PORT ANGELES — Authorities are investigating whether a judge who is seeking re-election violated state law by allegedly moving one of his opponent’s campaign signs.
The accusation, made by a Port Angeles woman, is that Clallam County District Court Judge Rick Porter on July 6 moved a small sign for Tim Davis, one of his two challengers in the Aug. 17 primary election, from the city right of way in front of her house and placed it next to a hedge in her front yard.
The complaint was initially made to Port Angeles police, but it has been forwarded to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to avoid a conflict of interest, said Police Chief Terry Gallagher.
Porter, who called the complaint “cheap, tawdry politics,” said he does recall picking up the sign along Laurel Street sometime over the last couple weeks after an evening of door-to-door campaigning.
But he maintained that he did so merely to straighten the bent placard as an act of courtesy.
He could not recall whether he moved it from its original location.
“I don’t recall if I moved it out of the right of way,” Porter said.
“It’s just a common courtesy. That’s all,” he said, adding that he does the same for all candidates.
But Anna Shimko, the woman who filed the complaint with police, tells a different story.
Saw it being moved
She said she was sitting on her porch with a friend sometime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. when she saw a man pick up the sign and place it next to the hedge, where it was less visible.
“I said, “Hey, what are you doing?” Shimko said.
“The guy said, ‘I’m moving your sign. It’s against city ordinance because it’s in the right of way.”
Shimko, who is a victim witness assistant with the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said it was too dark to see the man’s face but added that she recognized the man’s voice as belonging to Porter.
“I thought that was pretty shady to be doing that at 10 or 11 at night,” she said.
Porter said he also doesn’t recall if anyone told him to stop when he picked up the sign.
“There may have been somebody there,” he said. “Whatever conversation I had, it certainly wasn’t a memorable one.”
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will ultimately use the investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office to determine if Porter is charged with breaking any laws.
Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez said Thursday that his agency’s investigation likely will be completed next week.
Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said the complaint could fall under a state law that makes it a misdemeanor to remove or deface a lawfully placed sign.
Violating the law is punishable by up to three months in jail and $1,000 in fines.
Smith said moving a sign next to a hedge where it is less visible could be considered defacing it.
Not lawfully placed
But even if that’s what Porter did, the sign was not lawfully placed to begin with, said city Planning Manager Sue Roberds.
She said all private signs are banned from public property, including right of ways for city streets.
The county Auditor’s Office says that public property and public rights of way are “off limits for signs” in its guidelines for campaign signs on its website at http://tinyurl.com/25omebk .
“City public works departments can and will confiscate signs on right of ways,” the guidelines say.
The Auditor’s Office recommends reporting signs that are in rights of way, or which have been placed without owner permission, to law enforcement.
No different from other complaints
Gallagher said the Port Angeles Police Department has not treated the complaint about the sign any differently than other calls they receive.
“They [Shimko] felt it was a police matter,” he said.
“That puts us in a position where we have to respond in some manner.”
Gallagher said the case was handed over to authorities in Jefferson County because it would be “clearly inappropriate for us to pursue it any further” since Porter is a sitting judge in Clallam County.
While Porter said he could not recall if he moved the sign into the yard, he did say that he doesn’t think it should have been placed in the city’s right of way.
Porter said he doesn’t go around moving signs that are on public property, but added that if he finds a knocked over political sign, he will put it back in a “legal place.”
He still maintained that he does not recall whether or not he moved Shimko’s sign — which he said was standing but bent over — out of the right of way.
Davis, a state assistant attorney general based in Port Angeles, said Shimko was right to call the police but declined further comment.
Lawyer Pam Lindquist of Port Angeles also is challenging Porter in the August primary.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
