PORTLAND (AP) – A part-time lobsterman and waterfront activist who’s running for the City Council found himself in trouble with the law when he put up campaign signs mounted on lobster traps.

On Tuesday, workers removed about eight of the signs and wooden traps that Bill Linnell had put up at busy thoroughfares and intersections. The city clerk notified him that they were illegal because they could create a public safety and maintenance problem on public right of ways.

“What we don’t want to get into is a case of one-upmanship, when somebody puts signs on lobster traps, so somebody else puts theirs on an inflatable cow. There’s a safety factor out there,” said Steve Landry, safety engineer for the Maine Department of Transportation.

Linnell denies that he did anything illegal and said he may sue the city, although not before the Nov. 6 election.

“From my reading of the ordinance, I was absolutely within my rights, in the spirit and the letter of the law,” said the candidate, whose signs identify him as “Captain Bill Linnell,” a title he uses because he is licensed by the Coast Guard to carry passengers.