I've noted several times that when it comes to traffic cameras, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams was more interested in revenue than safety. Mayor Williams has admitted it himself several times, but he also usually played up the safety angle as well. But recently the Mayor was caught in an unusual moment of candor reports the Washington Times.

In a memo to the D.C. City Council, Williams pleaded with the council to continue the traffic camera program because there was an "urgent need" for revenue. He never once mentioned the word safety.

"There is an urgent need for the approval of this contract to ensure the continued processing of District tickets and the collection of District revenues," Mr. Williams wrote in a Dec. 16 letter to D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp. [...]

A spokeswoman for Mr. Williams yesterday said that the mayor's views about red light and speed cameras haven't changed and that he probably should have included "an extra sentence about public safety" in his letter to Mrs. Cropp.

"The mayor has always felt that with the red-light cameras and the other equipment we use to catch people who are speeding, safety is our foremost goal," said Sharon Gang, spokeswoman for Mr. Williams. "He's never varied from that."

Safety is so important that he completely forgot to mention it. She can't come up with a better excuse than that?

I would have said that Williams was simply speaking to the Council in a language they understand.