Commentary by Frank Schroth

Guess what this is a picture of?

It’s a campaign sign . . . without the sign. And that is unfortunate.

We are coming to the end of the campaign season, a time when feelings can, understandably, run a little high. But it is disappointing when a resident posts a campaign sign, returns with the family from vacation, and discovers that someone has removed his sign.

We might not have noticed it if the sign hadn’t been so big and in our neighborhood.

It’s the second sign in the neighborhood that has gone missing. The first was another large sign that had been placed on a fence at the Hendries property. That one disappeared several weeks ago.

Why?

We know who did not take them down: the property owners didn’t remove these signs. One owner called us to let us know his was missing. We reached out to the campaign to ask if they had taken down the signs. There is a history here we will get to in a minute, but more specifically, there had been some social media chatter objecting to the size of the signs. So it would not be surprising to learn that the campaign, upon hearing objections, had removed the signs. But they didn’t, although they were aware that some residents objected to the size.

We believe the signs were legal and conformed to zoning. In an email Joe Prondak stated:

We do not pursue political signs. Even though the Zoning Bylaw regulates them in some fashion, there are some court cases which have determined these to be protected free speech…. So the removal of the sign at the Hendries site had nothing to do with us.

The history here is that a local TV newsman, Ted O’Brien, once posted a sign and was told by the town to take it down. He didn’t. Instead, he went to court and won, based on the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. If memory serves me, the sign had to do with selling his property, but it opened the door for signs on personal property. Some candidates in the past have refrained from signs altogether out of deference to the town’s history on signage. Kathy Fagan, a former selectman, did not use lawn signs when running for re-election; she lost to Bob Sweeney who did campaign with signs on property. Of course, that election outcome may not have been determined by the presence of signage.

Campaign signs are a political reality. While we will not take a position on the selectmen’s race, we welcome endorsements. Freedom of speech and civic engagement matter.  Residents should be able to voice their support and enthusiasm for a candidate without fear that their property will be trespassed upon and their freedom to express themselves violated. We should all be embarassed and disappointed that this happens here in our town.