GOVERNMENT: PLANNING OPPONENENTS' SIGNS VIOLATE STATE LAW

JACKSON, Mo. -- Opponents of planning and zoning in Cape Girardeau County have erected "vote no" yard signs that violate the state's campaign finance disclosure law, state and local election officials say.

The signs don't disclose who paid for their printing.

Joe Carroll, director of campaign finance for the Missouri Ethics Commission, said Wednesday that campaign signs must include the name of the committee and its treasurer. If the signs are paid for by an individual or individuals, those names and their addresses should be listed on the signs, he said.

Carroll said it isn't unusual to see illegal signs.

"Normally, we see them in April elections dealing with local issues and local candidates," he said.

Jackson resident David Allen said he personally paid for the yard signs and hats urging voters to defeat a measure on the Nov. 7 ballot that would authorize planning and lead to zoning in unincorporated areas of the county.

But Allen hasn't filed a campaign finance report disclosing his spending, which Carroll said is required by state law.

Opponents only recently formed a campaign committee with Allen as its president. The group is called Committee to Protect Landowners Rights.

Recent knowledge

It filed its first report with the county clerk's office in Jackson Tuesday. The report says the committee was organized on Oct. 8, the last day in which a campaign committee legally can be organized prior to an election. It lists Allen as president and Don Shrum as treasurer.

Doug Flannery, a Whitewater, Mo., area resident and leading opponent of planning and zoning, said the committee existed prior to Oct. 8 but he and other planning and zoning opponents only recently learned the committee was subject to campaign finance law requirements.

Flannery, a Democratic candidate for First District commissioner, said he first learned of the problems with the anti-zoning signs in a telephone call from Miller, the county clerk, last Thursday or Friday.

Miller said he called Flannery after fielding a few calls from people questioning why the anti-zoning signs didn't disclose who paid for them.

As to the campaign finance reports, Shrum said Wednesday that he and others involved with the Committee to Protect Landowners Rights weren't told until this week that they had to file campaign finance reports.

Shrum said Cape Girardeau lawyer David Roth, one of the committee's lawyers, informed him of the financial disclosure requirements on Monday after reviewing a copy of a proposed newspaper ad that the group wants to run.

The committee plans to spend money on newspaper and radio ads in the remaining weeks before the election.

Footing the bill

So far, Shrum said, the committee hasn't spent any money. He said he wasn't sure how much money had been raised, but that it was less than $7,000.

He said the spending will be disclosed in its next report, which will cover spending done between the group's formation and Oct. 26. It's the only detailed report it will file prior to the election.

So far, Allen has footed the bill for the anti-zoning campaign.

"I bought 1,000 yard signs," he said. Most of have been distributed.

Allen also bought 400 hats bearing the "vote no" message and has rented five lighted signs from which to publicize the anti-zoning message.

Allen said he didn't realize he had to file a financial disclosure report as an individual.

But Carroll of the Ethics Commission said any campaign committee or individual who spends over $500 must file disclosure reports. Both individuals and committees must disclose their campaign spending.

The Ethics Commission investigates when an individual files a complaint. If the commission finds there was a violation, it can levy a fine of up to $1,000.

Shrum said planning and zoning opponents didn't intentionally violate the law and would make every effort to comply with the law.

"We don't have anything to hide," he said.