Most Western Pennsylvanians don’t know the colorful, notorious history of Philadelphia Traffic Court. Nevertheless, they along with other state residents will have a say next Tuesday in whether it stays or goes.
All Pennsylvania voters — independents as well as Republicans and Democrats, who have party primaries on April 26 — will be asked a ballot question: “Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to abolish the Philadelphia Traffic Court?”
For anyone who believes in ethical government and untainted justice, the answer will be yes.
For four decades, Philadelphia’s traffic court made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In 1978 the president judge was indicted, and later convicted, of taking $32,000 in bribes and gifts. In the 1980s a ticket-fixing scheme involving $100,000 in illegal payoffs ended in the conviction of 12 people. A judge resigned in 2012 after a controversy that began when he showed cellphone photos of his penis to a female worker.
Finally, in 2013, three of the traffic court’s judges pleaded guilty to ticket fixing in exchange for gifts and four others were found guilty of lying to a grand jury or federal agents. In response to the latest scandal, the Legislature passed and Gov. Tom Corbett signed a measure that shut down the court. Its case work was transferred to Philadelphia Municipal Court, where judges, unlike those in traffic court, must be members of the bar.
All that remains is to officially remove Philadelphia Traffic Court, the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania, from the state constitution. The General Assembly has already approved the amendment, as required, in two consecutive legislative sessions.
Pennsylvanians can do it once and for all on Tuesday by voting Yes.
First Published: April 22, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
