Group says antiTrump signs are missing
GREENWICH — A local political action committee that supports Democratic candidates says its anti-Trump signs have gone missing throughout Greenwich.
Sandy Litvack, a former town selectman and co-founder of Greenwich Voices for Democracy, said Thursday that about 100 of the PAC’s signs were put up on public property on Sunday and Monday.
The signs were erected following town regulations, he said, but by Monday, most of them had been taken down.
“They’ve taken virtually all of them,” Litvack said. “You name a place in town, we had them. We were up in every district. This was not a random spot where some signs were taken. This was everywhere we put them up. We feared this might happen and so we only put out 100 signs. We have more. We wanted to see whether our worst fears would come true and of course they did.”
Greenwich Voices for Democracy is supporting the Democratic ticket in November, but as a PAC it must operate independently of the Democratic Town Committee and all of the Democratic candidates. The signs target President Donald Trump and link the local Republican Party to him.
There are three designs. One is emblazoned with three red elephants, the symbol of the GOP, on train tracks with the labels Trump, CT GOP and Greenwich GOP, with the train crashing into a blue wall. The slogan reads: “Derail the Trump Train. Vote Democratic!”
Another has a drawing of Trump’s hair with the slogan “NOPE to the Greenwich GOP.” And the third design has “Trumpism” crossed out with “Bad for D.C. Bad for Hartford. Bad for Greenwich” and “Vote Democratic!” underneath it.
Litvack, who served for two years on the Board of Selectmen, said he understands that there are problems with signs in many campaign seasons. But he said the problem is different this year.
“We put most of our signs next to other political signs and the other signs are still there,” he said. “The only ones taken were ours. The reason is apparent. They’re taking the signs that tie the local GOP, Greenwich Republicans, to Trump.
“We say voting for these local guys is voting for Trump. … it’s tying (local Republican candidates) to their unwillingness and inability to stand up and speak out against Trump and Trumpism,” he said. “That’s what they’re objecting to.”
Litvack said the missing signs cost nearly $1,000 and he pledged to put up new ones.
“We’re not going to give up,” he said. “I’m not going to be intimidated by these jerks.”
Litvack said he has not filed a police report but said the PAC reached out to Chief of Police James Heavey.
“We told him that this is a crime,” Litvack said. “We understand that every year there’s little petty acts. Republicans take signs. Democrats take signs. This is different. We had over 100 signs gone in 48 hours. Come on. We understand you can’t go chasing after every little sign, but this is really different.”
Capt. Mark Zuccerella, public information officer for the Greenwich police, confirmed that Heavey had received an email from Chris Trepp, the PAC’s treasurer, and said the chief advised him to file a police report so it could be investigated.
Republican Town Committee Chair Dan Quigley said his party was not involved with the missing signs.
“I can assure (Litvack) that we have not removed any if his signs,” Quigley said. “On the contrary, I hope he puts more of them up around town. Those signs will backfire on Democrats. Our voters are well informed, and I don’t think they appreciate being sold a false bill of goods.”
In this election cycle, the RTC has complained about the PAC’s ads on social media, which it said distorted candidate’s views.
The new sign flap comes a year after another controversy involving campaign signs. In the closing weeks of the 2019 first selectman’s race, signs appeared around town linking Republican candidate Fred Camillo to Trump. The signs were blasted by Republicans as deceptive and misleading.
Ultimately, Mark Kordick, who was then a Greenwich police captain, admitted to buying the signs. He said he was speaking as a private citizen, not on behalf of the department, and wanted to start a conversation about local Republican support for the Trump administration.
Kordick was ultimately fired and is now suing the town, Camillo and others for wrongful termination and violations of his right to free speech.
Joe Angland, chair of the Democratic Town Committee, said he believes there has been “slightly more” stealing of signs this year.
“All our (Democratic) candidates have had signs stolen,” Angland said. “The largest target so far has been Biden signs. At my house, someone stole the Biden signs but left the signs for Jim Himes, Alex Kasser and Hector Arzeno.”
Quigley said he has not fielded many complaints about signs stolen for local Republican candidates. He said there have been “quite a few” complaints from residents, however, who put up Trump signs and had them taken.
“The RTC has been adamant about urging its members to follow the established rules with regard to signs,” Quigley said. “If anyone is caught removing one, it is considered a crime, and is punishable by law.”