Campaign signs for candidates in the race for McKean County district attorney are causing an uproar in the City of Bradford.
Several people were commenting on social media Tuesday that large signs for challenger Phil Clabaugh had been removed from the City of Bradford.
The Era contacted Mayor Tom Riel and Clabaugh.
Riel said city officials were contacted by incumbent District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer’s campaign with a complaint that the signs were too big to comply with the city’s ordinances, and threatened legal action if the signs were not removed, the mayor said.
Riel provided a timeline of events.
On Friday, the campaign of Phil Clabaugh for district attorney put up several signs in the city. Several of those measured 4 feet by 8 feet, a common size for signs in the city for many years, according to the mayor.
However, by the next morning, Riel was contacted by local attorney Greg Henry, affiliated with Vettenburg-Shaffer’s re-election campaign.
“He claimed the signs were too large,” Riel said, “that they were in violation of ordinances and he wanted me to order Mr. Clabaugh to remove the signs. He mentioned a lawsuit twice and said he wanted an answer by the first thing Monday morning.”
The mayor said he took Henry’s mention of a lawsuit as a threat, and informed the city solicitor, Mark Hollenbeck. Throughout the weekend, Henry and Shaffer both spoke to Hollenbeck, city officials confirmed.
“We tried to resolve it amicably,” Riel said. “I mentioned to Mr. Henry that the city had not enforced the sign requirement at any time regarding campaign signs because they were placed up temporarily and would be taken down in a short time frame.”
The mayor also pointed out that Shaffer’s campaign had a sign of the same size placed within the city limits.
“I asked him why he was so upset with the signs that had been up roughly 14 hours when the current district attorney had a sign of the same size up for going on four weeks in the city of Bradford, to which he replied he was not aware of that,” Riel said.
The mayor reiterated that Henry would not consider a compromise, even after Riel said members of city council plan to amend the ordinance next Tuesday to allow for temporary campaign signs.
Riel said, “I feel really bad for Mr. Clabaugh because his opponent had a sign up for four weeks. He puts his up and the city is threatened with a lawsuit. It just seems very hypocritical.”
Contacted Tuesday afternoon, Clabaugh said he had been unaware of the city’s ordinance, but when it was brought to his attention, he removed the signs in question.
“I maintain absolute respect for the rules and ordinances of the City of Bradford, and immediately took action to remove the signs,” Clabaugh said.
“City officials were extremely accommodating in attempting to help resolve the complaint, but we were unable to reach a compromise,” he added. “While I maintain that the hypocrisy of the complaint is absurd, the removal of my signs from within the city limits will not dissuade my campaign, and ultimately will not affect the outcome of this election. I will continue to drive my message and push for necessary changes within our criminal justice system, and vow to be a district attorney who values justice over politics.”
For her part, Shaffer denied any knowledge of controversy over signs in Bradford, and denied any threat of legal action.
“Most candidates are aware of size restrictions on campaign signs within the historical district of the city. Every campaign season, there are questions about this,” she said, in a statement to The Era. “I know other candidates contacted the city to ask for clarification of the ordinance. We believed there was an ordinance about this as well. When large campaign signs were put up in the city historical district a question was asked of the city about whether that ordinance was, in fact, still in effect.”
She said many candidates wanted to put up larger signs.
“At that time we discovered one of our signs was in the restricted area on the Foster Township border. The question was raised because I, along with other candidates, wanted to put the larger signs up as well,” Shaffer said. “The remedy was not legal action — nor was that threatened — but rather I and other candidates would simply put larger signs up as well. On Monday, we were told that the city was, in fact, enforcing the ordinance which prohibits large signs without a permit and proper bond.”
In light of Shaffer’s comments, The Era contacted Riel again. He stood by his comments, and confirmed again that Shaffer had spoken to Hollenbeck on Friday.
“As the mayor of the City of Bradford I have the duty and obligation to protect the city. We were placed in the middle, which was not a comfortable position to be in,” the mayor said. “We were forced to do something. We didn’t look for this fight. It was brought to us.”
