'Knock it off': Candidates rally against yard sign theft

• PHOTO: Lawn signs

Political lawn signs have been disappearing at an alarming rate around Woodbury, candidates report. Bulletin photo by Mike Longaecker

Talk about it

For once, at least, Andrea Kieffer and Ann Marie Metzger were in complete agreement.

The two candidates vying for House District 53B spoke out last week in opposition to a spate of lawn sign thefts.

The thefts, which left signs from both campaigns missing, have spiked in the past week, the candidates said. Neither camp suspects the other of perpetrating the thefts.

“This is not a political thing,” said Kieffer, the Republican incumbent. “We don’t condone it. Knock it off.”

Metzger, her Democratic challenger, said she and Kieffer would rather spend their time meeting voters than replacing stolen campaign signs.

“Stealing a lawn sign is a theft,” Metzger said. “And I join Andrea in condemning this behavior and urging any homeowner who has a lawn sign stolen to report it to the police immediately.”

Both campaigns were perplexed by the thefts. In some cases, entire blocks containing signs have been cleared out.

“It’s like there’s some organized effort to clear signs out of a neighborhood,” said Metzger’s campaign manager Dennis Schneider.

He said he’s managed several campaigns in the past where campaign signs have been stolen, but nothing quite like the current streak.

“This is more methodical,” he said.

Kieffer agreed.

“Every campaign in every election cycle experiences some lawn sign theft, but this does not make it right,” she said. “What seems worse this year however is that there appears to be a systematic pattern of lawn thefts.”

While she suspected juvenile “pranksters” were behind the thefts, Sen. Ted Lillie, R-Woodbury, wondered if some other factors were at play.

“I believe it is more than that,” he said, adding that 50 of his 500 campaign signs have been stolen so far.

A report from a Silverwood Road resident noted that in addition to campaign signs going missing, a for-sale sign also disappeared.

Other reports indicated signs opposing the marriage amendment ballot measure had been targeted.

The first report came Aug. 27 from a resident in the 1200 block of Silverwood Road who reported that every “vote no” sign in her neighborhood had been stolen.

Later that day, officers received a similar report from a resident in the 9400 block of McIntosh Road. That woman said her “vote no” yard sign was missing and said it appeared to have happened throughout the neighborhood. That woman replaced her sign but was advised by police to bring it in at night.

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