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Campaign signs vanish even in judicial race
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer It seems to happen every election season: Political candidates find their campaign signs have vanished. But Linda Babb said she never expected something like that in a race for the stately office of circuit court judge. The Dade City prosecutor, running in a three-way race for the Group 26 seat being vacated by retiring Maynard Swanson, said Tuesday someone pulled down five of her biggest signs in Pinellas County over the holiday weekend. She said she thinks it was someone from opponent George H. Brown's camp and claimed his signs were found where hers once stood. Brown said Tuesday the suggestion is baseless. Babb said Brown's signs appeared immediately at the three locations where her five signs had stood. Brown said his crews don't steal, and he is careful to avoid even the appearance of blocking an opponent's signs with his own. Charges of sign-stealing are nothing new to political races. Earlier this year in a Port Richey municipal race, police were ordered to patrol the 194 posted signs throughout the city, rolling up $2,036 in overtime pay. No arrests were made, but the sign theft stopped during the extra patrols. In 2000, vandals sprayed-painted slurs on a Hernando County Commission candidate's signs. In 1996, a candidate for Citrus County property appraiser posted a $100 reward for information that would lead to the arrest of anyone who took any candidate's signs, not just his own. Two years later, some Citrus candidates complained that the state Department of Transportation snatched political signs from public rights of way. And in 1998, a candidate for Hillsborough County School Board found his signs were in demand, not from competing candidates but from local high school students. The signs for Joy Leto, which read simply "Leto" in block letters, were popular with students from Leto High School. The signs not only had the name of their school, but they also were in school colors. Babb and Brown also are running against Pinellas attorney Sarah Chaves in the race for Swanson's seat. The race spans the entire Pinellas-Pasco Circuit, so candidates must campaign in both counties. Babb said she is frustrated at losing her large signs in Pinellas County, especially because she has spent the time to personally install them. She said that with the election coming up Sept. 10, it's too late to have new ones made, so no matter what she does to rearrange her signs, she's losing visibility somewhere. She said she didn't report the disappearances to authorities because the signs were taken from three independent jurisdictions, and they cost about $30 each. "It's more the principle of the thing," she said. "You hear about this in other kinds of races, but in judicial races? I didn't expect this. I really didn't." Brown said his own signs have disappeared or been damaged, but he takes it as part of the process and had not considered making a public complaint. He said he just ordered extra signs to be ready to replace those damaged or missing. Brown said he is more concerned with allegations that Babb and four other judicial candidates broke elections rules barring judicial candidates from endorsing each other when they took part in a joint campaign mailer sent to absentee voters. The Florida Ethics Commission dismissed a complaint on the mailers filed by a candidate in another judicial race, but Brown said his campaign is continuing to investigate and has sought information from the Florida Bar.
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From today's Pasco Times Editorial Letters Letters |
