Signs Signify Campaign Commitment

The First Amendment is alive and kicking in Cambridge, if the campaign posters on display in local shops and residences in preparation for the city elections are any indication.

Walter McDonough, the campaign manager for City Council candidate Michael A. Sullivan, says signs are important because they "give the people a real opportunity to voice real support."

Sullivan says that when people display political signs, they are expressing "a personal commitment to the process."

City Councillor Alice K. Wolf, who is not seeking reelction this year, has fought for right to post in the past. When the Cambridge City Council voted in 1974 to ban campaign signs, she sued--and won.

"It was a First Amendment issue," Wolf says.

Three political signs compete for space in David Stafford's front lawn, but they're not all his.

Stafford says the only sign that he is displaying is one for Libertarian candidate Galit Dukach. "The other ones belong to the lady upstairs," Stafford says.

Residences are not the only places signs are displayed, though.

Shoppers at the used clothing store Oona's will see a campaign poster for Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72. The store's owner, Kathleen M. White, says she volunteered to put up a sign for Reeves because she feels he is "tuned into the business community."

And, if the experience of Timothy Anderson '55 is any indication, candidates keep tabs on where their signs are displayed.

Anderson says he put up a sign for Councillor William H. Walsh because he supports Walsh's fight against rent control. When the wind blew the sign down once, Walsh "sent someone over to put it back up."