Benson should remove partisan signs, even though not technically illegal

A front-page article in Saturday’s Daily Inter Lake, Oct. 18 validates something that I’ve been scratching my head over and pondering for several weeks now.

The article is about how a non-partisan candidate for Justice of the Peace in Sanders County, took a case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he claimed his First Amendment rights were being violated because he couldn’t receive an endorsement from the Republican party in a, I repeat, non-partisan race. The court denied the case “without comment”.

I would like to submit a long letter about our local elections, but I don’t  have the time to write it and you don’t have the time to read it, and begin a debate this close to election day. 

All I would like to say for now is I hope the signs along the highway and paid ads that say “Republican, Robin Benson for Clerk and Recorder” are removed as soon as possible, with a public apology given to the electorate and her opponent Tammy Lauer for this deceptive and questionably illegal campaign practice.

I recently discovered this  may or may not be technically “illegal” in this race, but in my opinion, if nothing else, clearly flaunts the wishes of the Lincoln County residents who voted to make this position non-partisan.

— Tom Horelick, Libby