Massachusetts Bill

BOSTON—Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing changes to the state's motorcycle laws, including bills designed to ease the requirement that riders wear helmets.

Current law requires all riders and passengers to wear protective head gear, except those participating in parades.

One proposed change would lift the helmet requirement for riders and passengers over the age of 21. Another would exempt riders whose motorcycles are registered in a state without a helmet law.

Other bills would ban children under 5 from riding on a motorcycle traveling more than 30 miles an hour, ban the sale of exhaust pipes designed to make motorcycles louder and prohibit cars from passing through groups of two or more motorcycles.

The bills are the subject of a Wednesday public hearing by the Transportation Committee at the Statehouse.

For more information on how you can get involved, please contact the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association (www.massmotorcycle.org).

Fallen Hero

We have lost a champion in the fight for our right to decide. John Del Santo, resident of San Diego, CA passed away earlier this week. John was the pillar of ABATE Local 6 as well as a member of BOLT of California.

We'll miss you, and carry on with the same resolve you showed us with your words and deeds. RIP my friend.

VA Election Results

The 2011 elections for the State Senate and House of Delegates were held on NOV 8, 2011. Many thanks to all our campaign volunteers who made a difference.

As usual, there were some gains and losses regarding repeal supporters, as well as a couple of close elections in general ... so close in fact, the results aren't even listed as "official" yet. And as always, most of the incumbents won reelection, with a few important exceptions.

The big news is that the State Senate is now tied at 20-20 between the Republicans and Democrats. That means any tie votes will be settled by the Lieutenant Governor, Bill Bolling ... who just happens to be a Republican. There will surely be new committee assignments as well, and we'll keep an eye out for who ends up on the Senate Transportation Committee.

Here are some race highlights:

 STATE SENATE 

SD-13 (Leesburg) now has our old friend, former Delegate Dick Black [R], in the winner's circle. Even though his campaign spending was closely matched by his rival, Shawn Mitchell {D}, Dick carried the election by over 5,000 votes. Since bikers have helped him many times in the past, I'm sure his door at the capitol will always be open for us.

SD-17 (Fredericksburg) was the closest senate race, and widely credited with tipping the State Senate out of Democratic control. The pro-repeal incumbent Ed Houck {D} lost to Bryce Reeves [R] by a slim 86 votes. We don't know where Reeves stands on the helmet law, so this district is code-yellow until we find out.

SD-21 (Roanoke) featured a battle between two legislators on opposite sides of the helmet law. Unfortunately for us, anti-repeal incumbent John Edwards {D} won this race by more than 4,500 votes over his rival, former Delegate Dave Nutter [R]. It looks like campaign funds made all the difference in this race.

SD-22 (Lynchburg) was won by pro-repeal Thomas Garrett [R], despite being far out-funded by his rival Bert Dodson {D}. I believe Tony T was involved with this race, so we earned some good will for the next four years (and hopefully many more) in this senate district.

SD-36 (Mount Vernon) still belongs to Toddy Puller {D}, despite our hope that former Delegate Jeff Frederick would turn this into a pro-repeal district. Fortunately, Puller is older than dirt and looked pretty wobbly the last time I saw her. Keep an eye out for a special election in this district, because four years is a long time.


 HOUSE OF DELEGATES 

HD-12 (Blacksburg) is noteworthy only because it came down to 522 votes. We don't have any Campaign Action Alert subscribers in the area, and haven't a clue where the winner, Joseph Yost [R] stands on the helmet law. But being a close race, he may face a strong challenger in 2013.

HD-87 (Chantilly) is another squeaker, currently with David Ramadan [R] leading his rival Mike Kondratick {D} by only 50 votes. Again, no indication of where either candidate stands on repeal. This may be another district to watch in 2013.

HD-93 (Williamsburg) was a fairly narrow defeat for our ally, Robin Abbott {D}, who lost by 480 votes. We helped Robin win two years ago, and we can use as many friends as we can get from the left side of the aisle. Sorry to see her go, and we can only hope that the winner, Michael Watson [R], will vote our way on repeal.

Sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to everyone who worked on the campaign trail this election. In addition to the usual suspects (Steve S, Tony T, John B), there are undoubtedly others who pitched in, or supported those that did. You are making a difference. If you can spare a little time between now and when the next session gets underway, please let me know how it went. I'm always looking for good news to share, as well as any lessons learned along the way.

And speaking of the next session, it's time to get our ducks in a row regarding the next bill(s). While repealing any part of the mandatory helmet law is a good thing, the Repeal Machine depends on knowing where the legislators stand on the issue.

At this stage, getting a vote count is the most important thing to do. A bill on helmet penalties is more likely to make it to a full vote, and we haven't gotten a fresh update to the vote count since Senator Chap Petersen's bill back in 2008 (SB698).

Thanks again, and best of luck during the next session.

Distracted Bikers

The latest Michigan helmet law repeal bill is all over the news.

It's definitely on bikers' minds, too. There has been a "call to action" making the rounds, encouraging bikers to take part in an on-line poll on the helmet law.

(No, I'm not posting a link.)

Bikers certainly want to do all they can to win the repeal battle. But are they actually making any difference by taking part in an on-line poll? So I asked a simple question, "If we win the poll, do we get some kind of prize?"

The answer I got was pretty straight-forward. "Someone might show the poll results to the governor." While this might happen, it will have no effect on the outcome. Here's why:

Governor Snyder isn't going to sign or veto this bill based on an unscientific on-line poll, especially where one side can run up the numbers. He's going to make a practical decision base primarily on who his friends and enemies are, as well as his gut feelings.

On-line polls are for entertainment purposes, which is stated by the poll takers themselves. And entertaining they are. When they ask a controversial question, a lot of people visit their website (including bikers in this case). That drives up their website hit counter, which increases their advertising rates.

So yes, bikers are having a big impact. Just not where they intended.

The irony is that bikers actually could have taken action AND gotten results. While the keyboard commandos were running up the advertising rates for the poll-takers, a couple of special elections were taking place in Michigan.

The results speak for themselves.

One pro-repeal candidate lost his Michigan seat by 147 votes. About 15 campaign volunteers would have made up the difference. And he just happened to be a friend of (you guessed it) Governor Snyder. His friend.

In the other special election, there's no telling where any of the candidates stood on repeal. And in both of these elections, the bikers who were totally consumed with taking the on-line poll were not a factor.

But they had fun, so at least they got something out of it.

Election Day is Done

Another election day has run its course for four states, plus about a half-dozen others that held special elections. All candidates have crossed the finish line, either in first place or no place.

We'll be posting the results soon. Probably not a whole lot to report, since most biker activists were not a factor in who won or lost. Fortunately there are a few exceptions to the rule, thanks to a few exceptional bikers who rode the campaign trail.

Once the results are tallied, I'll send a final update to Campaign Action Alert subscribers in all the states that held elections. And for the first time since I got this whole operation off the ground, there won't be any elections going on.

Maybe I'll take a much needed break. NOT!

RepealMachine@gmail.com