Say it ain't so...

Corruption in Politics? Just another day in the neighborhood. We're not sure where this story came from, it was emailed to us, keep 'em coming.

Incumbent uses Code Enforcement to Remove Challenger’s Campaign Signs

In Grapevine, no challenger has won an election against an incumbent in at least 35 years. We are beginning to discover why.

Michael Robbins (the challenger) is running against Mike Lease (the incumbent) for Grapevine City Council Place 3. When Robbins filed for candidacy, he was provided a booklet which stated campaign signs could be put out 30 days before Election Day, or April 8. This was consistent with the city ordinance that states 17 days before elections, or April 9. We put up Robbins’ signs on April 10. On the evening of April 11 we received an anonymous tip from an inside source at City Hall warning us that the council had met privately and decided to specifically target Robbins in order to protect Lease. They re-interpreted the city ordinance so that now signs could only be put on PRIVATE property 17 days before early voting (April 9), and signs could only be put in the right of way once early voting started (April 26).

Just as we’d been warned, Robbins received a call from Linda Huff, City Secretary, on April 12 telling him he had to remove his signs immediately or the city would throw them in the trash. Robbins mentioned that Lease’s signs were side-by-side with his and asked if Lease would be instructed to remove his signs too. The response was “We’re not worried about his signs.”

Robbins had no choice but to remove all his signs, as it would be a significant financial loss if the city threw them away. But he did not remove the signs before taking photographs of his signs right next to Lease’s. As of 3pm today (April 13), Lease’s signs are still in the right of way, and in fact he continues to place more signs out on public property, without penalty. In addition, signs for other candidates (for GCISD school board) also remain in place.

It is clear that Robbins is being attacked by the city in order to protect Lease. Lease and all other candidates are not being required to follow an ordinance that Robbins is.