Candidate's fake parking tickets backfire

NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A New York City Council candidate has drawn the ire of some voters with campaign literature realistically disguised as parking tickets.

Joe Nardiello, 47, a Republican seeking the 39th District council seat in the city's Brooklyn borough, said the realistic orange-and-white parking tickets his campaign distributed on local windshields were meant to call attention to a plan to charge residents for parking permits, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

"I knew it was going to be a personal risk. The point was to jar people," he said. "I know it's right to tell people now that there is going to be a cost later."

However, Nardiello's campaign was flooded with calls from residents upset about the fake tickets.

A woman named Lisa told the Daily News she and her neighbors were angered by the stunt.

"You see a ticket and you run down there with your heart beating," she said. "People were very angry. Even if we liked him, we might not vote for him now."