Campaign signs tossed out like trash

Judicial candidate's signs stolen during first week of early voting

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As early voting kicked off across Northeast Florida this week, one local campaign says someone is playing dirty politics.

David Trotti is running for 4th Circuit Judge for Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties.

His campaign said dozens of yard signs for Trotti were stolen in the St. Nichols area and left in a dumpster.

Paul Green Jr., who is with David Trotti’s campaign for circuit judge, said Trotti got a call first thing Monday morning from someone in St. Nicholas, telling him his signs were missing.

That same person later found about 40 of the signs inside a dumpster near a voting precinct.

Green said he’s convinced that someone didn’t want Trotti’s signs out on the first day of voting.

“If the city comes through and removes any signage, they would remove not only the sign, but the metal stand that it’s connected to,” Green said. “All these were just the signs, not the metal piece they were connected to. So the people went through and just took off the signs and threw them away.”

Now, his team is demanding answers and getting police involved.

Trotti is facing off against Bruce Anderson for the soon-to-be-vacant judicial seat.

Green said that he worries someone from the Anderson campaign or an Anderson supporter may be behind the sign theft.

“It’s probably somebody with knowledge of the process and, you know, it’s just coincidental at best,” Green said.

Green admitted that, at this point, there’s no way for his team to know exactly who is responsible and that it could have been anyone.

But regardless of who did it, he said he wants voters to see what politicians deal with in the days leading up to an election.

“If it does come out to be where it’s from an opponent’s campaign that is doing this, you know, I think that that needs to come to the forefront in a voter’s mind,” Green said.

A representative for Anderson's campaign said no one from his campaign took Trotti's signs and added that some of Anderson's signs have been stolen, as well.

The Trotti campaign has filed a police report, and Green said they'll be reviewing surveillance video from nearby cameras.