Candidate says signs’ link to Trump are dirty trick

GREENWICH — Republicans are outraged over campaign signs that popped up around Greenwich that linked first selectman candidate Fred Camillo to President Donald Trump.

The signs were first spotted Friday morning at several locations, including in Byram and downtown. They urged people to “Vote Republican — Vote Team Trump/Camillo” and to “Make Greenwich Great Again.”

But Camillo said his campaign did not put up the signs and called them a “dirty trick” by local Democrats.

“This is a new low for Greenwich,” Camillo said Friday morning. “It is desperate, dirty and fraudulent. It is time for Jill Oberlander and Sandy Litvack to disavow not only the signs but all the emails and rhetoric that are coming from the Greenwich chapter of this national Indivisible group that is using our town as a platform to push a national agenda.”

After a day in which the signs threw local politics into turmoil, Republican Town Committee Chairman Rich DiPreta on Friday night said he discussed the matter with the town attorney’s office and Democratic Town Committee Chairman Joe Angland and all decided it was OK to remove the signs. The expectation was they would be taken down overnight and be gone Saturday.

With less than two weeks to go before the election, Camillo is locked in a race with Democrat Jill Oberlander for first selectman.

The signs gave the impression that they were endorsed by the Camillo campaign: They were in red lettering with a traditional Republican elephant and what appeared to be Camillo’s campaign website on the bottom.

However, Camillo’s website is www.FredforFirst.com. The link on the sign — www.FredCamillo.com — goes to a website that appears to be a citizens group supporting Trump.

There was no notation on the signs saying who paid for them. Republicans questioned whether the signs were put up by the Oberlander campaign, the Democratic Town Committee or Indivisible Greenwich, an activist group that has been a vocal opponent of Trump.

But Oberlander said her campaign was not responsible for the signs, and she said she knew nothing about them.

“I saw the signs this morning and I assumed they were put up by or in support of the Camillo campaign,” Oberlander said. “They are not connected in any way, shape or form to mine or Sandy Litvack’s campaign.”

Litvack, a Democrat, is running for reelection as selectman and has been vocal in calling for local Republican leaders to condemn Trump’s actions. Litvack is married to Joanna Swomley, cofounder of Indivisible Greenwich.

He also denied any knowledge of the signs.

“No one in my campaign and no one I know had anything to do with any kinds of signs like this,” Litvack said.

Litvack said his past criticisms have only been to get local Republican leaders to speak up when they disagree with Trump.

“It’s very simple,” he said. “If these signs reflect how they really feel and how they think, then they have nothing to complain about. If they don’t reflect how they feel, then they should speak up and disavow them.”

According to the first selectman’s office, there is an unofficial policy allowing political campaign signs on town property, which is where these signs appeared. No permits are needed. Past precedent is that campaign signs are OK as long as they do not go up more than two weeks before the election and are taken down the day after the election.

On Friday afternoon, DiPreta, an attorney, said the RTC believe the signs were illegal because they used Camillo’s name to make a false representation and list a website that is not his.