Regarding the rules of the road .. passing cars on the left when they are turning or pulling over is something i always do. I never even questioned it. There was a cycling guide I got from urbane a while back that actually said it was proper procedure. I know that a free cycling guide isn't the HTA but I seem to remember that the guide was blessed by the city.
Either way, I think with so much of these cases the law is pretty grey and if I ever get a ticket for something like that I will take it to court.
One thing I learned from my years of riding motorcycles in this city .. with cops it's all got to be "yes sir" and "thank you sir" and zero attitude or sarcasm. The time to plead your case is in court, not usually at the side of the road. That being said, I think they primarily target simple things to enforce like no lights, running reds, stop signs etc. You can't really argue that stuff. Cops don't know the HTA as well as most people think I gather, not to mention that the odds of you winning in court for something like passing on the left .. I doubt they would bother. That's why cagers get nailed with speeding tickets more than anything else. hard to defend. Cops generally go for the low hanging fruit IME.