After Trump shooting, bullet hole painted on sheriff candidate's sign can't be ignored

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The image was sickening, in any context.

A friend texted me a photo last week, along with an accompanying story , about vandalism to a campaign sign for Richard Del Toro, one of the Republican candidates for St. Lucie County sheriff.

The sign was defaced with red paint shaped like a bullet wound in Del Toro's forehead, with blood oozing down his face. A "Fire Del Toro" sign was placed underneath the larger vandalized sign.

There's campaign sign silliness, then there's this

My first instinct was to ignore what I had seen, for a couple of reasons.

There's almost always silly drama associated with campaign signs during election season. Candidates frequently complain their signs are being stolen or defaced. Or their opponents are putting signs where they shouldn't.

(An example of the latter problem happened a few days ago in the condominium complex where I live, when a candidate ― who at least for now shall remain nameless ― was putting up signs on our property without authorization.)

If I tried to document every case of campaign sign mischief, I wouldn't have enough time to write about the bigger issues during a campaign that really matter to voters.

Also, I'm hesitant to call attention to that kind of bad behavior because it sometimes emboldens the perpetrators and/or encourages copycats.

A wakeup call for Treasure Coast elections

My thinking changed, though, as I watched coverage of the apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump over the weekend.

"Something like that could never happen where I live," is a coping mechanism people sometimes use in response to horrific national or world news events.

"The world is a scary place, but my little corner of it is safe," we tell ourselves.

However, as I watched footage of Trump being whisked away by Secret Service agents, bloodied but defiant, my mind quickly returned to the photograph I saw of Del Toro's campaign sign.

Political violence could happen here, because it could happen anywhere.

That, too, is sickening.

Shooting shows need to say what should be obvious

Del Toro said someone discovered the vandalized sign, located along Port St. Lucie Boulevard, July 10 or July 11. Other Del Toro signs were also defaced with red Xs spray painted across them.

Although the campaign replaced the damaged signs and asked police to investigate, Del Toro said his initial instinct was the same as mine: Why give that kind of behavior any public acknowledgment, which might be just what the vandals want?

"After the shooting Saturday, it gave me a second thought," Del Toro said. "We've got to get the message out that this kind of behavior is unacceptable."

That was my second thought as well.

The vandal or vandals may be supporters of one of the other candidates for sheriff. It's also possibly the work of one or more young people who were just bored or seeking a thrill.

The problem with talking about or suggesting political violence, even if it's not intended as a serious threat, is that some unhinged person may seek inspiration from those types of messages.

Thousands of people could pass a sign defaced in that manner, shake their heads in disgust, and then go about their business. As the assassination attempt against Trump shows, all it takes is one person with a crazy idea to cause havoc.

Pearson understands the danger here

I've been critical of Sheriff Keith Pearson, one of Del Toro's opponents, but I give him credit for doing the right thing in this situation. When Pearson learned what had happened to Del Toro's signs, he called Del Toro to express his sympathy and concern.

Pearson reported some of his own signs had been vandalized, too.

“Destroying property is against the law and, if it’s against the law, it shouldn’t happen in St. Lucie," Pearson wrote in a statement to me. "When I heard the news about my opponents (sic) signs being damaged and vandalized, much as my own have, I immediately called him personally.

"Passions run high in political campaigns, but I will continue to enforce our laws and protect everyone’s property. If my opponent wishes to prosecute those who are engaging in criminal behavior and needs any assistance, he has my number."

That's exactly the type of response the situation demanded. There's no room for finger-pointing or lame rationalizations when something like this happens.

The only appropriate response is to close ranks and say, with one voice, such actions aren't acceptable.

I also tried reaching out to Preston DiFrancesco, the other Republican candidate in the race, and Stephen Giordano, the Democratic nominee, who will face the winner of the Aug. 20 primary.

I was hoping they, too, would condemn political violence.

DiFrancesco didn't respond to my messages. Giordano called me back to fuss about the lack of coverage his campaign has received, and said he's also had signs vandalized. When I asked him for a statement about political violence, he said he would have to call me back. I'm still waiting for that call.

If the vandalism of Del Toro's sign was intended as a serious political statement, rather than just graffiti, try to get your mind around the logic behind it. The sheriff is the county's top law enforcement officer. Someone thinks assassination ― a serious act of law-breaking ― is the way to decide who should hold that position? In what world does that make sense?

In a divided community, we should all agree on this

It's been said many times since the attempt on Trump's life, but it bears repeating: We settle elections in this country with ballots, not bullets.

We live in the greatest country in the world in large part because we have a democratic system of government that provides for peaceful transitions of power.

It's fantastic when people feel passionate about elections. They should care. The decisions their elected officials make will have serious impacts on their lives.

If you don't like a candidate, vote for someone else. If your preferred candidate doesn't win this year's election, try voting for them, or someone else who shares your values and beliefs, during the next election cycle.

Over the weekend, I was talking to a friend who vowed to move to Belize if the presidential candidate of her choice didn't win in November.

I asked her what she knew about the government in Belize.

My point is simple: Even on our government's worst days, when corrupt or incompetent people find their way into positions of power, the opportunity to replace them with others who will do better is never more than a few years away.

If the candidates I don't like win in the August election, I'm still going to get up and go to work the next morning. I'm planning to go to dragon boat practice that evening, where my coaches will probably complain about how out of shape I've gotten during campaign season. Later, I will hang out with my friends and generally do whatever it is I would have done if the election results had turned out differently.

Life goes on.

History has proven killing political leaders to be an ineffective way of stopping the ideals they support from taking root, anyway. There are numerous examples of people rallying behind martyred leaders and fighting even harder than they had before.

Unsuccessful attempts at political violence can have the opposite of the intended effect.

In Trump's case, what happened to him is likely to make him stronger politically. With the Republican National Convention this week , he couldn't have written a better script for himself.

Trump looks like the heroic guy who dodges bullets, almost literally, while his opponent is still trying to convince people he's not too old to serve another term.

The would-be assassin gave up his own life, and all he really accomplished was to give birth to a thousand new Trump campaign slogans.

The ineffectiveness of political violence isn't the best reason to avoid it, though. The best reason ― the only reason anyone should really need ― is that political violence conflicts with everything we stand for as Americans.

Anyone with even a minimal number of functioning brain cells should be able to understand that.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay . Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424 .

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: After Trump shooting, bullet hole painted on sheriff candidate's sign can't be ignored