This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Conflicting rules from the U.S. Postal Service caused some confusion during this year's election season.

Employees at the 1760 W. 2100 South post office recently scolded volunteers for Mia Love's campaign when they took pictures of themselves at the facility.

The workers noted that snapping photos is not allowed inside a post office.

But another Postal Service rule requires campaigns to prove they are using volunteers to get the low political party bulk-mailing rate.

One way to show that is to provide a picture of the volunteers doing their mailings at a post office.

Here are a few more quirky occurrences from campaign 2014:

• Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, the only openly gay member of the Utah Senate, was standing in line Friday at Wal-Mart on 300 West and 1400 South to buy reading glasses when a woman marched up to him and forcefully asked: "Are you Jim Dabakis?"

When Dabakis, the former state Democratic chairman, said he is, she tore into him.

In front of an openly shocked customer-service manager, she angrily declared: "You are a disgrace and a pervert. You should take your homosexual lifestyle and die."

To which Dabakis replied: "I suppose this means that I can't have your vote."

• It's not unusual for campaign signs to be stolen or vandalized. It happens in almost every race.

But Val Davis, who lives in the area of 3000 South and 3100 East near Tanner Park, must have really ticked off someone.

She had six campaign signs — all for Democrats — in her yard.

This past weekend, not only were the signs swiped, but the wires on the backs were stolen as well, and the sticks they were attached to were broken and left in the yard.

It almost seemed like one of those messages from the mob, like leaving a wrapped dead fish on the porch of a rival.

West Valley City Mayor Ron Bigelow, a former Republican legislator, posted a complaint Monday on Facebook, saying he was hoodwinked into seemingly endorsing a Democratic legislative candidate he does not back.

"Last week I was hurrying between City Council meetings when a group of people came up to me and asked to take a photo. I said yes and the photo was taken," Bigelow wrote. "To my huge surprise, the next thing I know, the picture is on candidate Liz Muniz's Facebook page, saying that I support her. Actually, I didn't even know she was part of the group. I asked her to remove the photo and the post last week. I was disappointed that she did not."

Bigelow added that he has always supported and continues to back Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, the incumbent in House District 33.

Muniz's post didn't specifically state Bigelow was endorsing her. The caption under the photo said, "I had a great time in West Valley City last night and enjoyed meeting with Lars Nordfelt, Mayor Ron Bigelow, Tom Huynh, Tien Pham, some West Valley City leaders and supporters.

Rep. Larry Wiley, D-West Valley City, sent a campaign flier criticizing his Republican foe, Sophia DiCaro, for favoring Salt Lake County's east side over the west side when she worked as deputy director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

The top of the flier says, "DiCaro's record at GOED: Corporate tax breaks for the east side. No jobs for West Valley City."

Farther down the page appears a breakdown of the cities and how many jobs were created in each one. For West Valley City, it lists 641 jobs.

• Democrats cried foul over a campaign flier the Utah Republican Party distributed on behalf of Micah Bruner, the GOP candidate for the at-large Salt Lake County Council seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Randy Horiuchi.

The flier has a picture of Bruner's Democratic opponent, Jenny Wilson, that is out of focus and makes her look somewhat sinister while Bruner's picture is bright and smiley. The flier also lists among Bruner's endorsements Democratic County Council member Sam Granato.

Granato got so much flak from fellow Democrats he posted on Facebook a strong criticism of the GOP tactics against Wilson. Just to set the record straight.