Sign Caper Causes a Flurry of Faxes

Sign of the times: Things are heating up in the 52nd District state Assembly race, where Diamond Bar City Councilman Paul Horcher has accused his Democratic opponent, Gary Neely, of sign-stealing.

In a press release faxed to reporters last week, Horcher claimed Neely had been caught “red-handed.”

“The real irony of the situation is that the person who caught him ripping down my signs is none other than Faye Hill, Senator Frank Hill’s wife!” Horcher said in the release. Faye Hill did not return calls seeking comment.

(Horcher, a Republican, is vying with Neely for the seat vacated by Frank Hill’s ascension to the state Senate.)

Neely denied removing Horcher’s signs and blamed an “overzealous” campaign volunteer for the misdeed.

“(He) saw a sign hanging upside down by a couple of staples,” Neely explained. “He reached up and took it down, and put ours in its place.

“I apologized to Paul Monday,” Neely said. “Paul said, ‘OK, we’ll keep this just between us.’ The next day, he sent faxes to all the press. That’s typical Paul.”

Said Horcher: “I said I would keep his apology private.”

Just the fax, please: In another faxed press release, Horcher said he has called for a state Fair Political Practices Commission investigation of Neely, suggesting Democratic Sen. Charles Calderon of El Monte--who endorsed Neely on Monday--may have made fund-raising telephone calls from his office on Neely’s behalf.

Calderon and Neely said no such calls were placed, and Calderon called Horcher’s charges “hysterical political action.” Horcher admitted he had no evidence, and said he called for the investigation after reading a local newspaper article that said Calderon and Neely met to discuss campaign strategy and fund raising.

Playing the name game: Libertarian candidate Kim Goldsworthy of Rosemead said he was curious about why he did unexpectly well in some precincts in the 26th Senate District special election last April. So he did some post-campaign door-to-door calling to see if he could find out.

Goldsworthy said a number of voters assumed he was a woman because his first name is Kim, and voted for him on that assumption. Their logic, according to Goldsworthy: Women are more likely than male politicians to be honest.