A Campbell family minivan has racked up five tickets for running red lights since 2010.
Most citizens would slow down. But Daphne Campbell isn’t like most citizens.
She’s a Democratic state representative who has another way to deal with future red-light tickets: file legislation to ban the traffic-surveillance cameras that shot video of her husband’s Honda Odyssey breaking traffic laws.
It could seem like a conflict of interest. But as long as a lawmaker’s bills don’t benefit him or her or a family member uniquely, it’s generally not a conflict of interest.
This is the state of ethics in the Florida Legislature. It’s a citizens’ legislature of 160 part-time lawmakers. They theoretically come from all walks of life and private professions.
This is representative democracy.
And Campbell, of Miami Shores, represents so much more in Miami-Dade.
Many citizens run red lights in Miami-Dade. Campbell is from Miami-Dade. And someone in her family ran red lights five times.
Miami-Dade is also a Medicaid fraud capital. Campbell and her husband own businesses that bill Medicaid. And the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began investigating them two years ago. Their son, 30-year-old Gregory Campbell, faces Medicaid fraud charges in an alleged $300,000 scheme.
Many in Miami-Dade have tax problems. Campbell is from Miami-Dade. And she and her husband last spring were slapped with $145,000 worth of liens. The IRS also began examining the Campbells over financial transactions involving a web of family healthcare businesses. Two former business associates told The Herald and IRS that the Campbells scammed them.
Miami-Dade has questionable mortgages..... and guess what?
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