DANA POINT : Curreri Supporter Admits Taking Signs

Accusations among City Council candidates about the stealing of campaign signs escalated this week when about 60 signs were found in the yard of a Capistrano Beach man.

Addison DeBoi, a member of Councilwoman Judy Curreri’s reelection committee, admitted in an interview that he took the signs found Wednesday in his side yard. Most of the signs belonged to council challengers William Ossenmacher and Ernie Nelson.

But DeBoi said he was only enforcing a city law that prohibits placing election signs on public property or on private property without the owner’s permission.

“Yes, I did take the signs, but all but two of them were on private property,” DeBoi said Thursday. “I have a whole list of people who gave me permission to move the signs off their property.”

However, Ossenmacher, who filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Department, rejected DeBoi’s explanation. Ossenmacher said he found about 30 of his signs and about 30 others belonging to Nelson at the DeBoi residence on Camino Capistrano.

“So (DeBoi) took the law into his own hands. Is that what a democracy is all about? Taking the law into your own hands?” Ossenmacher said. “I hear this kind of thing happens in every election. I don’t know. I’ve never been involved in one before. But it’s not very often that you catch the culprit, which is what happened this time, especially one who turns out to be a member of a rival candidate’s steering committee.”

DeBoi, however, disagreed that he was “caught” with the signs.

“I informed the Ossenmacher people I had the signs, and I did it in good faith,” said DeBoi, a member of the city Traffic Commission.

Sheriff’s deputies said Ossenmacher’s complaint was investigated, but no arrests were made.

Several other candidates in the June 2 race for two council seats attempted to distance themselves Thursday from the controversy. Curreri, who is most closely associated with DeBoi, said that she does not condone what he did and did not know he was doing it.

“I do think Addison (DeBoi) would not have told them he was doing this if it was a clandestine thing, however,” Curreri said.

Councilman Bill Bamattre, another incumbent seeking reelection, called the whole matter unfortunate.

“Sign stealing is not my style. It’s unfortunate some people feel they have to do that,” Bamattre said.

Nelson also agreed that the matter should never have come up but added that it surfaced amid charges by the incumbents that Nelson’s camp was stealing signs.

“(Curreri and Bamattre) are the ones who have been making such a big issue about signs before this, stating that we haven’t been playing by the rules,” Nelson said. “I don’t know if the signs had been put in the right spot or not, but Addison DeBoi should not have taken it upon himself to be the policeman. It does not reflect well on Judy (Curreri).”