Suburbs

Accusations of campaign sign thievery during election season are pretty much a staple of running for office.

For decades, candidates have contacted me to complain about an opponent taking up their signs.

Or tearing up their signs.

Or defacing their signs.

And my response in many cases was that such destruction is the cost of running for office. The claims are as common as early voting. The bulk of the time authorities take a similar view. There are much bigger crimes for police than someone plucking an opponent’s placard out of a yard or from a polling location.

Occasionally, there is a case like Erika Sugarmon’s multiple misdemeanor citations for vandalism recently. Charges against a candidate for such alleged actions will get attention.

It’s a reminder of a case 10 years ago in Collierville. One with enough weirdness to draw publicity, complete with video evidence, an incumbent as the culprit and a weird twist regarding who bailed out the suspect.

The episode involved then-state Rep. Curry Todd of Collierville and may be the only time I’ve ever written about campaign sign shenanigans in my career.

As commenter said on one of the Sugarmon stories: “She should have googled Curry Todd.”

Another chimed in with: “Another proud graduate of the Curry Todd School of Campaigning.”

Yeah. The Curry Todd incident in August of 2016 while running for reelection in District 95 against Mark Lovell stands out that much. If for no other reason, authorities had indisputable evidence — video of Todd, a Republican, yanking up Lovell’s campaign signs.

Video provided by Lovell’s campaign.

Well, that and Todd’s acknowledgment that he did it.

“Yes. I did pick up the signs the other day, and I took ‘em,” Todd said at the time of the incident. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything. It was daylight.” Todd added that the property owner told him he could put up his signs and take down any others.

Todd spent some time in jail because he failed to show up to talk to police about the incident. He stayed in jail because his bond wasn’t posted. After a bit, someone finally put up the $100 to get the sitting rep out of custody.

The man with the money – Mark Lovell – Todd’s opponent in the race.

Todd’s name was rather well-known around the area. He was a Memphis police officer and before that got quite a bit of attention as a local basketball star even playing briefly for the Memphis State Tigers. He was initially elected to the Tennessee House in 1998 and started his first term in 1999. His time as a lobbyist for MPD and other law enforcement entities served as a springboard to Nashville and the Legislature.

Todd’s sign fiasco was one of the reasons that led to his loss to Lovell in 2016. There were other factors, but the former state representative and local athlete never returned to office.

As a side note, Lovell served about a month before telling Beth Harwell, then-Speaker of the House — that he was resigning to spend more time with his family. There also were allegations of sexual misconduct swirling at the times against Lovell.

His resignation led to the appointment of Kevin Vaughan to the seat — an office he still holds. - Suburbs editor Clay Bailey

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