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Tampa Council Targets Illegal Campaign Signs

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2009

They sprout from the ground during every election, turning grass plots lining the city's sidewalks, roads and right-of-ways into a landscape of political pulpits.

For years, the city has had laws restricting the size of campaign signs and prohibiting candidates for office from staking them on public property. While fines can be levied, code enforcers typically just scoop up the illegal signs and toss them in the trash.

That bothers several city council members, who want tougher penalties for violators.

"We're not trying to limit free speech or First Amendment rights, we just want candidates to follow the laws that we have on the books," said Councilman John Dingfelder.

Council members are expected to discuss the issue at a workshop tomorrow, when they will ask the Iorio administration to consider tougher restrictions before the next election.

"Candidates will start paying attention if they get fined," Dingfelder said.

Campaigns receive information about local codes when they qualify to run. But it's rarely the candidate or campaign manager out slapping signs into the soil. Rather, friends and volunteers pour out, sometimes overzealously, trying to spread the candidate's name.

Sometimes the signs steal headlines from the candidates themselves.

Ahead of the 2006 election, the Republican Party of Florida posted two giant posters touting Charlie Crist as "the people's governor" on buildings in downtown Tampa.

Although they were on private property, the signs violated Tampa's size restrictions, which prohibit anything larger than 2 x 4 feet from being posted within the city limits.

Chronic violators are seldom fined because of the time needed to investigate a code enforcement case, Dingfelder said. That's something the council wants to see changed.

"They use the normal code enforcement process, which takes way too long," he said. "By the time they've gathered enough evidence for a case, the election is over."

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679

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