Two state lawmakers tell bikers they have their support

State Representatives Matt Hudson and Tom Grady were preaching less government and more freedom to a choir that was loving what it was hearing.

The two attended the monthly meeting of Gator Alley Chapter ABATE, which met Sunday morning at Golden Gate VFW Post 7721. The acronyn stands for American Bikers Aimed Toward Education, or A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments. Both names and sentiments run strong.

Grady, a Republican whose district includes almost all of coastal Collier County, showed up on his own Harley Davidson.

Hudson, a Republican whose district includes a big piece of northern Collier and the western half of Broward County, is a Gator Alley Chapter ABATE member.

Grady in particular is in position to help ABATE get what it wants. As vice chair of the Criminal and Civil Justice Council, he will help run a committee through which an expected “stiffer penalties” bill must pass.

The bikers group wants stiffer penalties for drivers who commit right-of-way violations, sometimes the only charge a motorist at fault in a car-on-bike crash faces. That’s an $87 ticket.

“I’m tired of burying my brothers and sisters to preserve another’s right to drive stupid,” succinctly states one of the many slogans on Dave “Lockdown” Rich’s riding vest.

Rich is a member of ABATE’s state board and a Naples resident.

Both Hudson and Grady said they’ve supported stiffer penalties for those causing motorcycle crashes, and will again.

Grady said when he first ran in 2007, his platform was “the economy, the economy, the economy.”

“And that was 2007,” he said. “If you fast-forward to 2009, everyone knows the economy’s not better.”

Both men also pointed toward Washington, D.C., when talking about the ills of government. Grady said while Washington bickers over health-care reform, Florida needs jobs.

“Every poll, every person I talk to talks about jobs,” he said.

Hudson was pitching FLFreedom.org, where residents are stating their support for various approaches designed to keep the federal government out of the state’s business.