Posted on 07/18/2013 12:55:56 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
The Governor of Iowa's SUV was clocked at 84 MPH. A senior member of Iowa's police force called it in, but the SUV wasn't pulled over. He complained about the incident. He's now been fired.P Special Agent in Charge Larry Hedlund observed the SUV of Governor Terry Branstad going nearly 90 MPH on the highway. He was in a state owned vehicle, but called for an on-duty officer to pursue. Another officer clocked the SUV at 84 MPH, but didn't pull them over once he saw that another trooper was driving.P Hedlund complained to superiors about the incident and how it could have endangered public safety. Soon after, Hedlund was put on paid leave for an alleged rules violation, that being the use of a state-owned vehicle while off duty.P Hedlund was just fired after a two and a half month investigation this week. He was part of the Iowa police for 25 years. Hedlund says that the firing definitely had nothing to do with the alleged rules violation and was absolutely about calling for a pursuit of the Governor.P His lawyer said that he will appeal.P The Governor's office is reviewing the case and is also working on scheduling so they don't have to speed in the future. Seriously. That is a thing that was said.
Correct.
Republican.
“80% of the cars in the fast lane on the interstate go 80 or above. This is excessive speed at all in a rural state.”
Well, I live in texas; God Bless Texas. Anyway, here in the great state of Texas we have an 80mph speed limit on our remote rural interstate highways and some state highways. We even have a stretch of road down around Austin that has an 85mph speed limit. I’ve driven I-10 from Odessa to El Paso several times and the traffic moves fine with no problems. I just set my cruise at 84.9mph, pop open a Dr. Pepper and a bag of pig skins, recline my seat and enjoy the next four hours reading my Kindle. Suggest that the good folks of Iowa get with it and up their speed limit. Then, everyone can drive the same speed as their governor :)
I remember reading somewhere, long ago, that the Interstate system was originally designed for 85-mph traffic.
“80% of the cars in the fast lane on the interstate go 80 or above. This is excessive speed at all in a rural state.”
I live in Montana - when I’m on the Interstate I set my cruise control at 84 MPH.
It’s a common speed - and a big state.
Congestion permitting, the average speed of traffic on the DC beltway and surrounding highways is 70-75 MPH (55 limit); I can’t see 85 on a rural highway being a danger to public safety. Of course, the arbitrary rules that us peons ought to apply to the bosses as well, but I think this is just a smokescreen to try and get the guy’s job back for something unrelated.
1. 85 is not that fast. If it was 110, I could see his point.
2. This trooper wanted another trooper dispatched to pull over a car driven by a 3rd trooper at 85 mph.
Obviously he had an axe to grind.
"trots, runs, squirts, or diarrhea""
:P
The question I haven’t seen answered is whether the Guv’s SUV was in traffic or not. If there were a half dozen cars on this stretch of road going the same speed, then he obviously was targeted.
The Gov was not driving, and that speed is not outrageously unsafe for there. The speed limit on US 20 is 65 and 70MPH on I-35. During the day there might be 4-5 cars on a given mile around there on US20, and maybe 30 or so on I-35. Certainly not high traffic.
The Iowa Highway Patrol patrols it pretty tight around there, and partly because traffic is sparse enough, it is hard to blend in. Average speed is probably around 75.
With that said, anybody driving 84 there is going to get a ticket. Unless you are the driver of a governor. I didn't read the whole article, but the guy that got fired was driving his state vehicle, and tried pulling over the Gov's vehicle on his vacation day. Against their rules to drive a state vehicle on a vacation day.So he got run.
The Gov is a competent guy, but this looks bad, and I am not down with elected folks (or their proxies) driving like that.
Agreed. Out on I985 N of Atlanta I would likely have whizzed past the Gov at 85 MPH. :-)
As much as we all may hate to admit it sometimes the Governor of the state may have more pressing business than th rest of us plebes. If he has a trained police trooper driving him I say its none of our business how fast he goes.
The cop that got fired sounds a leetle anal to me. Or maybe a leetle Democrat.
“On a good road, in good weather, in daylight, in a car that is stable and doesn’t shake, rattle, or roll at that speed, it’s easy to creep up to 85 without even realizing it” That’s why I MUST use speed control. Darn Suzuki just loves to run.
Welcome to the People’s Republic of Amerika. Iowa is simply another province of the commie republic.
I have, on numerous occasions, written letters to various government agencies with details of high speed government (aka OUR) vehicles and the response has been mixed with the vast majority ignoring the letters or dismissing them.
I have on many occasions, clocked NYS Environmental Cops speeding home, (they live near me) at 20+ MPH over the speed limit. Their head gestapo agent at least showed up a couple of times to get the details.
Erie County (NY) Sheriffs have responded well.
NY State Storm Troopers are the worse at the state level but none can match the total arrogance of Federal agencies as DHS and a bunch of other federal government agencies completely ignored the letters.
He is a Republican; however, I wish he had a horn so the Chinese would poach him. The Tea party gave him a no as he raises taxes. Apparently while previously governor, his son got into a crash that killed 2 people but was given a $15 fine.
If you are going to stir up trouble, you need to make sure you are not using taxpayer-purchased cars for your personal use. Because if you are going to get fired for something, you want it NOT to be for something you can legally be fired for.
Meanwhile, does anybody really expect a cop is ever going to give a ticket to another cop who is driving fast?
And other than the stupid signs that say “70” on them, there is nothing on most highways that make driving 84 mph seem like a bad idea. Most of us could easily drive safely at 80mph on the typical interstate.
“Party affiliation missing. Democrat?”
To be honest I don’t care what the Party is....if they are an elected official they should operate within, not above the law.
As citizens it must become our role to change their behavior. Their behavior should not be the same as ours, but instead under much more scrutiny and transparency. They shouldn’t have secret license numbers. If they can’t accept it then don’t for office.
The pols vote in speed and redlight cameras in Iowa, and now we find out now that 3200 politicians aren’t accountable to them. Something is very wrong in the USA, and if we the people don’t start taking a stand on this double standard, then woe on us
In PA we had an axxhole Gov (we’ve had many of both Parties) named Rendell who typically drove the PA Turnpike at 100mph until the people found out it was him. If speed limits are good for the goose they need to be good for the gander.
If only we could be elites riding in taxpayer funded super-cars driven by taxpayer paid super cop drivers we could all drive 87mph with impunity and with competence. That's the real outrage of it all. It's about double standards for the "political elite sapsuckers".
The real standards should be more lenient favoring the taxpayers instead of the political hacks sucking on the taxpayer teats. Gov Branstad needs fired to set an example of ethics and a need for taxpayer friendly behavior. It disclosed that he signed in speed cameras too, but gave himself and 3200 others of his corrupt ilk immunity.
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