Campaign Signs Suffer Brunt of Voter Anger

CATHEDRAL CITY — Campaign signs are often one of the first targets of angry voters in a divisive campaign. Such is the case in the sometimes verbally hostile campaign between supporters of Shelley Kaplan and Rita Lamb.

Both Kaplan and Lamb —at least until now — have taken the high road leading up to the all-mail special election in August. Some of their supporters have been duking it out on social media, a landmine of negativity, accusations, and personal attacks.

Kaplan and Lamb have remained above the fray.

Now with some of Kaplan’s campaign signs vandalized and some stolen, the tension is palpable.

“Some of our signs have been stolen and this one obviously vandalized,” Kaplan told Uken Report. “I think it is unsettling and unfortunate when someone’s supporters use underhanded and illegal actions to try and support their candidate. We have already seen a great deal of social media hostile posting by supporters of the other candidate relative to me and my family, even though we both signed the Fair Political Practices Commission code to keep the campaign clean. I have made it clear to my supporters that this kind of action is not acceptable.”

Kaplan continued, “I understand that the other candidate’s supporters have been putting her signs on private property without permission, on the houses of people not registered to vote and on vacation rental properties as well. There are still over 30 days to go before the campaign ballots need to be postmarked. I hope this situation does not continue to deteriorate. Our residents are better than this.”

Lamb told Uken Report that her campaign has received approval from every single property owner on which one of her campaign signs is posted.

“We are running a clean campaign,” Lamb said. “We are operating with the highest ethical standards. I did sign the Fair Political Practices Code and have instructed my supporters to act accordingly.”

The special election is Aug. 27 to fill the vacancy created by Mayor Gregory S. Pettis’ death.

Between July 29, 2019 and Aug. 17, 2019, the Registrar of Voters Office will mail to all qualified voters an official ballot, instructions for voting, and pamphlets with all necessary materials for voting by mail.