MOHAVE COUNTY – A ruling by a judge in Kingman favors Bullhead City’s position that political signs supporting a “No” vote on Proposition 415 were put up about two weeks early.
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen’s denial of a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) allows the city to enforce its statutory interpretation that some 75 signs must be taken down because they can’t legally be posted until September 5, 60 days before voters decide the ballot proposition in the general election.
Following the near hour-long hearing that concluded late Wednesday afternoon, Bullhead City Manager Toby Cotter said he hoped the “No on 415” signs would be removed overnight. He said it appeared most of the signs were taken down by Thursday morning and that city personnel would remove any others discovered that were still posted.
The attorney requesting the TRO, Eric Spencer, argued that on point law preempts the city from its 60-day declaration. Further, he said, law prevents government from removing political signs provided they comply with various standards and regulations, which he said is true of the “No on 415″ placards.
Spencer also wandered into other allegations about free speech infringement and conflict of interest issues involving the city. Opposing counsel, Chris Kramer, contended that the scope of Wednesday’s hearing should be strictly limited to the 60-day interpretation issues.
“They don’t get to have signage in the right-of-way until 60 days before the election,” Kramer said. “The rest of it is smoke and mirrors and can be decided after this.”
Spencer countered that there’s no harm or injustice in leaving the placards in place. “The world is not going to end tomorrow if there’s still roughly 75 signs up,” he said.
“The court’s reading of this statute is that the general policy has been that signs cannot go up until 60 days before the election,” Jantzen told Spencer. “Your argument doesn’t ring true in the court’s reading of the statute.”
Still, Judge Jantzen said it appears to be an exercise in “silliness” to pull them down one Thursday and put them back up the following Thursday. Yet he noted that it is not fair to leave the “Vote No” signs up when those supporting a “yes vote” have so far complied with the city position and refrained from posting their signs.
And the sign fight isn’t over yet. While rejecting the TRO, Judge Jantzen said plaintiffs are entitled to an evidentiary hearing on their request for an injunction that could see signs go up before September 5.
Jantzen said the injunction hearing that will allow exploration of issues beyond the 60-day question will be conducted at 1:15 Friday. Should plaintiffs prevail Friday, the signs could possibly be posted before September 5.
Prop 415 is the city-authored proposal asking voters to allow the municipality to acquire the local water delivery system from EPCOR Water Arizona. The question will be decided during the November 5 general election that will be conducted through the mail.
- Dave Hawkins
