Heated 2020 election brings out lawn signs — and thieves

Alicia McMullen of Stamford woke up recently to find one of her two Biden/Harris campaign signs stolen from her yard, so she went to headquarters and bought two more.

“Every time you buy a sign from the Biden/Harris campaign, that’s a donation,” she said. “So really the thief is doing me a favor by reminding me to make regular donations to the campaign. Every time a sign gets stolen I’ll be replacing it.”

She even has a lawn sign that says, “Steal My Sign, I Donate $ to Biden, Harris. Keep on Stealing Them.”

Francis “FX” Flaherty, of Darien, a retired FBI special agent, awoke recently to find one of his two Trump/Pence signs mangled and the other “askew” in front of the house, making him feel “violated and intimidated.”

Flaherty, who said he is a Democrat voting for Trump, said he put the signs up because there are so many Biden signs up in the town.

“I’m expecting these signs to be ripped out on a regular basis,” he said.

Most presidential election years the display of signs is — with some exceptions — a respected right of free expression. But political experts say signs and other campaign materials for the national race this season are being stolen and vandalized at a higher rate than in previous years.

“We’re a very divided country and it’s showing up this year,” said Jody Dietch, chairwoman of the Orange Democratic Town Committee.

Dietch said there’s such an uptick in presidential candidate signs being stolen — especially Biden signs in Orange — that she and Republican Town Chairman Pio Imperati, who could not be reached for comment, issued a joint statement imploring residents to allow others to express themselves and telling them to call police and check security cameras if anyone is seen defacing or vandalizing signs.

The joint release states: “In the end, we are all neighbors who live together, whose kids go to school and engage in extra-curricular activities together. Let’s all get along.”

Prices vary from town to town, but Dietch said a Biden sign in Orange is $15. Dietch said she’s had reports of six Biden signs being stolen and some people have resorted to attaching them high on poles so they can’t be easily reached.

Experts say that aside from high poles, people are putting dog feces around the signs so would-be vandals get an unwelcome surprise, or sticking the signs in poison ivy bushes, or, in the case of Biden signs, attaching smaller signs that read: “Think twice before stealing my sign. If you do I’ll donate $15 to Planned Parenthood, Every Town for Gun Safety and the Biden-Harris campaign. And put up a new sign.”

Robin Druckman, vice-chairwoman of Stamford Democrats, said there is such an increase in reports of signs being taken or defaced this year that they come with a warning to keep an eye on them, keep them close to home or attach them to something.

She said two people came in last week to say their sign was taken and a bag of dog feces was left on their lawn. They ordered five more signs and put them all over, including in windows.

“People are determined to show their support and they won’t be dissuaded,” Druckman said. “We get emails and calls every day for signs.”

Democrats allege their signs are being victimized more, but Republicans make the same claim.

West Haven Republican Town Chairman Dave Riccio said he’s had many reports of bold thefts of Trump campaign signs and items — including a Trump flag right off a front door.

He said stealing or vandalizing campaign signs is against state law and that law should be enforced.

He said each sign is about $5, “so you’re talking a lot of money.”

“If people want a political sign it’s their right,” he said.

Riccio said the sixth-degree larceny charge associated with stealing a sign is a class C misdemeanor punishable by up to three months’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of up to $500.

He said people also can be charged with trespassing, a class A misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $2,000 and up to a year in prison.

“Like most crimes, if the police do not observe the act first hand, we would rely on eyewitnesses from the public or video evidence,” said Orange Assistant Police Chief Max Martins. He said police have had only two complaints this year, which he said is a low number.

Dan Quigley, Republican Town

Chairman in Greenwich, said he’s finding a strong reluctance of people to display Trump materials, whether it be a sign, bumper sticker or magnet. He said folks are afraid a sign on their lawn will be run over by a vehicle or their vehicle will be keyed.

“It doesn’t appear to be the case for Biden” signs, he said.

Greenwich tends to run Republican locally, but Trump lost the vote there in 2016 and is expected to lose in 2020, Quigley said. He said the political demographics are shifting locally as people move in from New York.

“They don’t want to (display Trump campaign items) because of the discourse,” Quigley said of Greenwich Republicans. “The discourse has been so poisonous they’re reluctant to even have a conversation.”

Quigley said campaign signs are part of American culture. He said it started in 1824 when John Quincy Adams was running for president and asked some people to put out signs.

Wesley Renfro, associate dean and associate professor of political science at Quinnipiac University, said research shows lawn signs have little effect on an election. He said signs are really about engagement — to stir excitement and get people to show up to vote.

He’s not surprised thefts are up this presidential election year.

“People have strong feelings about who occupies the Oval Office,” Renfro said.

Scott McLean, professor of political science at Quinnipiac University, said the main purpose of campaign signs is to activate voters and mark territory.

He commended Orange leaders for their joint press release decrying sign-stealing and vandalism.

“It’s a great way to help the partisan division we’ve been experiencing for the last decade,” he said.

Anthony Marrocolla of Stamford said his Biden sign was spraypainted black, so he put up a bigger one and bought five more — two are up in his yard and the rest are backup, in case it happens again.

Marrocolla said the country needs love, tolerance and respect.

“You used to be able to have intellectual debates about politics. These days, its much different, and truthfully, it’s scary,” he said.

Flaherty — the Darien Democrat who is voting for Trump — said the “intimidation campaign” from whomever messed with his signs was “successful.”

Flaherty said he would love to vote Democrat, but he doesn’t believe Biden is your “JFK Democrat.”

“I like generally what Trump has done for the country,” he said, noting he likes secure borders, supporting police, a good economy.

He said he was “really taken aback,” when the sign was ripped out in less than 24 hours.

McMullen, the Stamford resident who said the thieves were doing her a favor because she would contribute more to the Biden campaign by buying more signs, said she wants to do her part for the visibility of the Biden campaign.

While presidential signs may be being targeted, local race signs are doing about the same as usual — incidents have happened.

Some local campaigns put out fewer signs this year, thinking fewer people will be out driving and seeing them because of the pandemic, while others said they put out more signs because more people are walking.

Mike Lawlor, associate professor of criminal justice at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven, who grew up in politics and served in the state House for 24 years, said his father, Robert Lawlor, who served as Democratic Town Chairman in East Haven, used to say, “Lawn signs don’t vote” but it’s the next best thing without polling, Lawlor said.

“There are better ways to spend money than on lawn signs,” he said. With no polls, they are at best a barometer, he said.

He said people who know what they’re doing go door to door and social media is used these days to promote candidates.

Lawlor said he remembers his supporters tearing down his opponent’s lawn signs.

People get arrested for stealing or defacing signs, he said, but it’s a waste of time for police because it’s a relatively minor offense.

Lawlor, who lives in New Haven, said he’s seen a lot of Biden signs this year — he bought two for $25 each and his sign hasn’t been touched.

Milford Democratic Town Chairman Rich Smith, who has 40 years and counting in politics, said neither party leadership condones messing with the other’s signs — local or presidential — and locally, there’s a certain respect for each other’s territories when displaying signs on business and other properties.

He said signs sometimes become a neighborhood rivalry, as in “My neighbor has Democratic sign, I’m going to get a Republican sign.”

He said amid the pandemic there’s even more of a push to campaign on social media. Smith said they were unsure at first about door-to-door campaigning this year — the most effective campaign strategy — but it has worked. They go to the door a mask, ring the bell and back up.

“Our job is to get voters out,” Smith said.

West Haven’s Riccio is a big believer in campaign signs, especially for the lesser-known underticket. He said campaign signs “give the perception of support,” so it’s a campaign strategy.

He said popular state Rep. Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven, has more than 1,000 signs around the district even though he still knocks on doors every day.

Mike Last, Democratic Party Chairman in West Haven, said he believes signs are important to introduce a candidate, but not the number of signs.

“Political signs can’t make up for what a candidate lacks in platform or performance. You often see, in West Haven anyway, the candidate with the most signs lose the election,” Last said. “West Haven’s electorate is intelligent and does their homework on the candidates. You are not going to fool them with political lawn signs.”

Last said of this election year: “It is a different and uncertain time for everyone with the COVID-19 global pandemic and then you have politics and a presidential contest that is as bizarre as I think this city, state and country has ever seen.”

He said the most sought-after sign at Democratic headquarters is Biden/Harris and they have a hard time keeping them in stock.

“We have people calling and stopping into the headquarters every day for signs and this year they seem more passionate,” Last said. “People who normally do not advertise for their candidate are requesting signs for Democratic candidates, especially for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The other races really getting interest for signs are Rosa DeLauro running for Congress and Tony Sutton, who is running in the West Shore in the 117th District.”