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FCPC ALERT #2006-2
www.FairfaxCountyPrivacyCouncil.org
Originally Published on 5 February 2006
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This message is intended for members of the Fairfax County Privacy Council,
and anyone else who might be interested in advancing privacy in Virginia.
Maximum dissemination of this message is encouraged!
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ALERT ITEM SUMMARY:
1. FFX BoS Chairman
Connolly errs in attack on Sen. Devolites Davis' cell
phone vote
2. Take action against vehicle black box spy bills
3. Judge rules
4. Privacy Quote: “…I should invite you to all the funerals.”
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1. FFX BoS
Chairman Connolly errs in attack on Sen. Devolites
Davis' cell phone vote
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On the morning of 4 February 2006 before a packed town meeting at Mt. Vernon
High School, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Gerry Connolly (D) gave a
speech generally criticizing the General Assembly meeting now in Richmond as
failing to understand the needs of localities and specifically attacking
Senator Jeannemarie Devolites
Davis (R-Vienna) for voting against a teen “cell phone” ban bill patroned by Senator Jay O’Brien (R-Clifton). Connolly
claimed that Devolites Davis’ vote was “the deciding
vote” to kill the “cell phone” ban bill because she said that the bill would
lead to police “harassment of teens.”
Connolly’s speech was eloquent as usual, but factually incorrect.
For starters, Senator Devolites Davis voted with the
majority of the Senate Transportation Committee to PASS Senator O’Brien’s SB137
to ban teen use of cell phones while driving, including making this a “primary
offense,” allowing police to pull over any driver using as cell phone if the
police officer has probable cause to believe that the driver might be a
provision driver (a VA licensed driver under 18 years of age). Even
though the bill passed as a primary offense, Senator O’Brien told the committee
that he expects to, at best, get the House of Delegates to pass the bill this
year only if he agrees them to make teen cell phone use a secondary
offense. In other words, the “primary offense” aspect of the bill seems
to be a bit of a bargaining chip in bi-cameral politics.
And while is true that Devolites Davis DID vote
against SB533, a bill to both ban teen driver cell phone use AND make ALL
current provisional license violations (i.e., driving after curfew or with too
many young passengers) primary offenses, this vote did nothing at all to
invalidate her previous vote **for SB137** to ban teen driver cell phone use as
a primary offense.
Davis Devolites’ did not object to making teen driver
offenses primary because it would lead to “police harassment.” She simply
noted that making ALL of the teen driver offenses
primary would lead to widespread and unnecessary police detentions of young
adults, like her daughter who will soon turn 18 yet will “look the same.”
Besides, SB533 was “dead on arrival" in the House of Delegates anyway.
Interestingly, over the past few months, Chairman Connolly “has denounced [Devolites Davis’ husband Representative Tom] Davis”
(R-Fairfax County) for his opposition to DC Metro’s proposed sale of Metro land
to encourage high density growth in Fairfax County (see “Metro Postpones Vienna
Land Sale: Rep. Davis Threatened To Withhold Funds Without More Input,” The
Washington Post, by Lisa Rein, October 21, 2005; p. B01 at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/20/AR2005102002106.html).
TAKE ACTION:
Thank Senator Devolites Davis for voting against
primary offense legislative overkill!
Suggested Message to district34@sov.state.va.us:
SUBJECT: Thanks for holding the line against unnecessary primary
offenses!
Dear Senator Devolites Davis:
Thank you for voting against SB533 to make all teen driver offenses “primary!”
Many or most young adults, including parents of young children, easily look
like they might be under 18 years of age when they are driving a vehicle.
In some localities, political pressure on the police will cause widespread
detention and unnecessary invasion of privacy of these adult drivers.
Secondary offenses are valuable because they send strong policy signals without
wasting the time of police who have better things to do than pull people over
for nanny state violations.
Please continue to oppose pollution of our motor vehicle code with unnecessary
primary offenses.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
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2. Take action against vehicle
black box spy bills
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In a rarely exercised parliamentary maneuver on Friday 3 February 2006, House
Majority Leader William Howell (R-Fredericksburg) referred HB816 patroned by Delegate Joe May (R-Leesburg) to the House of
Delegates Courts of Justice Committee for a closer look.
As some Delegates realized late last week, HB816 appears to be a “wolf in
sheep’s clothing” because while it provides that vehicle black boxes (which
record driver’s actions while driving) would be declared to be the property of
the vehicle owner, the bill was riddled with exceptions that allow insurance
companies an the police access to the box without any due process or court
order!
There are more vehicle black box bills zooming about the General Assembly right
now. These bills seriously implicate the fundamental privacy rights of
motorists and vehicle owners and the future of freedom to travel in
TAKE ACTION:
Send a message to Chairmen of the General Assembly Courts of Justice Committees
and leaderships of both houses to SLOW DOWN on the legalization of vehicle black
box spying!
Suggested message to: DelDAlbo@house.state.va.us,
district08@sov.state.va.us, DelBHowell@house.state.va.us, DelMGriffith@house.state.va.us,
DelFHall@house.state.va.us, DelSLandes@house.state.va.us, DelBMoran@house.state.va.us, district28@sov.state.va.us, district12@sov.state.va.us, district35@sov.state.va.us, district31@sov.state.va.us
SUBJECT: Slow down on legalization of vehicle black box spying!
Dear General Assembly Leadership and Chairmen of the House and Senate Courts of
Justice Committees:
I have read that HB816 and other bills may soon legalize vehicular black box
spying by insurance companies and the police without due process and court
order. This is unacceptable.
Please slow down and ensure that these bills get a thorough review by each
house’s Courts of Justice Committee so that the bills can be corrected to
ensure that insurance companies and the police cannot access vehicle black
boxes without due process and court order.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME
YOUR ADDRESS
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3. Judge rules Richmond violated
law in privacy related FOIA lawsuit
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FCPC Chairman Mike Stollenwerk won a lawsuit last week against Mayor Wilder and
the City of Richmond for their refusal to respond to his September 2005 Freedom
of Information Act request seeking documents related to an apparent conspiracy
by the City of Richmond and a private corporation known as CityCelebrations.org
to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of persons on public streets at the
September 2005 "Second Street Festival" in Richmond.
Richmond Circuit Court Chief Judge Markow issued a
ruling finding the City of
Ultimately the City of
FCPC has gained at least one new member from Richmond who joined after seeing
NBC12's coverage of the hearing, writing that something be done to stop all
unlawful searches by CityCelebrations.org in Richmond when they hold events on
public property because "I watched them [CityCelebrations.org] search
ladies purses, diaper bags, even the canvas sleeves that people carry folding
chairs in. I watched them turn away people for possession of a
camera."
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4. Privacy Quote: “…I should
invite you to all the funerals"
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“You’re dangerous. I ought to
invite you to all the funerals.” –Delegate Harry Purkey
(
Source: FCPC member Jim Kadison. Kadison claims that immediately after defeat of all 3 house
photo-red light camera surveillance bills on
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Questions, or to be added/deleted from future Alerts? Contact Mike
Stollenwerk atFCPCChairman@cox.net.