Projo Politics Blog

A political billboard is nothing remarkable in itself. There are many around the state this season.

One of them, however, has an unusual subtitle.

Motorists who’ve driven on northbound Route 95 in recent weeks may have noticed that underneath a billboard promoting Republican Sue Stenhouse for secretary of state http://www.stenhouse2006.com and bearing a giant picture of Stenhouse’s face, there’s a blue banner that reads “Our Most Recent Product.”

Patrick Crowley, http://www.pat-crowley.org/blog/ the above-mentioned blogger, had a few questions about the billboard in one blog entry: “Who is selling Sue Stenhouse? How much is the asking price? … Is there a warranty?”

Regarding that last question, Stenhouse joked, “Yep, for eight years!” — that would be two terms in office — before explaining that the owner of the building on which the billboard sits is required by local regulations to post the banner. “For them to have that billboard on their building, there had to be some reference to their product,” Stenhouse said. “They have that banner on there all the time, no matter what the billboard says.”
(Stenhouse’s campaign-finance filings with the state Board of Elections http://www.sec.state.ri.us/elections/candidate/campaignfinance/campaignfinance.html show a payment of $1,650 on Sept. 29 to Hahn Properties in Providence to pay for the billboard ad.)

Though the banner might be a bit confusing, Stenhouse said it’s “brought a lot of attention” to her campaign. “I really welcome it,” she said.
The billboard is near the Thurbers Avenue curve in Providence — an area clogged with construction now as the state Department of Transportation prepares to shift traffic to a new approach to Route 195 eastbound. Stenhouse welcomes the traffic jams, too: “I listen to the radio in the morning and I hear, ‘There’s congestion at the Thurbers Avenue curve,’ and I think, ‘Yes!’ ”

Stenhouse is running against Democratic nominee A. Ralph Mollis http://www.mollis2006.com/

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