Campaign Litter: More Signs of Our Times

By Jim Bouldin, candidate

Tarpon Springs City Commission, Seat 4

I don’t know about you, but I’m already growing weary of those small fiberboard political signs dotting Tarpon’s otherwise uncluttered landscape. These eyesores can be found on just about any lawn, major intersection and green spaces around town that will accommodate these mini-billboards.

I know of which I speak, because I am part of this problem.

You see, as a candidate in this four-person race to fill the open Commission Seat 4, I have planted 26 of those little pockmarks myself. I have a list of every spot I stuck one in the ground and each location is highlighted on a map in my office.

This reference map is crucial to the highly anticipated S.W.A.T. team style removal effort I plan for the early dawn hours following the upcoming March 12 election.

Are these signs a necessary evil? I guess so. Could a worthy candidate win this election without using the little buggers? Perhaps, assuming the individual enjoyed a high profile in our community; otherwise, the candidate’s best hope of securing a vote may be relegated to the somewhat less enlightened “eenie, meanie, miney, moe” system of selection.

I guess I take some comfort in the fact that I appear to have considerably fewer signs than my fellow candidates and I have solicited permission from each property owner where my name is on display. I am confident a couple of the others cannot make the same claim, as they seem to have declared some local abandoned homes and empty lots to be open campaign territory.

My wife and I were discussing this unfortunate sign littering during dinner the other night and came to the realization that perhaps if I am successful in my bid for the people’s trust, that I might lead a healthy conversation about cleaning up this dreadful littering problem by enforcing existing ordinances designed to control the problem.

Hypocrite, you say. Nah, that’s just politics, right?