Over the years I’ve worked for candidates from the top of the ticket all the way down to Mosquito Abatement District. They all have one thing in common: they are obsessive about yard signs. How many they have up (never enough, although the bill for the signs is always outrageous), how many their opponents have up (always tens of thousands), and, of course, who is ripping down whose signs (not us, them).

The ripping down of signs. Years ago, this was fairly common practice for signs placed in public places. There were even clever little devises invented for the task, like “The Hook” which was basically a tree branch trimmer with which you could easily cut down hard to reach signs. Or sharp straight edge blades on a stick that could cut through those new plastic fiberboard signs like a hot knife through butter. Some years ago I nearly got beat to a pulp by a particularly muscular union thug in a wife-beater t-shirt who had big long chains behind his truck with steel hooks that, when attached to a 4×8 firmly planted firmly, allowed the truck to rip the sign to shreds. Or liquids that could be brushed or squirted on signs that would make the ink melt. And there were defensive measures, like various noxious slimes and pastes, hard to wash off, or sticky like the tar babe, which made sign grabbers rue touching the darn things.

I write all this to point out that while campaigns, or campaign supporters, still rip down opponents signs it’s a foolish activity at best. It probably always was. Why more foolish now, though? First, unless the race really is about name recognition only, tearing down signs doesn’t really do anything. Second, everyone has a videocorder now, and it’s common practice to set a few up on signs that keep vanishing. Third, everyone is litigious now.

Over the last ten years we’ve all witnessed cases of campaigns (or worse – the candidate himself) getting caught tearing down yard signs, and the resulting negative press that shoves the offender off balance. Not worth it. But every year it happens again and again and again.

This year in San Diego we have a somewhat heated primary for San Diego School District B that has really come down to two candidates: incumbent (and former ACLU board member) Nakamura v. small business owner (and Republican Central Committee member) McSweeney. After the district primary, the top two candidates (likely Nakamura and McSweeney) will run city-wide. According to local wags, Nakamura has irritated local labor, and they have decided to take a walk on her. Without those resources in a citywide race, she is extremely vulnerable to the evolving coalition of reformers/Republicans.

So how does Nakamura spend her time day to day? First hand sources in Navajo, the heart of the district, report she has been walking door-to-door on major streets and removing McSweeney yard signs, replacing them with her own. Now, it takes some gall to rip down signs out in the hinterlands or in the dead of night. But to walk up to a family home in broad daylight and – without permission of the actual property owner – take your opponent’s sign down and replace it with your own? The humor to this, of course, is Nakamura’s affiliation with the ACLU… to paraphrase the Soup NAZI “No Free Speech for You.”

Special bonus question: what North County candidate’s campaign folks were taped pulling up their opponent’s signs and placing their own yesterday afternoon?

This entry was posted on Friday, June 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.