PARKING-TICKET FRAUD IN WASHINGTON, D.C. If there’s really a pattern of writing fraudulent tickets in order to raise money — and I’m pretty sure that there is, as I recall watching a D.C. meter maid ticket legally parked cars back in the 1980s, hitting only the ones with non-DC plates — would a civil RICO suit be appropriate?

I once got a ticket in D.C. for “driving through a flashing yellow light.” I won in court with the novel argument that doing that isn’t against the law. But I had to go, and I’m guessing a quota-driven officer was just hoping I’d pay the fine and not show up. The judge did fuss at him some, which was something.