WILL ROGERS

Will Rogers

Sometimes matters I consider petty, compared to others demanding City

Hall’s attention, are the ones Councilman Bob Kramer believes to be the

most important. Even if it doesn’t become council fodder, he’ll

personally ride city staff to keep investing time in doing something

about whatever it is that has him bugged.

By the same token, more than occasionally I’ll think something demands

much more attention and effort, but I get little more than a shrug and an

uncomfortable grin from Kramer. That’s the way things go sometimes.

Occasionally, though, Kramer will pop off on a problem, and I’ll roll

my eyes over how easily he has once again been distracted. But after some

thought, I have to agree he’s hit on a point of principle. As minor as I

might think a problem is, that’s also how little effort it should require

to fix.

*

The latest is Kramer’s request for a discussion of the city’s sign

ordinance, and how it applies to signs posted by political candidates.

It’s no longer a big problem in council races. Municipal campaign finance

limits at least temporarily slashed the flow of cash once used for

printing and posting hundreds of the obnoxious signs. But in contests for

Assembly, Senate and Congress, we are plagued by what might be described

as brightly colored litter calculated only to build name recognition.

None contribute an iota to our knowledge of the candidates, or their

platforms.

Signs posted illegally are as much of a tradition in every race I’ve

ever covered as hopefuls claiming records of community service. I’ve

looked into the charges so many times I can virtually script months in

advance what any story about it will find.

Two companies in the area print candidate signs, and also offer a

service to post them. For those who can afford it, crews descend on a

city or district and, during the night, hang signs from fences, tape them

high on lightposts and fasten them to anything near freeway ramps.

Invariably, there are protests. Whether they’re disingenuous whines

from supporters of an opponent who can’t afford signs, or landowners

livid a sign is now taped to posts 15 feet over their property, the

complaints roll in. From there the course is as predictable as gravity.

In the relative glare of attention during campaigns, candidates

eagerly display their contracts with the sign companies, which include a

clause promising the signs will be posted legally, with permission from

property owners. Earnest candidates assure us that, when men standing

atop ladders in the back of a pickup truck pulled into the empty parking

lot of a market at 2 a.m., then taped his signs to a light pole, they

assume the crew did so with the store owner’s permission.

The same goes for the signs affixed to telephone poles and chain-link

fences. Sometimes they also shake their heads and blame overeager

campaign supporters.

Professing enormous concern, the candidate or his staff will promise

to have the offending signs removed. Sometimes that promise will stand

for two or three weeks. But the signs remain.

Some calls also go directly to the sign companies. They routinely

assure reporters and irked citizens it is all a misunderstanding. The

driver’s map was wrong.

Someone misunderstood a city ordinance. They thought an owner gave

permission. And, of course, “We hadn’t heard about this, and will take

care of it right away.”

About half the time, the election comes a short time later and the

signs remain. Some are then picked up, but many end up literally rotting

away.

Sometimes, when there’s too much time left to risk a preelection

public relations gaffe, the company or candidate will actually remove

illegal signs. But in every case I can recall where that happened, crews

returned days before the election to deposit another illegal blizzard on

the city.

Candidates claim concern, and sometimes even outrage. But not once has

a campaign worker been dumped, or a fine leveled. No one is held

accountable.

*

Those tired realities explain why, when Kramer asked for a council

discussion of the signs posted illegally before the primary, and with

more expected as November approaches, I rolled my eyes. But I was wrong,

and he was right.

There are other issues, and bigger issues. But this one doesn’t

require cash investments or teams of consultants. It only requires

holding candidates accountable.

The signs Kramer hates are not objectionable because of the candidates

they tout. Republicans do it. Democrats do it. Those who buy signs do it,

and those who make their own signs have done it.

During the last city race, supporters of a council candidate -- whose

platform centered on allegations city officials routinely ignore the law

-- illegally posted their man’s signs on city property. When the signs

were removed, they were replaced.

Kramer asked how we can trust candidates to make laws when we can’t

trust them to obey the ones we have. That’s too harsh in my view. Surely

Kramer isn’t suggesting he’s never committed a legal or moral infraction,

and that if he did it would reflect his entire character, and so he’d be

unfit for office.

But my previous, cynical attitude about illegal campaign signs is part

of the problem, letting pols again rationalize their sloppy concern for

the rules. Because so many shrug it off the way I did, whether it’s the

man on the street or experienced officials who see illegal signs as a

given, politicians have our tacit permission to post more. Then they find

another standard we won’t enforce, and another, then another.

Why can’t it work in reverse? By expecting less, we get less. So let’s

expect more.

Let’s put a stop to the casual attitude toward illegal campaign signs.

Especially if you support the candidate, how about letting him know you

expect him to respect the rules?

The fate of Burbank doesn’t rest on it. We don’t need armed officers

bringing in the miscreants. But I’m no longer willing to overlook

candidates displaying yet another sign of disrespect for citizens and the

community.

Will Rogers’ column appears in every edition of the Leader. He can be

reached 24 hours a day at 241-4141 voice mail ext. 906, or by e-mail at

WillColumn@aol.com.