February 16, 2009

Pay for pray: Crime fighting churches

Muckrakin' columnist Dan Bice in this morning's Journal-Sentinel sez political expediency led to State Sen. Lena Taylor's catching a break on a traffic ticket last month (the citation was since reinstated).

"Sounds a little like a quid pro quo," Bice speculates, the quid being the cops cutting the senator some slack on the citation and the quo Taylor's promise to continue supporting ... the MPD 3rd District's "faith-based initiative."

Earlier on the day of the alleged infraction, Dan Bice can now reveal, Sen. Taylor (D-4th) met with MPD brass and "a group of ministers" with a view to getting local churches to help "fight crime."

It's unclear whose terminology is "faith-based initiative"; it seems to be Bice's. I have a feeling the community program is considerably more benign than that constitutionally loaded description implies.

Perhaps Mr. Bice should clarify.

Correction: "Faith Based Initiative" is how Capt. Edith Hudson described the program. So Bice did clarify and I missed it. My bad.

Still, I wonder what relationship — if any — it has to the somewhat more notorious, or controversial, federal executive programs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think she may be charged with misuse of public office.