The way Bill Ellis figures it, Republicans were the culprits.
A senior citizen, Ellis spent about 16 hours at City Hall in Rancho Santa Margarita on Tuesday serving as a volunteer as its poll inspector.
At one point, he said, there were probably a hundred people in line. Once, there were as few as two—conveniently allowing pollworkers to have lunch. The noontime rush hit early, at 11 a.m.
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And when all the paperwork was done, when the Council Chambers at City Hall was back in order, Ellis went to his car only to find it desecrated with an expletive that begins with the letter F, followed by the letter "U" to form a two-word sentence that is commonly accompanied by a crude hand gesture.
"After spending 16 hours helping my fellow residents vote," Ellis said, "I was greeted by this 'greeting' on my window."
Ellis hadn't made any notable enemies during the day, where he's supposed to remain politically neutral. He oversaw the voting of nearly 700 Rancho Santa Margarita residents.
But he figured that someone didn't like the bumper stickers on his car, which was parked all day in the Kohl's lot.
Ellis' political colors are blue, and he had seven bumper stickers proclaiming his pride in the Democratic party.
He called the incident "somewhat disturbing."
He did catch a break. Even though it appeared that a message on the back driver's side window had been interrupted—perhaps someone came across the culprit in mid-message—it wasn't done in ink or anything permanent.
"It seemed to be a substance like frosting," Ellis said.
Probably icing that went unused on a particular victory cake. Across the street from City Hall—and Kohl's—was a Mitt Romney/Republican office.
"one nation under God, Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Now that we have all managed to endure another election season which tends to emphasize differences through extreme negativity which is intended to create even greater division (both from our politicians and the press,) let’s pray all persons within this nation begin to respect and adhere to this pledge, working together to bring this country back to a society of indifference.
I'd love to think it was a kid. BUT having witnessed for myself how badly adults can act in an election, and even having been their target when I spoke up about it, who knows. I've seen adults do some pretty rediculous things in not only the name of politics, but also in the name of judging others. I had my own truck vandalized by as it turned out adults... Because the shade of my new shell didn't exactly match the truck. It took years for this to come out, but it finally did only because a well meaning neighbor finally told me who did it. Those adults caused thousands in damage. And one could argue how 'adult' their really are. Same here. Regardless of who did it, it's inappropriate. Further what an insult after this man freely gave his time so we all could exercise our right to vote and choose who we want -- whether or not we agree. Whether it was kids or adults the behavior was immature at best. Worse it was predjudiced (and we don't know that fo sure.). Most certainly it was not actually personal. Sadly we will probably never know. The best we can do is simply be sure we aren't adding to the negative mix.
Feel free to share with me examples of Republicans being good sports this week in RSM (besides not rioting after Mitt lost). Or, if you want, you can use other party affiliations as well.
I also empathize with Mr. Ellis re: his use of his own property to make political statements. Years ago I adorned my first car with four highly-charged political bumper stickers. I drove that car for a decade—while living in Huntington Beach, working in Santa Ana, and shopping, running errands, etc., to numerous points in between—and never once during that time was it vandalized. However, in more recent times I’ve noticed—as have many of us—increased contention between those of differing opinions. That and a plummeting decline in civility have made free speech increasingly perilous, if not downright dangerous.
I moved to Rancho more than 15 years ago. For awhile, all seemed fine. Five years ago, however, my low-profile, unadorned car was severely vandalized at a rate of four times in 11 months. By the way, this period of vandalism occurred during a time when I already was extremely stressed due to my mother’s continuing decline. The fourth vandalism, in fact, occurred just days before her death, the only “bright spot” being that, on the day she died, my car was once again operable and I was able to be at her bedside. But it wasn’t just MY car that was being hit on. Many of my neighbors also were experiencing similar types of vandalism. A police investigator was assigned to the case, and as we began to compare information, it became fairly certain that all of these acts were being committed by a particular individual who lived nearby and—while seemingly “normal” at first glance—had been known, from the get-go, to make questionable statements and exhibit odd behaviors that sent up a multitude of red flags.
But does it follow that since my neighborhood’s suspected vandal was a middle-aged white man, ALL middle-aged white men are equally culpable of the same crime? Of course not! Whatever your political affiliation and/or beliefs, then, it should be self-evident that the vermin who vandalized that car is not only twisted, but also has demonstrated a level of acted-out hostility that the vast majority of us—Republican, Democrat, whatever—rightly recognize as indefensible.
Having said all that, I avoid putting bumper stickers or any personal messages or logos on my car in order to not attract attention of any kind.
As I mentioned in my first post, I commend you for your efforts and as a volunteer polling inspector. I too have spent the day volunteering at the polls (2004) and it can prove to be a very long and arduous day, even with the great job Neal does as registrar of Voters. "Thank you for your service." And, its nice of you to have parked your vehicle out and away from the polling location because had you not, your bumper sticker may have been in violation of the 100ft regulations/law. Is it possible the perpetrator may have felt your political signage was too close to the polls which in turn brought about this unwarranted desecration? Just a thought............
In the four or five months leading up to the election, I saw many bumper stickers around town advocating the Romney/Ryan ticket, as well as those advocating the Obama/Biden ticket. None of them, however, said—or implied—“Hit me." And I doubt any of the drivers were trying to attract "negative attention." Each was simply stating his or her support of a candidate. If that is provocation, then I suppose every act of public opinion, including those stated at rallies and city council meetings, could be seen as provocation to acts of verbal and/or physical violence. Although news headlines report otherwise, one should be able to politely state one's views without fear of retribution. As for gloating, I know of no one among my friends who voted for Obama who is gloating. And if Romney had won, the same would be true of my friends who voted the Republican ticket. Perhaps you're confusing expressions of relief that the election is over for gloating? Yes, you are absolutely correct that a lot of people are hurting from the last four years. Many of us continue to work hard staying afloat in our not-always-watertight lifeboats; tactful people on ALL sides of the political spectrum understand this. Finally, I hope your statement that "it's not wise to push someone who is already on edge" does not portend something personally drastic. Everyone here, myself included, wishes you the best.