Campaign signs remain illegally posted on utility poles across Jeannette, state police say
Authorities are investigating a case in Jeannette, Westmoreland County, in which campaign signs from last May's primary election still have not been taken down by the losing candidate, Ed Day.
Not only have the signs not been taken down, but Pennsylvania State Police say they were posted illegally, and now, action must be taken.
Some 30 signs were posted to utility poles in and around Jeannette.
Political signs aren't illegal during an election. The problem is that Ed Day lost the mayoral primary in May, and the signs are illegally posted on the poles.
State police say Day is belligerently refusing to take them down.
"It is a shame that it got to the point where a citation was issued," said Trooper Steve Limani of the Pennsylvania State Police. "It's the last thing we wanted to have happen; unfortunately, Mr. Day's lack of cooperation just made it so that's where unfortunately we had to go with this."
State police told KDKA-TV that they could have issued a citation, each several hundred dollars, for each sign Day put up, but for now, they have just issued one. Troopers say that if Day fails to comply after 10 days, they could issue a warrant for his arrest. They also added that this is not something they want to do.
"A person is guilty of a summary offense if he drives a nail or tack or attaches any metal or hard substance to or into any pole of any public utility pole line," according to Section 6905 of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Criminal Code.
According to PennDOT's guidance for political signs, "political signs are considered temporary, and campaigns are responsible for removing them immediately after the election is over."
"We can't let every single politician or human being tack things to a telephone pole. It is against the law, it is not their property," Trooper Limani said. "This is West Penn's property or First Energy's, and it was brought to their attention, and they absolutely don't want things tacked to their property, and they were also concerned to see if we were going to do something about it as well."
State police are asking Mr. Day to comply with the citation and take down his signs. Until that happens, many residents and business owners, like Robert Zollinger, who owns Cardinal Coffee Roasters, say they have to put up with these eyesores.
"I think somebody, or anybody anywhere, should obey the law," Zollinger says. "Jeannette is a good town, but it gets a lot of bad press, and that's why. People like him that doesn't obey the law."
KDKA-TV reached out to Ed Day for comment but did not hear back.
