Controversy Brews Over Campaign Signs in Woodbine

WOODBINE — A political storm is brewing in Woodbine over a zoning ordinance restricting the size of political signs and the amount of days a sign may remain in public view following the conclusion of an election.
On Wednesday, July 9 Tamara Ryan the wife of Councilmen Clarence Ryan signed a complaint with the state police charging council candidate Michael Benson with a zoning ordinance violation. Ryan says Benson violated the statutory restrictions pertaining to political signs in the borough zoning ordinance by not removing his sign “within five days following the date of the election”.
Ryan says members of the community brought to her attention the unusually large political signs that were still up long after Benson won in the Republican primary election. Ryan says that lead her curiosity to review the borough’s zoning laws to determine if the signs were able to continue being displayed.
“It did not take me long to find he was in violation of an ordinance, he was the city solicitor all these years shouldn’t he know the local ordinances?” she said.
Borough Clerk Lisa Garrison was asked hours after Ryan told the Herald she had filed the complaint if the borough had such an ordinance prohibiting the display of political signs after an election or if she was aware of the pending charges against Benson. Garrison said she was unaware of the complaint and not even sure they had such an ordinance.
After reviewing the borough’s ordinance book Garrison pointed out an ordinance that prohibited political signs which promote the election of a particular candidate from exceeding six square feet in area, six feet in height and were to be removed in five days following an election.
Garrison says the borough staff is typically familiar with ordinances that are used every day and pointed out some that are still on the books that were clearly written in the last century that were never removed.
Prior to visiting borough hall to obtain a copy of the ordinance statue, photographs were taken of one of Benson’s campaign signs still in place over thirty days after the conclusion of the 2009 primary election, located at 1021 Tyler Road, a private residence. The photograph was taken at 2:13 p.m., according to the electronic date and time stamp of the Nikon D300 camera that was used to take the photograph.
An additional photograph was taken of a Benson campaign sign located at the intersection of Route 550 and Washington Avenue on the borough bike path which is public property. That photograph was taken at 2:16 p.m., according to the camera date and time stamp.
About 15 minutes after leaving borough hall the status of the signs were checked again. The sign located on the borough bike path had been taken down and left face down on the grass. A photograph of that sign indicated the time was 3:21 p.m.
Mayor Pikolycky and Councilman Ortiz were witnessed a short time later removing a sign located in a vacant lot adjacent to the Woodbine Custard Ranch with a third man whose identity is not known. Ortiz then drove down Washington Avenue in a black cargo van with Pikolycky in the passenger seat. The van proceeded to 1021 Tyler Road where Pikolycky and Ortiz were photographed actively removing the sign at 3:33 p.m.
“Take my picture I have nothing to hide!” shouted Pikolycky “If your going to take my picture you should take a picture of the sign still at their campaign headquarters!” Pikolycky said. “Hurry up before they take it down!” he said
At 3:37 p.m a photograph was taken at Republican headquarters located on Dehirsch Avenue of a Rodriquez and Murray campaign sign that had also not been taken down since the June 2, primary election.
In a phone interview Rodriquez was asked if he was aware of the ordinance requiring him to remove a political sign within five days of an election. Rodriquez said he was unaware of the ordinance and said he would send someone down to remove the sign.
Murray is currently in California according to family and was unreachable for comment.
Benson says he was not yet aware of Ryan’s complaint or aware that such an ordinance existed. Benson said even if the signs are in violation they are not his and he did not put them up. Benson explained he ran as a Republican and the signs were paid for and erected by the Independents for Woodbine who endorsed him. The Independents for Woodbine is also the political party of Pikolycky and Ortiz who were photographed removing the sign. Councilman Anthony “Smoky” Saduk is also a member of the party. According to the campaign sign that was erected, it was “Ordered and paid for by Independents for Woodbine.
According to Benson, since he won the primary election he should be entitled to keep a sign up until the November general election. Benson called the sign “a generic sign” not intended only for the primary. The sign clearly says “vote Tuesday in column four” the column Benson was listed under in the 2009 primary election. Benson disagreed the sign was strictly a primary election sign that should have been removed five days after the primary election.
Pikolycky said they had intended to remove the campaign signs to erect new ones to include Benson’s running mate Mary Helen Perez and that it was only “coincidental” he was removing the signs hours after Ryan signed the complaint.
Pikolycky says he was also unaware the ordinance existed and called Ryan’s complaint “frivolous”.
“I fully expect the prosecutor to dismiss this compliant”, he said. Pikolycky says in his thirty years serving on borough council people have never complained about campaign signs.
Pikolycky says he can’t recall the ordinance being written in his tenure on council and speculates the ordnance was probably written in the 1930’s when the borough had seven factories and disagreements between unions.
“I’ve researched a lot of Woodbine history, In the 30’s people had union signs and sometimes violent fights between unions,” he said.
Pikolycky also brought up ordinances still on the books from the last century that were intended for the problems of the early Woodbine settlers that would cost thousands of dollars to remove, so they just leave them.
Benson was asked if he would file charges against Council President Rodriguez and Councilman Murray for the sign that was still up. “No I’m not going to file a complaint; Ryan has time to do this kind of stuff, I’m focused on running a positive campaign,” he said.
Benson says he will fight the charged when he receives it.
Ryan was asked to comment in light of the Republican headquarters sign still displayed and Benson’s denial he owned the Benson campaign signs. Ryan said Rodriquez and Murray’s sign was not her responsibility and had nothing to do with her complaint. Ryan reaffirmed she researched the problem only after it was brought to her attention. Ryan says the small banner on the headquarters is only a fraction of the size of Benson’s.
“First off, if Benson says the signs are not his? Then Rodriguez and Murray signs must not be theirs either. Since they say they were ordered and paid for by friends of Rodriguez and Murray. The point is Benson was the solicitor of the borough for eighteen years and as a practicing attorney he is expected to have a higher understanding and commitment to the law and he is going to dispute he even owns them? If they are not his signs where, were the campaign signs ordered by his campaign? I only saw one type of signs the one with his name on it,” She said.
A court date has not been scheduled at this time.
If found guilty Benson faces a fine of $100 to $1000 to be determined by the court, according to Garrison.