By JOSH RESNEK
The word is out that the mayor’s forces have so far put up 500 signs all over the city.
By some of his supporter’s estimations, the election is already over because he has more signs up than both his opponents.
The thinking is that with so many signs, how can the mayor possibly lose?
In a world where perception is so important, the mayor’s 500 signs send this message: the mayor has 500 signs up. That’s a lot of signs and visibility.
That’s where the message begins and ends.
The mayor knows this better than anyone.
He might well place 1,000 signs by primary day in mid-September.
He doesn’t care about who posts his signs.
Whether they are for him or against him, whether they are absentee landlords or homeowners who don’t know who he is who simply nodded their heads when the mayor’s gang (sters) placed them on their properties without their permission.
None of this matters to the mayor.
All that matters is the number of signs. The signs are the mayor’s metaphor for overeating.
After a while, passersby get sick of his signs – of any signs painting a city with ugly colors set on wooden sticks bereft of any design or meaning.
“Proven Leadership.”
I like this. It has a real “pop” to it, the way another sexual harassment allegation against the mayor would have added “pop.”
“Proven Leadership.”
That implies what?
Does it guarantee the owner of the home places a vote next to the mayor’s name in the primary?
No, it doesn’t.
If he has 500 signs out there pompously polluting the city’s streets and avenues with his name, how many of those apartment buildings and homeowners will vote for him guaranteed? 250? 350? 500?
Will that give him the election victory he is so badly seeking?
No, it won’t.
Adrien and Capone cannot compete with the mayor’s inanimate signs spread like a plague on the city.
They will be lucky to have half the number of his signs.
Adrien and Capone are not engaged in a sign war they cannot win.
They are engaged in a hearts and minds war with Everett voters – and with many of those who have allowed Demaria signs to be placed on their properties.
The signs don’t vote.
Many years ago, there was a very popular Chelsea alderman who had been elected many times. He decided to go for mayor.
Billy Palladino put up 2,000 signs in the politically charged Chelsea that no longer exists today as it does here.
Imagine – 2,000 signs in a city less than half the physical landmass of Everett.
Palladino was so certain he was going to win on the back of those signs that he felt as Mayor Demaria does.
He felt he had already won.
Palladino lost to an opponent who couldn’t place 250 signs.
This doesn’t mean the mayor loses because he has placed so many signs.
What it means, exactly, is that the mayor cannot rely on the signs to gain him another victory in September and then in November if he makes it through the primary.
The signs don’t vote – not even in Everett do they vote.