St. Charles, Michigan – It wouldn’t be a political season without disputes over campaign posters.

A prominent Saginaw County attorney has filed a federal lawsuit against St. Charles Parish and several of its leaders, alleging that the parish’s ordinance limiting the time period during which residents can display political signs is unconstitutional. In addition, he claims officials used the ordinance to target one local candidate while ignoring the signs of others.

St. Charles resident Troy Freed was appointed township supervisor earlier this year and is currently running for re-election. Attorney Philip L. Ellison filed suit on his behalf in U.S. District Court in Bay City on Sunday, August 25. The township itself, President Edgar Tithof, Manager Hartmann Aue and Police Chief Jason Oliver were named as defendants.

At issue is whether village officials have the authority to remove Freed’s signs from his front yard, as Ellison claims.

“Government officials must not abuse the limited powers of their public office to dictate how and when serious election issues are publicly discussed,” Ellison told MLive. “Political signs are constitutionally protected expressions of opinion, and local officials have an obligation to respect the free speech rights of everyone, including those with whom they disagree politically.”

When asked by MLive, Aue and Tifhof said they could not comment on pending legal proceedings.

The village’s zoning ordinance, passed in April 2007, states that political signs can be put up no more than 30 days before an election and taken down no later than four days afterward. Ellison claims such an ordinance violates the First Amendment and that officials have used it to jeopardize Freed’s re-election prospects.

“This is unconstitutional,” Ellison said. “You can’t regulate signs based on their content.”

The lawsuit says Freed was handing out signs in St. Charles. On Thursday, Aug. 22, Tithof rode his bicycle through St. Charles and removed several signs from residents’ front yards with Freed’s assistance, the lawsuit says.

Freed complained, and Tithof and Aue ordered Chief Oliver to remove Freed’s signs, the lawsuit says. Ellison claims Tithof and Aue ordered Oliver not to remove any other candidates’ signs, including those supporting the Republican presidential candidate and Donald J. Trump.

Oliver made a post on the police Facebook page on Saturday, August 24, reminding residents of the sign ordinance. He claimed that the municipal ordinance is also shared by the county, adding that county authorities had contacted St. Charles officials and asked why the municipality had not complied.

Oliver also noted that the Michigan Department of Transportation prohibits the placement of such signs on highways. Ellison countered, however, that village officials are not allowed to enforce the Department of Transportation’s regulations.

MDOT rules for political signs state that they must be more than three feet from the curb and more than 30 feet from the edge of a non-curb roadway.

“The Supervisor of the Village of St. Charles does not enact these rules, and neither does our police department,” Oliver wrote. “These ordinances have been in place for quite some time, long before the current Supervisor took office.”

Oliver went on to say that he would search the whole village for political posters on Monday 26 August and remove any that he found in gardens. He advised residents who found their posters missing to collect them from the police.

In response to a question from a Facebook user, police replied that no political signs would be allowed until September 6.

Removing political signs or threatening to remove them is illegal, Ellison wrote in the lawsuit. The lawsuit contains four counts – three of which relate to violations of the First Amendment and the fourth alleges violations of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection principle. In support of this last count, Ellison claims that numerous other temporary signs in St. Charles were not affected by the removal.

Ellison is asking the courts to declare St. Charles’ political sign ordinance unconstitutional, issue injunctions against its enforceability and the removal of the signs, and award Freed damages and attorney’s fees.

A future court date for the lawsuit is pending.