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It is the election time of year, once again. With the November 6th election just over one month away, emotions tend to run high. While the politicians have been running for office for many months, most people don’t start paying attention until the election gets closer. Along with a plethora of political signs to remind us who is running for office, we once again are entertained by those who want to steal signs or remove the signs of those with whom they disagree. This isn’t very mature, but it is always amazing how many mature adults behave this way regardless.
This time I’m featuring four sign thieves from Bellevue, Washington from a few days ago. The videos should be clear enough for them to be identified by people who know them. As always, once we know for sure, we will do a public service by identifying who these folk are so that everyone else can know. I’m sure they will have interesting stories about how their political views are more important than yours.
In 2016, we wrote a story about Grays Harbor County Democrat Commissioner Frank Gordon who was caught, while wearing his suit in between meetings, stealing his opponent’s campaign signs. He lost that election, but every year people seem to want to learn the hard way that stealing campaign signs is actually illegal (RCW 29a.84.040). There is also this memorable story about Democratic Party legislative candidate and former mayor of Kirkland Deb Eddy who instructed her campaign volunteers to steal opposition signs and stored them in her house until she was caught.
It seems unlikely that any of these people are sitting politicians, but you never know.
Sign Thief #1 – Weird guy pointing and talking to himself
The first video features a fellow dressed in camo shorts, a camo hat, a gray Under Armour shirt, wearing a backpack. He seems to be doing a lot of pointing and talking to himself. He looks a little weird, but he might have just been trying to pump himself up to take down the signs. He felt it was important to take down a Republican campaign sign for Susan Hutchison running for Senate, a sign for Dino Rossi running for Congress, a sign for Tim Cruickshank, a Republican running for the State legislature in the 41st LD, and a sign for former Republican legislator Rodney Tom, who is running as a Democrat for the state senate in the 48th LD.
If you want to know more about these candidates and their campaigns link to each one below:
Susan Hutchison – US Senate
Dino Rossi – Congress
Tim Cruickshank – State legislature (41st LD)
Rodney Tom – State Senate (48th LD)
If you do know the identity of any of these sign thieves, feel free to post it in the comments below, or you can post it in the comments section of the video.
Sign Thief #2 – Blue Outfit, Black Hair, Quick Getaway
This is a nice video with a clear picture of the black haired, blue outfit thief herself. She quickly grabs the Dino Rossi and Rodney Tom signs and with her hands full, she dashes away with her loot.
Sign Thief #3 – To impress date, just knock down campaign signs
This power couple felt that their date wouldn’t be complete without knocking down some Republican campaign signs.
As a reminder, it is illegal to steal or knock down political campaign signs (RCW 29a.84.040). In fact it is a misdemeanor and is punishable under RCW 9A.20.021 with not more than 90 days in the county jail and no more than a $1000 fine. While sign thieves, even when caught, rarely get the maximum punishment, even a small percentage of those penalties is not really worth the risk. However, it is worth knowing the law, and probably a good idea to not break it.
Share widely with your friends, and feel free to send me more videos or photos of your favorite local sign thief caught in the act.
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Background articles:
Politician steals opponent’s campaign signs while on the taxpayer dime
Disgraced sign-thief politician Frank Gordon sneaks back into local politics
Seattle Times – “Eastside House candidate’s removal of signs leads to complaint”
The Columbian – “Alleged political sign thief charged, summoned to court”
I live nearby, the amount of signs left in our neighborhood is unreal. It is year round. Football lacrosse playgroups political. After a while they are just left here for perpetuity. So yes, at times neighbors get fed up and pull them down. It would be as if you came and put a sign in my front yard. Just because we live in condos doesn’t give you that right. Wish they would ban signs outright.
RCW FOR THE STATE of WASHINGTON PROVIDES A $250 DOLLAR FINE FOR EACH TAMPERING OFFENSE OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGN SIGNS, PLUS 90 DAYS IN JAIL FOR EACH OFFENSE !!!!
RCW FOR THE STATE PROVIDES A $250 DOLLAR FINE FOR EACH TAMPERING OFFENSE, PLUS 90 DAYS IN JAIL FOR EACH OFFENSE !!!!
The RCW you linked says that “A person who removes or defaces lawfully placed political advertising including yard signs or billboards without authorization is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable to the same extent as a misdemeanor that is punishable under RCW 9A.20.021. The defacement or removal of each item constitutes a separate violation.”
I note the words “lawfully placed”. I checked out the City of Bellevue sign code, per this https://development.bellevuewa.gov/zoning-and-land-use/zoning-requirements/signs and it looks to me like temporary political signs are only permitted on private property, not on the public right of way. Given that, it appears to me that these signs are unlawfully placed and it’s permitted to take them down – the only person breaking the law would be whoever installed them. Does my reading of the sign code sound correct to you? Thanks!
It sounds like Bellevue’s sign code is just one many illegal sign codes in Washington State that is merely waiting for a lawsuit to overturn it. For reference, you can read the following articles (and court cases), which are helpful for reference in Washington State:
MRSC article about how most local sign codes are probably illegal: http://mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/June-2015/Review-Your-Sign-Codes-in-Wake-of-New-US-Supreme-C.aspx
Federal Supreme Court case referenced in article is linked here: See Reed vs. Town of Gilbert, AZ https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-502_9olb.pdf
MRSC also has a helpful article for local governments about the importance of bringing their (likely illegal) current sign codes up to date: http://mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/October-2015/The-Importance-of-Your-Sign-Code.aspx
Additionally, there have been several other Federal Supreme Court decisions and State Supreme Court decisions which have also invalidated local sign codes if they impact political free speech. San Juan County, for example, was just confronted with this reality and had to retract their sign code.
I eagerly await a correction of your post noting that the signs themselves are unlawful and there’s actually no penalty for taking them down, but that you think that the sign code might change soon if there is legal action. Thanks in advance!
The signs are not unlawful. Period. What part of this case did you not understand?: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-502_9olb.pdf
Or perhaps this MRSC article about how sign codes (like Bellevue’s code) are illegal?: http://mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/June-2015/Review-Your-Sign-Codes-in-Wake-of-New-US-Supreme-C.aspx
There are plenty of other court cases backing this up. The signs are not illegal, and they are not illegally placed.
The people removing them are in legal jeopardy, if they are caught. They could try to make an argument that they were appointing themselves to act as vigilante surrogates to the City of Bellevue and their illegal sign code, but I’m not sure how well that would fly.
Good try.
Glen, You appear to have not read the case you cited. Sign ordinances are only unconsitutional if they are based on the content of the sign. Laws limiting signs based on non-content criteria such as size or location are completely consitutional.
“The Sign Code’s provisions are content-based regulations of speech that do not survive strict scrutiny. Because content-based laws target speech based on its communicative content, they are presumptively unconstitutional and may be justified only if the government proves that they are narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests.”
The article you cited even cited Justice Alito’s concurring opinion description completely legal limitations on sign placement, which includes prohibiting placement of signs on public property.
The Bellevue Sign Code makes it very clear that placement of ANY signs in the right-of-way is illegal. The Supreme court case you cited explicitly PERMITS location-based limits on sign placement, so it doesn’t counter the city law.
A non-legalese summary of the Bellevue Sign Code is here:
https://development.bellevuewa.gov/zoning-and-land-use/zoning-requirements/signs
The important part reads as follows:
Do I need a permit for a temporary sign?
Temporary signs are allowed, but a permit is required before installation.
. . .
The following are examples of Temporary Signs:
. . .
. . .
Political signs (These must be removed within 7 days after an election.)
Please Note: These signs may not be placed in the right of way. They are only permitted on private property.
So you may legally post political signs as long as they aren’t in the public right of way, and as long as you get a permit in advance.
Do you own the property where those are posted and do you have a valid City of Bellevue permit for their placement?
Alex, if you happen to know some of these people who are stealing the signs, then perhaps they’d be willing to come forward and be the formal catalyst to get the Bellevue sign code tossed out the hard way – in court. That could be fun and frankly a service to the community. Let me know, and we could get this going pretty quickly, I suspect.
RCW ALEX…….CITIES DO NO TRUMP THE STATE WHEN IT COMES TO FREE SPEECH AND POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING !!!!
Hi Glenn, Do you know where this is?
On 100th near Main Street – south of Bellevue Square
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