Power to the People.

Last Friday a coworker asked if I would be in on Monday, as there was a consultant coming in and if I would be available for meetings. So I had a look at the vacation time I requested a while back (never heard a confirmation from my boss), and discovered I had this whole week off. So, I decided to head on up to the state capitol, Albany to do some legal research.

A few years ago New York State instituted a new law wherein they're able to impose a second fine for traffic infractions under a specific set of circumstances, which are very easy to trigger. Known as the Driver Responsibility Assessment, it was passed in late 2004 as part of a budget bill, ostensibly as a way to generate more revenue. It's a bullshit law, and I've been meaning to start up a PAC specifically to lobby for it's repeal. But I needed more information. I wanted to find out who drafted and sponsored this bill, who voted for it, and how much money the state is collecting from the citizenship as a result of this.

Having 2 years intimate experience with a state institution (SUNY Buffalo), and the machinations a person has to go through to get the simplest things done, I fully expect this trip to be an exercise in futility. I'm sure the civil servants of New York State will be working their hardest at what they do best, which is being the most difficult and uncooperative SOB curmudgeons they can be. Under the pretense of serving the public interest, the primary motivation of Public Officials is to do as little work as possible, and get you out of their face as fast as they can. This means the run-around, feigning ignorance, and downright incivility.

I've lined up a place to crash off couchsurfing up in Troy (5 miles northeast of central Albany) with this dude who seems alright. Lets see how it goes.