Signs of a Campaigning Frenzy

Instead of using the final days before Tuesday’s election to capture the hearts and minds of undecided voters, Costa Mesa City Councilman Orville Amburgey spent part of Saturday acting as his own campaign-sign sheriff.

Angered that some of his signs had been stolen, Amburgey went to the Freedom Homes subdivision on the city’s west side, where four of his signs were being displayed by opponents, who had defaced the posters with a circle and slash painted across the candidate’s name.

Outraged, Amburgey took the signs down and called police.

“I spent thousands of dollars for campaign signs, they cost a lot of money,” he said. “Each of those signs are a minimum of six bucks.”

That’s the way it was Saturday, three days before the election, when emotions and nerves cranked up another notch and candidates and activists scattered throughout the county in an all-out final bid to spread their word.

The county’s dominant Republican Party was planning to spend a record-setting bankroll on getting its voters to the polls this year. Saturday, the party deployed more than 700 volunteers to knock on doors in every city.

Greg Haskin, executive director of the county party, said volunteers were expected to walk in half of the county’s roughly 2,000 precincts Saturday and reach the other half today.

“It’s mind-boggling,” he said. “We’ll break every record for Orange County in the amount spent to get out the vote.”

Haskin said he will not be certain how much the total is until after the election, but it is certain to be several hundred thousand dollars.

Elsewhere, in some of the hottest races, even more volunteers were working for campaigns and issues.

Assemblyman Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove), who is engaged in one of California’s most hotly contested legislative races against Democratic challenger Tom Umberg, said about 225 volunteers were walking door to door in his 72nd Assembly District on Saturday.

Umberg’s campaign manager, George Urch, said Democrats had about 100 workers deployed in some of the same neighborhoods.

Saturday’s crisp, balmy autumn weather did not seem to deter volunteers, organizers said.

“The weather might make some people decide to have a picnic instead of volunteer,” Haskins said. “On the other hand, some people might say it’s a beautiful day to walk precincts.”

In South County, Democratic organizer Bonnie Streeter said about 50 volunteers were helping the party in Laguna Niguel.

“We know Orange County has been a traditional stronghold for Republicans,” she said. “We thought there were a lot of Democrats in hiding, and we are bringing them out.”

The high pitch of the campaigns has contributed to some zaniness, such as the plight of Amburgey in Costa Mesa, who is among a field of five candidates seeking two seats on the City Council.

Some residents complained about Amburgey going into their yards to retrieve his defaced signs. But police told homeowner Stella Gamboni that Amburgey was entitled to take the poster because it belongs to the campaign and cost him $6.

Gamboni’s husband, Chester, told his wife: “Well, you should have given him the six bucks.”

Gamboni said the sign had not been stolen but rather given to him by an unnamed source.

Several county campaigns have complained about stolen or defaced signs. Amburgey said that he had recovered nine defaced signs and that about 50 of the 700 posters he ordered had been stolen.

Still, some residents complained about Amburgey trying to recover his signs from their lawns. “As far as I am concerned, nobody has the right to come on someone else’s lawn and touch anything, be it a sign or part of the house,” Doug Jamieson said.

While the candidate may have a right to retrieve his signs, the residents have been told that they can make up their own posters.

“We will probably put something else up,” Jamieson said. “You know, freedom of speech.”