This just seems like the increasingly common 'above the law' attitude that seems to come from more and more of our elected officials these days. The fact that he hasn't had any speeding tickets since 1994, shortly before his 3rd term as governor, proabbly has more to do with the fact that he either manipulated the system to avoid them, or maybe stopped doing his own driving. In either case, it is pretty clear that this guy routinely ran a stop sign at a blind intersection without so much as slowing down. That is not only stupid, but clearly criminal. A shame he didn't suffer greater injuries to teach him a lesson. You'd think that after the first near miss, he would have learned that just because it is a rural area, he can't rely on the improbability of an accident to keep him out of trouble. Or maybve he was workign on the theory that an accident is so unlikely that having narrowly avoided one in December, it couldn't possibly happen again.
Meanwhile, I've seen folks in California get tickets for slowing down to 1 or 2mph at a stop sign but not coming to a complete halt. Never mind that they had ample time to determine that the intersection was free...they must come to a complete halt, according to the law (can you say 'revnue collection?'). Unless you're a congressman, I guess. Recently, I got a warning for stopping at a stop sign, but not putting my foot down, as though you can't possibly stop for a second or two without putting your foot on the ground.
Welcome to a decade of revenue collection by law enforcement agencies in California to make up our budget shortfall.