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Republican state House candidate Sam Aiona was in a bind.
Whether an irritating distraction
or an expression of free speech,
sign-waving is back to herald
another campaign seasonBy Brett Alexander-Estes
Star-BulletinWhile going door-to-door, Aiona discovered that most voters in his Makiki district dislike sign-waving.
They think it's distracting to motorists.
That posed a problem for Aiona's campaign in House District 24.
If Aiona's supporters didn't wave signs on district streets, would voters still remember him on Election Day?
"The very first problem (in any campaign) is letting people know who you are," said Harry Mattson, president of Mattson Sunderland Research & Planning Associates Inc. and media director for Jeremy Harris' mayoral campaign. Sign-waving "certainly gets your name out there."Sign-waving -- the roadside deployment of political supporters, or the candidate him- or herself, waving signs promoting the candidate -- is an election-year tradition throughout Hawaii.
Many political observers credit a late Honolulu city councilman as leading Hawaii's first sign-waving brigade in the mid-1970s. In 1990, the campaign options expanded when a U.S. District Court ruled that a Honolulu ban on political signs in residential yards was a violation of free speech.
Since then, the Outdoor Circle, a beautification organization behind the statewide billboard ban, has pleaded that candidates not litter the landscape with posted signs. So far, 41 candidates have pledged to the organization that they won't use yard signs this season.
But no organization is asking anyone to give up their sign-waving.
Local opinion regarding sign-waving ranges from enthusiastic approval to intense irritation. In letters to Hawaii newspapers, readers have praised sign-waving as "colorful" and denounced it as "distracting".
Sign-waving is "almost like freedom of speech," said Honolulu mayoral candidate Frank Fasi.It "shows people that there's a lot of support for you," said Mattson, who served as Harris' media director in the mayor's 1996 race, and directed media for the campaigns of former governors John Waihee and George Ariyoshi. Mattson adds: "If it didn't work, politicians wouldn't keep on doing it."
How much money do Hawaii politicians spend on sign-waving?
"Tactically, that depends on the campaign," answers Mattson. "More money goes to media" in races for the U.S. House and Senate, while "gubernatorial and mayor elections on Oahu are people-intensive as well as media-intensive."
For example, when Waihee last ran for office in 1990, "he spent just over $1 million on TV production and time. The same campaign spent about $1 million taking care of volunteers," said Mattson. "Taking care of volunteers" translates into refreshments, T-shirts and other supplies for front-line jobs such as sign-waving.
The bulk of the Harris campaign budget will probably go to media, Mattson said, but "a significant amount of money" will probably be spent on volunteer-staffed field operations -- rallies, canvassing, mailings and sign-waving.
"People have been calling and saying, 'We want to do sign-waving!' " said Alvin Au, Harris campaign coordinator. "A dozen or more a day."
A sign-waving corps is organized by political district or neighborhood and usually is deployed during peak traffic hours, Au said.
But, said Au, sign-waving "is not only doing the waving. It's assembling the signs."
Signs are printed, then mounted on lightweight plastic and tacked to handles that allow them to be posted in a yard or waved on a street.
Au said that a team of 15 volunteers can assemble 1,000 signs in three hours. More than 5,000 Harris signs have already been made.
Mufi Hannemann's supporters not only assemble signs, they print them. So far, nearly 2,000 signs have been manufactured at Hannemann headquarters on Kapiolani Boulevard, said Hannemann campaign coordinator Trudi Saito.
Saito said that local sign companies quoted her a price of $3.95 to $5.00 per sign, but that in-house production lowers the cost to about $2.
Some campaigns go even further to save money. Big campaigns "go to the mainland to get their signs," said Bob Peterson, owner of a 32-year-old Hawaii firm, Peterson Sign Company.
Because big Hawaii campaigns order in high volume, Peterson said, mainland sign manufacturers "can produce an entire printed sign for less than (the price of) the raw materials that we use to print the sign."
Smaller, local races typically involve the manufacture of 25 to a few hundred signs per candidate.
Several local sign companies reported that in any given election year, sales of political signs and related products like buttons and banners represent up to 10 percent of their annual sales.
For Honolulu Sign Co., political signs currently represent approximately 2 percent of the company's more than $1 million in annual sales, said Harriet Rotz, Honolulu Sign's vice-president and treasurer.
Many sign makers said that jobs for small campaigns often involve haggling and last-minute orders. And if the candidates lose the race, "you can kiss your money goodbye," said Peterson.
Aiona's neighbors suggested that if Aiona's supporters wave signs, then the signs should "at least tell them what I stand for," said Aiona.
So in addition to his name, district, and prospective office, each of Aiona's signs also displays a slogan such as "UPDATED TEXTBOOKS," "SMALLER CLASSES" or "CUTTING TAXES".
Brian Schatz, the Democratic incumbent seeking re-election to state House District 24, also has signs that deal with political issues. Schatz said his signs will focus on his accomplishments in office.
Some of Schatz' signs also promote his campaign Web site, which Schatz said receives about 30 visitors a day.
If sign-waving is supposed to familiarize voters with a candidate, maybe the increased use of Web sites will make it obsolete.
At brianschatz.com voters can find out a lot about Schatz, including his biography, his legislative priorities and pertinent news articles.
And they can do it in comfort, at their convenience and without hordes of placard-waving strangers accosting them at intersections. But he doesn't assume that his Web site is the only way to campaign.
Said Schatz: "I sign-wave every weekday morning."
