by TChris

If you put up a sign on a Greenwich, Connecticut telephone pole seeking help in rescuing your lost cat, the local police will leave you alone. If you put up a sign complaining about the environmental policies of J.P. Morgan Chase, however, the local police will charge you with disturbing the peace -- at least if you post the sign on the street where the bank's CEO lives.

That lesson was learned by three environmental activists working on behalf of the Rainforest Action Network. The selective enforcement of an ordinance that bans signs on public property, and of the state law prohibiting disturbances of the peace, appears to hinge on the content of the posted sign, with police taking action only in response to political messages that offend neighborhood residents.

The decision to punish speech on the basis of its political contents violates the First Amendment. The ACLU of Connecticut may (and should) step in to help the activists.