This article was updated on Oct. 8 at 2:51 p.m.
Political rivals Bill Henderson and Josh Nathan have agreed against using lawn signs during their high-stakes mayoral campaign — but they forgot to give Rick McCabe the memo.
Nathan, a Democrat, said he and his Republican counterpart, Henderson, came to the informal decision late last year before announcing their campaigns, continuing what they describe as a long-standing tradition in Rye politics.
But the duo failed to inform McCabe, a political newcomer who’s running his own independent mayoral campaign.
About 75 “Rick McCabe for Mayor” campaign signs have been seen scattered across homeowners’ lawns around the city, McCabe estimated. He told The Record that he was unaware of the deal struck between his opponents and said they never approached him to discuss the matter.
McCabe is running for mayor as a long shot independent candidate without major party backing, having announced his candidacy in March. Unlike his opponents, he’s also campaigning without running mates, leaving McCabe to approach his political run a bit differently, he said.
“I’m doing a lot of things that the normal candidates and major parties aren’t doing because they don’t need to,” he said. “I have to think about this campaign uniquely because of the nature of what it is and not being supported by the major parties or precedent for that matter.”
Both Nathan and Henderson said they didn’t intentionally leave McCabe out of their plan, but claimed because he announced his unexpected run months after their discussion, the topic never came up again.
Meanwhile, Henderson, a current city councilman, downplayed the importance of political signs, saying that in his 30 years living in Rye, he does not recall local campaigns ever relying heavily on lawn signs.
He does not think voters care for them, he added.
“You drive into Harrison and there are a million signs, right? I mean, you can’t even read them, there are so many of them,” said Henderson, who sits at the top of the GOP ticket, which also includes James Fee, Robin Thrush Jovanovich, and Maria Tufvesson Shuck.
Nathan, who is headlining a Democratic ticket that includes Amy Kesavan, Marion Anderson, and Councilman James Ward, added that he views lawn signs as “more like clutter” than useful tools in a local political campaign.
“I actually think they can end up being a little divisive,” Nathan, also a sitting city councilman, added. “I think Rye’s much more issue oriented, and it’s a whole different [thing] than big national stuff.”
Political lawn signs are, however, protected political speech under the First Amendment’s right to free expression.
In 2008, the city of Rye came under fire from the New York Civil Liberties Union after Rye police ordered a homeowner to remove a Barack Obama lawn sign. As a result, the city agreed to suspend a controversial provision in its local zoning code that banned political signage on residential property.
But the issue resurfaced again last year when residents complained that city Building Department personnel yanked political signs off private property without providing any warning to homeowners. The NYCLU again reached out to the city to express its displeasure.
