Ana Bailao Campaigners caught breaking
the rules when erecting campaign signs
Via the Toronto Star
Toronto candidates were not allowed to erect campaign signs until 12:01 a.m. Monday. But Kirk Russell, running for council in Ward 18 (Davenport), called the Star’s Amy Dempsey on Sunday night to say he had been dropping off flyers on Symington Ave. around 9 p.m. when he caught two hoodie-clad men putting up signs for rival Ana Bailao.
Like many sign-related confrontations, this one got ugly. When the Bailao minions noticed Russell taking photos of them, he said, they flipped up their hoods to shield their identities, jumped into a van, and sped away at about 80 km/h in a 30 or 40 km/h zone.
“They almost ran me over,” Russell said.
Confronted by the Star with Russell’s photographic evidence, Bailao’s campaign allowed that a violation may have occurred — but blamed any transgressions on the untamed passions of well-meaning kids who want Bailao to get elected so truly madly deeply that they just couldn’t stop themselves from illegally helping her.
“We were very clear with our volunteers,” said campaign manager Deyan Kostovski. “We asked them to put up signs at the stroke of midnight and not a minute earlier. We have hundreds of overly zealous and overly enthusiastic young volunteers, working long hours to get Ana Bailao elected as the next city councillor. We will review the situation and make sure the appropriate steps are taken.”
Ward 18 