by Dave Zornow
“Unlike stealing a lawn gnome or a plastic pink flamingo…stealing a lawn sign is a more heinous crime. There is moral and ethical guilt.”
– Confessions of a Lawn Sign Stealer, The Huffington Post
Unlike the competitive jostling for placing babysitting, tennis lessons and yoga class posters in Nyack’s stores, lawn sign theft is a bit more serious. It’s a misdemeanor. And Nyack’s candidates for public office are speaking out against it.
“It is very simple. Any supporter of the Constitution, and especially the First Amendment, would deplore the stealing of any lawn signs of any candidate, regardless of your view of the candidate,” says Nyack Mayor John Shields. His comments follow a post to NyackNewsAndViews by John Ballard, Where Have All The Lawn Signs Gone? on 7/25.
Ballard writes that eight lawn signs for Marianne Olive’s campaign for Mayor all disappeared at once. When they were replaced, the new signs were also mysteriously removed. “I’m a little bit surprised by the pettiness of the gesture,” Ballard says.
“I have had to replace, more than once, several of my signs,” says mayoral candidate Marie Lorenzini. It is not only an infringement on my First Amendments rights, it becomes a very costly matter, too” she says. “It is unacceptable behavior to take down anyone’s signs and I hope the problem does not continue,” adds Trustee Denise Hogan, who is also running for mayor.
Village Board candidate Jen Laird-White is against the theft of lawn signs — and lawn signs in general, too. “Of course it’s truly terrible for anyone to remove lawn signs,” she says. “Anyone sabotaging someone willing to take on such a goliath task as running for public office should be thoroughly spanked and forced to run for office themselves.”
Laird-White goes further and questions the value of lawn signs. “They are neither aesthetically pleasing nor environmentally friendly. They are covered with a wax that I suspect doesn’t disappear over time and stuck onto bits of metal that join them in the landfill. And no one ever, EVER comes to pick them up once Election Day is over.” As a political newcomer, Laird-White admits this is “it’s the way it’s always been done” but wishes we could find a better way. “I’ll let you know if I come up with one,” she adds.
“The bigger problem with visual pollution and clutter occurs when lawn signs are placed and not removed on public land,” says mayoral candidate Richard Kavesh. “Some towns charge candidates a fee, refunding the money only after all the lawn signs have been removed from the town’s public property. That’s a pretty good incentive to remove them after the election is over,” he says.
It’s not even clear how important lawn signs are at all. “It’s common political wisdom, say consultants and campaign managers, that lawn signs play little role in the outcome,” writes Phil Busse in the Huffington Post. “Akin to wearing the home team’s color on game day or fans painting their faces, the political lawn sign is more statement than persuasion.”
And “theft” can be in the eye of the beholder. In one suburban Washington, DC district, candidates decried how hundreds of signs placed by their supporters were being stolen and demanded an investigation. As it turned out, the “stolen” signs had been illegally placed on public property. And the “thefts” were committed by maintenance workers who removed the signs while cutting the grass under the highway median strips where they had been placed.
I, for one, am environmentally friendly. Though I do have lawn signs because of no better way to publicize my mayoral campaign, I will personally remove any sign that remains on any lawns after the election. At the moment, I have nothing to worry about as my signs have been removed. All but 2 have been removed.
As you know, I’m a beekeeper, a bio dynamic raised bed gardener and all around homeopathic, health conscious, environmentally earth friendly, and an advocate of green living. Thanks for your supportive words. This is a goliath task and has become a full time job already. I’m eager and anxious to held direct Nyack into a bright, successful and harmonious future.
Although I don’t live in Nyack, I do visit family there and find this sign stealing a bit on the funny side. I have had some experience with this during local elections in Massachusetts.
Steal the signs of an opponent and you generate tremendous FREE POSITIVE publicity for the victim at the same time creating even more FREE NEGATIVE publicity for your own camp. Typically the victim is an underdog or long shot so they need all the press they can get, while the leading candidate is often well funded and already has the name recognition. Now I know the field is quite crowded in the Mayoral contest, so perhaps there is concern that there could be an upset, leading some to perhaps use some questionable tactics to heighten their profile in the race.
On the eco-friendly point of lawn signs; might I recommend using cardboard from your local retailers, one side is typically blank, create a stencil with your name and office. For ink I would use some white latex paint you could mix partial cans gathered from your supporters. Make a front and back staple together on scrap wood, broken pallet slats? and place in lawn. 100% Recyclable and if you forget it will either rot away or become kindling.
It is a shame it is not at least a violation for a candidate to fail to remove the signs and properly dispose of them after the election. Maybe that’s something tha can be worked on…after the election….
I’m not sure if what I have to say below applies in a village election, but here it goes anyway.
We’ve had a major problem with the theft of lawn signs in South Nyack for years and it is very calculated, usually done very early on Sunday mornings several weeks apart. After they’re stolen, hundreds of signs are typically found dumped behind Nyack High School. I’ve even spoken to people who’ve witnessed them being taken, and it’s a strategic operation, not kids playing pranks on their neighbors. But we still get an irritated “just bunch of kids” blow-off from the South Nyack/Grandview Police Department when they’re called about the thefts.