Signs From Independent Expenditure Committee Backing Garcia For Mayor Appear On Private Property, Sometimes High Up, Making Them Hard To Remove

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(March 21, 2014, 3:20 a.m.) -- Campaign signs funded by an independent expenditure committee ("Friends of Long Beach, A Committee Supporting Vice Mayor Robert Garcia for Mayor") have begun appearing on or near commercial property locations, in some cases placed high enough on light poles or other structures to make them difficult to remove.

Below are photos provided by LBREPORT.com readers on Thursday Mar. 20 2014 from areas near Wilson High School, 2nd St./Belmont Shore, PCH segment in SE LB and Alamitos Beach. LBREPORT.com has received reports of similar signs in Los Altos commercial areas:

Some of the signs are at street level.

In small print, the signs indicate they're paid for by "Friends of Long Beach, A Committee Supporting Vice Mayor Robert Garcia for Mayor."

Paperwork publicly filed by that entity indicates it spent $4,316 and $3,545 on Mar. 12 for "Street Signs Supporting Robert Garcia" [caveat: unclear if for printing or posting or both.]

On Feb. 1, LBREPORT.com was first (again) to report that the independent expenditure committee supporting Garcia filed organizational paperwork on Jan. 27 stating it's not controlled by an officeholder or candidate, meaning that legally it must operate independently of Garcia and Garcia's campaign. The Garcia campaign has different signs, which are dark blue with his logo. [Candidate campaigns routinely deny responsibility for what an independent expenditure committee does, noting that candidate committees can't legally coordinate its activities with an independent committee supporting the candidate.]

Placing political signs on private property, if done without the property owner/operator's consent, effectively requires the private property owner/operator to remove them. If they're placed high on poles on commercial property, this may require a business to take some time, effort and possibly incur some cost to remove them.

Signs placed on public property (locations such as street medians, etc. not seen here) is prohibited by LB city ordinances and initially handled as a code enforcement issue, entailing some taxpayer costs for removal. The City has the ability to bill the person(s)/entity responsible for the removal costs (although we don't know whether this has been done or been successful in previous election cycles.)

As of Mar. 20, the independent commitee supporting Garcia reported collecting $91,000 from eleven contributors, many listing addresses outside Long Beach (LBREPORT.com coverage at: this link.)

Further to follow on LBREPORT.com.