Campaign Season Begins as Political Signs Pop Up

It's campaign season in Marlboro. As three council seats are up for grabs, so are the blank spaces on the side of township roads.

Campaign signs were seen in Marlboro on private property as early as the end of April. Marlboro's temporary sign ordinance allows sign placement within 45 days of an election; the primary is little more than a month away.

But Marlboro Republicans are publicly outing area democrats for sign misplacement.

Marlboro Republican Club Chair Chris Dean said in the public comment section of last week's council meeting that he counted 22 illegally placed signs from the Marlboro Library to Route 34.

"Admittedly, one of our enthusiastic volunteers placed several signs outside of the areas permitted under the ordinance," LaRocca said in a statement to Patch.

During last week's meeting, which marked the public hearing of Marlboro's municipal budget, LaRocca offered a political truce to Marlboro Republicans.

"I would be more than happy to enter into an agreement that we can codify where local politicians and local political parties do not put any signs in the public right away. That only residents and business owners would, with their permission, can display signs on private property," LaRocca offered.

Dean said he is willing to adhere to the law, but did not recognize the offer during public meeting.

A 2011 ordinance amendment which was supported unanimously by the current council, limited temporary signs to certain streets in Marlboro and limited the number of signs each candidate can display on roads. 

The then Council Vice-President Jeff Cantor said then that he began the campaign to limit signs in 2005. Cantor is up for election this year.

“I don’t understand the importance of the signs,” he said at the 2011 meeting. “Signs don’t vote.”

LaRocca said he believes it's more helpful to residents to talk about the budget on the night of the municipal budget adoption.

"Surprisingly, rather than discuss the municipal budget, the opposition focused on the several signs observed outside of the permitted areas," LaRocca said in a statement. "As neither Dean, nor any of his current candidates, appeared at the public budget deliberations, perhaps we should not have been so surprised."

Temporary political signs may be placed on or in the rights-of-way 200 feet in each direction at the following intersections according to the ordinance:

• Intersections of Route 520 with Gordon's Corner Road, Wyncrest Road, Tennent Road.
• Intersections of Robertsville Road with Wyncrest Road and Ryan Road.
• Pleasant Valley Road and Conover Road.
• Spring Valley Road and Tennent Road; and Gordon's Corner Road.
• Entrance to the Marlboro Swim Club at Gordon's Corner Road and Masepe Trail.
• Intersection of Lloyd Road and Nolan Road.
• Entrances to Greenbriar located on Robertsville Road and Club House Lane, and Topanemus Road and Coventry Lane.
• Intersection of Amboy Road and Texas Road.
• Entrances to Mill Ponds and the Enclave on Texas Road.
• Intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Reids Hill Road.
• Entrance of the Recreation Complex on Vanderburg Road.