Vandals have struck a series of Florida election campaign signs — in one case transforming a judge into a joker — but not everyone is finding it funny.
Candidate Robert Angus Williams, who is running for circuit judge in Pasco County, put up his signs, and within days most of them were defaced, MyFOXTampaBay.com reported.
This isn't your run-of-the-mill graffiti. The "artists" painted big, red clown lips over Williams' mouth and dark sagging circles around his eyes, making Williams look like the Joker in Batman.
The prospective judge, for one, has kept his sense of humor about the prank.
"You really have to get a chuckle out of it," Williams told MyFOXTampaBay.com, adding that his brother-in-law told him he looked better with the makeup.
But the signs can cost as much as much as $500 a pop, and authorities are treating it as a criminal matter.
"I get calls every day a sign is down," said a fuming Paula O'Neil, who is running for Pasco County Clerk of Courts. She has seen so many campaign signs stolen or damaged that she filed a complaint with the local sheriff's office.
"It got personal," O'Neil told MyFOXTampaBay.com. "When bumper stickers were put over my eyes and [vandals] slashed my face, one had an arrow through the sign. That's mean. That's personal."
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