Political signs sprout like grass around town during campaign season. The rite of spring is about showing support for a favored candidate.
But something is different this year.
In recent days, a bluntly-worded message aimed at incumbent Select Board member Kevin Canty has appeared on some properties, giving an already unusual race a new – and negative – slant. Canty is running for another three-year term.
The sign, which reads “Can Canty – Plymouth deserves better,” was also on display at an April campaign event for incumbent Dick Quintal and candidate Betty Cavacco, who are running as a team for two seats on the five-member board. And several of the signs were planted on Obery Street at the entrance to Plymouth North High School before Saturday’s Town Meeting.
It’s unclear who is behind the effort but in a Facebook post, Karen Buechs – who has long been active on the local political scene – seems enthusiastic about distributing the signs.
“Who wants a CAN CANTY sign? PM me,” she wrote. It was accompanied by an image of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay with the words, “Get out!”
Buechs denies being the source of the placards.
“I did not have the signs made. It’s a group of citizens,” she wrote in an email to me Thursday. “The other candidates have nothing to do with it. Many are upset at Canty’s arrogance and divisiveness. Why are you asking me about signs? Is it because you support Canty, a founding donor of the Independent, and want to garner sympathy for Canty? In regard to the signs, do you not believe in freedom of speech?”
For the record, the Independent does not “support” any candidate, Canty is neither a founding donor nor a donor of any kind, and freedom of speech is not the issue at hand.
When I asked who supplied the signs, Buechs replied, “I don’t give out names. That’s up to the individuals.”
She refused to answer more questions on the subject.
So I turned to Quintal and Cavacco.
“I’ve never seen signs like this in a local political campaign,” I wrote in an email to both. “Do you support this negative approach and if so, why?”
“I do not support them!” Quintal replied.
I wanted to ask why the sign was allowed at his campaign event, and whether he had urged supporters to take them down, but Quintal stopped replying to my messages.
Cavacco said she was unaware of the sign at the fundraiser, which was held at Second Wind Brewing on Main Street. I pointed out that it’s visible – albeit partially obscured – in a post from that evening on her “Betty Cavacco for Select Board 2026” Facebook page.
“I have no control over what someone does, and I don’t see anything on my page?” she wrote back. [The question mark is hers.] “I’m just running my race and I don’t pay attention to anything I don’t have control over.”
Following a back and forth about whether she did, in fact, control her own Facebook page – she does – Cavacco deleted the image.
“I’m not going negative about anyone,” she wrote. “I didn’t realize it was there.”
Like Quintal, Cavacco did not say whether she has asked supporters to remove their signs. I offered to speak with the candidates by phone. Neither took me up on it.
Canty – who did not approach the Independent about the issue – told me Thursday he finds the “Can Canty” tactic surprising.
“People usually run on the issues and try to win on the merits of their campaign platforms and reputations,” he said. “This negative campaign strategy is new to me. A lot of people have come up to me and expressed how shocked they are at the antics of this group.”
“Can Canty” marks the latest twist in the Select Board race, which will be decided in the May 16 annual town election. Former Plymouth police officer Scott Vecchi is the fourth candidate. He said he is not connected with the anti-Canty signs.
Earlier this month, political newcomer Stevie Keith withdrew as a candidate, citing a family health matter.
In March, Quintal accused Vecchi of approaching him with an offer to end his campaign in return for Quintal helping him get rehired by the police department. Vecchi’s more than 25 years on the force were marked by controversy. He stepped down in 2023 with a $283,000 payout and a record of more than 30 civilian and internal complaints.
Quintal said he rejected Vecchi’s overture.
“It was a short meeting,” he told me last month. “I said, ‘You do what you gotta do…If you need your hours back, you need to go see Chief [Dana] Flynn.’”
Vecchi said he met with Quintal to talk about “the race and my issues with Dana Flynn purposely torpedoing multiple job offers and interfering with my attempts” to be recertified by the state as a police officer.
“I never attempted to extort anything [from Quintal],” he wrote in a text, “and made it very clear that I was talking to him because of my respect for him and his service to the town over the years.”
Flynn said he has provided the state only with required information about Vecchi.
Vecchi has also targeted Cavacco. In a March 10 Facebook post, he used an AI-generated image depicting her in a prison suit behind bars, with the label “Betty the Crook.”
Quintal and Cavacco are closely aligned with chair David Golden, which means balance of power is at stake. Golden’s tenure, however, could end if he is successful in his bid to be elected as a Republican state representative.
In a text message Thursday, Vecchi said Quintal and Cavacco “want [Canty] out and Betty in so they can go back to the days of Betty, Dicky and Charlie [Bletzer], but now David, running everything, which is unfortunately what got us to where we are financially right now.”
Mark Pothier can be reached at mark@plymouthindependent.org.