4-letter response in fight over billboards

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

SPRINGFIELD — The prospect of more billboards sprouting up in off-limit sections of Chicago-area tollways could cost the state up to $140 million in federal highway dollars under a legislative push from a national sign company represented by one of Illinois’ most influential lobbyists.

The legendary Springfield lobbyist fired back with his own four-lettered response.

The warning came from a top official with the Federal Highway Administration, who urged state lawmakers to put the brakes on legislation that he said runs afoul of a federal highway beautification law enacted in 1965 and later amended in 1972 that puts the states in charge of limiting billboard placement.

In a letter to state transportation officials, Norman R. Stoner, the federal highway agency’s division administrator, said the legislation being pushed by CBS Outdoor Inc. and several suburbs would “violate the terms of the 1972 agreement. Consequently, if (the bill) is passed and signed into law, the state of Illinois would be at risk.

“Further, FHWA’s review of the proposed legislation raises issues that call into question Illinois’ willingness and ability to maintain effective outdoor advertising control. ... If it is determined that the state of Illinois has failed to effectively control outdoor advertising along interstate and primary highways, it risks a 10 percent penalty of its annual highway appropriations,” Stoner wrote.

In the last fiscal year, the state received $1.4 billion in funding from the Federal Highway Administration.

Federal law bars billboards in areas along interstate highways that were not zoned for commercial use under state law as of Sept. 21, 1959 — a time when significant chunks of suburbia were farmland.

Hoffman Estates, Des Plaines, Rosemont, Indian Head Park and Elmhurst are identified in the legislation and could enter into revenue-generating “public-private partnerships” with billboard operators if the state carves out exemptions for them from the federal law.

“Al Ronan, a lobbyist who represents CBS Outdoor, said the billboard legislation, is patterned after a bill he helped pass four years ago that enabled the Hoffman Estates Park District to reap $300,000 annually from two billboards along I-90.

That measure did not result in any sanctions, a fact Ronan used to belittle the Federal Highway Administration. “Wait a minute, Federal Highway Administration, what happened to the Hoffman Estates board? It’s been four years. If there’s been a problem, Mr. Bureaucrat, why don’t you drag your fat, f------ ass up to Hoffman Estates and figure out how they did this,” Ronan said.

Tollway signs already are prohibited in Elgin.

“Elgin has an ordinance prohibiting off-premises signs, which includes billboards. We are not contemplating allowing any billboards to be put up along the tollway,” Mayor Ed Schock said.

Staff writer Mike Danahey contributed to this report.