Staff Reports
Walnut – With the Walnut City Council campaigns drawing closer to Election Day on April 8, the past week saw numerous complaints filed at Walnut City Hall and the Walnut Sheriff’s Station about supporters of Betty Tang trespassing on private property and placing their political signs on private lawns without permission.
Walnut resident Gary Lin reports that Tang came to his home in February to personally ask permission to display her sign on his lawn next to the existing signs for Bob Pacheco and Mary Su. Lin, who lives on Avenida Amadis near Vons on Lemon Avenue, said he declined because he was voting for Pacheco and Su. Afterwards, Lin says his neighbor notified him that someone had placed a Tang sign on the side of his yard.
Lin says another sign appeared on the side of his yard two weeks later after he refused to accept a Tang sign from individuals walking through his neighborhood. Finally, on March 16, someone placed a Tang sign on Lin’s front yard without his permission. “These people do not respect us and our private property rights,” Lin said. “They just do whatever they want. It has happened to other people, not just me. A lot of people are having the same problem.”
Lin says the most recent act of trespassing on his property prompted him to call the Walnut Sheriff’s Station to file a formal complaint about Tang’s supporters illegally placing signs.
Walnut resident Phil Bennett reports he witnessed two individuals placing Tang signs on every yard along Loyalton Drive around 10 p.m. on March 14. “It was well after dark. I just happened to be walking through my kitchen and saw two people on my front yard,” Bennett said. “I have signs for Su and Pacheco and I thought they might have been taking the signs down. I walked out and they were putting signs up for Tang in my yard and on my neighbor’s yard across the street.” Bennett said he went down to Tang’s campaign office on Valley Boulevard the next day to confront Tang and her campaign crew, telling them it was a “shame” they were placing their signs on private property without consent of the homeowners.
Other Walnut residents known to have complained to City Hall or the Sheriff’s Station about Tang signs being place on their property without permission include Arcel Punsalang, Rhonda and Jim Melton, and Keith Walton. Another citizen photographed a Tang sign that had been placed directly in front of the fire hydrant at Carrey Road and Commerce Way.
Samuel Liu, Tang’s campaign manager, denied the allegations of any improperly placed signs and said he would not stand for any “shenanigans” involving poor campaign tactics.
Liu said he was unaware of who was improperly placing Tang’s signs and that a large number of their campaign signs had been moved onto city property without his permission.
Liu said he knows that someone is stealing and moving their signs because one of Tang’s friends woke up to find 15 campaign signs on her front lawn. Liu claims that the “sign wars” in Walnut are nothing more than a smokescreen for the real policy issues in the City Council campaign. (Michael Armijo and Raymond Mendoza contributed to this story)
