Help us find Annie
Baltimore County Incumbents Do Not Respect You
Several months ago, the Baltimore County Council made a huge splash about the "bandit sign" law they passed. In case you missed it, this bill was aimed at those all-too-ubiquitous placards found plastered on utility poles and stuck in highway median strips.
The new law declared such signs illegal, and specifically granted the right to anyone to remove them, provided no trespass on to private property would be required. If memory serves, the law also provides for a $200-per-sign fine, if the offenders are brought to justice.
Well, it worked for about a week. There was one weekend when the signs were signficantly fewer. Except for the Realtor open house directional signs, which continued unabated. (Incidentally, the code of ethics of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors forbids placing signs illegally on public property, and requires members to seek permission from property owners before placing them on private property. This is just one among the many "ethics" issues that Realtors ignore, all the while claiming superiority because of their Code of Ethics.)
Now that primary elections approach, the usual plague of campaign signs has begun to appear. Interestingly, the only ones I have seen placed illegally have been for the campaigns of incumbents. Most egregious among these are the signs supporting Councilman Ken Oliver, who co-sponsored the "bandit sign" bill, and County Executive Jim Smith, who signed it into law.
Smith's workers have had the audacity to visit the homes of voters whose property abuts recently public-works improvements, inquire as to their satisfaction with the work, ask permission to place a sign, then place it illegally. It remains for me to determine whether the inquiries were made by campaign staff, or by public works employees flacking for Smith on "company time." Stay tuned.