VISTA - A Superior Court Judge on Friday rejected a landscaper's motion that signs denigrating Encinitas Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan are protected speech.

Judge Thomas P. Nugent punched holes in landscaper Russell Bowman's Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation - commonly called a SLAPP motion - that contended Houlihan, as a public official, had attempted to squelch his freedom of speech.

Bowman in October posted signs on his property, including one that read: "Houlihan is a whore."

"I take it as a whole and believe it to be libel, per se," Nugent said.

Nugent told attorneys that he would issue a written ruling next week.

The hearing amounted to an initial victory for Houlihan, who is suing Bowman for libel.

Clearly visible from Interstate 5, one hand-painted banner that hung from a semi-trailer read: "Houlihan is a whore." Another sign bore the message "Vote No Houlihan," even though her term does not expire until 2008. The same words were painted prominently across the side of a greenhouse. The signs were posted for about 10 days.

Bowman and Houlihan, who are neighbors on Union Street, did not appear at Friday's hearing.

Bowman has contended that Houlihan has used her influence to thwart his attempts to develop 4.5 acres on Union Street, just east of the freeway. Houlihan has denied it.

Bowman's attorney, Christopher Ramey, said after the hearing that his client's property is in foreclosure.

"(Houlihan) has in every way tried to keep Mr. Bowman from developing his property for low-income housing," Ramey told the judge.

Signs that called her a "whore" weren't intended to be interpreted literally, he said. The message, rather, was entirely political and meant to convey that Houlihan had sold herself out for personal gain.

"Mr. Bowman does not dispute this is vile, offensive and inflammatory (speech)," Ramey said, "but simply because it's offensive doesn't mean it's not protected speech."

Nugent challenged Ramey's assertion in court papers that the word whore, as Bowman had used it, meant that Houlihan was venal and unscrupulous.

At one point, the judge asked his court reporter to bring a dictionary to him so he could look up the word "unscrupulous."

"Open to bribery - is that what you're trying to say," Nugent asked Ramey. "No moral principles - is that what you're trying to say?"

No reasonable person could believe Bowman's sign to have a literal meaning, Ramey told the judge.

"Venal and unscrupulous isn't much better," Nugent said.

Nugent did not question Houlihan's attorney, Keith Liker, who told the judge that court papers he has filed on Houlihan's behalf spoke for themselves.

After the hearing, Liker told reporters that his opponent's motion was frivolous and did not meet the threshold to prove the signs were protected speech.

He said he would ask the court to order a formal, written apology from Bowman as well as monetary damages for defamation of Houlihan's character.

Hundreds of thousands of motorists were exposed to the signs during the period that they were posted, he said.

"If there's a dollar for every driver who saw the sign," Liker said, "that would be a fair amount."

- Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.