Butler County Democrats, Republicans agree vandalism has to stop

The chairmen of the Butler County Democratic Central Committee and Butler County Republican Central Committee are working together during the presidential campaign season to stop the vandalism of political signs.

Kevin Ellis, Butler County Democratic Central Committee chair, and Joe Leahy, Butler County Republican Central Committee chair, are making a joint statement, “concerning mutual respect for our fellow citizens during this presidential season.”

Ellis and Leahy have both received complaints about political signs which have been vandalized, stolen or damaged in Butler County.

Both men, along with their political parties “are requesting and demanding the citizens of Butler County, and the surrounding areas to not defame, tear up, steal or damage political signs that do not personally belong to you.”

Both committee chairs, along with their parties and membership, “believe that we can have our political differences, but yet still have mutual respect for the opposing party.”

“We can disagree without being hateful, we can disagree without being disrespectful, we can disagree without vandalizing or destroying the other person’s property,” their joint press release stated.

Continuing, they jointly stated, “When you damage someone else’s property, you are participating in a form of voter suppression. You may not like, nor care for the other individual.”

“We are asking you, the members of the community, if you know of individuals who are stealing and vandalizing, (or) defaming political signs to notify the authorities. … It’s not Democratic, and we jointly ask the community to join us in this momentous effort,” Leahy and Ellis said in their statement.