A Lafayette attorney has asked the court to order LCG to stop selective enforcement of a parish ordinance governing signs.
Scott Iles, who practices out of an office on University Avenue, filed the request in court on Monday, records show. If you want to read it yourself, scroll down.
In his Petition, Iles says that he has two signs in the front of his office. One for a judge candidate, the other for a candidate for Mayor-President. One is 4 by 4, or 16 square feet; the other is 6 by 4, or 24 square feet. He said he received a notice of violation, which cited a parish ordinance that limits political signs on one lot to a total of 32 square feet.
Although no names are mentioned, the current City-Parish President has announced his intention to run for re-election, and at least two other people have announced their intention to run against him. Qualifying starts this week.
Iles also alleges that a neighbor, who also has signs these signs on his property, was not cited. However, he writes, that neighbor "pointed out that he had not hosted a fundraiser for a candidate for City-Parish President. The point is well taken."
Iles writes that he has had similar signs in his office yard before without receiving a violation, and that he also went around town and took photographs of multiple sites with similar signs "without corresponding notices of violation."
"Therefore, it is assumed that there is not only a failure to prove a compelling government interest, there is a disparate application of this rule all together," the petition states.
Iles writes that he made a public records request to LCG for documents related to enforcement of this ordinance, and "after some time" he was sent a bill for the documents, which he paid.
He said he then received more than 300 pages of documents, most of which did not apply to the enforcement of the political sign ordinance, and "certainly are a hodge podge of notices."
"It is clear from the response of the legal department of the Lafayette Consolidated Government that there is a disparate enforcement of the Rule found in LDC 89-90 (k)(1)(b)," the petition states.
If you'd like to see the ordinance for yourself, click here.
The petition lays out the rights in the United States and Louisiana to political speech and free speech, and argues that the violation is an attempt to chill his free speech and political speech.
He asks the court to issue an order regarding his right to political free speech "without interference from Lafayette Consolidated Government," that the court order LCG to refrain from interfering with that speech during the election cycle, and that LCG be ordered to pay costs and attorney fees.
We've reached out to the Mayor-President's office and to the City Attorney's Office for a response to the petition, and we will update this story as soon as we have a response.
Here's a copy of the petition:
