04-03-09, E-Mail from Keith Weber Regarding Campaign Signs

Dad,

I don’t know about Glendale, but here in Santa Ana the greatest yard sign and fence sign offenders are the well-financed incumbents.  It would seem that the proper place to begin one’s campaign against political signage would be at the steps of city hall.  To do otherwise, in my opinion, is to attack the victim. 

It is a sad situation that signs make any difference at all, but the reality is that signs are necessary in local elections.  People vote for familiar names, and signs establish legitimacy.  It would be great if everyone got their information from public forums, diverse media outlets, public documents, council meetings, and websites such as your own, but they do not.  So, at this point in time, I believe an attack on signs is putting the cart before the horse.  Non-incumbents have virtually no chance of winning local elections without competitive signage.  We must make information widely and freely available first, and we must make it palatable and convenient to consume.  Until then, we doom our underdog heroes to failure if we nix their signage.

Keith

http://www.taskman.com/