THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040757
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
A man sneaks onto a Hopewell front yard and tampers with one of U.S. Rep. Norman Sisisky's campaign signs.
A witness gives the culprit's license plate number to the police, who trace it to a Newport News rental agency.
The car, it turns out, is leased to the election committee for George Sweet, Sisisky's Republican opponent.
The driver: 22-year-old Nathan Ziegler, the campaign's youth coordinator and a paid member of the staff.
Yes, it's a minor but meddlesome form of political terrorism. And it's only part of what Virginia's 4th District congressional race seems to have become.
Both camps report that they've uncovered spies. And both say they have been replacing yard signs regularly. Sweet's aides doubted that the Sisisky campaign had even purchased the 3,000 signs they claim to have lost in the last six weeks. But Sisisky campaign manager Tim Shock produced the invoices.
In modern-day political warfare, it's not uncommon for opponents to conduct covert research or send out minesweepers to gather the opposition's signs. Less common, however, is an incident in which the police become involved.
Rarer still is the capture of a paid campaign worker, caught in an act that could exact a criminal - not just a political - price.
Sweet's spokesman called Ziegler's actions ``a stupid thing,'' and said the aide has been reprimanded.
The Hopewell Democratic Committee issued a statement Thursday night saying that they were pressing vandalism charges.
``We are very sorry to see the campaign come to this,'' said committee Chairman Steve Taylor. ``Sweet wants to go to Congress to clean it up, yet he associates his campaign with lawbreakers.''
Defacing a campaign sign is misdemeanor vandalism. ``It should be taken seriously,'' Sweet spokesman Bill Samson said.
Though Ziegler wasn't using spray paint, scissors or any of the other common tools of the graffiti trade.
His crime: attaching stickers that say ``A member of the Clinton Team!'' to Sisisky's signs.
``That's interesting, isn't it?'' Samson asked. ``You attach a sticker that says they support Bill Clinton, and they say it's defacing and call the police?''
``What would they think if we put stickers on their signs saying `A member of the Jerry Falwell team,' '' responded Shock, Sisisky's campaign manager. ``Would that be defacing?''
KEYWORDS: CONGRESSIONAL RACE 4TH DISTRICT VANDALISM by CNB