Unbeknownst to the general public until now is a saga that has been brewing over this past weekend with respect to an unusually docile city council race between five Malibuans who have pledged to run a positive campaign. This past Friday night, I came home after midnight to discover a thread of emails between several candidates’ campaigns hurling recriminations and accusations of campaign trickery involving the destruction of signs along Malibu Road.
After carefully studying the email threads, I sent out to all the candidates a challenge to join me on Sunday in a show of unity and physically remove all yard signs for the remaining two weeks of the campaign to nip the proverbial issue in the bud. To my surprise, no one offered to join me in doing so. I reiterated my call on Sunday and still no takers. What is most ironic about this is that my visibility is the lowest of all the candidates so, in all likelihood, it would have adversely affected me more so than the others.
Look, this is a juvenile issue for us to be dealing with at any stage of a campaign. Yard signs never won an election and, to be quite honest, I think having hundreds of mini-billboards dotting the Malibu landscape is an environmental eyesore. The sign saga, however, continues and now has devolved into police reports and further recriminations.
Put the police to work stopping speeding on PCH and burglaries, not filing reports on signage genocide.
This is just one more example of how an ounce of common sense would have gone a long way to resolving a rather petty issue. If no one else can see this it might raise some serious questions as to their ability to deal with the pressing issues that actually affect the citizens of Malibu.
I will once again call on all candidates to join me in removing their signs this weekend for what now will be the last week of the campaign. In a politically divided society this should be one thing that unites all of those who are concerned about the direction of our community. It very well could be a sign of the times.
Lance Simmens
Editor’s note: Council candidates are welcome to respond to this letter in next week’s edition; however, no new charges will be printed. It is The Malibu Times’ policy to always allow an opportunity for a rebuttal before the election.Â