By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — City Manager Yoshi Manale said on Thursday at about noon the city was in the process of taking down any and all political signs from public property, as ordered by the Attorney General’s office.
“The AG’s office just notified us and we are removing all political signs right now,” Manale said. “I called both the Democratic and Republican chairs to inform them that they have until tomorrow to remove them all. The AG’s office was pretty clear that we have to remove them.”
Prior to the primary election, Rep. Jon Stone and Commissioner Joe Osgood reported to Claremont Police and the Attorney General’s Office that their election signs were being tampered with. They were able to obtain video from the Claremont Police Department, saying it was “Black Lives Matter people,” which he passed along to the Attorney General’s Office.
“We got lucky because this was really clear footage,” Stone told the Eagle Times on Sept. 13. “They referred it to the Attorney General’s office to the political unit, but they released the footage and said it was OK to disseminate.”
Osgood explained that on Aug. 30 he put up his political sign at Broad Street Park, and two hours later he viewed his sign, Stone’s sign and Rep. Michael Aron’s sign laying on the ground. Osgood approached former Ward II City Councilor James Contois, who he said was with the Black Lives Matter group, as he viewed him moving the Republican candidates’ signs. Osgood said Contois denied moving them, and a heated confrontation arose where Osgood said an argument ensued.
“I pointed at all the people and said, ‘Do you people know it is illegal to tamper with campaign signs?’” Osgood said. “Jim said he didn’t know who did it, and I called him a lying son of a (expletive) and a (expletive) head. He said something to me, and I told him not to talk to me.”
Osgood said he was constantly thinking to not lay a finger on him, so he got in his truck and left.
Osgood said that he went to the police to ask if they could look at the video, and the dispatcher told him that he saw signs being taken down. He made a call, an officer viewed the video, and created a report that Osgood received a copy of, he explained.
On Thursday afternoon, Contois replied to Osgood’s claims by saying, “that is a complete and utter fabrication. You could actually use the strong language that Joe Osgood is a liar.”
“The fact that Joe Osgood said he saw that makes him a liar,” Contois said.
Contois declined to comment further, saying he was reluctant to speak as too often he has seen words changed around and taken out of context.
The Attorney General’s Office ultimately ordered that all signs be removed from public property in the city as it was illegal for political advertisements to be on public property at all.
“It has come to this Office’s attention that candidates have historically been allowed to place their campaign signs on City property, including publicly owned parks,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Conley wrote in a letter to City Manager Yoshi Manale that was also distributed to members of the state’s Republican and and Democratic parties. “The purpose of this letter is to inform the City that RSA 664:17 strictly prohibits any political advertising from being ‘placed on or affixed to any public property.’”
The letter continued, “City maintenance or law enforcement personnel have the authority and the duty to remove improperly erected political advertising from city-owned property. Therefore, we request that the City begin properly enforcing RSA 664:17.”
According to the letter, the Election Law Unit received a complaint from “certain candidates” alleging that they had erected campaign signs in Broad Street Park, which is publicly owned, and a person laid those signs flat to the ground.
“After speaking with the Claremont Police Department, the Election Law Unit learned that candidates have historically been allowed to place their signs in publicly owned parks,” Conley wrote in the letter.
After reviewing the complaint received, the Election Law Unit found that the law prohibits candidates from erecting political advertising signs in a city owned park, and also prohibited the other person from taking down the signs because they were not city maintenance or law enforcement personnel.
The letter states that RSA 664:17 controls the placement and removal of political advertising. The law states that “no political advertising shall be placed on or affixed to any public property including highway rights-of-way or private property without the owner’s consent.” It adds that while political advertising can be placed on private property with the owner’s consent, the law “strictly prohibits” political advertising from being placed on or affixed to any public property.
The law states that political advertising placed on any public property may be removed by state, city or town maintenance or law enforcement personnel. They must be kept until a week after the election at a place designated by the state, city or town so the candidate or member of their team, or of the local political committee, can retrieve the items.
It was concluded by the Election Law Unit that the law prohibits advertising from being placed on public property, and that the city immediately start enforcing the RSA.
“To that end, it may be helpful for the City to additionally educate its residents that state law prohibits political advertising from being placed on or affixed to public property,” the letter wrote, and added that questions can be directed to the AG office.
