It’s a Sign That Election Season Is in Full Bloom

Turf tussle: A sign war is raging in Lawndale, where candidates for City Council have taken their battle to the city’s front yards.

Candidate Gary McDonald told reporters last week that he spotted rival Norm Lagerquist tearing down the campaign sign of a third council hopeful, Ron Maxwell, on a resident’s front lawn.

A local newspaper gave the story big play, publishing McDonald’s claim that Lagerquist turned “ghost white” after being caught “red-handed” in this crude attempt at street-side spin control.

But the issue, it turns out, was not so clear-cut.

Lagerquist says he had every right to do what he did: The Maxwell poster, he says, had been stapled onto a stake carrying a Lagerquist sign.

Maxwell admits this is true. But he says Millie Morales, who rents the house where the sign removal occurred, did not want more posts driven into her lawn. He says she gave him permission to tack his sign to Lagerquist’s stake.

Morales confirms Maxwell’s account, but says she’ll never let a candidate place a sign in her yard again. Politics, she discovered, knows no boundaries.

“I’m a Jehovah’s Witness and we don’t vote anyway,” Morales said. “I told my husband we shouldn’t do this because then we’re going to be involved. And look what happened.”

Color of money: His campaign account slipping into the red, but congressional candidate Guy Kimbrough is counting on a pair of well-known artists to paint him into the black before the Nov. 6 election.

Artists Richard Serra and John Baldessari have each agreed to donate 10 limited-edition prints of one of their paintings to Kimbrough, who is trying to unseat U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach).

The prints will be offered to supporters in exchange for $1,000 campaign contributions, the maximum allowed by law.

Serra and Baldessari’s donations are part of an effort by artists to oppose politicians who want to rein in the National Endowment for the Arts.

Among the targets is Rohrabacher, who led an unsuccessful attempt in the House this month to bar NEA support for art projects that offend any religion, are “indecent” or could be interpreted as denigrating the American flag.

That has left Kimbrough with a new sense of art appreciation.

“We will be down to zip by 6 o’clock today,” he said Thursday, referring to the cash balance in his campaign account. “We need a minimum of $15,000 to pull the last part of this campaign together.”

Write-ins: South Bay oil refineries can produce more than fuel. This year, two of their byproducts are Socialist Workers Party write-in candidates for statewide office.

Joel Britton, a plant operator at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery, has filed papers as the party’s candidate for governor. And Eli Green, a pipe fitter at Arco’s Carson refinery, is the insurance commissioner candidate for the party, which does not have enough members to qualify its candidates for the state ballot.

Among the party’s main planks: U.S. forces should not wage war in the Persian Gulf, the government should not tax wage-earners, and unions should form a nationwide labor party to represent the interests of U.S. workers.

The deployment of U.S. troops in the gulf only stands to benefit big business, he says, whereas soldiers from working families are the ones who would be placed at risk.

“This would be an example of a rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight,” he said Friday. “It’s hypocrisy.”

Political touring: With cassettes, freeway drivers can study languages, meditate or even gain what it takes to lose weight or quit smoking. Why not prepare for the Nov. 6 crush of ballot propositions while behind the wheel?

Tape recordings describing state and county propositions are being offered by several South Bay public libraries, including those in Inglewood, Torrance and Manhattan Beach.

The tapes, supplied by the Secretary of State’s Office, contain the official title and summary of ballot measures along with an analysis and arguments pro and con.

The cassettes may save potential voters from eye strain but, oh, those ears. Total listening time: the equivalent of a 55-m.p.h. trip to Las Vegas.