Campaign signs targeted in lead-up to runoff

It’s runoff season in the Borderland, and campaign signs are everywhere. But not all signs are staying up, and it’s not just the wind knocking them down. One campaign said they got video of their signs getting taken down around the city.

“That’s without our permission, or the owner’s permission,” said Lynn Coyle, treasurer for Francisco X. Dominguez’s campaign.

The video, given to ABC 7, shows a man driving up in a white van to a day care on Montana Avenue. The man then starts taking down signs on a chain link fence. He takes his time, carefully cutting down the sign’s connections to the fence. It takes him several minutes, and he walks away with signs for Dominguez and Daniel Anchondo, both in the runoff for the 205th District Court.

The video is time-stamped as April 1 at about 6 p.m., and Dominguez’s campaign said it’s not the first time they’ve lost signs.

“Signs are super important, and they’re a big investment,” Coyle said. “And the fact that they are no longer – we see very very few of Francisco’s signs and we’re getting calls from all over the city. This explains, at least, or offers some glimpse of why the signs are gone.”

Anchondo said his campaign has had a lot of signs go missing as well.

“And then we’ve just had signs that have just been missing – taken down for some unknown reason,” Anchondo said. “In fact, we just had one on Edgemere – we had an 18 food banner, right by Edgmere near Airways, and that one was gone.”

Beyond being wrong and annoying for campaigns, it’s illegal. The man in the video was trespassing on private property to get at the signs.

Both campaigns say they want it to stop.

“I would appreciate that whoever these folks are to leave the signs, even if it is not their candidate,” Coyle said. “Leave Francisco’s signs, respect the rights of private property owners, and of course, you know, our candidate.”

“Stop tearing down signs,” Anchondo said. “Leave ’em up, we’ll take ’em down after the election.”

Both campaigns said that they’ve lost numerous signs over the course of this election season, costing upwards of $10,000. Both also deny taking down opponent’s signs.

Early voting for the may runoff begins May 19.