Red Light Camera fight takes new turn

The evil Empire Strikes Back, doesn't it?

With the citizens of Cleveland and Maple Heights less than two weeks ago voting 77% to ban Red Light Cameras in their cities, and a chorus of voters from Cincinnati to South Euclid banning the pernicious devices over the past seven years, you would think our legislators, the servants of the people would get the message: Keep them out of Ohio.

COAST's Cleveland Red Light Camera Win featured on Autoblog

Well, COAST has gotten press far and wide for its work, but even we were surprised at the lengthy piece on the Autoblog, here, discussing our work on Red Light Cameras in Cleveland-- a 77% win!

We are hopeful the Ohio legislature will address the cameras in the coming lame duck session.

King v. Burwell before U.S. Supreme Court could devastate ObamaCare

When the democrat Congress enacted ObamaCare, it wanted to force reluctant Governors to set up their own healthcare exchange.  Thus, they included language within the bill that persons are eligible for subsidies for healthcare coverage only if they are in “an exchange established by the state.”  The alternative to “an exchange established by the state” is that for those states that fail to enact an exchange, individuals are relegated to the federal exchange.

COAST crushes Red Light Cameras in Northeast Ohio

COAST sponsored two ballot initiatives in 2014, red light camera bans in the City of Cleveland and the City of Maple Heights, a suburb of Cleveland.  They were, respectively, Issues 35 and 99 on the Cuyahoga County ballot.  Both issues were placed on the ballot by a coalition of black-white, republican-democrat activists, similar to those that banned the cameras in Cincinnati.

One of the most remarkable developments of an utterly remarkable night -- Governorships

It was a night even the most optimistic observers did not anticipate, November 4, 2014:  A potential 10-seat pickup and control of the U.S. Senate and a 13-seat picket-up (so far) for the already lopsided U.S. House.

But the most remarkable, and entirely unexpected, outcome of November 2014 was the pickup of new governorships in left-leaning states and fending off tough challenges of Republican incumbents:

Barack Obama, Ideologue

Now comes the dangerous part, Barack Obama, unleashed.

We hate to rain on the parade, and what a parade it was!

But America has created an imperial Presidency never envisioned by our founding fathers in three ways: (i) a Congress (Republicans and Democrats) that passes open-ended legislation that gives wide berth to the Executive branch to write regulations and implement legislation broadly, (ii) Courts that refuse to enforce the Constitutional and statutory lints on the powers of the Executive, and (iii) great liberties taken in successive administrations with the powers given to them.  We are decidedly not, in this entry, placing the blame for any of these factors on Democrats exclusively of the Obama Administration specifically, although they are the latest and greatest abuser of these factors.

Our founder, our hero, Tom Brinkman, Jr. never flinched, never wavered

COAST watches with some amusement with politicians and community leaders bobbing to the left and twisting to the right, trying to determine which way the wind is blowing before deciding how to vote on an issue.

Down to the wire or blow out?

The surveys, the pundits, the talking heads, the spinners, the numbers!

The issue, the real issue, Tuesday is control of the US Senate: Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell in charge.  A sub-issue is the governorships up for grabs.  These contests will set the stage for 2016.

The predictions are all over the board, and the GOP had serious ground to make up in the Senate contests to seize control, but the general consensus is that we have a fighting chance.

And for COAST, that's all we ask: a fighting chance.  We'll take those odds.