Campaign Sign Dispute to Be Investigated : Burbank: A worker for City Council candidate Dick Messer is accused by rival Carolyn Berlin of taking down one of her election posters.

The wife of a prominent Burbank civic leader, two candidates for the City Council and a former mayor are embroiled in a brouhaha over a campaign poster that will be investigated by the Burbank Police.

Council candidate Carolyn Berlin filed a report with police, accusing Shelley Sanneman--a volunteer worker for rival council candidate Dick Messer--of removing and creasing one of Berlin’s campaign posters, Sgt. Bob Brode of the Burbank Police Department said Monday.

Sanneman is the wife of Keith Sanneman, past president of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce and a member of Responsible Citizens of Burbank and president of the inactive Burbank Residents and Taxpayers Assn.

Messer contended that Sanneman “actually did nothing wrong,” saying the charges are “politically motivated by Al Dossin,” a former Burbank mayor and Berlin supporter who says he saw the Berlin poster being removed.

Police will investigate Berlin’s complaint and a possible link with another incident involving the theft of several campaign posters belonging to school board candidate Dr. Michael Stavropoulos, Brode said.

“It’s unusual for these types of activities to take place during a campaign where they aren’t related,” Brode said. “But that hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

The incident involving Berlin’s poster occurred Sunday night at Olive Avenue and Victory Boulevard, police said.

Dossin was driving on Olive Avenue when he saw “three young boys just about to” pull down one of a group of various campaign posters, he said in an interview. Dossin said he stopped and confronted Shelley Sanneman, who was with the boys. While he was speaking with the woman, one of the boys reached up and pulled down a Berlin poster, Dossin said.

“I advised them that pulling down signs is an illegal act,” said Dossin, who reported the incident to Berlin and the police.

Berlin said her campaign signs have been posted legally throughout Burbank since Jan. 1, but “the minute they went up there seemed to be an organized attempt to remove them.”

“They’re stealing them, basically,” she said. “I purchased and had put out 300 signs around town and there are probably one-third left, if I’m lucky,” Berlin said.

“For candidates like myself who don’t have thousands of dollars to do mailings, one of the best things you can do is put out signs to let people know that you are running.”

Shelley Sanneman said she, her two sons and two friends of her older son, 15, were posting signs for Messer when the incident occurred.

She conceded that one of the boys moved Berlin’s poster, “three feet, from a pole to a fence,” but said the poster was not damaged and denied that she had directed them to remove Berlin’s posters. Sanneman said she later restored Berlin’s sign to its original location.

“Why they did this I don’t know,” Sanneman said, referring to the boys’ removal of the poster. “But if Al Dossin hadn’t of been there, I could have been there with my boys” supervising.

She said she was so distracted by Dossin’s approach and remarks to her, that she was no longer supervising the boys’ actions.

“This is such a small matter, totally blown out of proportion,” Sanneman said. “It was one sign that was touched and it was after Al stopped.”

Earlier this month the Burbank City Council shelved a plan to restrict political signs on private property and fine political candidates who illegally post signs on public property. The council made the decision after the city attorney told the council that the ordinance would be nearly impossible to enforce and might be unconstitutional.

Stavropoulos said about 200 of his posters have disappeared since he began campaigning, including one that was taken from his front lawn.

“There was a discussion about making an ordinance where people should be fined if they post signs on public property,” Stavropoulos said. “They should also make it illegal and vigorously prosecute people who are caught stealing signs from people’s front yards who have given permission to political candidates.”