In the past week of summer campaigning for the Elliot Lake's fall municipal election, most of the media attention has been focused on the city's four-way race for mayor.
First, it was incumbent Dan Marchisella with a 'mea culpa' social media posting in which he admitted to a number of personal peccadilloes and offered some historical recollections about his life and circumstances.
The mayor told ElliotLakeToday he faced his adversaries on their own turf to counter dozens of erroneous statements posted there about him and his family.
"If I feel if I'm airing my own 'dirty laundry' common sense will prevail when rumours are being spread as part of someone's campaign initiative," said Marchisella.
Only days later, another story popped up on social media about campaign interference problems for a second mayoralty candidate.
It costs Mike Thomas $10 to buy his smallest campaign signs.
He pays $70 to $80 per sign for his big ones.
On Saturday Aug. 20, less than an hour after he'd pounded his first sign into the ground, someone knocked it down.
"It was hilarious, I put one up on Warsaw. I went up and did some more houses on Beckett, came back and was like, 'yeah, O-K, I guess I'm doing it again.'" he said.
A veteran of a previous municipal campaign (he ran for a seat on Elliot Lake City Council in 2018), Thomas has learned to use steel rebar to anchor his signs, instead of wooden stakes.
He figures on spending about $3,500 on signage alone this campaign. The meter's still running, though, because a few of his signs may need to be replaced.
This time out he's running against incumbent Dan Marchisella, Coun. Chris Patrie and Geraldine Robinson for the top job on council.
Thomas has come upon over a dozen sign vandalism incidents in the past week.
People have tried to rip out his signs or twist the steel rebar he uses to anchor them into the ground.
"It's just disgusting. The last time, a couple of signs that I saw fell down. So I just picked them up and let them (the other candidates) know what I'd done. We all did that last time," he said.
"This time out whoever's doing it doesn't think that's a good idea.
"Danny (Marchisella) did that, Ed (Pearce) did that. We helped each other out in that way. I figure there will be about 21 signs out at some locations this time," Thomas continued.
Thomas says the sign vandalism is deliberate, has happened mainly in daylight hours carried out by adults; and is not the work of teens or children due to the physical force required to do the damage.
He has been able to get the signs repaired and re-set to date.
Under Canadian law, offenders are subject to a fine of up to $5,000 or even jail time if convicted. Detection and prosecution seem to be elusive outcomes in these cases.
"The police are not going to go out patrolling people's signs," Thomas observed.
Another problem location for Thomas is Pearson Drive by Esten North. He also needed to fix up one at C&R Variety on Esten Drive South.
"I mean the one this morning, I could see their footprints on the grass. They walked right up to it and just twisted it. I'm 200 pounds so whoever did it was bigger than me. It was a man," he explained.
"We have to have control over election signs. But now, vandalism has to be the sport of choice.
"This year it's going to be exceptional because because of the depth of the field (17 people are running for councillor) and the mayor's field. People are highly opinionated," Thomas added.
He said if he can identify vandals and produce evidence, he would be obliged to press charges.
"People don't care. I mean we have a revolving door catch-release system. Why would they care about somebody knocking down signs?" Thomas concluded.
Two other candidates for mayor said they have been coping with similar problems.
Both sympathized with Thomas, especially considering the time, money and energy that is expended by each of them on their campaign activities.
Patrie said, “Yes this has been occurring for a while. We are constantly repairing and or replacing signs and have been since we started installing them in May.
“To state that it is organized may be a reach but it seems to happen in all areas of town and even some evidence that some signs have even been driven on.
"Most of us also re-install all signs that can be fixed when we come across these situations because it usually is more than one candidates signs in the same areas when it happens," he went on.
The clerk (City Clerk Natalie Bray) is aware as well and was going to put out the information that damage and removal is illegal,” Patrie concluded.
Marchisella told ElliotLakeToday he's seen plenty of vandalism in past years but never suspected foul play.
"Usually there’s more than one down so I figured the wind. But the picture I’ve seen of Mike’s looks like only his sign so it does make me wonder if someone has a personal problem with him.
"I don’t think damaging anyone's signs is very cool, they cost a lot of money and time to put in," he concluded.
Robinson says her signs aren't yet ready to be placed, "But in past campaigns, I have lost signs and in one instance, a woman used the sign for a yard sale.
"I expect to lose signs, I was told it is part of the. process. I feel sorry for Mike, hope that there are no more instances," she added.