Poster outside Greenwich GOP office mistaken for campaign threat

GREENWICH — Police quickly uncovered the mystery of a hand-made “Kill Bob” sign found outside a state GOP field office Tuesday morning that drew the concern of Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate for governor.

Capt. Mark Zuccerella said officers responded to the incident at the East Putnam Avenue office at around 10:45 a.m. Shortly after noon, detectives determined the “Kill Bob” sign belonged to middleschool-age students at the karate studio next door, where the training dummy is named “Bob.”

Investigating officers talked with a karate studio employee who quickly drew the connection between the dummy that the children kick and beat around the parking lot, and the partially vacant GOP office next door.

“I guess there’s not a lot of activity there yet, but it’s just the start of the political season,” Zuccerella said in a noontime interview.

Police determined any similarity between that and Stefanowski, whose campaign took offense at initial reports of the poster, was coincidental.

Republican State Chairman Ben Proto said the cardboard sign, with the words spelled out in colored tape and flowers or stars drawn on other parts of the poster, was found attached to a wooden fence Tuesday morning by a party worker. Shown the sign, the karate studio employee quickly said it was created by their students, who use the phrase “Kill Bob” to focus their skills.

Before police deduced where the sign came from, Proto condemned it in an initial morning phone interview.

“We have enough stuff going on without people putting up stupid signs,” Proto said. “It’s kind of sad that politics has degenerated to personal destruction for people who are simply seeking public office and want to give back to the state.”

While the poster obviously appeared to be the work of amateur, or juvenile, artists, it wasn’t until police spoke with the karate studio that it became very clear that the target of the students’ aggression was not the candidate from Madison, but their trainingdummy nemesis.

Last November, a 41-year-old Waterford man was arrested on second-degree threatening charges in connection with Twitter posts he made allegedly targeting Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont. According to the Judicial Branch website, his case is pending, with his next court appearance scheduled for Sept. 21 in state Superior Court in New London.