As moments on the political campaign trail go, it was awkward.
There was the candidate, Conservative John Weston, heading to catch the Langdale ferry back to West Vancouver in a car covered in campaign logos. And there was a man, standing before one of Weston’s large roadside election signs with his arm outstretched, a pen in his hand.
“He had just drawn a moustache on the face,” said Weston. “I did a U-turn and came right up behind him. He turned around and there I was.”
The two men eyed each other. “There was a priceless moment,” said Weston. “He looked at me and said, ‘I am so embarrassed.’”
“He knew it was wrong,” Weston added. The man asked what he could do to make amends.
“I said, “You could start by cleaning up the sign,’” said Weston.
Later the man phoned and left a message, apologizing for what he’d done. “It was a great message. He confessed what he did was wrong,” said Weston. “He said he felt like a Grade 8 student caught in the act.”
The 55-year-old man who defaced Weston’s sign – who only agreed to speak if his name was not used – told the North Shore News he isn’t affiliated with any political party, but was angry that day after watching Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a rerun of the economic debate. And having too many beers.
“I’m a minimum-wage guy,” he said. “My emotions got the better of me.”
“People make bad decisions when they’ve had a couple of beers.”
“It was instant karma,” he said, adding he gives credit to Weston for not making a scene or calling the police.
Weston said he’s had a number of his signs vandalized during the election, a complaint that’s shared by North Vancouver Conservative candidate Andrew Saxton.
“It seems as though it’s worse this election than in others,” said Saxton. “Incumbents are the bigger targets.”
North Vancouver resident David Kutcher said he got so mad about the sign vandalism he recently filed a complaint with the North Vancouver RCMP.
Kutcher, who said he isn’t a member of any political party, said he’s seen Conservative signs vandalized in Lynn Valley and Upper Lonsdale neighbourhoods.
In some cases, the signs have been spray-painted orange – a colour Kutcher thinks is suspicious, because of its association with the NDP. In others, “people have cut the names out of the Conservative party candidate,” he said.
But supporters of other parties say they’ve also had their signs targeted.
Blair Foulkes, a volunteer with Liberal candidate Terry Beech’s campaign in Burnaby North-Seymour, said this week he discovered large signs of all candidates except the Conservative had been trashed and tossed into the bushes along Mount Seymour Parkway. “All three of the other candidates’ signs had been completely destroyed,” he said, adding, “Someone had taken a knife and cut out the middle of the signs.”
Greg Harder, the chairman of Weston’s campaign sign committee, says he thinks at least some of the sign vandalism is politically driven.
“These signs are constructed of eight different pieces of wood and 16 screws. They smash 'em to smithereens,” he said. “I’ll end up with eight pieces of wood lying on the ground.”
Election signs are important to bolster name recognition and show public support, he said.
“As fast as they pull them down, we’ll put them back up,” he said.
Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, the West Vancouver Liberal candidate, said she’s also been the target of some sign vandalism although she added, “It’s not been that bad.”
“It’s the first time I’ve had my face on a sign,” she said, adding that’s helpful when she’s out door-knocking. “We’ve had a little bit of felt pen…You’ve got to be a good sport about it.”
Richard Johnston, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia, said there’s been relatively little research on the role of signs in election campaigns.
Because election signs cost money and require a team of supporters to erect and maintain them, having signs up reinforces the message the candidate is credible, he said.
“I’ve always got the sense the point of signs is simply to implant the name in voters’ minds,” he said. Once voters are in the ballot box, “it helps to have seen the name a lot.”
