PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) – It’s that time of the year again when campaign signs and political posters are posted throughout the city.
You can find them lined along the sidewalks, planted in the grass, or crammed together on corners.
“There’s just too much of it sometimes,” Lawrence Maushard, Peoria City Council At-Large Candidate, said.
But some candidates for Peoria City Council At-Large seats said they’re noticing a few of their signs posted one minute and gone the next.
Kiran Velpula, Demario Boone, and Lawrence Maushard have all mentioned several of their campaign signs have vanished after they were put up.
“I’ve only got 125 signs, so I’ve been putting them out for the last several weeks and I have noticed many of my signs aren’t there the next day,” Maushard said.
Maushard said he’s campaigned for a seat on the council before and although it’s frustrating, he said snatched signs are to be expected.
“I’ve been doing this for a couple of times now and it happened before and you just have to kind of go with the flow,” Maushard said. “It doesn’t surprise me, it doesn’t anger me.”
“I can say for sure that no one candidate, I don’t think, is really singled out for the sign theft. It’s just part of the ruff and tumble of Peoria politics,” Maushard said.
Peoria attorneys said during election season many signs do end up disappearing, damaged or even thrown in the dumpster.
It’s an illegal act, but Maushard said it only adds fuel to his fire.
“This kind of thing is nothing to our campaign,” Maushard said. “I mean as far as losing signs, we expect it, we know how to adjust to it and we fight.”
Demario Boone, Peoria City Council At-Large Candidate, said he’s noticed signs that he personally posted near the Peoria County Election Commission have gone missing. He said it’s discouraging because the signs aren’t free.
“Those are funds that come out of our pockets to pay for those signs and things of that nature, so it does set things back,” Boone said.
But Boone said he’s not letting the thefts get to him as “signs don’t win elections, knocking on doors, phone banking, and actually speaking with people wins elections.”
Boone said if his campaign is ruffling feathers enough for his signs to get stolen, then he feels he’s doing something right.
“I’m kind of ‘glass half full’ guy so I hope they were stealing them to put in their yards,” Boone said. “So, if you stole them to put in your yards, thank you I appreciate that.”
Kiran Velpula, who’s seeking re-election, recently posted on social media that some of his yard signs were repeatedly taken. However, he said he’s getting new ones this week.
WMBD reached out to police to find out if sign snatching is a crime with repercussions but the Peoria Police Department had no comment.
The Consolidated General Election is on April 4 and ten candidates are vying for five of the At-Large council seats.
