Developers who create subdivisions frequently seek to promote attractive appearances and eliminate clutter, but homeowners and politicos have long wondered about the First Amendment implications of neighborhoods prohibiting political signs. A bill before the Indiana Senate would eliminate any uncertainty.
Senate Bill 64 would override neighborhood restrictive covenants on political signs and explicitly allow them from 30 days before until five days after an election. The proposal would still allow some loose restrictions on size and location, but the bill would specifically allow “a sign that is at least as large as signs commonly displayed during election campaigns” placed in a homeowner’s window or property.
Expressly allowing the signs has even more importance in Fort Wayne, where the City Council voted in 2007 to crack down on placing signs in the public right of way. With the signs essentially limited to private property, the Senate bill – approved by the Committee on Elections – would clearly allow homeowners in all neighborhoods to display them.
Voter ID fix
Indiana Republicans derided the Indiana Court of Appeals for ruling the state’s Voter ID law was unconstitutional, all but calling the judges incompetent. The ruling, they said, will never stand.
Perhaps, but just in case, Republican state Sen. Michael Young has filed Senate Bill 91, which would address the very defect in the law that the appeals court cited. The court ruled the Voter ID law created unequal standards for people voting at the polls on Election Day, who must produce ID, and those voting absentee, who don’t. Young’s bill would require absentee voters to produce a voter identification.
Candidates emerge
The four County Council seats that represent specific geographic districts are up this year, and at least two candidates will launch their campaigns this week.
Mike Conley, a local businessman whose name is also familiar as a popular local musician, will announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for 2nd District County Council. The northeast Allen County seat is being vacated by Republican Paula Hughes, who is not seeking re-election in lieu of a planned mayoral run in 2011. Conley will kick off his campaign at 1 p.m. today in the reception area above Columbia Street West on the Landing.
His early start and ambitious campaign plans are something Democrats have too often lacked in the County Council races.
One Democrat who used good organization and strong campaigning to score a rare win for a county seat is Maye Johnson, who won the southeast 1st District seat in 2006. Businessman Aaron Knight plans to launch his campaign for the GOP nomination for the office on Wednesday at Republican headquarters after the party’s lunch meeting.
Tracking contributions
One of the county’s most popular Web sites this week should be www.allencounty.us/campaign-finance-reporting.
Annual campaign finance reports for 2009 are due Wednesday, and the Election Board is scanning them in for Web viewing.
