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Prosecutor: 4 citations for political signs to be dropped

Two other cases involve signs supporting Harris for Superior Court post

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@thecitizennews.com

Of the six county residents cited for violating Fayette County’s sign ordinance, four of the cases will be dropped due to insufficient evidence, State Court Solicitor Steve Harris said Friday morning.

Harris, a candidate for Superior Court Judge, said none of those four cases involved persons displaying his campaign signs. But two of the other cases did.

Harris has already determined he has a conflict of interest in one of the remaining two cases because one of his campaign signs was still in the ground on the homeowner’s property when the citation that was issued by the Fayette County Marshal’s Department. Harris said after the citation was written to that homeowner, he offered to take his campaign sign down, but the owner told him to “stay off my property” and thus the sign remained on display.

Harris is still reviewing the sixth case, in which the citation didn’t involve one of Harris’s signs ... but one of Harris’s signs was on the property when the original warning was written, Harris said. Harris noted that he removed that sign after the warning was written.

Harris said he reviewed the evidence for all six citations with the deputy marshal who wrote them and Chief Marshal C.L. “Butch” Hall.

Some of the six citations involved homeowners displaying too many signs and others involved signs that were larger than allowed by county ordinance, Harris said.

Harris has come under criticism recently for a letter he wrote to County Manager Chris Cofty that said persons cited for violating the sign ordinance with political signs wouldn’t be prosecuted because the ordinance was unconstitutional.

State Court Judge Fletcher Sams later wrote Cofty, noting that Harris can’t make an official determination on whether the ordinance was constitutional. Sams pledged to treat each case in court impartially regardless of Harris’s opinion on the ordinance.

The latest salvo came from County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn, who wrote a letter to Harris “on behalf of the Board of Commissioners.”

In the letter, Dunn indicated that if Harris doesn’t prosecute the cases “the Board of Commissioners will be forced to seek legal redress in an effort to protect the interests of our citizens.”

The letter continues: “Your position presents a clear and present danger to the administration of justice and the danger is aggravated by the apparent conflict existing between your personal aspirations and your professional duties to your client.”

Dunn also asked Harris to reconsider his position.

“We ask that your set aside personal prejudice and conflict and prosecute these offenses. If you cannot, disqualify yourself for conflict, encourage the same action by others in your office, and insist that an uninterested outside party handle these matters,” Dunn wrote.

Harris said the issue is about protecting the first amendment right to free speech, which he takes seriously.

“I didn’t take this lightly — I knew it was going to be used against me,” Harris said of his stand on political signs. “I could have sacrificed six homeowners for my political gain ... but that’s just not right.”