Lavers: Signs vandalized, stolen
‘It is sad’ says the 26th Assembly District candidate
Nearly 20 campaign signs that belong to 26th State Assembly District Candidate Jack Lavers have been either vandalized or stolen, something he wishes would stop immediately.
“I am very upset about it,” Lavers said. “To see somebody do this, they are not just attacking me, they are attacking all of my supporters and they are going after other people’s hard-earned money that was donated to my campaign and to me — that is very sad.”
Lavers said about eight signs have been destroyed by black paint and at least seven were stolen, which he believes is a concerted effort.
“All of the signs have been vandalized by the same thing,” Lavers said. “The ones that have been stolen are in areas where there is not a house directly nearby so it was a concerted effort by somebody.”
Lavers said the signs have been stolen everywhere from Springville, Porterville, Fountain Springs, California Hot Springs, Highway 65 toward Bakersfield and the Lake Isabella area.
Lavers said it will cost around $200 to replace each sign.
Lavers said it was first brought to his attention that his signs were being messed with on Wednesday, May 2.
“It has been a progression ever since,” Lavers said, adding that he started receiving calls earlier this week that some of his signs were being stolen.
Lavers said he has reported the crimes to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s department is very aware of it,” Lavers said.
However, Lavers said some damage has already been done to his campaign.
“We won’t know 100 percent until June 5, but what it does do is it takes that name recognition away,” Lavers said. “The reason they waited so long to do it and then did it immediately is because it is hard to get that name recognition back up and get those signs back up in time to make sure that everybody sees them.”
Nevertheless, Lavers said he is working hard to replace each sign in the same locations.
“We’ve got to get the signs up, we’ve got to have them out there,” Lavers said, adding that he hopes such a thing doesn’t happen again. “I would encourage whoever is responsible to knock this off. This is an open and free country with open and free elections, we are not a banana republic, and this behavior should not be tolerated by anybody.”
He continued, “The real sad thing about this is that it just really goes to show how far the establishment is going to try to suppress the vote of the people,” he said. “That is really what is alarming here is that people would stoop so low to do something like that.”