Political signs

I know all of us have had to endure the political sign season before, yet this year takes the cake. The city has a very strict set of codes for signs and uses them often, as any of us long-term residents know.

Yet this year, we have a politician who has decided it would be a good idea to copy a construction sign for his campaign. These are, of course, placed adjacent to highways.

I talked with the Montana Office of Political Practice, and they said they warned him. Then we found statute MCA 61-8-210 "Display of unauthorized signs, signals, or markings' and, when called, the Montana Department of Transportation said it was up to the city of Whitefish.

When we called the city, they told us the city attorney had received a lot of complaints on this subject. They reviewed it and decided that since there was so little time left, he could keep the signs up. He was warned however that he had an illegal sign, and that if he won, he would then have to put up a legitimate sign.

How sad that a candidate looking to write laws for House District 4 and the state of Montana never even looked the code up before he designed his signs. If he had been informed of this violation, why did he not take them down?

How can Damon Pace be a good fit for our district when he thinks he doesn't have to look up or even follow the laws on the books?

Mike Hamilton

Whitefish