THE NEWS-HERALD
September 7, 2001

Ohio court rules on sign issue

Decision strikes down Painesville law that limits amount of time political signs can be posted in the city

By Scott Heasley
News-Herald Staff Writer

Telling a law firm that handles a lot of civil rights cases that it should take down its political signs might now have been such a great idea.

The Ohio Supreme Court reiterated that fact Wednesday by declaring as unconstitutional a Painesville law limiting the amount of time political signs can be posted in the city.

In 1997, Painesville zoning officials told the law firm of Dworken and Bernstein to remove a campaign sign on its property.

The city ordinance limited the display of the signs to 17 days before an election and two days after.

In a unanimous ruling, the court struck down the Painesville ordinance.

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, writing for the court, said that narrowly drawn municipal ordinances restricting the time, place and manner of the display are reasonable.

The city restriction "is unconstitutional when applied to prohibit the owner of private property from posting a single political sign on that property outside the...period set by the ordinance," Moyer wrote.

The court said the time period did not reflect the duration of the traditional Labor-Day-to-November fall election season, usually a period of more than 60 days.

Attorney Patrick J. Perotti of Dworken & Bernstein said the outcome was a victory for free speech.

"We brought the case originally not only for the interest of Dworken and Bernstein, but for the interest of everybody," Perotti said. "For the five or ten people in the city who were cited for not being willing to take down the signs, there were probably five or ten times more who were told to take down the sign and did.

"We figured somebody's going to have to stand up for the rights of the public and we decided to do it. We haven't been vindicated. The right of free speech has been vindicated."

Edward Powers, who argued the case for Painesville, declined to comment because he had not seen the ruling. Painesville law director Joseph Gurley and city Manager Rita McMahon could not be reached for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.