Autumn, When Candidates’ Thoughts Turn to Thievery

It’s considered bad form to punch your political opponents in the nose, but what do you do when they really, really get under your skin? How do you hit ‘em where they live?

One method of choice seems to be to swipe their campaign signs. I know it’s a crummy thing to do, but for some reason the deed often seems tinged with comedy.

Consider the plight of Al Snook, now making his fourth run for Garden Grove mayor. Unsuccessful in his first three attempts and having gotten only 13% of the vote in 1996, Snook is convinced Mayor Bruce Broadwater’s allies are trying to torpedo him. Four years ago, one of the mayor’s teenage sons was caught grabbing a couple of Snook signs, for which Broadwater says he is embarrassed and admonished his son.

No problems in the 1996 campaign, Snook says. But here we go again in 1998. Just hours after posting a 4-by-8-foot sign in a resident’s yard at the corner of Lampson Avenue and Nutwood Street last Sunday night, Snook got a phone call at 1 in the morning.

“These are beautiful signs,” Snook says. “Gorgeous signs. I’m very proud of them. Everyone is happy to have them in their yard, because they’re beautifully done. They’re a bright yellow, and they glow when the light hits them.”

The phone call was from one of the residents at Lampson and Nutwood. “He says, ‘Big Al, we thought you were full of s--- when you said they might try to steal the sign, but we heard all this noise and there they were, trying to load it on a truck.”

The resident, whom Snook identified as Sherman Goodman, said family members turned on the house lights, scaring the sign thieves away, with the sign dragging behind the truck until it fell off in the street.

The residents retrieved it and put it back in the yard. “I said, ‘Boy, that’s loyalty,’ ” Snook says.

The same m.o. occurred the next day at another site, Snook says. Again, a white truck was involved, but this time the pilferage was in the morning and they made off with a sign.

Broadwater is not nearly as amused by all this as I.

“The truth of the matter is, Mr. Snook doesn’t have a chance of being elected, and so he has to manufacture himself an issue,” Broadwater says. “He doesn’t know how city finance works, he doesn’t know how taxes work, how redevelopment works, how the Police Department works, so he manufactures an issue. I don’t have any large comment on it.”

With only two candidates in the race, Snook suggests, it’s pretty obvious who took his signs.

I’m not so sure. I’ve seen enough spy plots to know that you never know what’s what when it comes to political intrigue. People you’d never suspect can do some strange things when it comes to political signs.

One of the more celebrated local examples involved--who else?--Bob Dornan. In 1996, his son Mark made a citizen’s arrest of Stephen Brixey, the husband of Dornan’s opponent, Loretta Sanchez.

The younger Dornan summoned police, who cited Brixey. After first saying the charges were ridiculous, the Sanchez campaign had to recant after Brixey ‘fessed up. In a statement released later by the campaign, Brixey said, “Yes, out of sheer frustration over the mean-spirited personal attacks of Bob Dornan, I took down two of his campaign signs.”

That sounded a lot like the confession of Ventura County candidate Rich Sybert, who was running in a state Assembly primary race earlier this year. After one of Sybert’s opponents accused him of stealing signs in the dead of night, Sybert replied, “Oh, please. I’ve got better things to do. I’m in bed at 3 in the morning.”

That retort lasted about as long as it took Sybert’s opponent to produce a videotape from which Sybert was identified as the wee-hours culprit. Sybert, a Harvard-educated toy-company executive, said, “I tore down the signs. It was a stupid prank on my part.”

Sybert announced after losing the primary that he was through with politics.

Sign-stealing or vandalizing is covered by local ordinances, says Gary Huckaby, who’s with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission. “For the most part, it’s a kiddie-playtime kind of practice,” he says. “Fortunately, it’s not practiced in all areas of the state.”

I asked him why people did it.

“For some campaign workers,” Huckaby says, “it’s a kind of tradition that grew up over the years. It’s infantile, but it’s kind of a G.I. Joe midnight-raid thing. They probably put black paint on their faces when they go out.”

As he did in 1994, Snook is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading “to the capture and successful prosecution” of anyone messing with his signs.

Broadwater sighs and says Snook is up to his old tricks.

Snook says it’s about giving the little guy a voice in Garden Grove politics. And if nothing else, he’s undeterred by the past week’s events. When I telephoned Thursday in search of Snook, a campaign advisor said he had just left.

“He ran out to put up more signs,” the advisor said.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com