I don’t know Bob Collamore, independent candidate for the Hampden County Registrar of Deeds. In fact, I’ve never even spoken to him or anyone on his campaign. So I was a bit surprised when I came home from work this week and saw his sign on the edge of my lawn. My neighbor across the street also had a Collamore sign on his lawn. Again the sign was placed near or on the boundary line. I live on a main road in East Longmeadow, prime real estate for a campaign sign.
I see about ten to fifteen Collamore signs around my town. All of them are oddly placed between parcels of real estate where ownership of the land may be questionable. Perhaps residents in town have mutually granted permission to Mr. Collamore to put a sign between their properties. That seems unlikely. It seems more probable that he or someone on his campaign is walking onto people’s private property and sticking a sign in their yard without permission.
I searched Collamore’s name on Google and found no campaign website. In fact, the only information that I could find was in The Reminder. According to that article:
Collamore has a background in both the private business sector and in public service. Some of his professional experience features being a legislative aide to State Sen. Marty Reilly (D-Springfield), a job development specialist at the Mass. Career Development Consortium, director of the student affairs office and a former correctional officer at the Hampden County Jail and House of Correction.
He is running against incumbent Cheryl Coakley-Rivera. I am no fan of Ms. Coakley-Rivera. Prior to her election, the registry of deeds was an open and welcoming place, conveniently located inside the courthouse next to probate and family court. Lawyers and title examiners used to meet there to do work and close transactions. After Coakley-Rivera took the helm, the courthouse registry was shut down and moved to a separate location on Dwight Street in Springfield. Lawyers and examiners stopped going there to conduct business and most people in the real estate profession dislike the changes.
So if Mr. Collamore reached out to me, I’d listen to what he had to say and I’d consider putting a sign on my lawn. Unfortunately that wasn’t the campaign’s approach.
The campaign slogan on the sign promises “lower property taxes.” I like that idea, But, as far as I know, the registrar of deeds has nothing to do with property taxes. Rate limits are imposed statutorily by the legislature and tax rates are set by municipal governments. The registrar collects excise (i.e., stamp) taxes when real estate is sold. This tax is exorbitated and should be lowered.
After making this post I learned that Collamore was the focus of a 2017 masslive article on unwanted campaign signs. See Springfield political signs trigger objections; officials say largest number seem tied to city council candidate’s campaign. In the article, Springfield’s “graffiti remediation director” describes Collamore as “the worst offender” when it comes to littering the city with his signs.