Another Story Spiked By Gantt's Bum-Boys at the D&C

The New York Daily News ran this editorial on Tuesday -- and not a word about it or the underlying story in Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle.

Red light district

No one has done more to preserve, protect and defend gridlock in New York City than Assemblyman David Gantt, and Tuesday he made sure that bus riders are condemned to commuting at a crawl.

Gantt, who heads the Transportation Committee, led the panel in killing Mayor Bloomberg's plan to use cameras to ticket drivers who clog dedicated bus lanes. He had previously blocked the city from adding red-light and anti-speeding cameras.

For years, this Rochester Democrat has nuttily maintained that traffic-enforcement cameras represent an invasion of privacy to the public. But recently, Gantt began to suppress his fear of Big Brother after a friend and former aide landed an $80,000 lobbying job for an upstate red-light-camera company.

Now, Gantt is lead sponsor of a bill tailor-made to promote the technology of his pal's client - while blocking Bloomberg and elected officials in other jurisdictions from using cameras provided by different vendors.

This is Albany at its worst.