Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Political lawn signs cleared from Allegheny County land

I am NOT doing lawn signs. I am doing CDs and artisitc buttons.
Political lawn signs cleared from Allegheny County land: "The signs had sprouted like wild weeds over the last few days.

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Political lawn signs cleared from Allegheny County land

Tuesday, May 03, 2005
By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With spring in full bloom, you would expect Allegheny County public works employees to be out clearing unwanted vegetation. Only in this case, the brush took the form of brightly colored political lawn signs.

County crews yesterday removed about 16 such signs from county-owned vacant land Downtown where the jail annex once stood. The signs had sprouted like wild weeds over the last few days.

Eight different candidates for county Common Pleas Court judge were represented on the placards, most of which were planted at the corner of Ross Street and Third Avenue.

County Solicitor Michael Wojcik said he recommended the removal of the signs after seeing them at the annex site yesterday morning.

"That is public land, and they shouldn't be there," he said. "Hopefully, those signs will be down today."

A county policy prohibits political advertising on county-owned land. As workers come across the signs, they are removed and the candidate is contacted as to where he or she can pick them up.

The county will be sending a letter to the campaigns of the candidates whose signs were removed yesterday to let them know where they can be retrieved.

Several of the candidates said they had no idea how their signs ended up on county-owned land.

"All I can do is plead innocence," said city Controller Tom Flaherty, who is running for judge. He said he didn't put it there and had no idea who did.

Candidate Jack McVay said he personally removed his sign yesterday afternoon after seeing it in the annex lot in the morning. He said he wasn't sure who put it up.

Another candidate, lawyer Anthony Mariani, said he has told his campaign workers not to put signs on public property because they usually end up getting removed.

"We have a lot of people putting up signs. I guess people get a little enthusiastic," he said.