I’m fully aware that homeowners associations can be a pain in the bottom, with some requirements that can be well, kind of fussy. I’ve lived in places where these associations were the fabric of the community. Someone paints their house pink and the fun begins. But one homeowners’ association in Sarasota, Florida, has a good reason to be unhappy, The Herald-Tribune reports.

Martin Hyde, a Sarasota Republican running for Congress, thought it would be fun to adorn the balcony with “Let’s Go Brandon” in Christmas lights.

The Homes of Laurel Park homeowner’s association did not find it amusing. So the association sent him a “friendly reminder” that signs are a no-no. And the association also enlightened him with the possibility that a $150-a-day fine was on the horizon if he doesn’t remove the sign.

Many conservatives have fallen in love with the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon” as an alternative to “f*ck Joe Biden.” Of course, progressives could have come up with something similar while Donald Trump was president, but let’s face it, he might take it as an invitation.

You’d think that someone like Hyde, being a Republican and all, might worry that his neighbors would find this offensive, but that’s just not Hyde’s thing apparently.

“It’s fully in keeping with my personality and my campaign,” Hyde said. “Anybody who doesn’t like it, it’s one street…don’t come,” he added.

Hyde is running with the whole “Let’s Go Brandon” thing as he goes up against Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. Hyde has even gone so far as to have bumper stickers and T-shirts made featuring the slogan.

Hyde apparently has earned a reputation for being outspoken and provocative, and he’s hired Trump’s pardoned buddy Roger Stone as a campaign consultant. So perhaps this is a case of pushing the envelope a little bit further.

“Did I know it was provocative? Absolutely, Hyde said. “Did I expect it to take on this level? No.”

But the Herald-Tribune notes:

“The Christmas display could even be viewed as a calculated effort to get attention for his campaign, something Hyde denies, even as he continues to escalate the situation.”

He did that by unveiling an even larger display Wednesday during some sort of shindig at his house. Parking his campaign bus outside his home, he plied his supporters with music, free pizza, beer, and wine. Then he gave a speech and unveiled large letters wrapped in Christmas lights that read #FJB. Which, of course, stands for “f*ck Joe Biden.”

“When you poke the bear, there are outcomes and circumstances,” Hyde said.

I don’t know what bear Hyde thinks Biden has been poking, but it seems to me Biden should be poking more bears, more often. Because poking bears is part of a president’s job. A president isn’t supposed to make nice and make everyone continually comfortable, although if I were to hazard a guess I would think Trump holds the world bear poking record. He has whined from day one about how poorly he’s treated, complained about the wall he never had successfully built, harassed members of Congress and the Senate, and continually antagonized journalists.

If that’s not bear-poking I don’t know what is.

As for Hyde, he denies that his lighted letters are a sign, saying they are Christmas lights. He bought the letters on Amazon and the lights were already embedded in them individually. Then he just rearranged them to spell “LETS GO BRANDON.”  He placed them on the second-floor balcony that faces the street.

“They are individual letters that light up, that’s letters where I come from,” he said.

And of course, he’s playing the victim. Maybe he learned that from Trump. He’s claiming that even if the letters are viewed as a sign, the homeowners association has been selectively enforcing these rules and is targeting his “BRANDON’ display because they don’t like it. Hyde lives in the Homes of Laurel Park, a neighborhood near downtown Sarasota, which is an area known to lean left.

“If I put a message up there they liked, they’d be slapping me on the back,” Hyde said, noting: “It’s got everything to do with they don’t like what it says.”

But John Habbert, president of the Homes of Laurel Park Homeowners Association, said the dispute “has nothing to do with politics.”

“This is a simple contract issue,” Habbert wrote in an emal to the Herald-Tribune.

“When he purchased his house, Mr. Hyde signed documents stating that he would abide by all HOA rules — including no signs other than house numbers or For Sale notices,” he said. “Other residents have been asked to remove signs and have complied without any problems, but Mr. Hyde refuses to do so.”

Hyde popped the original display up on Dec. 12 and received an email on Dec. 16 from Dellcor Management, the property management company for the homeowners association. It was sent on behalf of the association’s board of directors and it specifically stated:

“Please take this notice as a friendly reminder; it is not the intention of the Board of Directors or management to create an adversarial relationship with the members of the Association,” the letter reads. It later states the association has the authority to issue fines of “up to $150 per day until the violation ceases.”

So Hyde did, in fact, take down his old display. Then he replaced it with one that’s nearly five times larger. That set him back $1,000 to have it made and another $1,000 to $2,000 in food and drinks for the party.

Well, I’m glad he has money to waste. That’s all I can say.

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