This Just In | Westchester’s Only Black Mayoral Candidate Says Village Targeted His Campaign
Westchester officials have denied targeting Trustee Tracy Jennings by threatening to cite his supporters over political yard signs that are in compliance with code
Political yard signs in support of Westchester trustee and village president candidate Tracy Jennings. | Michael Romain
An attempt on Tuesday by Westchester employees to address the proliferation of political yard signs around town has prompted complaints from the only Black candidate in the race that his campaign was unfairly targeted a week out from the April 4 Consolidated Election.
Village officials have denied any unfair treatment, arguing that the issue of too many political signs pertains to multiple candidates for various offices in the village.
Westchester Trustee Tracy Jennings said a number of his supporters were issued a warning notice by village staffers for allegedly violating a section of the village ordinances that regulates campaign signage. Section 18.58.100 of the code states that “such signs shall not contain a sign surface area in excess of six square feet, where no one side shall exceed three feet.”
Jennings, who is running for village president with four other people in the Public Servant Party, has signs that are two feet by three feet on each side, or a total surface area of six feet. He has content printed on both sides. The signs are in compliance with the village’s ordinances.
Westchester Trustee Tracy Jennings.
“Our code is being interpreted that my [two by three feet signs are] no longer six feet because writing on both sides is now 12 square feet,” Jennings said in a March 28 Committee of the Whole meeting. “My supporters have been asked to remove my slate’s sign. So, that’s an issue. [...] Somehow, in this magical world in Westchester, that sign is 12 square feet. I have been harmed. I have been harmed by this. No other candidate. I have.”
Jennings said he tried resolving any issues over the signs with Dawn Wucki-Rossbach, Westchester’s acting village manager, earlier this month, but didn’t get anywhere. Wucki-Rossbach could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday evening.
On March 28, Jennings’s attorney sent a cease and desist letter to Wucki-Rossbach and Acting Village Manager Nick Steker. The letter called the village’s issuance of the warning notices an “illegal and frivolous attempt to unconstitutionally limit political speech.”
Jennings did not explicitly mention race during Tuesday’s meeting, but in an earlier conversation he did point out that he’s the first Black village president candidate in Westchester’s history. There are six other candidates in the race, all but one of whom are white.
The cease and desist letter sent by Jennings’s attorneys explicitly claims that “it appears that” the village is racially targeting Jennings’s campaign:
“Sadly, it appears that the Village is purposefully misconstruing its own Ordinances, on the eve of a municipal election, as a ploy to discriminate against supporters of an African American mayoral candidate and to intentionally attempt to chill his supporters' political speech.
“On information and belief, the Village is singling out signs that support Mr. Jennings and his slate of candidates. Not only does this further diminish any possible argument that the Village’s ‘interpretations’ or attempts to enforce illegal code provisions could be a reasonable or harmless mistake, but it also demonstrates the intent of the Village to specifically target particular groups and enforce its own content-based regulations that it has derived apparently by divine fiat. This conduct is intolerable.”
Political yard signs supporting various candidates, including for Westchester village president and village board. | Michael Romain
During the meeting, Steker and several other village board members denied that Jennings was being made a political target, adding that the larger concern the village is trying to address is the proliferation of political signage in the village.
“In the last two weeks, there’s been an uptick in the number of signs in town,” Steker said, adding that the ordinance regulating political signage is old and possibly needs to be updated.
“I’ve lived through many election cycles and this is the first year I’ve seen people running together all have individual signs,” said Westchester Trustee Evie Slavic.
“Everyone should be treated equally,” said Trustee Robert Morales. “I don't think there was any targeting of Trustee Jennings by anyone in this village.”
But Jennings said complaints about the number of signs or the illegal practice of placing political signs in the public parkway – another concern raised during the meeting – were irrelevant to his concern about village officials issuing warning notices to his supporters over signs that are in compliance with village code. He said some of his supporters had already removed their signs out of fear that they would be ticketed.
Jennings also said some of the damage was already done, given how some of his opponents might be able to use the warning notices as opportunities to criticize his knowledge of code. Jennings, who sits on Triton College’s trustee board and has a professional background in real estate and property appraisal, often touts his knowledge of local ordinances.
“This does look political,” Jennings said. “This was 11 days ago. We wait until eight days before an election [to issue the warnings]. None of my signs were on the parkway. This is specifically [pertaining to] the two by four.”
Slavic said Jennings is the only candidate who has that size sign.
“Nobody else has that sign,” she said. “In two years we have another election and I don’t want to see 10 two by three signs all over everybody’s lawn [...] I would like to see this cleared up.”
Steker and other board members agreed to direct staff to temporarily relax the ordinance and to contact anyone issued a warning notice and notify them that their signs can remain.
I got my warning letter and didn't feel targeted and the write in candidate I support didn't feel targeted either.