Baltimore’s new Sheriff Sam Cogen has instructed an advertising company to remove his predecessor’s billboards telling city residents to pay child support, Cogen told The Baltimore Banner.
Cogen unseated longtime Sheriff John Anderson in the Democratic primary in July. Anderson’s office paid for batches of the billboard advertisements throughout his three decades in office as sheriff. The $22,000 purchase of this batch of the billboard ads in May was the first such purchase in three years.
Cogen said he submitted the request to billboard advertising company Clear Channel last week and that the signs began to come down on Monday. They feature text declaring: “Children succeed when basic needs are met. PAY YOUR CHILD SUPPORT!” A photograph of Anderson behind his desk and in uniform is featured prominently on the billboards, along with text reading “A message from Sheriff John Anderson.”
“We just don’t feel like that’s a helpful message,” Cogen said.
A spokesperson for Clear Channel did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Councilman Ryan Dorsey, who supported Cogen in the Democratic primary, requested an investigation into the billboards in June, telling Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming in an email obtained by The Baltimore Banner he was concerned they were “an inappropriate use of public funds for what appears to be serving a campaign purpose for the reelection” of Anderson.
“These billboards allot a significant portion of their overall real estate to a large image of the Sheriff and his name in large font,” Dorsey wrote, adding that “the smell of impropriety seems too great to ignore, and perhaps can be discouraged in the future.”
This article may be updated.
