Candidates’ Faded Posters Remain at the Poles Long After the Election

Like memories of battles fought long ago, campaign posters faded by the sun and rain remain scattered throughout the South Bay nearly two months after the June primary.

The tattered posters, which trumpet such virtues as competence, responsibility, commitment and respect, have become eyesores.

While most jurisdictions restrict where signs may be placed and require candidates to remove them by a certain time, city and county officials throughout the South Bay say many candidates have flouted their laws.

In the primary campaign, many signs were posted illegally on utility poles or on private property, officials said. And the signs that were removed often were taken down by city employees, not campaign workers.

At least two Southern California Edison Co. linemen have been injured this year when they fell after catching their climbing gear on nails left from campaign signs posted on utility poles.

‘May Have Missed Some’

Spokesmen for several candidates said the campaigns tried to obey the various ordinances but acknowledged that violations may have occurred.

“We may have missed taking some signs down,” said Robert Rule, a campaign consultant for Dana Rohrabacher, winner of the Republican primary in the 42nd Congressional District race. “The other day, I spotted a few as I was driving down the street, so I just took them down and put them in the back of my truck.”

After the election, some cities, such as Torrance, had crews take down campaign posters that violated city ordinances. Throughout the election, Edison employees combed the South Bay for signs illegally posted on utility poles. Officials for Torrance and Edison did not know how many posters were taken down but said it cost thousands of dollars in labor.

The sign laws in the different cities vary, as does the degree of enforcement:

In Torrance, which has a strict ordinance, if a sign is left on private property for more than 14 days after the election, the responsible party can be fined up to $500 and sentenced to 6 months in jail. But no one has been charged under the ordinance.

In Gardena, if a poster is on private land, it can stay up indefinitely.

In Lawndale, signs on public and private land must come down 30 days after the election.

In Redondo Beach, if city crews remove campaign posters, the city will bill the campaign about $1 per poster. In the last two years, the city has collected about $1,000, officials said.

In El Segundo, there are no ordinances regarding campaign posters.

In some cities, including Gardena and Torrance, city crews remove posters on public property after the campaign and simply notify the campaigns.

“It’s graffiti, that’s all it is,” said Tom Porter, area manager for Edison. “It’s the defacing of public and private property.”

City officials agreed that while some politicians are bigger violators of the ordinances than others, every campaign violated the rules during the primary.

“State and federal candidates are the ones who are most apt to give us trouble,” said Monte McElroy, environmental quality administrator for Torrance, who added that local candidates tend to be more sensitive to sign regulations.

Four city employees spent one day taking down signs posted illegally or left more than 14 days after the election, McElroy said.

L.A. Plans Amendment

The Los Angeles City Council is working on an amendment that would provide crews of four workers and two trucks to take down campaign ads. The crew would work year-round and respond to complaints by residents. The city would also bill the candidate $3.14 for each sign removed, said Bill Bradford, chief street use inspector.

While the laws vary in other respects, placing posters on private property without the consent of the owner is illegal in every South Bay city.

“I don’t know what I can do except post a 24-hour guard to keep them from putting those things up,” said Lawndale resident Stanley Walch, whose vacant lot in Lomita has been plastered with posters eight times during and after the election. Walch said he never agreed to have any posters put on his property at Oak Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

Not only is it illegal, but placing posters on utility poles or support cables is also dangerous to utility workers, Porter said. The violation is punishable by a fine of $500 or up to a year in jail.

Before the primary, Edison sent letters to the campaigns reminding them that linemen have fallen from utility poles after their climbing hooks glanced off the metallic surface of nails or tacks, causing them to lose their balance, Porter said. A few years ago, a lineman fell 30 feet and crushed both heels, he said.

$7,000 Removal Cost

After the primary, a 3-man utility crew spent a day removing signs from poles, Porter said. The cost, about $7,000, is passed on to customers, he said.

“It cuts down on our productivity when we have to tell (our) workers to stop and take down signs,” Porter said.

Most of these violations are in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, where such violations are not enforced as rigorously, he said.

After the primary, Torrance also sent letters to remind the candidates of the city’s sign ordinances.

McElroy said candidates who were told that their campaigns had violated the city’s ordinance seemed willing to abide by the rules. She said many campaigns hire a company to post the ads, so the candidates have no control over where they are placed.

‘Want to Go by Code’

“The last thing they want is to get a local community upset with them,” she said. “They all seemed to want to go by the code.”

Candidates’ spokesmen admitted that some posters end up on utility poles or never are taken down but most blamed the practice on opponents or overzealous volunteers or companies hired to provide campaign services.

Rule admitted that Rohrabacher’s campaign volunteers, who put up his campaign posters, may have neglected to take them all down. But he stressed that Rohrabacher’s campaign tried to follow the city’s rules.

“The process of taking down every sign (after the race) is not an exact science. Obviously, we have missed some,” said Fred Hummel, vice president of Candidates’ Outdoor Campaign Graphic Services, the Belmont-based company that posted many of the signs for Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, a GOP candidate in the 42nd District primary, and Deane Dana III and Gerald Felando, who opposed each other in the GOP primary in the 51st Assembly District.

Hummel, however, defended his crews, saying that they are knowledgeable about city ordinances.

Not Company’s Responsibility

Campaign ads posted illegally by volunteers are not the responsibility of his 28-year-old company, which handles campaigns in nine Western states, Hummel said.

Wieder’s husband, Irv, said: “If there is one on a stop sign, if there is one on a telephone pole, it is possible that our opponents put it there.”

“We don’t get the campaign in trouble,” Hummel said. “The last thing we want is to get bad publicity for the campaign.”