Fun with campaign signs: On the cheap edition

One of the regular occurrences of any campaign season is the sighting of a "write-in" candidate.

They're just like regular candidates, except they aren't on the ballot and (usually) have no money.

Most write-in candidates "campaign" by asking friends to vote for them; a few, however, have some limited financial resources and will try to campaign more traditionally, say, by putting up some signs.

One of the ways that campaigns with limited resources try to save money is to have signs that are only printed on one side.

Another way that campaigns (all campaigns, not just those of write-in candidates) look to save money is by using rebar as sign posts; it's less sturdy than the normally-used fence posts, but it's also less costly.

All of which is fine...until the downsides of one-sided and rebar combine -

Found at the SE corner of Rural and Baseline in Tempe

The other side of the sign -

The candidate on the sign, Joe Hui, is an official write-in candidate for Corporation Commission.


Bonus "Fun with campaign signs":

I live in one of the few Democratic-leaning legislative districts in Maricopa County (LD24), which means that we see the Republican candidates who run on the "Republican?  Who me?" platform -

Found at McDowell and Hayden in Scottsdale

This sign is so effective that if I hadn't already voted for Katie Hobbs and returned my ballot, I would...still vote for her.  I don't have a high opinion of Democrats who triangulate and
run for office as "Republican-lite", but I'm fair about it - I don't have a high opinion of Republicans who run as "Democrat-lite", either.

Plus she is AWESOME. :)


Bonus2:  Dear...well, *everyone* -

Spell check is your friend.   Whether you are a candidate/campaign, or an anti-candidate/anti-campaign, whether it is a website, press release, campaign lit, or street sign, or something else, proof read everything before you send it out.

Including stickers that you attach to a candidate's signs -

Found at McDowell and Hayden in Scottsdale.

Ignoring the "vandalized sign" part of this picture, for now (that's a possible class 2 misdemeanor), there are two stickers now affixed to the sign.  One is easy to see - "communist".  Pretty sure it isn't true, but it isn't as much fun as the other sticker -

I think that they (whoever "they" may be) are trying to accuse Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of being an "atheist" here.

Not sure what an "athiest" is, though.

OP-ed: Take it from the parents who know her, Douglas “scarily unqualified” to lead Arizona schools

This was published previously in the Peoria Times and the Arizona Republic's West Valley section.

It is printed here with the permission of the authors (h/t to ProgressNow Arizona) -

To every single voter in Arizona:
 

 As long-time education advocates in Peoria and Cofounders of Peoria United Parent Council in 2004, we have had long-term first-hand experience with Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Diane Douglas.

We want to make this warning crystal-clear to voters: Diane Douglas does not even remotely have the skills to do the job.

Several years ago, before she ran for the Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) Governing Board, Diane was a member of our parent group. At the time, she seemed to be willing and able to make reasoned decisions and prepared to review all sides of an issue.

However, much to our chagrin and dismay, once she was elected to the PUSD Governing Board, an astonishing Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation took place.  Her dangerous extremism, and overwhelming anti-public-education, anti-teacher agenda came rushing to the forefront. Her micromanaging of educators and overwhelming partisanship — in a non-partisan position — was so volatile and divisive that it became nearly impossible to get even the most mundane day-to-day business of the district done, let alone provide additional support to kids and teachers.

Diane is an anti-everything candidate.  She repeatedly scorns the benefits of higher education.  She opposed every effort to provide adequate funding for our district.  While she was a PUSD Governing Board member, she lead the opposition against Prop. 100, the temporary statewide one cent sales tax initiative intended to provide a modicum of additional support to education. Fortunately, Prop. 100 was overwhelmingly approved by voters and supported by our Republican Governor, Jan Brewer.

Diane’s ONLY "experience" in the classroom is second-guessing thousands of highly educated, hard-working, overwhelmingly competent professional teachers in the district on a daily basis. And, no, teaching people how to make stained glass does not count. Yes folks, this esteemed candidate for the most powerful education position in Arizona most recently worked as an instructor at the local strip mall’s stained glass shop. An honest job, but hardly the background required for providing high-level educational leadership and policy direction for the state.

Please listen to the people who know her best. Don’t put Diane Douglas, who is scarily unqualified for this important state-level position, in charge of the future of our children’s and grandchildren’s education, and hence the future economy of Arizona. By any measure – professionalism, cooperativeness, experience and so much more -- David Garcia is the far more qualified candidate to lead our schools.

The above accurately describes our eight plus year experience with Diane Douglas, however, we are no longer spokespersons for PUPC.

Jan Wilson and Kim Price Olsen, Peoria Parent and Grandparent

 

Fun with campaign signs: Reinforcing choices

A little while back, I posted my choices/recommendations on the three statewide ballot questions going before Arizona voters this year (No on 122 and 303, the questions sent to the ballot by the legislature, and Yes on 304, the legislative pay raise).

At the time, I didn't have anything specific to point at to support my opposition to 303, just a general feeling of distrust of the people behind the measure, the Goldwater Institute.

Now I have some more specifics.

And am even more firmly opposed to it.

First up:  Another committee has been formed to support the measure.



If the name "Laura Knaperek" rings a bell, it should - she's a former legislator who became an industry lobbyist after her time in the lege.  Which industry?  Whichever one is paying her today.

Second up: Signs that show that the neo-secessionists that support Prop 122 are supporting Prop 303 -

On the west side of Pima Road in Scottsdale, between Via de Ventura and Indian Bend Road

Closer -

And the "Paid for by" -

Any other questions?

Charles Boles: Campaigning to prove that he is unsuited for the job he is seeking..

In most of the country "justices of the peace" are basically known for conducting weddings.

In Arizona, while they do that (for most JPs here, it is one of the more enjoyable parts of the job), they also serve as judges (small claims, low-level DUIs, evictions, many misdemeanors, orders of protection, etc.).

In that regard, a large part of the job is about paperwork - see that it is done cleanly and accurately.

And because it is an elected position, there are occasionally candidates for the job who don't seem to understand that, or at least who don't take it seriously.

Charles Boles, the Republican nominee for Justice of the Peace in the University Lakes precinct of Maricopa County (east Tempe) seems to fall into that group.

Notes: the Democratic nominee is Tyler Kissell; the district itself is almost evenly divided between Rs and Ds.

As noted in a complaint filed by Mark Thompson, a Republican former legislator and one of the candidates in the R primary won by Boles, Boles has been filing campaign finance reports that are contradictory and/or incomplete.

From the complaint -



He lists a number of issues with a number of different reports, so I chose to look at his most recent filings.

"Sloppy" doesn't even begin to describe what I found.

From Boles' most recent report ("Post Primary Report") -



As someone with a bit of an accounting background (and only a *bit* - I am not an accountant), this page is almost horrifying.  On line 5b and line 7, columns A and B should have the same number.  As you can see, they don't.  Not even close.

From his Pre-Primary report:



Boles' response to Thompson's complaint was less than illuminating (it also didn't say anything about fixing the shortcomings in his reports; in fact, most of his response was to simply criticize Thompson's previous candidacy) -



According to reports that have reached me, Maricopa County Elections has punted on the complaint, citing lack of jurisdiction (which I find hard to believe) and lack of time (considering that early ballots go into the mail later this week, I believe this one very much).

In other words, Boles probably won't get much push back on his financial reports until after the election, at the earliest.


Of course, if he wins the election, he may see far more push back than he, as a non-sitting judge, expects - *if* he wins his race, he will then fall under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Arizona's judicial branch is a nationally respected one; in fact, it garners more national respect than the state's legislative and executive branches.

And the Commission is a big reason for that.  It does a very effective job of keeping the few AZ judicial officers who get out of line from getting too far out of line.

And not getting the paperwork right is something that *will* get the Commission's attention.


Summary:

Boles' open disregard for the detail work of being a candidate speaks volumes about how he would do the job if he wins.