Warren campaign signs may be possible election rules violation

2012-02-18T01:42:50Z

The June election is more than three months away, but one City Council candidate is already being accused of breaking election rules.

According to the city elections code, campaign signs cannot be put up until 90 days before the election – which for the upcoming June election would be March 9.

City Council District 2 candidate Allen Wayne Warren’s signs were on display in the windows of a building on the 2300 block of Del Paso Boulevard Friday afternoon.

Sources say the campaign signs have been in the windows of the building since at least Jan. 20 – shortly after he officially announced his candidacy.

The building is home to his campaign headquarters office.

According to city spokesman Maurice Chaney, Code Enforcement officers were notified on Thursday that the city 3-1-1 service received at least one complaint about the signs.

A Code Enforcement officer went to the site on Del Paso Boulevard Friday to alert Warren to the possible elections code violation, Chaney said, and confirmed the signs were on display. The officer will follow up Tuesday to see if the situation has been resolved or if further action is necessary.

Phil Giarrizzo, Warren’s campaign manager, called the accusations “bully politics,” adding that there are more important issues in the district to focus on.

“This is pure harassment by the Sheedy camp and the powers that be at City Hall that are misusing both the law and city resources,” Giarrizzo said Friday.

“This district doesn’t even have a supermarket, and kids get shot on street corners in the neighborhood, and the city has time to send out an investigator to see signs in a window?” he said.

Giarrizzo said the signs were put up to identify Warren’s campaign headquarters and that he does not believe that purpose is a violation of the intent of the elections code.

“This is political harassment – sheer and uncompromised,” Giarrizzo said, without denying that the signs were displayed.

City representatives from 3-1-1 did not identify the person or people who made the initial complaint, but said that the service regularly accepts and follows up on complaints from anonymous sources if the complaints are determined to be valid.

In addition to sign size restrictions, the campaign elections code (§ 15.148.600(k)) states that political or campaign signs “on behalf of candidates for public office or measures on election ballots ... may be erected not earlier than ninety (90) days prior to the election and shall be removed within fifteen (15) days following such election.”

There is no exclusion written in the city elections code for campaign sign displays for headquarters offices.

The Warren camp intends to appeal any citation for putting up the signs, Giarrizzo said.

Warren faces three candidates in the District 2 race so far – Kim Mack, Rob Kerth and Sondra Betancourt – however, additional challengers have until March 14 to file candidacy.

Incumbent Sandy Sheedy announced Jan. 23 that she will not seek re-election to the seat, leaving the field open to newcomers in the June election.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

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Warren campaign signs may be possible election rules violation