Placards proliferate as politicians make their pitches

By JOHN P. KELLY
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - By the time a blue boat with “Koch” painted on its hull appeared bobbing in Quincy Harbor, most of the city’s streets had already been divided and conquered by the two mayoral campaigns.

Phelan and Koch signs checker neighborhoods from Germantown to Squantum. Their bumper stickers have been spotted on cars from Boston to Cape Cod.

In elections past, with crowded fields of candidates, political signs have more heavily cluttered the city. But this year’s heated head-to-head between Tom Koch and Mayor William Phelan has split neighborhoods and neighbors in red-state, blue-state fashion – only in green and blue.

Since Sept. 18 – the first day campaign signs could legally be displayed – the signs have cropped up on front lawns, in shop windows, even in a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru (there’s a Phelan sticker near the pick-up window of the Centre Street shop).

North Quincy resident Joe Maloney said he and his two young sons drove around the city a few weeks back to gauge which candidate was winning the sign war.

“We tracked close to 200 signs,” he said.

The final tally: Phelan, 100; Koch, 84.

So how many are on the streets? According to the campaigns: 2,900 Phelan signs and between 1,500 and 2,000 for Koch.

Both campaigns claim theirs adorn mainly single-family homes – a sign of strong support among average family voters. But a quick spin through the city makes clear that plenty of landlords have permitted both campaigns to flag their condo and townhouse properties with signs.

In some cases, no permission was sought at all.

Salvatore Pinto, whose home at 601 Quincy Shore Drive is in a high-traffic area, had signs for both campaigns in his front yard on a recent afternoon.

Approached by a reporter, Pinto said he asked for the Koch sign. The two Phelan signs, however, were fastened to his fence overnight, without permission, he said.

“I thought it was illegal to remove signs,” said Pinto, when asked why he hadn’t taken down the unwanted signs.

Koch campaign worker Bill Spain said his wife discovered a Phelan sign on their front lawn on the first day they could legally be displayed.

“Not to be negative against Bill Phelan at all – I just don’t see how they didn’t ask,” said Spain, Koch’s Ward 4 campaign captain, adding that a thank-you letter from the Phelan campaign was in his mailbox.

A Dorchester company prints the signs for both campaigns.

The Phelan campaign said it went with smaller signs this election to “show support but avoid the sign pollution.”

The Koch campaign, which routinely parks a blue campaign van around the city and last week moored the “Leadership Now” off Wollaston Beach, says it “wants to have more fun” in its political marketing campaign.

“Anybody have a small airplane we can borrow for a few weeks?” asked a recent post on Koch’s campaign Web site.

The boat, a 25-foot Trojan that belongs to Quincy firefighter Thomas Bowes, Koch’s nephew, has caused a spat with Harbormaster Patrick Morrissey. Morrissey said the boat is illegally moored, and he instructed Bowes to move it last week.

“Their attorney tells me they’re going to leave it there,” said Morrissey, calling the refusal illegal and a “blatant disregard” for a public safety official.

Though legally Morrissey said he could have the boat removed, he said he will instead ignore it to avoid giving the campaign “free press.”

Former Mayor James Sheets used the same campaign ploy during his heated 2001 campaign against Phelan – mooring a smaller boat in the harbor with a campaign-sign display.

Phelan campaign spokesman David Murphy had this response to the opposition’s floating ad: “I guess the submarine they were using wasn’t working out so well.”

On Thursday evening, about four dozen sign-toting Phelan supporters crowded the Quincy Shore Drive intersection that overlooks the harbor, catching the attention of rush-hour commuters. A mobile home plastered with Phelan signs was parked at the nearby Global Gas station.

John P. Kelly may be reached at jkelly@ledger.com.