Caught On Tape

Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 10:52 AM PDT

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From the politics is good theater department ...

District 5 City Council candidate George George's home surveillance cameras Saturday recorded his opponent, Carl DeMaio, posting "Carl DeMaio" campaign signs in front of a "George George" campaign sign on George's property in Rancho Bernardo.

Then on Sunday, the cameras caught two young men pushing on the George sign as if they were trying to knock it down.

Check it out here:



The Saturday tape shows DeMaio and another man getting out of a black Jeep with campaign signs in hand, scrambling up a hill behind George's house and sticking the signs on either side of a large "George George" sign.

DeMaio acknowledged that he was on the tape, but said he thought George's sign was on public property, adding that he certainly had no idea the property was George's.

"We would never knowingly put a sign in someone's yard without permission," DeMaio said today. "This is one of those embarrassing things where you say 'oops this was a mistake.'"

DeMaio said a homeowner in George's neighborhood had called his campaign to say that George had a large sign in a prime location on Rancho Bernardo Road, and suggested that DeMaio put one of his signs there as well.

George, who had the cameras installed earlier in the year after a vandalism incident, said he is having trouble believing the coincidence, and feels "violated."

"That sign has been up there for three or four weeks -- then all of a sudden he puts his signs up on Saturday?" George said.

More troubling to George were the events on Sunday. He and his wife were sitting in their home watching television, when his wife looked at the monitor hooked up to the cameras and saw the young men walking up the hill.

They went out on their back porch and yelled at the young men, one of whom was bouncing on the sign as if to try and knock it down. The men ran off. George said he wouldn't be surprised if DeMaio was behind the Sunday incident.

"It is such coincidence that it is beyond belief," George said. "If Carl would have the gall to walk onto my property and put up signs, why wouldn't he come back the next day to tear my sign down?"

Union members have been sending an edited version to media outlets.

DeMaio was incredulous at George's insinuation, saying he has never, nor would he ever engage in such dirty campaign tactics.

"I had no involvement and no knowledge of tearing down any sign," DeMaio said. "I am not going to join my opponent and his [union] backers in the mud."

Update: The original version of this erroneously stated that George gave the video to the unions. George said the video entered the public domain when he gave an edited version to a television news reporter. We regret the error.

-- DAVID WASHBURN