Man, Is THIS Tiresome (Smith Campaign Illegal Signs Continue, and Worse)

What is one to say as the Smith campaign continues to use tactics that even someone running for president of a student council would be ashamed of? (and the Smithbots send me snippy e-mails saying I need to get a life — more accurately, you people need to get a grip.)

Here’s just a small sample of the juvenile activity that is occurring (also see the “Juvenile Tendencies Update” below):

• More illegal signs, just a different tactic — Since the Smith campaign was caught illegally placing signs ON expressways, it decided to go where not even the Reform Ohio Now campaign went last fall with illegal signage. Now there are Smith for Senate signs OVER expressways, mounted in the fencing material on bridges over expressways that prevent people from dropping things onto oncoming cars. Specifically there’s one on northbound I-71 at about the four-mile marker (either on the William Howard Taft overpass or one very near it), and on the Snider Road overpass at roughly the 19-mile marker. Mr. Smith and Smithbots, these signs are every bit as illegal as the previous ones you placed under exit signs, and the Ohio Department of Transportation HAS been notified.
• Pierce sign removal — I can personally vouch for this, Smithbots. At a corner near the Steak n Shake by the Fields Ertel Road entrance onto southbound I-71, a Smith for Senate co-existed with two Pierce signs over much of the past weekend. I was advised Monday that the two Pierce signs were gone. I drove over to the spot, could not find one of the Pierce signs, and found the other placed about 30 yards from where it had been set back far enough from the road that virtually no passersby would see it. I moved the one remaining sign back to where it had been, right next to the Smith sign. Last night I was told the remaining Pierce sign was gone; I drove out and verified that it was no longer there. Two other signs were apparently removed from the flower beds of a personal residence on Fields Ertel a few doors down that were close enough to the road to be seen, but far enough away to be obviously legal. These Pierce signs didn’t vaporize; they were being illegally removed, and I can tell you that if I see Pierce sign removal in progress, the cops will be called and the perps will be at the tender mercies of the county prosecutor in whatever jurisdiction is involved.
• It’s not just here — I was advised yesterday of the following by a contact in Scioto County:
  

  There’s one Smith for Senate sign up around here that I know of. They did have tons and tons, all put up illegally over the course of one night. The problem is they would put four or five at the same spot, giving the authorities really no choice but to snatch them.

  While it’s reassuring that illegally place signs are being picked up more quickly in Scioto County than they are in Greater Cincinnati, it has become more evident that illegal sign placement isn’t a series of mistakes by overzealous supporters, but is instead an apparently conscious campaign strategy by a morally bankrupt campaign and its candidate to gain undeserved name recognition it cannot earn the old-fashioned way — within the law.

With each passing day, it become more apparent that the US Senate GOP primary has two adult candidates and a third named Smith. Why anyone thinks they can trust as a senator someone whose campaign cannot and will not stay within the law on something as simple as campaign sign placement and leaving a competitor’s signs alone is beyond me.

Though none of us would even think to do it anyway, Bill Pierce has specifically advised his people not to retaliate by removing or defacing Smith signs ourselves. Even if his instructions aren’t helpful to his campaign, it’s the principled thing to do. Bill Pierce’s campaign, and the candidate himself, are all about principle and class, two things the Smith campaign, and apparently Mr. Smith himself, can’t possibly begin to comprehend.
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Juvenile Tendencies Update: Just to show you how childish the Smithbots have become — here’s a portion of a comment I didn’t post:

FYI - I drive near that Steak and Shake and saw *both* the Pierce and Smith signs around 6pm today. It seems silly for either candidate to try to steal/destroy signs, hey how effective are they anyway?

Answer: Apparently effective enough for a Smithbot to move the Pierce sign (again) to a place of invisibility.

You see, I went there again tonight on the way to picking up dinner. Sure, *both* signs were there, but Pierce’s was three feet or so further back and behind greenery (i.e., invisible). It was moved sometime in the past 24 hours to the nearly invisible place. Of course I moved it back to where it belonged.

*Jerks.*
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Previous Post:

• April 11 — Here Are Actual “Signs” That the Smith Campaign Doesn’t Understand Campaign Law — Or Highway Safety