Slum Times Slime Job

We weren't going to cover this. Hundreds, even thousands of people break state laws every single day. Tens of thousands get away with it. Those unlucky few who get caught usually pay a fine, which is what happened in this case (disclosure - we have a casual e-mail relationship with Mr. Vandermyde and support his efforts via the NRA):

• After a state conservation officer ticketed the National Rifle Association’s Illinois lobbyist last December for breaking a hunting law, the gun-rights advocate dutifully paid his $120 fine.
  
  But Todd Vandermyde, one of Springfield’s most powerful and effective lobbyists, didn’t stop there.
  
  A month later, he worked with one legislator to rewrite the law he broke

The Sun Times makes this seem like some sinister effort on the part of Vandermyde to get away with something. And what law was broken? Transporting an uncased crossbow on an ATV. Wow. The citation doesn't say it was loaded, the citation doesn't say it was cocked. Just that it was uncased. Reporter Dave McKinney makes the allegation that it was loaded, but we've seen nothing to indicate that (yes, we have the FOIA request that was provided to the reporter.)

McKinney then finds someone to badmouth Vandermyde (aside from the Conservation cops who say Vandermyde was "rude"):

• “Look, I like Todd. I do, in spite of myself,” said state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, a gun-control advocate and a lead architect of the state’s same-sex marriage law. “But if I got a ticket and changed the law because I got a ticket, people would be screaming bloody murder. I don’t think it’s any different when someone with the level of influence and access that he has does it, too,” she said.

It's hard to believe this woman is a Chicago politician - her words rang a few memory bells with us. In fact, just last month we wrote about one particular aldercreature who is trying to change the speed camera law because she has a lead foot.

And then we remembered another aldercreature, the father-in-law to a jailed governor who managed to change a law for a one-day open window to register a number of GUNS that he owned. That ordinance benefited one and only one citizen -Dick Mell.

And Rep. Casidy happens to be the "lead architect" of a law that directly benefits her and her same-sex partner - imagine that. Hypocrisy - thy name is "Illinois democrat."

According to Mr. Vandermyde, he wasn't attempting to do any of that. His complaint about the ticket wasn't that he was caught with an uncased crossbow - he was and paid the fine - his issue is with the government coming onto private property without a warrant and in violation of the Fourth Amendment. And as he is a person who is intimately familiar with most, if not all, of the Constitutional Amendments and how they affect our every day lives, his statements to that end carry quite a bit more weight that a political opportunist who is more than a little interested in taking away your and our Rights. In light of the Obama administration's complete disregard for the rule of law along with the NSA scandal and the ever intrusive eye of government in every aspect of our lives, this is a good idea.

And the Slum Times is just looking for opportunities to smear those types of people.