The city of Peoria and Jason Beck’s mayoral campaign are in a dust up over inconsistent language regarding political sign rules.
The row centers on the campaign booklet Peoria made available to the council candidates that details a number of rules including when candidates are allowed to place political signs in the right of way.
The digital booklet includes a link to the city’s political signs pamphlet that includes rules for political campaign signs, but the document changed at least four times in regards to sign timeframes.
The inconsistent language raised eyebrows of supporters and members of the Beck campaign who confronted the council at it’s most recent public meeting, June 7.
The initial guidelines for political signs used language from a past election — “primary election signs may be installed no earlier than May 30 and removed by Sept 12,” and “general election signs may be installed no earlier than Aug. 8 and removed by Nov. 21.”
Then the language was changed to “primary election signs may be installed no earlier than May 4 and removed by Aug. 17,” and “general election signs may be installed no earlier than Aug. 29 and removed by Nov. 23.”
Then the time frame regarding political signs was removed completely. Finally here is the language that exists today in the pamphlet: “Election signs may be installed no earlier than May 4 and removed by Nov. 23.” City officials say this time frame is correct, aligning with city code — signs “may be installed up to 90 days before the primary election, and must be removed within 15 days after the general election.”
The timing is more permissive in Peoria than state law allows, and permits political signs up to “90 days prior to the primary election and up to 15 days after the general election. State law prohibits removal of political signs from the public right of way within 71 days of the primary election, however, in Peoria, the code prohibits removal of political signs in legally permissible areas up to 90 days before the primary election.
Briana Cortinas, Peoria’s interim communications director, said Arizona state law and the Peoria city code use the date of a primary election to trigger the window allowing placement of political signs in public rights of way.
“There is no local primary election, however, there is a primary election date in August for all elections having their general election in November. As a result, political signs are permitted in legally permissible areas within the city of Peoria from May 4, 2022, through Nov. 23, 2022,” Cortinas said.
For about a month, depending on where and when candidates accessed the website, they saw different versions of the document with different information regarding the time frame for political signs.
Adding to the confusion, in 2020 voters approved changes to the city’s charter that eliminates the primary election if council races only had two competitors, which is the case in this election cycle, with Beck running against former city council member Bridget Binsbacher.
Only the final iteration of the political sign guidelines in the pamphlet included the following at the top of the page: “Political sign time frames have been updated per changes to the city charter, ratified by voters on Nov. 3, 2020.”
The Beck campaign claims the city is protecting Binsbacher, and the newest rules in the pamphlet exonerates her, as they say she had political signs installed before May 30.
City Manager Jeff Tyne spoke on the matter during the council meeting, apologizing if there was any inconvenience or misunderstanding and took personal responsibility.
“There can be instances where there is no primary election, regardless, per state and city laws, such signs can be put up 90 days before the primary date,” he said. “All the city’s documents refer to this, but we did have one PDF document for about a month that didn’t fully explain that scenario. It was an incomplete piece. Once we were made aware of that, indeed, we quickly updated it and standardized the language on all website links.”
Ultimately, officials say the newest language in the pamphlet is correct. However, Joe Clure, a member of Beck’s mayoral campaign, said during the city council meeting that all those different iterations of political sign regulations is called changing the rules in the middle of the game.
“That’s inappropriate, shameful and it shouldn’t happen. [The city] made a decision to benefit your anointed one at the disadvantage of every other candidate. That’s what happened,” he said. “I know you’re saying, ‘Oh everybody knew, everybody knew.’ I don’t believe anybody knew because I think you changed the rules midstream and I think the evidence is pretty clear.”
While the website may have been incorrect, city officials said information given to candidates had the correct timelines for signs. Tyne said the correct rules were in the candidate packets from the beginning of election season. A different section of the packet lists an election calendar, which includes dates for political signs for the primary, even though there is no primary election this year. For the primary election, the calendar lists May 4 as the first day to install political signs and Aug. 17 as the last day to remove political signs for candidates not advancing to the general election. City officials say since Beck and Binsbacher are the only candidates, they both move on to the general election, as do other unopposd council candidates.
However, Clure said per the city charter, there is no primary election this year, therefore the rules should be based on the general election rules.
“Period. There is no primary election. The candidates were notified of that by email on April 5,” he said. In referring to the election calendar, he added, “If you go to page 5, there is a delineation of primary election, which is a sole and separate election and event, and a second table for the general election, which is a sole and separate election.”
The city clerk’s office manges Peoria elections and complies with election laws. Former City Clerk Rhonda Germinsky retired in December 2021 and in May, Tyne selected Lori Dyckman as the new Peoria City Clerk, who served as the acting city clerk until officially appointed.
Peoria spokeswoman Kristina Perez said in their research, the city learned the inconsistency in language regarding political signs came down to human error.
After the former clerk retired, the clerk’s office began updating candidate packets, the guidelines for political signs, and the planning and zoning political signs documents, she said.
“Most of these were minor updates to add more information or swap out the city clerk information. Because this is the first election after the 2020 charter update, this is the first time the city has had to wait until after candidates turned in their signatures in April to know whether there would be a primary election or just a general election.”
Binsbacher said she followed the rules outlined in the candidate packet that was provided to all candidates by the city clerk as well as what is explained in the city code.
“The code clearly states that signs are permitted ‘90 days prior to primary election and up to 15 days after general election.’ This has been confirmed by the city attorney,” Binsbacher said.
“Meanwhile, many of these opponents who are now attacking me have been displaying signs for months well before the required date. This is just the latest in a series of false controversies cooked up by those who want to attack and denigrate the city of Peoria.”
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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