Eyman Back At Work

According to story in the Seattle P.I. , Initiative King Tim Eyman — the guy many people love to hate — has what might actually be a common sense idea for taking money being collected from certain traffic fines and using it to help alleviate traffic congestion.

Eyman's proposed initiative would require local governments to spend the money it collects from red-light violation cameras on local projects specifically aimed at eliminating traffic congestion.

The local link here is that Bremerton has already approved installation of red-light cameras and is in the process of selecting the intersections where they'll be installed. The rub here is that the money the cameras will generate is supposed to pay for hiring new police officers.

While Eyman's proposed new initiative does have some merit and seems well-intentioned, I'm not too sure I'm comfortable with the idea of the state dictating how local government will spend its money — any more than it already does. Can you say "Unfunded Mandate?