Supporters plant them. Detractors pluck them. Yards of both political stripes can be targets of sign skulduggery.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published October 28, 2004
The less-than-civil tone of this year's presidential campaign has seeped into neighborhoods, where fights over political yard signs have become as divisive as speeches on the stump.
Sign-stealing has always been a part of election season, local Republicans and Democrats agree. But this year, with voters bitterly divided, emotions have likewise run high, and sign thievery has been especially bad.
So bad, in fact, that Clearwater resident J. Michael Pinson resorted to hiding a wireless camera in the front yard of his Countryside home after someone swiped one of his Bush-Cheney signs.
He replaced the sign, installed the camera and on Sunday, he caught his neighbor red-handed.
"It's really a shame that the political election has gotten to the point where hate and discrimination has been promoted so strongly that people are behaving this way," said Pinson, a small-business owner who said John Kerry wants to raise his taxes. "When you have individuals that are so full of hate, no matter whose sign it is, we need to come together as a community and prosecute those people."
Pinson took the tape to Clearwater police, who turned it over to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office. The neighbor, Nancy Rapp, told Clearwater police that she took the sign, saying it violated homeowner association bylaws. Tuesday, Pinson received a letter from his homeowner group saying election signs are prohibited in the neighborhood.
But instead of removing the sign, Pinson added a second - this one read "free speech."
Pat Pearlman is on her fourth Bush-Cheney yard sign.
"I know things are intense, but I didn't think it would get out of hand like this," said Pearlman, 38, a former teacher who lives in Largo.
Angelica Vrondos, who backs John Kerry, is similarly stunned. The Clearwater resident is still stewing over someone who trespassed on her Edgewater Drive property to swipe a 4-by-8-foot Kerry-Edwards poster.
Vrondos, who runs a sign-making business out of her home, made her own Kerry-Edwards sign. This one included an extra message: "Thieves stole my Kerry-Edwards sign. Don't let intimidation steal your vote!"
"We can't even pull off an election without stealing signs?" asked Vrondos, 36. "And we're supposed to be an example for places like Afghanistan?"
Deanne Lange, treasurer of the Pinellas County Democratic Party, said reports of sign theft have been widespread, though she could not say exactly how many signs have been taken.
Across Pinellas, the campaign already has distributed close to 5,000 yard signs.
"You don't see that many around," said Lange. "It's frustrating."
Peggy O'Shea, director of campaign operations with the Pinellas County Republican Party, which has distributed 9,000 yard signs, said the problem is worse than usual. Volunteers, she said, have seen trucks driving across the Howard Frankland Bridge filled with Bush-Cheney signs.
"The dirt was still hanging on the stakes," O'Shea said. "People spend money on these. They belong to somebody.
"It's just stupid stuff."
Pinellas County sheriff's deputies have received 21 reports of stolen campaign signs since July - three Bush-Cheney signs and 18 Kerry-Edwards signs, said spokesman Mac McMullen.
Twelve Kerry signs were reported stolen at one time, McMullen said.
"It's very childish if an adult did it. It's absolutely ridiculous," said Rose Clarke, of Largo, who had a pair of Kerry-Edwards posters stolen last week. "This is a free and great country. You can vote for who you want to. You can support who you want."
But sign-swiping is part of the political climate. Just this week, there were reports of similar thefts in Idaho, Alabama, Minnesota and Arizona.
It's a simple piece of cardboard that has so many people stirred up.
"Some people honked and gave us a thumbs-up," said Vrondos about reaction to her Kerry yard sign. "Some people honked and flipped us off. But whatever, it's fine. That's what this country is about, the freedom of expression.
"It doesn't give someone the right to violate my space, though."
Times staff writer Catherine Shoichet and staff photographers Kinfay Moroti and Doug Clifford contributed to this report.
