Candidate claims unfair treatment by Moses Lake

 

Last updated 7/23/2014 at 3:55pm



A city in Washington is interfering in a hotly contested congressional election by removing the signs of at least one candidate, while leaving opponents signs standing on the same public property.

Moses Lake appears to be targeting candidates who do not agree to sign a contract giving them permission to place signs on public property. The chief target of this seems to be Gavin Seim, a vocal liberty Republican from central Washington.

“It does not matter what party you run under. Our rights must be upheld,” says Seim, a candidate running under the banner of getting government legal and constitutional again. “The city has been removing our signs for months. It was sporadic at first, and we put them back up. Then we kept getting more attention because I support people’s rights and limited government. Even on a shoestring campaign budget, we were gaining ground fast and are strong contenders in the upcoming primary.”

Around July 9, the city begin taking down all Seim signs on public property, while apparently leaving signs of opponents in place.

“We’re not sure who all is being targeted, but we seem to be at the forefront,” says Seim. “We asked the city in person, and they confirmed the action but declined to show any law that says people have to sign a contract for their free speech. I tried to talk to them about the Constitution and even brought them a copy of a state Supreme Court case relevant to campaign signs. They ignored me and finally called in the police. We did have video rolling.”

In the video Seim tries to discuss the law and become clear on what rules the city is going by, but officials and officers refuse to give details. After the encounter, more questions from supporters brought a statement from city officials.

“The ‘Sign Placement Agreement’ is not part of the municipal code but a policy directive set forth by the city council. It is internal policy to initiate enforcement action of these policy directives, regardless of whether the directive is adopted as code. The only way to find out about any of these policy directives is to ask the City of Moses Lake, find it on the website, or read the minutes of the city council meeting, not by scouring the codes,” wrote Community Development Director Gilbert Alvarado.

“We are looking at what action can be taken against the city,” Seim says. It appears at least three federal laws have been violated, as well as the U.S. and Washington state Constitutions. At this time our signs are still being taken down, but an outpouring of local support has people offering private property for our signs. The right to a fair election process is critical, and we are seeing a growing disregard for it that is very disturbing. We must hold public officials accountable at every level of government. That’s our duty as Americans.”

Seim has posted videos of his and the city’s responses on his website which can be found here along with further details: http://callmegav.com/2014/07/moses-lake-sabotage-congressional-race.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/12/2024 22:15