Jeff Bergosh Blog: Re-Using Old Campaign Signs to Advocate for Passage of Amendment 8, Part I

Guidelines

I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following :

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Re-Using Old Campaign Signs to Advocate for Passage of Amendment 8, Part I

Three weeks ago I asked our School Board Attorney about the legality of re-painting and re-using discarded campaign signs to advocate for Amendment 8 this fall on the ballot. I know the campaign in support of 8 will be anemic at best, and I also know the Organized Teacher's Union Campaign to Defeat 8 will be strong and well funded. Knowing this, I want to do my small part in helping to get 8 approved this fall. This week, I received the following email from our attorney.

The aforementioned (linked above) string begins with an email from our attorney to the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections asking the question about sign re-use, who in turn seeks clarification on the law from the Florida Department of State deputy legal counsel.

To summarize, per this email, re-use of discarded signs is legal as an independent expenditure, provided the effort is not "coordinated" (whatever that means, I'm going to request clarification on that...) and the value of the independent expenditure is not $5,000.00 or more. Any posted signs must also carry an Independent Endorsement Disclaimer like the one below which I'll use..

Okay, so now that I know it is legal, it is time for me to get to work...

What shall we paint on our signs? Well, brevity is important and everybody cares about $ money. I'm no advertising executive, but after thoroughly studying this "right size class size, amendment 8" issue and reading this document from Florida Tax Watch, I think the following will suffice for a slogan "VOTE YES ON 8, SAVE BILLIONS"