Fred Camillo won’t even sniff before stepping in it

Untroubled by thought, Fred Camillo is taken for a walk

Our local Republican representative to Hartford, Fred Camillo, posted on his Facebook page an announcement that he’s found time, after permanently preventing another mass shooting and stopping the abuse of pets, to turn his attention to the third-largest threat to Connecticut, distracted driving.

I am not – NOT – interested in a discussion of the merits of more laws on this topic:- that’s for another day. My point, for this post, is that my suggestion to Freddie that he look at actual data before legislating new laws that possibly were not needed was met by the universal response of politicians everywhere: don’t confuse me with facts, my mind’s made up. All I asked was that he look at what he was proposing to regulate before regulating it. No such luck, and no wonder our state’s in the mess that it is: Fred has 186 people just like him up in Hartford, deciding our fate.

Here’s the kick-off:

• Chris Fountain Two recent studies ** you might want to consider before spending more of our tax dollars on this: one, from Australia, found zero correlation between cellphone use and accidents (the researchers called the results of their study “counter-intuitive”, and I suppose they are), the other, by the Insurance Institute of America, found that the biggest cause of “distracted driving” accidents, by far, was not cellphone use or texting, it was daydreaming. Ban thought?

   
• 

  Fred Camillo Well, Chris….having been hit by one, I disagree with you. It is a huge problem, one that cost the life of a local man jogging last year. As far as daydreaming, yes, I am sure that happens, too, but that is not our charge, nor will this study cost too much in the way of ” tax dollars”, as the task force members aren’t being paid extra for this.

  Chris Fountain But Fred, we already have enough laws and regulations on the books based on anecdotal “evidence” and guessed-at solutions; don’t add to them unnecessarily, is all I suggest. Do your study, but do your study.

•  
• 

  Fred Camillo Chris….I respect the difference of opinion on this, but have to go by what I see, and what law enforcement tells us. And yes, there are many laws and regulations that should be revisited and ultimately erased from the books. I totally agree with you on that, but this issue is one that is costing lives and ruining even more each day. I don’t think it is being based on anecdotal evidence, but on reality. The answer may be technological, but just as we don’t see people driving around with open containers of beer the way we used to, we must also discourage this cultural phenomenon that is threatening to be even more deadly. We take your position often on the floor of the House and Senate, but there are times when laws are needed. I believe this is one of those times

*Cell phone use may not cause accidents.

**Day dreaming is the top cause of distracted driving accidents, not cell phones, not texting.

I wish him well, but also, politically, adios

And so, as I pass into my next career, I wish all of my former supporters adieu. Now it’s off to be a Democrat.

State rep Fred Camillo has thyroid cancer, I’m sorry to learn, (from his own announcement, and certainly not some private information).  Fred’s an amiable guy, albeit with a terrible taste in sweaters, so I hope he recovers and flourishes.

But in the same article discussing his cancer Camillo says that he regrets being unable to vote in favor of today’s latest round in gun confiscation. I’m aware of a number of people who have supported Camillo’s political ambitions in the past. I rather suspect the ones I know will do so no longer. Certainly I won’t.

Freddie’s got a seemingly bomb proof sinecure here in town, but that security comes from a Republican base. Alienating a large portion of that base and ensuring that they stay home on election day will open the way for a Democrat to oust him.

Dunce.

Recycling money

Our garbage is now worthless, making recycling a money-losing proposition. Cardboard that sold for $250 a ton just a year ago now sells for $50, according to an NPR article this morning, “if it can be sold at all”. The stuff’s piling up in warehouses, unwanted, all across our fair land, so this State Legislator’s observations struck me as ignorant and misguided – in other words, typical.

(From the Greenwich Post, which doesn’t provide links to its articles – smart, eh?)

State Rep. Alfred Camillo Jr. toured the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA)’s Single Stream Facility in Hartford last week, calling the technology “the way of the future.”

Single-stream recycling is the process in which paper and cardboard may be mixed with bottles and cans in a single recycling bin. Since single-stream recycling permits collection using 64-gallon wheeled barrels rather than the 14-gallon bins currently in use, people may now recycle more material.

Previously, all recyclables delivered to CRRA had to be separated, with newspaper, junk mail, cardboard and other paper products brought to one portion of the facility, and bottles, cans, jars and other containers brought to another portion.

CRRA sells recyclables to companies on the open market and those companies then turn them into new product. The Hartford facility is taking single-stream deliveries from 59 cities and towns, with qualifying municipalities receiving rebates.

“It makes it much easier for citizens to participate, incorporates more materials and has proven to be a huge success in the places it has been implemented around the nation,” Mr. Camillo said of single stream recycling. “If protecting the environment as well as becoming more financially efficient are the goals we are striving for, this concept is a winner.”

“While we are in dire economic times, the $6 million needed to retrofit the Bridgeport facility is an expenditure that will pay big dividends down the road,” he added. “We need to find that money at some point to allow us to go to the next level in recycling.” [emphasis added]

How far down the road does Camillo suggest we look? And why is it that, despite every new expenditure that we’re promised will save money “down the road” like health preventive mandates and the like, health care costs keep soaring? Where are the savings we’ve been promised all these decades?

UPDATE: See the comments for Mr. Camillo’s response.