Chicago DUI lawyer revisits government seizures of citizens' vehicles

Last week, I posted on how an Illinois DUI arrest could cause the government to take your car.   I really didn't think they would take your car and give it to a government worker:

April 30, Springfield, IL

The Illinois State Police had a gem on its hands after a January 2007 traffic stop. 

Troopers seized a gleaming muscle car: a 2006 Dodge Charger, boasting a “Hemi” V-8 engine that blasts from zero to 60 in five seconds before topping out at 165 mph, with fewer than 12,000 miles. 

But instead of using the car to snare lead-footed drivers or selling it to raise money for the state budget, officials assigned it to the director of the State Police Merit Board, according to interviews and a review of records by The Associated Press. 

Merit Board director Ronald Cooley isn’t a cop and doesn’t chase bad guys. 

Cooley, 56, took over the $98,220 job in January 2008. He said he asked the state police last summer if they had an extra vehicle because the board’s 1995 van broke down. Cooley had previously driven a 2001 Chevrolet Blazer, which the agency still uses. 

He drives the Charger between his office and Petersburg home, for local work assignments and for a handful of out-of-town state business trips. The state pays for gas, he said, but money is deducted from his check quarterly for income taxes for the car, a taxable fringe benefit. He said he does not use it for personal errands.

The Charger was seized under a 2006 law targeting repeat drunken drivers. Many vehicles are ultimately returned to the owner or lien-holder, and most of those forfeited to the state police are auctioned. 

Well, there you have it. Do you think the best use of your tax-paying dollars is to permit this government worker to drive the vehicle?