Rockville City Council Lifts Campaign Banner Ban at Memorial Day Parade

Under a change in policy, political candidates can display their own campaign signs if they’re marching in Rockville’s Memorial Day parade.

The Rockville City Council passed the measure in a unanimous vote to change the city’s campaign policy, lifting restrictions on political banners in the parade.

Prior to the vote, candidates were barred from displaying their own campaign signs and could only use ones provided by the city. The rules don’t apply to other participants.

The Memorial Day parade is Monday, May 27.

Opponents of the parade banner change said they were concerned that giving candidates free rein ran the risk of transforming parade’s Memorial Day tenor into a tacky campaign event.

“I’m not sure that’s in the public’s interest,” Rockville resident Joe Jordan testified Monday. Jordan also voiced his dissent in a blog Post at Rockville Patch prior to Monday night’s Council meeting.

Ahead of Council vote, Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio said she didn’t see the need to add an extra layer of rules for parade marchers and said that public opinion would be enough to curtail the potential for gaudy displays.

“I think it would backfire like you wouldn’t believe,” Marcuccio said.

Councilman Tom Moore broached the topic last week, when the initial proposal to tweak the city’s campaign policy presented by city staff did not address the campaign banner ban.

Moore said the limitation encroached on First Amendment rights.

“If you're a Girl Scout Troop, a marching lawn mower band or the Ku Klux Klan—you can carry a banner and carry a sign. But if you're a candidate for office in Rockville, Maryland, you can't. I'm uncomfortable with the different treatment of political speech versus every other kind of speech. Do we think this policy is defensible?”

[See “Debate: Is Ban on Political Banners at Memorial Day Parade Constitutional?” at Rockville Patch.]

City Attorney Debra Yerg Daniel said the rules would have to be the same for all participants—political speech couldn’t be singled out.