When local elections come around, so do candidates' posters attached to anything and everything. However, since it's illegal to post fliers to city property (think light poles and traffic lights), the city has been cracking down—2009 mayoral candidate Bill Thompson was hit with a $619,000+ fine, Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio got a $300,000+ bill and City Comptroller managed to get out of nearly $550,000 in fines, thanks to a loophole. Well, ladies and gentleman, we have news for you: Mayor Bloomberg thinks that if you do the crime, you pay the fine.
Bloomberg was asked about poster fines thanks to the Kafkaesque story of a man who was fined $48,000 for illegal fliers he never put up. He said, "No harm done... I'm sorry it happened to him. It's hardly a great tragedy," and then complained about politicians who are trying to beat their fines, "We have a law that makes sense so that you don't have all these posters all over the place," adding, "If elected officials don't follow the law, what hope is there for everybody else? I always thought that elected officials should have to be held to a higher standard."
Bloomberg's 2009 campaign put up 70 illegal signs; at $75 per sign, his campaign paid off the fines...a drop in the bucket.
