Officials in Amsterdam, New York—a municipality of about 18,000 around 35 miles from Albany—tried to prevent a local businessman’s 100-foot “Vote for Trump” sign from lighting up, but on Monday, with just minutes to go before the scheduled ceremony, a judge reversed an earlier ruling and allowed the sign to go live.
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Another censorship effort bites the dust. I can only imagine that if it were a “Kamala” sign, officials would have asked that it be made even bigger.
Here’s how it unfolded:
Anthony Constantino — the CEO of manufacturing company Sticker Mule who has a political action committee supporting the Republican presidential nominee — will move forward with a rally Monday evening to officially unveil the sign that sits atop his firm’s building.
“We are all set to light it up!” Constantino told The Post by text of the ruling that came down less than two hours before the 7 p.m. event.
Amsterdam woke scolds officials claimed the sign would be a safety hazard:
Lawyers for Amsterdam, a municipality of about 18,000 some 35 miles northwest of Albany, claimed in a lawsuit last week that the signage violated city code and could be a safety hazard by distracting passing drivers.
Montgomery County Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Slezak had issued a ruling that would have barred the giant message from being lit until at least a Tuesday morning hearing.
But the judge lifted the temporary restraining order in the nick of time, after hearing oral arguments on the case, ending around 5:30 p.m. Monday.
“My lawyers told me that I’m within my rights to go ahead as planned,” Constantino said.
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The judge eventually remembered the Constitution and decided that the sign was far enough away from the highway and, thus, was not a hazard after all.
Sal Ferlazzo, Constantino’s lawyer and general counsel for Sticker Mule, confirmed that the judge agreed to vacate her prior order on the grounds that the sign is sufficiently far from highways and doesn’t pose a danger.
“All I know is tonight the party is on and the lighting will occur and there is no court order prohibiting the lighting and display of the sign,” Ferlazzo said. “So it’s obviously a nice victory for Anthony and his team.”
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Constantino originally planned the sign as an obvious show of support for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump but now realizes it stands for something even more: a call to fight censorship. Democrats, he said, “want to get rid of free speech and censor America and so the sign now signifies something even bigger than what I thought … In America, I got a First Amendment right.”
“It’s my building, it’s a beautiful sign and whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, the sign is an uplifting thing for community enthusiasm,” Constantino said.
Winning.