Dirty Politics In Spring Hill?

Something fishy is going on with school board candidate James Yant's election signs.

During the past several weeks, an estimated $500 worth of his campaign signs have vanished from the yards of private homes and businesses in Spring Hill and Hernando Beach, causing him to file a report of grand larceny with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office.

They have been disappearing at a rate of several per night, including large, $30 signs that have been placed in front of businesses whose owners gave Yant permission to display them weeks ago.

Spring Hill resident Josephine Stumpf, who lives near Mariner Boulevard and Linden Drive, confirmed that a sign was stolen out of her home's yard Wednesday evening as she and her husband slept.

"We didn't even realize it was gone," she said. "We were bragging about the sign to (a visitor) and they said, 'what sign?' Someone at night must have taken it. I just hope they catch them."

However, because the signs have all been taken in separate instances, it is unlikely that one person will be found guilty for taking all of them, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Powers.

If someone is caught taking less than $300 worth of signs, the crime would be classified as misdemeanor and punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $500.

Only three have been removed by county code enforcement officials, and those were caused by overzealous supporters who moved the signs from designated spots to the roadway, Yant said.

At press time, code enforcement officials had not returned a call for confirmation.

The sign thefts are reminiscent of the October 2002 local election, when U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's husband and an employee's husband were caught making off with a rival's campaign signs.

"It's something that's always happened," Supervisor of Elections Annie Williams said. "Every year, candidates will say their signs are coming up missing, destroyed or just thrown away."

Sometimes it's a partisan issue - Democrats and Republicans attempting to sabotage each other. But the leaders of both local parties said in this case, they're not so sure.

"I sent out e-mails letting all candidates know to be respectful. We've told everyone there's no reason for anyone to touch anyone else's signs," said Ana Trinque, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Hernando County.

Trinque said she has also advised members to write down the vehicle license plate number of anyone who appears to be tampering with signs, then report it to police.

The school board race is nonpartisan, but Yant is a Democrat and his two opponents are Republicans.

Jay Rowden, chairman of the Hernando County Democratic Party, said he doesn't believe it's a partisan issue because the level of theft has not been felt by other candidates in the party.

"It may have something to do within the race for school board," he said. "I think this is specific and that it's possibly one of his opponents, (though) you don't know."

School board candidate Gene Magrini said he has not noticed any of his own signs disappearing, and that he has no idea who has been removing Yant's signs.

"Hopefully none of my supporters," he said.

However, Magrini said he had had at least two residents ask for one of his campaign signs to replace a sign that Yant placed in their yard without their permission.

"Apparently, he left a voicemail to some folks and they didn't respond, so he put a sign up. They contacted me and said, 'I don't like this thing,' and asked for one of mine," he said. "I don't think that's stealing."

Yant denied putting up any signs without resident's prior knowledge.

"I would never just arbitrarily put something in someone's yard," he said.

Yant has already ordered more signs, and replaced many of the ones that have been taken. However, he said he fears the new batch will also be gone by the general election.

"I just want (whoever is doing this) to understand there is a cost associated with this," he said. "I don't want to press charges. I just want them to stop."

Fellow school board candidate Robert Neuhausen - who said he has not had any of his own signs taken, but has had two destroyed - agreed that Yant's signs appear to be disappearing rapidly.

"Someone's going along and picking his signs up," he said. "It's people being childish and petty, and it just amazes me. Some of those signs are really big. Someone went through a lot of work to remove them."

And Yant isn't the only candidate feeling the heat of dirty politics.

Jim Adkins, a Republican candidate for county commission District 5, said that while he has not filed a police report, he has also been dealing with his signs being constantly moved to the right-of-way and picked up by code enforcement.

"It happens more than we really want to admit," he said. "It's just one of those things you have to deal with and take the high road, instead of the low road."