Campaign-sign debate continues

Date: March 18, 2013
by: Kurt Schultheis | Managing Editor

A debate about campaign signs continues on Longboat Key.

The election might be over, but Larry Grossman isn’t ready to let one campaign issue rest just yet.

Grossman, who ran and lost to Mayor Jim Brown in last week’s election, wrote Brown an email March 14 to express his displeasure with Vice Mayor David Brenner. Brenner took some campaign signs belonging to Grossman and Gene Jaleski out of a Sarasota right of way last month.

“So now that the election is over, I'm going to have to say that there is still unfinished business that needs to be resolved so that for the next election cycle we don't have a repetition of the petty thefts that occurred during this campaign,” Grossman wrote. “I'm not going to allow Commissioner Brenner to evade and self dismiss his illegal actions to remove our signs, and I'm going to pursue this matter relentlessly until justice is done.”

Grossman and Jaleski reported on the disappearance of at least 10 of their signs during the public comments section of the Monday, March 4 Longboat Key Town Commission meeting.

Jaleski said before the Longboat Observer/Longboat Key Public Interest Committee candidate forum in February that Vice Mayor David Brenner had handed him two of his signs and said they were on private property and the property owner didn’t give Jaleski permission to place them there.

Later, Jaleski discovered Brenner took them from the outskirts of the Lido Shores neighborhood, within city of Sarasota limits.

“No responsible public official would remove or steal signs,” Grossman wrote. “He should provide an explanation of his actions in conjunction with this incident of sign stealing and should resign from his office. He is not above the law and is answerable to the people of Longboat Key.”

Contact Kurt Schultheis at kschultheis@yourobserver.com.