Sign of the times: Montana DOT tells residents to remove Pinocci signs or department will

The Montana Department of Transportation has sent letters to residents and Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci, a Republican from Sun River, warning them to either take down political signage from the 2022 election or face penalties.

Pinocci, a former state legislator who won re-election to the Public Service Commission in 2022 running unopposed, had his signs put up around central Montana, his home district. Montana has five public service commissioners who serve based on regions.

The Montana Department of Transportation sent letters to residents Jeffrey Pattison and Ronald Hepp, which arrived around March 7, stating that if they did not remove the signs in five days, the department would remove them and send the bill to the property owners. If the owners do not remove the signs “in a timely manner,” they could face criminal penalties.

Montana Department of Transportation officials could not immediately be reached on Wednesday for comment, including about the number of letters sent. Pattison and Hepp live in different parts of the state.

Montana law – the Montana Outdoor Advertising Act — says that signs must be removed from property within 14 days of an election. However, the sign prohibition only occurs in political advertising, not other types. Attorney Matthew Monforton, who is representing Pinocci, Pattison and Hepp, pointed out that “for sale” or advertising signs are legal for much longer periods of time. In a complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Helena, Monforton said that the government is making decisions on content, for example, which campaigns or politicians can place and keep signs.

All the signs that Monforton is aware of are on private property.

In his case, Monforton argues that Montana has fashioned political signage rules that specifically target political signs, and fail to address other advertising or even property “for sale” signage.

“The Department of Transportation personnel are trained to remove dead skunks and horse manure, not be Greg Gianforte’s motorized brown shirts targeting my client’s political signs,” he said.

Pattison and others said that Pinocci has contacted some land owners after the election, but they have a different purpose in mind, according to the lawsuit.

“They are doing so because they regard Pinocci as a hard-working public servant with a keen intellect and want to encourage him to run for higher officer, such as the U.S. House of Representatives,” the lawsuit said. “They also want to display Pinocci signs to build support among their neighbors and others for a future Pinocci campaign.”

Monforton, who has experience litigating First Amendment issues successfully, said this is another case of content-based restrictions by the government.

“Content-based law is presumptively unconstitutional and may be justified only if it satisfies strict scrutiny – i.e., only if the government proves that it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest,” the lawsuit said.

Monforton said that Montana doesn’t regulate other signage the same way as political speech. For example, no other advertising is based on content. In fact, for sale signs on properties may stay up for as long as possible. Moreover, the law says that sign must be removed within 14 days from Election Day, but sets up no time period as to when it can be placed.

The law also violates the Montana Constitution, Monforton told the Daily Montanan.

“Montana’s durational limits on political signs are not narrowly tailored to achieve any compelling state interest,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit asks for Judge Dana L. Christensen to declare the Montana law violates the First Amendment, and asks for a preliminary restraining order against the Montana Department of Transportations, plus attorney’s fees and costs.