I've always been a firm believer that you can tell something about the leadership of state politicians by the laws the enact, and how they run state agencies.

I was visiting thenewspaper.com, a site that focuses on traffic law related issues and found something interesting;

Mass. is quite fond of using it's traffic laws to collect more revenue from it's citizens and visitors, opting to increase citation issuance due to funding or revenue issues rather than an incrase in traffic crimes or injuries. But like any law enforcment agency they will clame their actions to enforce traffic laws all are in the interest of "public safety", and that they have no quotas or performance requirements.

Mass. also has laws on the books which make it harder for a citation to be challenged in court, which flies in the face of our national concept of a right to due process and to face our accuser when we are charged with a crime.

These bits of information get me a little irritated because prior to visiting thenewspaper.com I had just been reading comments on the TH column "Why Romney Is Right for Iowa, America by Doug Wilson (Monday, Dec 31, 2007).
http://townhall.com/columnists/DougWilson/2007/12/31/why_romney_is_right_for_iowa,_america

In the article Doug Wilson sings the praises of Mitt Romney like a well trained chior boy, and many other posters of comments goined in the sing along for Mitt.

I've become a bit disgusted by TH becoming a political PAC of Romney over the past few months, which is explained by Doug Wilson's participation in Romney's campaign (in CA), so I decided to offer examples of poor leadership in Mass. by Governor Romney by citing what I had found at thenewspaper.com.

I didn't have the space in the comments to cite all 5 pages of material on Mass., so I choose just the items which either involved agencies that fell under the direct authority of Governor Romney while he was in office (State Police), or items which as Governor he could have taken executive action to prevent if the legislature couldn't be convinced to take the proper action themselves (loss of citizen rights to challenge citations in a court of law).

Below are the examples, as I posted them, and one reply from a rather loyal Romney supporter who obviously didn't read the caveat in my first post about one of the examples happening while Romney was governor in 2006.
 
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Christopher Parisho writes: Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:03 PM

If Romney was such a good governor....
then why do the Mass State Police have to order troopers to raise an additional $1.2 million in speeding tickets next year? http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/21/2130.asp

The article above reports that to offset a budget shortfall, troopers are being ordered to hand out more tickets!
This makes the act of ticketing a revenue generator rather than a punishment for a crime.

Now before all this is blamed on Romney's successor read the last part of the story;

...on January 1. In 2006, the Massachusetts courts joined with insurance companies in encouraging the state police to offer bonus time off to troopers as an incentive for writing extra traffic tickets. This above action occurred during his administration, his term didn't end till Jan of 2007.

What a great leader! (sic)

He works with the state legislature to create a financial situation where the state troopers become tax collectors in order offset budget shortfalls, and the courts in Mass join with insurance companies (special interest, they get to raise rates on the ticketed drivers) to reward the troopers who write extra tickets.

Spiceman writes:Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:12 PM

A Vote For Mitt Is A Vote For Liberty
It has been a good thing this has been a long campaign, because of the new GOP saviors that pop up and are propped up by the MSM as last minuet spoilers, Heralded by the same flip-flopping commentators in the heap of Liberal-Statists. Your empty claims, your bogus links, your and nay saying, and chanted regurgitated messages are figments in you own mind, or intended deception.

Believing what you think without confirmation, is to be wise with you own eyes fully closed as you pull the trigger, claiming that what the hit was the target.

I hope you have someone friend out there to balance your CHECK BOOK THIS YEAR.

Best to you All - HAVE A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Spiceman writes:Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:27 PM

Thanks For An Easy Question!
Christopher Parisho writes: Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:03 PM
If Romney was such a good governor....
then why do the Mass State Police have to order troopers to raise an additional $1.2 million in speeding tickets next year? http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/21/2130.asp

The answer to you question is easy. Mitt Romney is not the Governor. MA. had a over one billion dollars surplus when Mitt's term ended. So who do you think spent the money? The current Liberal Governor

Christopher Parisho writes:Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:34 PM

And a bit more digging turns up....
Cities Eliminate Right to Contest Parking Ticket

In Boston and other cities in Massachusetts, motorists cannot challenge a $100 parking ticket in court without first paying a $275 court fee. If found innocent, the motorist does not receive a refund of the $275.

More: http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/20/2061.asp

Massachusetts: Report Documents Toll Road Mismanagement

Report finds that mismanagement threatens the financial viability of Massachusetts toll roads.

The Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission last week released a report documenting mismanagement of state's road network, including mismanagement of toll roads. The report issued a dire warning about the broad decline in the quality of roads and the selling-off of assets to mask deficit spending.

"The Massachusetts transportation system is in deep financial trouble," the report states. "Virtually every transportation agency in the state is running structural deficits and resorting to short-term quick fixes that hide systemic financial problems."

****

Loss of rights to challenge a citation due to a high court fee requirement which exceeds the fine and is required to be paid in advance of any court challenge....

AND

More evidence of financial mismanagement, this time with the state toll roads.

Oh, but hey, Mitt is the man of the hour for those not impacted by such poor leadership.

Christopher Parisho writes:Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:49 PM

More on the state police to offer bonus
time off to troopers;

Massachusetts State Police Offer Cops Money for Tickets

Court system and insurance industry pressures Massachusetts State Police into giving cash overtime bonuses for writing traffic tickets.

Police unions are up in arms over a Massachusetts State Police offer of cash for traffic tickets. Under a program that became public last week, troopers are given a 1.5 hour bonus on their time sheet for writing a ticket, but only one hour for a written warning and just half-an-hour for a verbal warning. The move cuts in half the amount of credit given for the verbal warning and brings troopers half-an-hour closer to lucrative overtime payments for every ticket issued.

The Boston Herald reports that insurance companies and the courts had pressured police into making the move because both make millions from traffic fines. The overtime bonus payments can increase a trooper's hourly wage by 50 percent, or even double it during holidays.

Union officials in the Western and South Shore areas where the program is in place told the Herald that the program eliminates officer discretion and that, like a ticket quota, troopers are being threatened with punishments for failure to issue more tickets.

"I absolutely refuse to write tickets unless somebody really deserves it," one trooper told the Herald. "You think twice before you take $600 out of somebody's pocket."

Source: Troopers squawk over ticket reward: Pressure on staties to snub (Boston Herald (MA), 11/16/2006)

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/14/1460.asp

Contrary to Spiceman's claim of bogus links, the above was from the Boston Hearald, then re-published at thenewspaper.com.

And I knew someone like Spiceman would blame the new governor. I cited this story because it involves the state police which are under the governor's authority and it happened on Mitt's watch. In 2006 Mitt was still in office as governor of Mass.

Christopher Parisho writes:Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 1:54 PM

More on the lost right to a court
hearing in Mass.

Massachusetts: Appealing Parking Tickets Made Impossible

Framingham, Massachusetts resident learns she has to pay $330 to receive an independent hearing on a $200 parking ticket.

For many Massachusetts residents, it's practically impossible to appeal a parking ticket before an independent judge. Framingham resident Deborah Adcock learned this the hard way when the city charged her $200 for parking in a handicapped space. Adcock suffers from a debilitating condition known as fibromyalgia and has a valid handicapped parking permit. On August 22, she neglected to flip down her visor to make the permit visible.

Adcock mailed her appeal to the city which was denied by the hearing officer Allan Nardini. Nardini is a former Framingham Police captain, he still reports his hours to the police department and he is paid by the city.

"It's infuriating to me that there is no common sense on the part of the hearing officer," Adcock told the MetroWest Daily News. "He knows what I'll have to go through. To me it's astonishing and I'm flabbergasted and shocked."

Hearing officers know that they can dismiss appeals without reading them because ticket recipients have no realistic means of challenging their decision. To fight the $200 ticket before an impartial judge, Adcock learned she had to pay a non-refundable $275 fee to the Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, plus $25-55 in other fees. She decided not to appeal and, so far, not to pay the fine.

Source: How forgetfulness cost $200 (MetroWest Daily News (MA), 10/2/2006)

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/13/1368.asp

Christopher Parisho writes:Tuesday, January, 01, 2008 2:02 PM

In contrast to Mitt's Mass., Arkansas
has laws on the boobs to limit abuse of traffic laws to generate revenue.

Arkansas: Small Towns Push to Repeal Speed Trap Law

Arkansas Municipal League pushing to allow small towns to collect more than half of their annual operating revenue from speed traps.

Small towns in Arkansas are angry that state law does not permit more than a third of their annual operating budget to come from traffic citations. In response, the Arkansas Municipal League proposed changes to the legislature last week. The League wants towns to earn half of their revenue from speeding tickets.

The existing anti-speed trap law also prohibits issuing more than half of all speeding tickets for 10 MPH or less. Even this provision has not stopped cities from lowering speeding limits to entrap motorists, according to data from the SpeedTrap Exchange website which allows motorists to document areas notorious for unfair ticket activity.

"Some cities have got some really small budgets," the League's Executive Director, Don Zimmerman, told The Morning News. "If, in fact, they are limited to no more than 30 percent of their revenue from traffic violations exceeding 10 miles an hour, there are some places that can't even write a ticket a day."

Source: Talks ongoing to amend states speed trap law (Northwest Arkansas Morning News, 12/16/2006)

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/15/1502.asp