MAKING MONEY OFF CANDIDATES HAS BECOME A SCIENCE

By Juan Montoya
Whether it's standing on street corners waving a candidates' signs, wearing their T-shirts or placing leaflets on car windshields in parking lots, those are some of the many ways that some people have earned a few extra dollars in local politics.
Then there are, of course, the weekly payment to politiqueras (from $150 to $250) to gather votes from the elderly and illiterate through the mail-in ballot or walking them to the polls during early voting or election day.
Besides the accepted work of local ad agencies and graphic artists who design the candidates appeal, there is also a darker side to the art of making politics pay.
We have heard of a certain local politician who pays people $5 for each sign of his opponent that they bring in and deliver to him. And what about those that travel the dark roads in the wee hours of the morning defacing and destroying political signs?
In the end, unless they have something specific against the candidate in that side of town (like Erin Hernandez Garcia's sign on Southmost at right), their motivation is all about money.
Why else would someone risk getting caught by the local gendarmes destroying someone's political signs?
Now we understand that there is a new twist to the art of money making in the political arena.
We have heard that a local political "activist" goes around collecting the metal sign posts of candidates who did not make the runoff (and we heard, those of some candidates of  whom his benefactor is against), and offering them for sale to those candidates still in the running for their use.
"The metal poles are about $7 at Lowes or Home Depot and he sells them for $2," said a purchaser recently. "That's a $5 reduction in price. Last time I saw him he had more than 150 posts for sale. That's $300 in his pocket for something he didn't pay a penny for. It's all profit."
Now, if the motivation is money, we're sure that this new entrepeneur isn't above pulling some posts from candidates who are still in the running. Several candidates have complained to police that their signs have been stolen and their sign posts have also been missing. Now we know why someone would collect metal poles of the political sings.
At least once candidate who has lost signs and posts is now spray painting the tops of the metal poles with florescent paint to make the heist a little more difficult.