PHOTOS: Campaign Sign Controversy Stirs Up Davis City Council Race

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Several photos were posted online Monday of campaign signs that appear to have been placed directly in front of signs for other Davis City Council candidates.

Some of those photos, which were initially posted on Facebook by local attorney Bernie Goldsmith, generated a great deal of conversation. One of the photos (which you can see in the slideshow above) features a man in a white shirt holding a sign. That man, as Greenwald later confirmed, is her husband, Mike. 

Many of the signs being discussed are on Covell, in the vicinity of Sycamore. 

“...I have no reason to lie," wrote Melissa Martinez, who took several of the photos, including the one with the man in it. "We watched this individual work himself up and down both sides of Covell. He looked right at us after I snapped the picture of him dumping the [Dan Wolk] sign in the shrubs. I later was able to confirm the 'volunteer' was Sue's husband. He did this in broad daylight and in his own car parked along with him…”

Goldsmith also described "piles of Wolk and Frerichs signs someone ripped up and threw in the street." 

We reached out to Greenwald upon seeing the photos and she responded shortly after with the following:

Hi Justin,

Our lawn signs had been stolen, stomped and ripped quite a lot during this campaign, often with other signs untouched or other other signs going up in its place.   Mike was trying to keep my torn and stolen signs replaced.  I told him not to allow himself to be provoked, to turn the other cheek, and to respect all lawn signs.   I asked him not to get involved in campaign lawn sign turf wars.

He came home yesterday and said that a lawn sign of mine that he had put up on Covell had been thrown in the bushes and that a Dan Wolk sign had been put up in its place.   I don’t know if this is the sign that they are talking about, but it sounds like it.     I was concerned because he seemed frustrated, and I specifically said:  “I hope that you didn’t throw the Dan Wolk sign in the bushes”,  thinking that might have been his visceral response, since my sign had been thrown in the bushes.   He said that he hadn’t – that he had replaced my sign to its original position, and that involved moving Dan’s sign out of the way.   I  just now asked him specifically whether in replacing my sign  did he block the Dan Wolk sign, and he acknowledged that he had.   So I asked him if he had blocked any other signs when he replaced my stolen signs, and he thought about it and said that he had done so only on this occasion and one other occasion.

Again, I repeatedly reminded him to respect all lawn signs, not to block signs, to put up signs only with permission and not in the right of way, and not to get provoked by the extensive vandalism that we were experiencing.

Sue

The initial photo Goldsmith posted on Facebook was delivered (via Facebook tag) to council candidates and , as well as Greenwald, who engaged in the Facebook conversation, responding with comments consistent to the statement above. Goldsmith also tagged reporters for the Vanguard and Enterprise, as well as myself. 

Whether this will become an issues of significance is not known. Goldsmith, who uploaded many of the photos Monday afternoon, found it more humerous than anything else. 

Greenwald, on the other hand, said she plans to speak with her husband about what signs he touched and what signs he did not. (The issue here is whether he simply restored Greenwald signs to their original places or if he placed her signs on property belonging to someone who supported other candidates). 

Will this become an issue? Let us know what you think below. 

If you have any interesting photos of campaign sign placements (for any of the candidates), you can upload them directly to this story. 

For updates: 

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