Pennsylvania township drops campaign-sign fee
By The Associated Press
10.21.02
ERIE, Pa. — Officials in a small Pennsylvania town have agreed to stop plucking campaign signs from residents' front yards and to lift limits on how long the signs can stand.
The agreement ends a dispute between Harborcreek Township, an Erie suburb of 14,000, and Green Party congressional candidate AnnDrea Benson. Benson is challenging Republican incumbent Phil English to represent the Erie area.
Harborcreek had required candidates to buy a $50 permit for the signs and mandated they go up no earlier than a month before an election and come down no later than two weeks after the election.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the township on behalf of Benson and one of her supporters, Donna Cramer, saying the bond violated free speech and the township had little power over a resident's private property.
Harborcreek had countered that other candidates complied with the bond, which was commonly used by municipalities to cover the cost of cleanup after an election, and the township often returned the money.
U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin of Erie imposed a restraining order Oct. 8 that barred Harborcreek from taking Benson's signs while he considered whether the ordinance was unconstitutional.
Under the consent decree the township and the ACLU signed Oct. 17, Harborcreek can limit the size of signs and prohibit signs from going up in parks or other public land. The decree ends the lawsuit.
Benson said she hoped that the filing of the lawsuit would dissuade other towns that have similar ordinances.
"I hope they will notice this and come to the same conclusion," Benson said.