Campaign posters remain long after November election

Campaign posters remain long after November election

Dec. 9, 2000

By Aspen Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

More than a month has passed since the Nov. 7 elections, yet campaign posters and billboards remain posted throughout much of Montezuma County.

City zoning administrator Jeff Reinhart said the campaign posters are the responsibility of the candidates and people running the campaigns. He said according to zoning law, the signs are to be removed promptly following the conclusion of the event for which the posters were created.

"I know we still have a lot up," Reinhart said.

Although leftover campaign posters are not considered a high priority for Reinhart, he said he expects his office will have to get involved in enforcing a clean-up.

"We’ll probably have to do something in the next couple of weeks," he said.

Democrat Suzanne Garcia, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Mark Larson for the state representative’s position in the 59th District, said her campaign was run by word of mouth, resisting traditional campaign efforts she says create nothing but trash.

""We live in a beautiful place," Garcia said. "There’s nothing more disturbing than to see public lands littered with those signs."

Victor Good, the Reform Party candidate who challenged U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, has campaign posters still displayed at a number of locations. He said he wasn’t aware that his posters were still up.

"They should have been taken down within a week of the campaign by the people who put them up," Good said.

Garcia said she has taken the task of cleaning up posters in La Plata County following the elections.

"I have a garage full of posters," she said. "I have posters for and against amendments, as well as for many of the candidates, including Mark Larson (her opponent)."

Garcia said she was angry that there were still posters up a month after the elections.

"It’s bad form when a campaign doesn’t clean up their mess," Garcia said.

City Manager Hal Shepherd said that because the land-use code states only that "signs are to be removed promptly," it is not specific as to what the time restraints are surrounding sign clean-up.

"It’s open to interpretation," Shepherd said. "It’s poorly worded."

Shepherd said that most public land codes specify a time limit, whether it is 30, 40 or 60 days following the conclusion of the event.

"Now that it’s been brought to our attention, we might see about changing the wording," he said.

Garcia said she thinks "promptly" means within one week.

"Any rational person understands what ‘promptly’ means," Garcia said. "The campaign people need to get out there and clean it up."