Greenwich’s first selectman candidates, incumbent Fred Camillo and challenger Jill Oberlander, clash over campaign signs. Camillo states that he follows town regulations and receives permission for every sign placement. He accuses Oberlander of placing signs without permission and disregarding the rules. However, Oberlander argues that she also follows the regulations and has received positive feedback from residents about her signs. Both candidates emphasize the importance of maintaining a clean and respectful campaign, but this disagreement highlights their differing approaches to campaigning and adherence to local regulations..
GREENWICH — Leaves changing color and campaign signs popping up on lawns are two certainties of fall, but this year one candidate is pledging to exercise some restraint, while his opponent deems the move unnecessary.
First Selectman Fred Camillo, who is seeking his third term in office, said he will not be placing his signs on town property.
“One of the issues that comes up each day, each special event, and each election is the proliferation of lawn signs on public property,” Camillo said in a campaign email Wednesday. “With all the frustration surrounding the signs and the environmental impact they have as they are produced and discarded, as well as the eyesore they create, I am committed to not installing any of my signs on public property. Rather, I will focus on the citizens of our town who wish to show support by displaying our sign on their own private property.”
Camillo, a Republican, said he gets tons of complaints about these signs each year, so he wanted to do something different this time around.
But Laura Erickson, a Democrat running against Camillo for the Office of First Selectman, said political signs are an important expression of free speech and they help remind voters that an election is coming up.
“If Fred Camillo wishes to place his signs on private property only, that’s his decision to make,” she wrote in a statement. “However, don’t be fooled. There’s no environmental benefit if the same number of signs are being planted in a different spot. And if past elections are any indication, there will be plenty of political messaging signs in the public right of way. This is an important local election on (Nov. 7) and voters should do their research.”
Erickson also said the Republican and Democratic town committees have a longstanding agreement that signs are allowed to go up on public property two weeks prior to the election and that they should be taken down quickly after the vote.
Camillo said he wants to know if any of his campaign signs end up on town property, so the campaign can remove them. He also said he thinks a campaign sign on private property is a more authentic display of support than just spamming public areas with signs.
Greenwich considered banning signs on town property back in 2020, but the proposal ultimately did not move forward.
Earlier this year, after an event celebrating LGBTQ Pride month in June, homophobic signs were planted outside Town Hall. The culprit has not been publicly identified and, at the time of the incident, officials at least partly attributed that to a lack of security camera coverage outside Town Hall.
Camillo has been vocal about lawn signs in the past, but he also has a personal history with campaign signs.
In 2019, when he was seeking his first term in office, a Greenwich police captain secretly commissioned and planted fake “Trump / Camillo” signs around town designed to link Camillo to then-President Donald Trump.
Mark Kordick, the police captain, admitted that he planted the signs. Within days, he was placed on leave and later fired.
Kordick, a Democrat, sued the town in June 2020, claiming his free speech rights were violated. Earlier this month, the town settled the Kordick case for $650,000. Camillo was also named as a defendant in Kordick’s lawsuit and he settled with Kordick earlier this year, but details of the settlement are not public.
When asked if the campaign pledge to keep signs off town property had anything to do with the Kordick case or what happened in 2019, Camillo said it did not.
Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo, who is seeking reelection for his third term, has pledged not to place his campaign signs on town property. Camillo cited the environmental impact, frustration, and eyesore created by these signs as reasons for his decision. However, his opponent, Democrat Laura Erickson, believes that political signs are an important expression of free speech and serve as reminders to voters. Erickson also mentioned a longstanding agreement between the Republican and Democratic town committees regarding the placement and removal of signs on public property. Camillo wants to remove any of his campaign signs found on town property and believes displaying signs on private property is a more authentic form of support.
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