Trooper pursues speeding governor- gets fired

http://news.yahoo.com/iowa-fires-agent-pursued-govs-speeding-suv-175658695.html

I live next door to Iowa but am very familiar with Governor Branstad, he's been in office since dirt was invented. Twenty years last time I checked. IMO, his tenure is starting to show. Apparently he can't comprehend this as a PR disaster for him. I hope this goes viral- it needs to.

Not only was he speeding but it was excessive speed. What would have happened if he had an accident and severely hurt or killed someone. When are politicians going to realize that they are civil servants, not above the law. It's pretty sad when a LE officer gets fired for doing his job. If someone was hurt or killed then the officer would have been ridiculed for not stopping the governor.

I live close to this area. I'm not surprised the trooper was fired, but I think it has a lot more to do with what I consider to be the 'real story' that became public yesterday.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/vi...t-plates-elude-Iowa-s-speed-red-light-cameras

Apparently, the SUV (and many other government vehicles in Iowa) has a "special" registration that doesn't show up in the database if the license plate is ran. Maybe that doesn't sound like such a big deal, but it is to a lot of people here after finding out that those vehicles also don't get tickets from the red-light/speed cameras. Oh, and Ms. Hamblin stating "If they are not on file, there's nothing we do,"--it was probably a bad idea to tell people that. Everyone I know hates these cameras. Personally, I see people driving worse because they're paranoid about getting a ticket. They stop a whole car length before the line at red lights(granted, not the worst thing to do, but it's annoying), they go 10 miles under the limit(so when it's 35, you'll be going 25), and then there's a whole lot of anticipatory braking going on--because oops, now they're going 30 instead of 25 or the light's green now, but it might be turning yellow soon, so I better get ready to stop a whole car length behind the white line just in case. A lot of times, I'll get stuck at the same light if I'm driving during a busy time of day.

Wow, after reading that article, and I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I still am, I forget how corrupted the world is, and I guess I still need reminders. I am pretty upset and I don't even live in that state. I guess one thing I hate, is someone working hard for 25 years and then gets fired. Seriously there goes everything they worked for. What should of taken place, is no matter who you are, you get pulled over, and get a ticket.

This story sounds so familiar....

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18158503/ns/politics/t/corzines-suv-traveling-mph-time-crash/

The sport utility vehicle carrying Gov. Jon S. Corzine was traveling about 91 mph moments before it crashed, the superintendent of state police said Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/nyregion/13cnd-corzine.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

At first they tried to blame it on another driver -"Authorities continued to search for the pickup truck driver blamed for causing the crash".

But then the public demanded answers and....

"Rasinski (the trooper driving) served a three-day suspension after an internal investigation found him "culpably inefficient" and "lacked the appropriate level of situation awareness" before the crash, which was described as preventable."

So - here in NJ its clear that we don't tolerate this type of behavior - Fuhgeddaboutit!!! NOT!

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/nj_trooper_behind_wheel_during.html

N.J. trooper driving during Corzine's accident will collect larger pension, judge rules

Based in Fort Dodge, Hedlund supervised DCI’s work in northeastern Iowa, overseeing eight agents and several high-profile investigations, including the search for whoever killed two cousins who vanished while riding bikes last year. He said he worked almost around the clock on that case at times.

“This firing is a real loss for the people of the state of Iowa,” Duff said of Hedlund, who received a top honor for assisting crime victims in 2008. “If your child turned up missing or your family member was the victim of a crime, you would want Larry on the case.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...869330-ef0a-11e2-bb32-725c8351a69e_story.html

Meantime, Branstad is still riding high in the pools for a seventh term. I give up, people in IA get what they ask for and good old Terry is such a nice little governor.