With less than two days until voting begins for the Student Government spring election, the LSU Police Department is on the look-out for recent campaign sign theft and vandalization. Daniel Connors, animal, dairy and poultry science freshman, was caught stealing three campaign signs from Dixon-Oaks’ “Vision 2008” ticket Friday night, according to LSUPD. Though sign theft violates the SG election code, Connors is not affiliated with any of the three registered SG tickets. Connors said he initially stole the first sign from a yard on Perkins Road to add to his collection of political signs. The political enthusiast said he likes to decorate his room with different campaign signs. “I really liked the design of the signs,” Connors said. Connors said after talking to a friend, he thought it would be funny to “pull a dumb prank” and steal two more. SG presidential candidate Dixon McMakin said he received a call Friday evening from a friend who saw someone stealing the signs. McMakin said he reported the vehicle’s license number to LSUPD who tracked the vehicle to Connors. “The plan was to return to them the next morning, but LSUPD beat me to the punch,” Connors said of when he realized his actions were illegal. LSUPD Spokesman Maj. Lawrence Rabalais said Connors returned the signs Saturday morning. Rabalais said McMakin could have pressed charges but did not. Rabalais said the Office of the Dean of Students is handling the issue. Connors said the Office of the Dean of Students has not yet contacted him. Connors said it was not a personal attack against McMakin, SG director of athletics, and his running mate Kristin Oaks, senator for the College of Agriculture. In fact, Connors said he sent an apology e-mail to McMakin, and he plans to vote Wednesday for McMakin. But theft is only one problem tickets have encountered with campaign signs since campaigning officially began. SG presidential candidate Colorado Robertson said some of the campaign signs for his ticket, “The Foundation,” have recently been vandalized. Robertson, Student Senate speaker, said he received a phone call Monday morning from a friend who spotted a sign on Stanford Drive that was vandalized with a sexual reference. Robertson said someone used the name of his running mate, mass communication junior Shannon Bates, to attack his ticket. “Someone put a sticker with the word ‘master’ before Bates’ name,” Robertson said. “The sign read ‘Robertson master Bates.'” Robertson said his campaign spent about $1,400 on 125 campaign signs – 115 yard signs and 10 large signs. He said about 60 yard signs and three large signs have been stolen in the past few weeks. Robertson said he filed a complaint report with LSUPD. “I know this is a political campaign, and this stuff happens, but I have never seen it happen to this degree,” Robertson said. “We are about conveying a professional image of SG.” Robertson said if anybody from his ticket is caught stealing signs, they will be removed. McMakin said his campaign has not touched any other tickets’ signs. “If we find out that someone on our campaign is the person behind the actions, we will ask them to resign and report to the Dean of Students,” McMakin said. “Our campaign is focused on promoting the ‘Vision 2008’ ticket and not damaging other campaigns.” But McMakin said his ticket has spent about $600 for “Vision 2008” signs, and he has seen people stealing and moving them. He said several of his 250 signs are missing. SG presidential candidate Taylor Craft running on the “Do Nothing” ticket said while they do not have any campaign signs, some of their fliers were stolen a few weeks ago. Craft said he posted about 30 fliers promoting a movie night with the “Do Nothing” ticket. The event was later cancelled, and Craft said the wind and rain may be to blame for the missing fliers. Rabalais said LSUPD watches for this type of activity, especially during the SG election campaign season. “There will be an increase in patrols, but it is part of our normal activity to watch for this,” Rabalais said.
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]