The word out of Louisiana is that Jefferson Parish (a parish down there is roughly the same as a county anywhere else) is looking to get rid of its red-light cameras because they’re so tainted they practically steam.  Check THIS out, from nola.com:

Redflex Traffic Systems of Phoenix, Ariz., arranged to pay Bryan Wagner, a former New Orleans City Council member, 3.2 percent of the cash it expects to make off fines from drivers at 11 intersections adorned with cameras, according to a Redflex letter to parish attorney Tom Wilkinson.

A direct payoff?  To a specific council member?  For 3.2 percent of the geetus?  Oh man…in terms of scandal that’s positively EPIC.  Considering that the company that put in the red light cameras has taken in over TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS in fines so far, that works out to just over six hundred forty grand.

Wagner, for his part–and you’ll want to brace yourselves for this one–doesn’t think he’s been “overcompensated”.

I figure those cameras will be coming down any day now, and if Wagner isn’t looking at some lawsuits over this, I’ll be amazed.

Related posts:

1. Red Light Cameras Could Balance Jefferson Parish’s Budget
2. Barrington Not Installing Red Light Cameras
3. Red Light Cameras Roundly Voted Out of Chillicoathe
4. Rochester City Council Moves To Install Red Light Cameras
5. Chicago Too Broke To Install More Red Light Cameras