Dupage Policy Journal

As the simmering red-light camera debate still plays out, Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) has arrived at just one conclusion.

“Illinois desperately needs change,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal. “Every week, it’s one scandal after another. Until you have honest people, you’re not going to get honest government.”

With Illinois Policy Institute estimating that the cameras have generated more than $1 billion in revenue since they were first installed a little more than a decade ago, veteran state Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) has now introduced a bill that would instantly remove almost 100 of the devices across the state.

Illinios state House Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) | davidmcsweeney.org

House Bill 322, which seeks to outlaw red-light cameras in non-home-rule communities, is now slated to go before the full House for a vote, where passage would lead to the removal of cameras in at least 45 of 101 communities or 92 of the 607 cameras operating in the state.

“Over 100,000 Illinois motorists were affected by the rampant corruption that went on over the red light cameras in our suburbs,” Ives, now running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) in the 14th Congressional District, added in a post to Facebook. “This was a massive conspiracy, and I hope that the courts will make things right and allow those affected to be refunded.”

Ives personally counts herself among the victims.

“I want my $100 back,” she added to DuPage Policy Journal. “I think this has always been a money grab and not about safety.”

Ives said the program is a perfect example of how things work when public officials put their own financial interests ahead of those of their constituents.

Earlier this year, former state Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) plead guilty to pocketing a $250,000 bribe from one of the state’s largest red-light camera companies in exchange for favorable voting and now faces up to 13-years in prison.

“The people of Illinois have had enough, and when I get to Congress I am committed to working with our state and federal partners to put an end to this corruption once and for all,” Ives added in her post.