Letter To The Editor: DTC Chair Defends Timing Of Campaign Signs

To the editor,

There’s been a lot of noise around political lawn signs. I have to be honest; I hate them. I’ve worked on several campaigns over the years, and whenever the topic of lawn signs comes up I emit a long, loud and anguished groan. It’s actually a joke on campaigns, “Don’t bring up signs around Steve.”

It’s not that the nearly identical red-white-and-blue yard markers aren’t fun to look at, or even that they don’t drum up some awareness. It’s that the amount of hand wringing, investment of time and perceived importance people give to lawn signs grossly outpaces their 18-by-24 silhouettes.

In the litany of, “You can’t do that!” the Marcone campaign has recently gone after the Simon for Registrar camp, saying their signs went up 33 days before the election. Let's dig into this a little bit.

First things first: There is no regulation prohibiting political lawn signs or assigning a hard and fast timeframe for their display.

I know, that flies in the face of everything contained in popular wisdom. But have no fear, our laws are written down, and we can check them pretty easily.

The actual text from the zoning code reads as follows:

(b) recommendations for erection and removal of signs.

1. Regular elections — signs erected not earlier than the first Tuesday after Labor Day prior to Election Day.
2. Primary, special elections or referendum — signs erected not earlier than 25 days prior to balloting.
3. Signs removed within five days of the balloting except in the instance of a primary, special election or referendum that occurs within the regular November election sequence such signs to be removed within five days of the regular election.

There’s a couple important words there.

1. “Recommendations.” Whereas other parts of the zoning code clearly delineate that they are hard and firm regulations, this is a guideline.
2. “Twenty-five days prior to balloting.” Unique to the primary, it makes a point of differentiating that it is not prior to the day of the election, but “prior to balloting.” In 2020, with universal access to absentee ballots, one could make a compelling argument the signs went up about three weeks away from “balloting.”

There is nothing good that can come from complaining about signs. At best, you look desperate and petty. At worst … I don’t know, if the best case scenario is pretty bad on its own, do we need a B-side?

So look, did the signs go up ahead of a binding regulation? No, definitely not.

Did the signs go up ahead of the guidelines in a non-binding recommendation? Debatable.

Maybe we need to change the recommendation or remove the recommendation, but in the meantime I think it would be great if Stratford elections could focus on ideas, issues and track record, and stop worrying about squares of corrugated plastic.

Steve Taccogna

Stratford Democratic Town Committee Chair