The Case of the Father, Son, Mayor and Un-poaching of Tustin Campaign Signs

Here's something we've never typed before: The Liberal OC and Our Town Tustin blogs have a funny story. The main reason for this is we did not know (or had forgotten, equally plausible) that there is a blog called Our Town Tustin, something Jeff “Keepdapeace” Gallagher hepped us to in an email about the Columboesque exploits of Tustin Mayor-turned-snoop John Nielsen (at right) before last week's election. Call it the Case of the Father and Son Poaching Campaign Signs That Were Not What They Seemed.
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Keepdapeace and The Liberal OC's Dan Chmielewski each received tips that Nielsen had stalked fair citizens of rustin' Tustin, which came to a head with a police report from a father and son who'd apparently been spooked by Da Mayor.

Each blogger got his mitts on the police report and discovered what actually happened was Nielsen had staked out a corner where he suspected someone was messing with and removing campaign signs, something experienced in just about every Orange County municipality where at least two people give a shit about city council elections.

Sure enough, Dad and Junior were pulling signs out of the earth. But as they were doing so, they noticed someone in a car was watching them. As they approached, the car sped off. The pair got the make and license number, which police traced to Nielsen.

The mayor, who fancies himself as something of an honorary cop (see the opener photo), explained what he had been up to–leading the officers to reveal a hard truth about police work: never make assumptions.

The dad and son were pulling up real estate signs.

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