A $500 cash reward is up for grabs to anyone who helps Valley-area police nab a political sign thief.
Dave Rothschild, an independent contractor who was hired to assemble signs for state House candidate Jim Torgeson, recently offered the reward to help stop rampant theft of the Democrat's signs.
"It makes it hard to justify my job," Rothschild said. "I think it's a very underhanded thing to do."
Torgeson said that more than 1,000 of his orange and blue signs have been stolen this month from various locations throughout District 20, which includes Tempe, Chandler and Ahwatukee.
"We have filed police reports in all three of the district's towns," Torgeson said. He said the sign thefts have cost his campaign thousands of dollars.
Torgeson said people could be targeting his signs because of their effectiveness.
"I used a repetitious approach to campaign advertising," Torgeson said. "Instead of one placing one huge monolithic sign at every corner, we placed 12 smaller signs."
He said that someone is likely stealing the signs to quiet a moderate voice in the race.
"That is unless they have a personal vendetta against the color orange," Torgeson added.
Tempe police Sgt. Dan Masters said police currently had no suspects related to the theft.
"If we do arrest someone, they will be prosecuted for theft," Masters said.
Libertarian candidate Joel Beckwith said that he was sorry to learn of the theft but that he doesn't think it will effect the November election.
Republican candidate John McComish could not be reached for comment.
While Torgeson acknowledged that the thieves probably had a political motivation for stealing the signs, he said he doubted that any of his opponents shared any connection with them.
"McComish and Robertson have too much integrity to be involved in anything like that," Torgeson said.
Robertson said he too had been a victim of sign theft but to a lesser degree.
"After the primary, some people think the race is over and that it's OK to take signs, but it's a crime," Robertson said. "When people steal signs, it can have an impact; they are very costly and a lot of work was put into them."
Rothschild, who has no direct affiliation with any candidate, said he is offering the reward to validate his work.
"I am a veteran that fought for this country so that people could express their freedom of speech," Rothschild said. "[When people steal signs], it takes away from what I need to do."
Anyone with information on these thefts is asked to contact Rothschild at 480-228-7043, or the Tempe, Chandler or Phoenix police.
Reach the reporter at mark.saxon@asu.edu.
