Toni Kronberg and Francie Jacober’s campaign signatures at Old Snowmass Market.
Provided photo
A Pitkin County Commission candidate is accusing the incumbent of stealing a campaign sign from a convenience store in the upper Roaring Fork Valley, but the property owner says it was a result of confusion and not malice. It states that there is.
Toni Kronberg is at odds with Commissioner Francie Jacober. Kronberg filed a five-page affidavit Monday alleging that Commissioner Patty Clapper parked in front of Old Snowmass Market and stole campaign signs.
The Old Snowmass Market property is owned by Michael Forrest and Ryan Chadwick. According to Chadwick, Kronberg did not initially have Chadwick’s permission to sign the flower box in front of the convenience store. The Jacober Campaign sign also sticks out from the same flower box.
“Toni never called me,” Chadwick said.
Mr. Clapper’s good friend, Mr. Chadwick, also said that the reason Mr. Clapper gave the green light to take down Mr. Kronberg’s sign was because he had not originally given Mr. Kronberg permission to put up the sign. Ta. However, Forrest and the convenience store clerk gave Kronberg permission.
Neither Mr. Forrest nor Mr. Chadwick actually spoke to each other about who gave Mr. Kronberg permission to put up the sign in the first place, or who gave Mr. Clapper permission to take down the Kronberg sign. said.
Forrest said the incident was “a miscommunication.” “I wish Ryan and I could have talked to each other.”
Clapper told the Aspen Times that political candidates must first get permission from private property owners before putting up signs on their property.
“I’ve been doing this work for six elections, and permission to put this sign on private property is always obtained from the private property owner. I did it at Conoco, and she didn’t put it there. We continued to put up signs,” Clapper said. Kronberg. “I called the property owner. He asked me to remove it because he didn’t give her a permit and I took it to the public works office. There were tons of signs that had been picked up from county land.”
Mr. Clapper agreed that the property owners, Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Forrest, had not communicated with him about the matter, which he also called a “misunderstanding.”
“But I didn’t steal her yard sign. I didn’t throw it in the trash,” Clapper said of Kronberg’s sign. “I put it at the utility office and told her it was there, and she knew she could go there and get it.”
Pitkin County Attorney Richard Neily said defacing political yard signs is a misdemeanor.
“She’s running around with this yard sign thing. I think it’s probably for publicity and probably to make me look bad,” Clapper said of Kronberg.
Kronberg claims in her affidavit that more signs have been removed throughout Pitkin County, including six along Colorado Highway 82. The accusations against Clapper aren’t the only things Kronberg alleges about her signs.
According to the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Public Works or the Colorado Department of Transportation can legally remove political signs that pose a safety hazard on public right-of-way.
“This is public property,” said Pitkin County Chief of Operations Parker Lathrop. “So they shouldn’t be there without permission.”
Kronberg told the Aspen Times on Tuesday that she feels the theft charges “take away our ability to get our message across.”
“Signs are a form of communication,” she said. “It’s the First Amendment.”
Ray K. Erku can be reached at (970) 429-9120 or rerku@aspentimes.com.
