Blue State Blues

Tuesday, I ran a story about a Federal Judge’s having ruled that Secretary of State Jesse White had to issue “Choose Life” license plates, if 850 people wanted them.

I headlined my story,

Jack Franks Off the “CHOOSE LIFE” License Plate Hook

Thursday, Tribune columnist Eric Zorn writes that he is in favor of getting rid of all specialty plates.

Zorn doesn’t come right out and say, “Regiment them all,” but that would be the result.

No individuality at all.

And, why?

So pro-lifers in Illinois can’t demonstrate their commitment on their license plates.

I would suggest that we have a contest.

Let the pro-choicers pick any slogan they want for a license plate.

How about “Choice!”

Maybe they will give their money to adoption agencies, too.

Let’s see who can sell the most license plates.

But, before ending this article, let me quote Zorn’s the part about State Rep. Jack Franks:

"Law enforcement officials tell me over and over that they don't like [specialty plates]," said state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), who says he's proud to be the bottleneck denying applications as chairman of the House State Government Administration Committee. "They're confusing."

I have a related observation.

Have you ever noticed how many cars in Illinois don't have front license plates?

The logical suggestion was made to get rid of them. Lots of states have done that.

That would decrease the cost and increase the net tax take, since license fees surely would not be cut.

The law enforcement community made similar comments about front plates to me that they made to Franks about the specialty plates.

It would be harder to catch crooks.

I asked Algonquin Police Chief Russ Lane, who headed the police chiefs association at the time, I believe, to ask his board members, who favored front and back plates, to tell me how many citations they had issued for failure to have a front plate.

There were very, very few.

I reasoned that if the police thought front plates were important that they would surely write tickets to the large number who didn't have one.

The lack of enforcement led me to decide one back license plate was enough.

Since then, however, I've found a reason for two plates.

I saw a license plate reading device at work in a TV show about a Canadian police force testing it.

The device read the plates of cars on both the highway and in parking lots. While the news camera was on, the policeman found a stolen parked car. Since people park both ways in parking lots, for the device to work best, two plates would be needed.

But, back to the reason for this story--Jack Franks' commnents to Eric Zorn.

Ever since his first campaign in 1998, Franks has said he was “pro-choice.”

Franks has had an almost perfect pro-life voting record, however.

I figure he just wants to polish up his credentials with the pro-choice crowd.

That’s a must if one is ever going to run for statewide office.

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