Surprise mayoral candidate faces complaint over ripping down opponent’s sign

A complaint forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office accuses Surprise Councilmember Aly Cline of censorship and violating free speech for removing signs on public property, one of which promoted her opponent in the race for city mayor.

Prosecutors were reviewing the submission, but no charges have been filed against Cline, according to a spokesperson from the County Attorney’s Office.

Cline, who is vying for Surprise’s mayoral seat in the July 30 election against Kevin Sartor, did not respond to requests seeking comment.

The accusations against Cline, first reported by the Surprise Independent, stems from a March 27 confrontation with local activist Rebekah Massie outside the Surprise Public Library.

In a video Massie recorded and posted to her YouTube account, The Grand Failure, she questioned Cline about removing a pair of signs Massie had placed on a handicapped-accessible parking pole, just below the plaque.

One sign advocated for Sartor, who sought residents’ signatures to qualify for the ballot before the April 1 deadline. The other promoted The Grand Failure, where Massie calls on the city to address Surprise’s traffic woes amid its rapid development.

On the night of the incident, Massie was still in the parking lot when she saw Cline park in one of the handicapped spots. Massie then saw Cline get out of the van and “tear” the signs down.

“Councilwoman Cline, can you answer me why you took down the signs, please?” asked Massie, a regular at City Council meetings.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Cline asks in response as she starts for the door of the library. Cline volunteers with the local organization Friends of the Surprise Libraries.

When Massie asked again why Cline removed the signs, Cline said, “They’re not legal signs” because they were on city property. Cline added that she was going to turn the signs over to the city’s code enforcement division the following day.

Believing that her First Amendment rights were violated, Massie filed a report with the Surprise Police Department.

“Me advocating for who I want to vote for … is freedom of expression, right?” Massie told The Arizona Republic on Friday. “And then talking about my sign for The Grand Failure … that's me again, expressing my legal rights and expressing my thoughts and opinions and advocating for solutions of a very problematic corridor and road.”

Asked whether Massie’s signs were placed illegally, the city pointed to its section of the municipal code governing signs.

The code prohibits signs placed within public rights of way, or on trees, utility poles, public benches and any public property unless permitted.

As for political signs, the state does have protections for their placement on public property. Arizona cities, towns and counties can’t remove, alter, deface or cover political signs if certain conditions are met:

• The sign is placed in a public right-of-way owned by that municipality.

• It supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure.

• It isn’t placed in a location that harms public safety or obstructs areas meant to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

• It is larger than 16 square feet in a residential area or 32 square feet in any other area.

• It has the candidate’s name and contact information for their campaign.

Weeks after Massie filed her complaint to the police department, it was passed on to county prosecutors.

According to the city, the Surprise City Attorney’s Office recused itself because of an apparent conflict of interest. The city has turned to the County Attorney’s Office for an independent review and determination on the case.

As of Friday afternoon, no decision on whether charges were warranted has been made, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Karla Navarrete confirmed over email.

Shawn Raymundo covers the West Valley cities of Glendale, Peoria and Surprise. Reach him at sraymundo@gannett.com or follow him on X @ShawnzyTsunami.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Surprise resident alleges mayoral candidate violated her free speech