this wasn't the first time.