The state and the Town of Richmond have agreed to pay $28,000 to close a case brought by the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Rod Driver, whose campaign signs were removed by town officials in 2006, the ACLU announced yesterday.

Richmond Town Council President B. Joe Reddish III said the town’s share of the settlement would be paid by its insurance policy on lawsuits involving the Police Department. The policy’s $2,250 deductible would come from the town’s pocket, he said.

Driver, who is a Richmond taxpayer and has since been elected to R.I. House District 39, was running for Congress in 2006 against U.S. Rep. James Langevin. His campaign sign was removed by Richmond Police Chief Raymond Driscoll from private property just outside the Washington County Fair grounds.

“It’s a shame there ever had to be a lawsuit,” Driver said yesterday. “When the problem first arose, I appealed to town officials and the state police, but none of them thought it required remediation.”

The law that Driscoll cited in taking down the signs barred people from posting signs “within the limits of a public highway without first obtaining the written consent of the chief of police.”

The ACLU press release said that U.S. District Judge William Smith in August agreed with the ACLU that the statute violated the First Amendment.

The court said that upholding the statute “would be an endorsement of a ‘trust me because I am the Chief of Police’ standard,” the ACLU said in announcing the settlement. The defendants are also permanently enjoined from enforcing the statute, the ACLU said.

Driver said he would get a small amount of the money, but most would go to pay legal fees and costs for Richard A. Sinapi, the volunteer lawyer who won the case.

Reddish defended the police chief, saying Driscoll didn’t violate the law. “He enforced the law that was on the books.” He said he hoped “that Mr. Driver would see that the town is not at fault, and donate some of his earnings back to the town.”

mmckinne@projo.com