SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERYWHERE (AND NOWHERE), MISSING SIGNS

By Juan Montoya
We'd say it was a sign of the times, but unfortunately that old cliché won't work on his post because it's actually about missing signs.
Supporters of Cameron County District Attorney candidate Carlos Masso say the stealing of their candidates signs has taken off in earnest.
"We lost a sign in Santa Maria, one on Tandy Road in  north Brownsville, and a few downtown," said one. "Sometimes they steal the signs and sign posts, and other times they just have time to steal the signs and leave the posts."
The most brazen theft, by far, was the one that was perpetrated Saturday night at the corner of Seventh and Jackson streets. A 4 x 8 sign was missing this morning. What makes it most galling, Masso's supporters say, is that the sign is caddy corner from the Brownsville Police Dept. station.
At the corner, all that is left of the Masso sign are the three sign posts.
"We are talking to the chief about looking at their surveillance recordings to see they caught anything," said the Masso supporter. "Hopefully, we will see something."
Every election season – whether county, city or school board – there is a rash of campaign sign stealing. However, the thefts are done late in the campaign as candidates and their supporters get nervous or desperate as time ticks away toward elections
"Last time I lost 30 signs in one night," said the Masso supporter. "That was just one night."
Just as there are tales of stuffed HEB bags full of yellow mail-in ballots and sessions where politiqueras open them with vapor from boiling water, there are also urban tales of stolen, slashed and defaced signs.
In one case, the signs of JP 2-2 candidate Yolanda Begum were slashed with box cutters and the pieces left on the ground.
In others, there were stories of delivery drivers for a certain candidate who were paid $5 for each of his opponent's signs they delivered to the rear of his business.
Police usually give these offenses low priority unless there is overwhelming visual evidence (eyewitnesses, photos, etc.,) that give them leads to the perpetrators.
In the Masso race, however, there is only one other candidate for DA – incumbent Luis Saenz – whose supporters would be the logical suspects.
Some candidates have taken steps to prevent chronic theft of their signs, one of them going as far as mixing glass shards with heavy paint to thwart the thieves when they try to swipe the post by hand.
Other candidates say they have been offered the steel posts at $2 each when they are worth more than double that price at lumber yards. That's the way the stolen signs look behind the candidate at his announcement at Cobbleheads at left.
"Sometimes you are buying back your own posts," complained a candidate who ran for constable four years ago.
Masso's supporters are not pointing fingers, but hope that they will catch someone in the act.
"We can't say that Mr. Saenz knows anything about this or is behind it because we just don't know," said the Masso supporter. "It may be someone who has it in for Carlos, but all the way to Santa Maria? We'll see what the police surveillance video shows. Meanwhile, if you see any of the signs laying around somewhere, give us a call and we'll come pick it up."