Silicon Valley city must pay after removing campaign signs

Cupertino election signs have been mysteriously disappearing, but it’s not the work of disgruntled residents or political opponents. It’s the city.

Maintenance workers in Cupertino’s public works department removed and threw out more than 15 election lawn signs last week for Cupertino City Council Candidates R “Ray” Wang and Councilmember Kitty Moore — signs placed legally along Bollinger Road with residents’ consent. City officials said the removal was the mistake of workers on a routine traffic safety sweep who were unfamiliar with the election code. Now, the city will have to reimburse at least more than $1,000 in total to the candidates to fix a violation of its own code.

Cupertino’s municipal code for political sign violations requires the city to either issue a two- business day verbal notice to correct or remove the signs or give the candidate an opportunity to pick up the signs up from city storage. Instead the signs were thrown out. But neither candidate violated the code.

Wang said the signs went missing twice after volunteers replaced them following the first removal, but the public works department said it only removed them once. The candidates inquired about the incident with the city on Oct. 2 and in an email chain obtained by San José Spotlight, City Manager Pamela Wu apologized for the error on Oct. 3 and promised to reimburse them for the loss.

Wang said the money and signs aren’t the issue, but rather the principle and exposure loss on the busy Cupertino thoroughfare.

“It’s not about the signs. It’s kind of systemic,” he told San José Spotlight. “It’s about what’s really going on because it’s almost like election interference.”

Tina Kapoor, interim assistant city manager, said the city is working with its maintenance department to avoid another incident.

“We will do whatever it takes to rectify (this), which is reimbursing them at this point,” she told San José Spotlight. “At the same time, we are making sure our maintenance workers and those who are tasked to keep our right of way clear are at least aware, so there’s no question in the future.”

Moore and Wang are competing against five other opponents in a crowded race, including Councilmember Hung Wei, hotel manager Claudio Bono and former Cupertino Mayors Rod Sinks, Gilbert Wong and Barry Chang. They are running side by side, with key issues such as development, fiscal responsibility and the environment.

Moore said she is worried about the city’s involvement in the election.

“It is very concerning the city inserted itself in the election process by removing our signs placed with permission we both sought and the city then destroyed them,” she told San José Spotlight.

This is not the first time elections signs were stolen in Santa Clara County. Thieves stole hundreds of signs in 2022 during a competitive San Jose mayoral race.

Cupertino resident Ignatius Ding, who’s lived in the city for about 45 years and supports Moore and Wang, said he doesn’t believe the signs were taken by mistake. He said Moore’s push for city accountability has ruffled some feathers and could have led to the incident.

“Reimbursement, that’s a joke,” he told San José Spotlight. “That’s our city’s money.”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.