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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Vote For Schmuck |
| 2008-05-22 |
The final deadline for wannabe candidates to file their nominating petitions to get on the September primary election ballot isn't for another couple weeks and already campaign signs are disappearing. "I put them up on Saturday and by Monday they were all gone. The only one left up is in my yard," said local attorney Guy Wolf, who volunteered to help Frank Schmuck in his bid for the Arizona Legislature. Wolf put up the signs along Desert Foothills Parkway, Pecos Road and on Chandler Boulevard. A week later, even that last sign in Wolf's Ahwatukee Foothills yard was missing. Schmuck, a decorated Gulf War veteran and Air Force Academy graduate, wondered why people are focusing on his signs. "I do have a funny last name," he admitted, "but this early in the campaign season?" Schmuck is running as a publicly-financed candidate, which means that in return for not raising money from traditional donors he will get a fixed amount of public funding for the primary and, if he wins, the general election. So when people take his signs, they are really taking public money from the Arizona Clean Election Commission. "You're not stealing from Frank Schmuck, your stealing from the public," he said. Taking campaign signs is illegal, a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to four months in jail and a $750 fine, but it's a hard law to enforce since you almost need to almost catch crooks in the act. Four years ago, Rock Argabright watched as a man took down a John McComish campaign sign, tossed it into his pickup truck and drove away. Argabright, a supporter and friend of McComish, tried to follow the sign thief but lost him on 48th Street. Anton Orlich, also running for the House in District 20 during 2004, left his home one morning and passed his large yellow campaign sign. When he returned later the same day his sign was gone and a challenger's sign was attached to the metal posts where his sign had been. The most famous sign scandal was in 2000 when Arizona Sen. Harry Mitchell was running for re-election. His Republican opponent, Gary Richardson, placed small signs in front of Mitchell's that said "Voted for Alt Fuels Fiasco." Mitchell pulled the signs down and was charged with "Removing the political sign of a candidate for public office," but the charge was later dismissed by both a Chandler Justice Court and later Maricopa County Superior Court because the signs in question didn't mention Richardson and, therefore, weren't the signs of a candidate for public office. Along with disgruntled political opponents and kids looking for a bedroom decoration, candidates also have to worry about signs being knocked down by city and state workers. "We do have inspectors who will remove illegally placed signs in the right of way," said Doug Nintzel, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation. The city of Phoenix also pulls down signs that are in parks, on public land, or pose a hazard because they block the vision of motorists. But in almost every case Nintzel and Michael Hammet, from the Phoenix Development Services Department, said workers knock the signs down and then call the campaign to collect them because they are an expensive part of campaigning. "If a sign is missing, it's not a Development Services Department inspector," Hammet said. Which leaves unanswered the question of why the Schmuck signs were taken? "Did someone think it was a joke?" Schmuck asks. More importantly, does the candidate realize that he could make a fortune *selling* his campaign signs on t-shirts? N.B.: "Schmuck" is a Yiddish vulgarism. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #7 Hell, I'd steal one too! |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-05-22 17:50 |
| #6 Poor Schmuck! |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-05-22 14:11 |
| #5 Frank, you GOTTA get that photo of the sign for the Burg's decoration bin. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-05-22 13:43 |
| #4 I think other politicians are stealing them - they are re-usable in so many campaigns |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-05-22 12:12 |
| #3 All this will do is confuse people. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-05-22 12:10 |
| #2 In German it's not vulgar at all -- it means "ornament" or "jewelry." |
| Posted by: Fred 2008-05-22 12:10 |
| #1 Vote for the Schmuck, not the Crook. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-05-22 11:57 |