Campaign signs get defaced or stolen

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Signs and banners for mayoral candidates keep popping up across O'ahu, but many are also quickly disappearing or ending up with unwelcome alterations.

Mayoral candidates Duke Bainum and Mufi Hannemann both say signs urging support for them have been stolen or vandalized, but neither is directly accusing the other of orchestrating any dirty tricks or campaign capers.

The Bainum camp has hired a private investigator to document specific incidents, and videotapes from late-night stakeouts appear to show one man removing Bainum signs at two locations on subsequent nights and being picked up by drivers using the same vehicle. Campaign officials said they had filed police reports in other cases where witnesses saw signs stolen.

"In every campaign you expect a few signs to disappear, but this has been extensive and systematic," Bainum said.

Hannemann said that many of his signs had also been stolen and that others had been altered to show him with a black eye or funny mustache.

He said that the campaign does not have time or money to pursue the problems, but that they are a significant nuisance.

"It costs money and you get disappointed, but it's a fact of life when you campaign," Hannemann said. "I'm sure the other side is not telling people to take down our signs, and neither are we."

Posting campaign signs was once banned in Hawai'i outside the 45-day period before an election and 10 days afterward. That changed more than a decade ago, when the state Supreme Court ruled that a time limit on political signs was unconstitutional.

State Campaign Spending Commission director Robert Watada said people often call him to complain about neighbors who post numerous campaign signs in their yards or on their fences.

"All we can say is it's a free country; you take the good with the bad," he said.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.