Judge: Bay-Area Burb Can Ban Palin Billboard

SAN FRANCISCO (April 13) -- The San Francisco suburb of San Carlos can prohibit a new billboard that would have promoted Sarah Palin for president in 2012, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel dismissed a lawsuit by Jeff Herson, a Nevada billboard company owner who had sought to erect a "Palin for President" billboard overlooking heavily traveled Highway 101.

"It's a terrible loss for the First Amendment today," said Herson's father, attorney Alan Herson, who has represented his son in suits seeking to erect billboards in jurisdictions where they are banned.

San Carlos City Attorney Gregory Rubens said he was pleased with the judge's ruling, which recognizes the city's right to zone property and ban billboards.

He said the city was not attempting to regulate political speech but to determine the size and placement of advertising in the city. The Hersons' purpose was not to promote a political candidate, he said, but to erect a commercial billboard in a prime location.

"He's arguing it's free speech," Rubens said. "But it's really about how much money he can make putting advertising on a billboard."

The judge rejected the Hersons' claim for damages but said she would consider ordering the city to pay their legal fees. Rubens said he expects them to appeal the ruling.

The Hersons are engaged in what the father called a "crusade" to expand their right to erect billboards in Western states. In 2006, they won a landmark case overturning Oregon's billboard law.

In September, the younger Herson applied for a permit to erect a billboard in San Carlos by the freeway. He made a point of noting that its first messages would be political.

The city, about 20 miles south of San Francisco, hasn't allowed a new billboard in more than a decade and rejected his application.

The Hersons filed suit in federal court, arguing that a provision in the city law restricting the size and timing of political signs was unconstitutional. San Carlos maintained that the restriction was intended to reduce the clutter of campaign lawn signs.

Judge Patel initially agreed with the Hersons and ruled that the city's law unconstitutionally restricted political speech on signs. She ordered the city to consider the billboard application.

In February, the San Carlos City Council responded by passing an emergency ordinance that eliminated all references to political signs. The city asked Patel to dismiss the suit and at Monday's hearing, she agreed.

Alan Herson had accused the city of prohibiting the Palin billboard because the predominantly Democratic community opposes the former Alaska governor and unsuccessful 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate.

"The Bay Area is a liberal place and liberals tend not to like free speech put up by other people," Herson said at one point. "They hate Palin. They hate her more than anything."

But city attorney Rubens maintained that the plan to put Palin's name on the sign was a ploy to win approval of a highly profitable commercial billboard.

"The content of a sign is something that San Carlos has never regulated," Rubens said earlier. "We don't care what's on the sign."