Some Highland Park candidates ditch yard signs

This election cycle, Highland Park residents will see fewer campaign signs, as incumbents have decided to opt out of the common tactic.

Instead of planting the signs, those incumbents plan to donate the money they would have spent to the Park District of Highland Park to plant trees. The incumbents, Michael Brenner, Steve Mandel and Jim Kirsch, say that the move will make for a more environmentally-friendly campaign.

"It's a small step," Mandel said. "I think it is symbolic, but a lot of great things we do for the environment, start out symbolic."

But challenger Nancy Rodkin Rotering says that political speech, as represented by the signs, is the most-important form of free speech.

"To me, having yard signs is one way for people to be aware of what their choices are," Rotering said. "That's part of why I'm running, to give the people of Highland Park a choice."

It's not just city incumbents who are foregoing the use of signs: Township School District 113 Board Member Harvey Cohen, who is running opposed, former mayor Ray Geraci, now running for Morraine Township supervisor, and incumbent Park Board members Lorry Werhane, Jr. and Stacy Weiss, who are unopposed, will all give up the signs. The city council candidates have together pledged to donate at least $3,000 to the park district for trees.

"I don't think people are really going to vote for you if they see your name on a thousand yard signs around town," Brenner said, noting that campaigns also use a lot of gasoline driving around to distribute signs and then pick them up after the election. "We've gotten a lot of positive reaction."

And Mandel feels that the choice to abstain from the signs isn't a big disability for any candidate. Anyone who turns out in a local election, Mandel said, is likely to be fairly well-informed. He also argued there's an abundance of information available on the candidates, from recorded city council and plan commission meetings available online to print and online media. If anything, fewer signs will challenge voters to become more informed, Mandel believes.

"Politics also needs to become more sustainable," he said. "We're challenging people to be more knowledgeable ... they can know us without looking at signs."

Having run for so many elections, Rotering suggested incumbents should recycle old signs as an alternative to completely eliminating them. They can also do what she's doing: Make sure that signs are recycled and use recycled steel frames.

"We're doing everything we can to reduce the environmental impact of our signs," Rotering said. "After the last election I went to the back of the public works building and claimed old frames ... As to the signs, we're using some recycled materials. I think that goes a long way to reducing the carbon footprint in my campaign."

As to her record: "I think frankly, my environmental record stands on its own."