Rep. Cindy Burkett’s ties to red light camera lobbyist exposed

Activist group alleges red light camera industry lobbyist hid connection to state representative in killing photo enforcement ban.

image: camera lensThenewspaper.com reports:

A lobbyist for red light camera vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) used her insider connection to a top lawmaker to torpedo a proposed ban on photo ticketing, according to an ethics complaint filed earlier this year by the Texas Campaign for Liberty. In a letter sent this week, the Texas Elections Commission announced its decision to forgive the lobbyist, Mia McCord.

According to state lobbyist disclosure records, Mia McCord registered as an agent for “American Traffic Soluntoins [sic]” on April 25, 2017. McCord’s goof was more than just an innocent typo, Byron Schirmbeck, the Texas coordinator for Campaign for Liberty insists.

“This makes this registration unsearchable under ‘American Traffic Solutions,'” Schirmbeck wrote to the ethics commission. “I believe this was a deliberate attempt to conceal the relationship between her and the chief of staff of the representative that killed a bill that would have ended her clients’ business.”

Mia McCord is married to John McCord, the chief of staff for Texas state Representative Cindy Burkett.

Mia McCord is married to John McCord, the chief of staff for Texas state Representative Cindy Burkett. The close ties may have interested the traffic camera industry, which was extremely worried after a red light camera ban introduced by state Senator Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) passed the Senate 25 to 6 in March 2017 (with a number of controversial amendments).

Under the Austin capital’s informal procedures, committee members may “tag” a bill to quietly request that the chairman keep the measure from coming up for a committee hearing or making it to the House floor. Burkett had an additional reason to block the bill. She was running for the state Senate seat against Hall, the Senate ban bill’s author.

Read more here.

 

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