Maher Signs Finally Removed From Road Three Months After The Election, No Thanks to Him

A responsible leader that has launched a bid for election or re-election ensures that his or her campaign signs are promptly removed from our roads and highways upon the conclusion of Election Day. State Representative John Maher does not meet this definition of responsibility as evidenced by the three signs posted on Banksville Road by the twenty-four-hour-a-day Rite Aid Phramacy, which remained there months after the November 2012 election.  I am sure that this was not the only location at which Maher signs were posted long after the election, but it is the one that I would see every day.

After a call to Maher's office brought no response, I contacted the Allegheny County Bureau of Elections.  I was referred to the City of Pittsburgh Solicitor's Office.  The individual that answered the phone seemed mystified by my request, but told me that someone would return my call with information; no one did.  

The individual that rode the rescue turned out to be Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, who represents the Banksville area, and of whom I am obviously not a constituent.  She promptly responded to an e-mail message about this afer normal business hours, asking a Public Works Supervisor to remove the signs and to look into the issuance of a citation against Representative Maher.  Within three days, the signs were removed.  I hope that they were dropped at the front door of Maher's Upper Saint Clair Summerfield Commons Office. Councilwoman Kail-Smith told me that as the head of Council's anti-litter effort, she does not like to see the landscape spoiled by political material, and does not even like to see her own signs on our roads.

Representative Maher ignored a prominent plank in the State Constitution which guarantees the people the right to clean air when he, a smoker, voted against legislation which finally eliminated smoking from most public places in the Commonwealth.  He was on the wrong side of history with this regrettable litmus test vote. He also does not care about polluting our roads.