The head of the local IBEW union in Vigo County has admitted to stealing Libertarian yard signs.
On October 26th, 8th Congressional District Libertarian candidate K Richard Fitzlaff noticed that both his signs and those for Donald Rainwater were again missing from a Terre Haute vote center. Noting this was not the first time his yard signs had been stolen, Fitzlaff deployed trail cams in hopes of catching the sign thief.
The trail cam revealed that Jim Fellows, the leader of the IBEW Local 725 union, had taken the signs. The local IBEW has contracted with Vigo County as a vote center for the 2024 election.
Fitzlaff called the Vigo County Sheriff’s office to report the theft and request that charges be filed against Mr. Fellows for theft and/or conversion. The deputy who responded took the report and noted that Mr. Fellows acknowledged that he had taken the signs from the vote center, that he had received permission from the County Clerk’s office to remove any signs he wanted, and that he would return the stolen signs to Fitzlaff and Rainwater.
“The issue here is that the vote center is also the IBEW Union Hall and is private property. The IBEW can decide not to allow political signs or campaigning on their property – even though they are acting as a public location for voting. However, since the IBEW is allowing signs from other political parties and candidates they forfeit the right to restrict signs and campaigning by other political parties and candidates on their property. It is all or nothing,, stated Libertarian Party Chairman Evan McMahon. “I would even go as far as to say that this isn’t just theft or conversion, but also could be election interference – which has been pointed out by the media in the Sheridan, IN yard sign thefts and the recent Facebook post on the subject by the Johnson County Sheriff’s office. Libertarian candidates can ill afford to continue to use their limited resources to replace signs stolen by the supporters of their political opponents.”
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