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CBS News: Greenwald Said Most of the Campaign Sign Photos Were ‘Staged’

The CBS reporter quotes Greenwald as saying “most of the pictures posted on Facebook were staged.”

We posted a story yesterday about a – specifically those of .

Two Davis residents – photographer Melissa Martinez and attorney Bernie Goldsmith – took photos of Greenwald lawn signs that appear to have been placed directly in front of signs for other candidates. One photo taken by Martinez showed Greenwald’s . 

After local media outlets reported on the issue, CBS rolled a van into town and interviewed Greenwald, Goldsmith and Wolk. The report aired Tuesday night.

In Greenwald’s interview, she says that in this campaign signs have “been ripped, they’ve been stomped, they’ve been thrown in the bushes, they’ve been stolen.” 

She concedes that her husband did discard the Dan Wolk sign and one other, but that's it. The CBS reporter quotes Greenwald as saying “most of the pictures posted on Facebook were staged.” 

The video itself does not show Greenwald saying those exact words, but she has said that her husband told her he had removed signs "only on this occasion and one other occasion." You can read her . 

The tension lies in the fact that there are at least a half-dozen photos on Facebook.

When asked about the "staging" of the photos, Goldsmith said:  

“I just came out here and took photographs of what I saw. I’m very disappointed in the contention that any sort of staging took place.” 

After the report aired, Goldsmith said that Greenwald's accusation equates to an attack on his character, and that she shouldn’t be targeting the messenger.

The Davis Vanguard ran a story Wednesday morning called “The 24 Hour Rule for Political Controversies." The article has this to say: 

Sue Greenwald has now made two critical mistakes herself in the handling of what should have been a relatively minor incident.  First, she deflected the blame on her husband, which, while perhaps completely accurate, seems unseemly.  She should have simply said, we made an error in judgment and we apologize.

The second error, in our view is more serious and that is the charge that Bernie Goldsmith planted or staged the photos of the signs. Now, instead of taking responsibility she has upped the ante and continued the disfavorable news cycle.  Unless she had evidence, she was better off not stating it. 

In this case, do you agree? Share your thoughts below. 

Justin Cox (Editor) May 30, 2012 at 07:22 pm
Also, in Dan Wolk's brief cameo in the video, he uses the phrase "lawn sign shenanigans." In doing so, he helped CBS 13 come up with their headline!
"Sign Shenanigans Distract From Davis City Council Race."
Claudia Krich May 31, 2012 at 06:01 pm
This is silly, and it happens every time we have an election. There's no way to know how signs disappear or are moved, but one thing we're sure of is it happens to all candidates, even though all candidates are honorable. I want to see Sue re-elected and I respect her highly. I've personally seen how she makes contacts to research subjects before she comments or votes on them. She makes sure she is highly informed and accurate. Saying clever sound-bites in response to things like "Your signs are in front of other signs" is not necessarily her greatest talent. So let this sign "issue" go, since it's just a silly distraction.
Christine Goulding June 1, 2012 at 01:25 pm
It's amusing that this came up as an "issue" because the other day my friend and I were eating lunch on the patio at Cafe Bernardo where we watched as a man, who appeared to have only stubs for arms, remove a Dan Wolk sign from the lawn of the corner house and put it up near the bushes. He then repositioned the other lawn signs, walked back to a place out of our view and returned with a Dan Wolk sign which he threw in the back of his mini-van before driving off. It was fascinating because of his adeptness and because it was a bit odd. --- Not being from Davis we considerated there was probably a reasonable explanation for this, but after reading your article I guess it was just business as usual for one of your more colorful, perpetual candidates.
Claudia Krich June 1, 2012 at 07:06 pm
That description sounds like Will Arnold, popular Davis High grad who I think I read has come back to Davis. I read that he supports someone for City Council, but I can't remember who it is.
LIzzy June 2, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Will is Dan's campaign manager. The property Christine Goulding posts about is owned by Dan Dowling, another Wolk supporter.
Christine Goulding June 3, 2012 at 05:59 pm
I reiterate that I just thought it amusing that we saw this no knowing that there was anything controversial going on about the signs. -- I'm glad that its likely that the person we watched is in the camp of the person whose sign he removed, perhaps because it had been defaced or damaged ~ a reasonable explanation!

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