posted April 4, 2005
The Ann Coulter for mayor campaign said that as chairman of the City Council's Legal and Legislative Committee, Ron Littlefield in May 2004 "pushed through the greatest relaxation of sign controls in the history of Chattanooga's sign ordinance, opening up more than five miles of Highway 153 to new billboards."
The Coulter campaign said, "Within a matter of months, Littlefield’s mayoral campaign received $8,000 in campaign contributions from billboard owners, including $1,000 contributions from six of the eight owners of the new billboards that have since been erected along a stretch of highway that had been designated a no-billboard zone for 15 years."
Mr. Littlefield responded, “The Coulter campaign is misstating my contributors in an attempt to draw attention away from their own conflicts of interest. The fact is that about half of what they are referring to is from a single family – the Steiner family – who have been friends and neighbors of mine for decades. They are best known for Ruby Falls, where my younger son was a tour guide for a number of years.
“I confess that I have always been the facilitator for new sign regulations. My wrestling with the sign industry goes back to the early 1980s. Throughout this campaign, I’ve heard that Coulter’s people have been telling some businesses that Littlefield is against signs and now they are trying to say that I’m pro-billboard. They can’t have it both ways.
“Since the days of Chattanooga Venture, I have been bringing all the interests to the table and dealing with difficult issues like signs. The last revision of the sign ordinance added some restrictions and relaxed others. It’s a process of listening to all sides and negotiating a solution. Everything is done in open committee and covered by the media. I’m proud to work with Chattanooga’s business community to work out fair and balanced regulations while protecting Chattanooga’s scenic beauty."
Jeff Olingy, manager of the Coulter campaign, said, "This is a blatant example of someone using public office for political gain. This level of campaign contribution from one industry, coming on the heels of such a beneficial legal change, has to be more than coincidence.”
He said, "Littlefield was once a fierce champion of sign control and a strong supporter of the city's current sign control ordinance, passed in 1989. That ordinance designated Highway 153 from Chickamauga Dam to Interstate 75 as a 'Scenic Corridor' where no new billboards were permitted.
"In 1990, Littlefield felt that signs should be limited along Highway 153 and actually tried to block a request from the owner of a Highway 153 car dealership that the dealer be permitted to erect a sign showing he was selling a second line of cars. The Chattanooga News-Free Press reported Littlefield's 1990 opposition: "He said that if the ordinance was changed, there would be a proliferation of signs . . . 'something that we didn't want when we spent two years drawing up our sign ordinance.'" (Chattanooga News-Free Press, March 8, 1990 at p. 4.)
"As he prepared for his run for Mayor last year, Littlefield discarded his concern about a "proliferation of signs" along Highway 153 and voted to open up more than 5 miles of the highway for large billboards.
"In public statements, Littlefield asserted that the changes would not increase the number of billboards, saying, 'We are trying to be fair to the billboard industry but not allow any new signs to degrade the area.' (Chattanooga Times Free Press, April 13, 2004.) The sign amendment passed on May 4, 2004.
"However, within weeks, new billboards began to sprout on the Highway 153 Scenic Corridor that Littlefield once sought to protect.
"Apparently confident of Littlefield’s ability to deliver, one of the $1,000 contributors applied for a state permit three months before Littlefield pushed through the ordinance opening up Highway 153 for new billboards.
"By December, six billboard owners had obtained city permits for a total of nine billboards in the former Scenic Corridor. Four of the billboard owners each contributed $1,000 to Littlefield’s mayoral campaign. Other billboard owners and their families contributed at least an additional $4,000 on November 20, 29, and 30, 2004.
“Regrettably, this is consistent with Ron Littlefield’s demonstrated tendency to do and say whatever he thinks is necessary to get elected. In this case, though, it involves an extremely unfortunate misuse of his position as a member of City Council.
"In all, billboard interests and their family members contributed at least $8,000 to Littlefield's mayoral campaign, according to his disclosure report filed February 22, 2005. All of these were $1,000 contributions, the maximum allowed by law, and represented nearly 8 percent of Littlefield's reported contributions."
The Coulter campaign listed these billboard owners who contributed and their application dates for Scenic Corridor signs:
Application date Contributor Amount Contribution date
11/29/04 Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel PAC $1,000 11/29/04
6/25/04 Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel PAC
9/24/04 Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel PAC
6/24/04 Moreland Signs, Inc. George Hoke $1,000 11/30/04
12/8/04 Moreland Signs, Inc. George Hoke
7/23/04 Pryor Bacon Pryor Bacon $1,000 2/8/05
11/8/04 Vista Outdoor Advertising Stephen D. Blackshear $1,000 11/30/04
Billboard owners applied for Scenic Corridor signs but who did not contribute:
Application date Contributor
7/23/04 Jack Silberman
6/18/04 Kingdom Signs Ben Plain
Other billboard interests who contributed:
Contribution date Contributor Amount
11/29/04 John T. Steiner $1,000
11/29/04 Connie M. Steiner $1,000
11/30/04 Tagner H. Bailey $1,000
11/20/04 John T. Steiner, Jr. $1,000
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