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Prominent Illinois Democrat Hit With Bribery Charges Linked To Red-Light Camera Scheme

With both parties campaigning ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, it seems that the hits just keep coming for the Democratic party. Just over the last week, Joe Biden claimed that the COVId-19 pandemic was over and he would send troops to fight China if they decided to invade Taiwan. Not to mention that his son, Hunter Biden, continues to make headlines as Republicans want an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings with China.

If that wasn’t enough, it appears that a renowned Democrat in Illinois is now facing bribery charges surrounding a red-light camera investigation.

According to Fox News [1], State Senator Emil Jones is being accused of accepting bribes from a company that provided red-light cameras to the city. The cameras gave local law enforcement the ability to send motorists speeding tickets and traffic violations. The outlet added, “In early 2019, Jones introduced Senate Bill 1297, which would require the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to conduct a statewide study of automated traffic law enforcement systems, which included red-light cameras. Later that year, Jones offered to protect one specific red-light camera from the legislation in exchange for a bribe, according to court filings made public Tuesday.”

Although the company is never listed, Fox News reported that the company involved is SafeSpeed LLC. It appears the news outlet might be right, as the company released a statement on Tuesday suggesting a former employee was “engaged in criminal conduct and recruited outside individuals to help further his self-serving activities. Their actions were clearly in their own self-interest and done without SafeSpeed’s knowledge and undercut the important work SafeSpeed does.”

The statement included, “SafeSpeed built its business on integrity and ethics, and it holds its employees and representatives to the highest standards of conduct and ethics. SafeSpeed has long since terminated all contact with its former colleague and his associates. SafeSpeed remains committed to continuing to assist Illinois municipalities in improving traffic safety. SafeSpeed fully supports the federal government’s investigation into public corruption and will continue to aid their efforts in any way it can.”

Again, the last few months have been somewhat hard for the Democrats as other members like Nevada Public Administrator Robert Telles was arrested for the murder of Jeff German, a journalist who was reporting on his affair. Glenn Cook, the executive editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal said, “The arrest of Robert Telles is at once an enormous relief and an outrage for the Review-Journal newsroom. We are relieved Telles is in custody and outraged that a colleague appears to have been killed for reporting on an elected official. Journalists can’t do the important work our communities require if they are afraid a presentation of facts could lead to violent retribution.”

This piece was written by Jeremy Porter on September 21, 2022. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com [2] and is used by permission.