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Blog: Brown Speaks About Campaign Sign Video; Story Travels Globally
July 28, 2010
A local Florida House District 1 candidate facing accusations around the world that he stole signs belonging to his opponent says he was “set up”.
Republican Greg Brown tells NorthEscambia.com that he was simply doing what he thought he had permission to do when he removed signs belonging to opponent Doug Broxson from the intersection of Highway 89 and Highway 87. It was after dark Saturday when Brown stopped at the intersection after leaving an old-fashioned political stump rally in Jay. Brown said property owner Don Dewrell gave him permission to remove Broxson’s signs.
What happened next became a local news sensation and then literally spread around the world. Click here to read the complete story and see the video.
(story continues below photograph)
Pictured: Candidate Greg Brown allegedly removes campaign signs belonging to his opponent Saturday night.
Using a night-vision camera, Broxson’s brother videotaped Brown and his wife Jennifer removing signs. Brown has not denied that he and his wife removed Broxson’s signs, but he calls the entire situation a “masterminded set up”.
“They knew what they were doing when the had the camera there,” Brown told NorthEscambia.com Tuesday afternoon. “How far did they go to plot this out?”
The story itself has gone far, making headlines around the world.
“Republican rival Greg Brown sprung removing campaign signs” is the headline in Wednesday morning’s Herald Sun, the largest selling daily newspaper in Australia.
“Geez, if you’re going to steal your political opponent’s campaign signs in the age of YouTube, at least wear a mask,” Internet news site newser.com wrote in their story “Hidden Camera Catches Political Foe Stealing Signs”.
On the popular national site The Huffington Post, the story “Sign-Stealing Candidate Greg Brown Caught On Tape” had accumulated nearly 550 comments by midnight Tuesday.
In a statement issued by Brown’s campaign, Dewrell said he granted exclusive permission for Brown to place signs on his property, and “Within that exclusive permission he had the authority to remove any of his opponents’ signs that appeared on my property”.
But Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser records show intersection where the signs were removed is nearly 200 feet from Dewrell’s property line.
Brown said he “was totally under the impression” that the signs removed from the intersection were on Dewrell’s property.
The Huffington Post ended their article with an interesting outtake on the alleged sign theft: “Anyway, it’s a good thing that Brown and his wife didn’t try to pull this crap in Alabama, where they have ways of dealing with sign-stealing thugs”.
And they posted the following YouTube video from Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture candidate Dale Peterson:
(Watch the video to the end to understand why it was included in The Huffington Post article.)
Our NorthEscambia.com blog presents a variety of topics, from opinion based editorials, to news stories that perhaps we would otherwise never cover, to inside information behind the scenes of our stories.
Comments
17 Responses to “Blog: Brown Speaks About Campaign Sign Video; Story Travels Globally”
Seems to me that the camera was placed there to catch sign thieves, whoever they may be, and it did. I imagine these signs are expensive and I don’t blame anyone for trying to stop them from being stolen. As far as the candidate qualifications, I guess I’d have to go with “intellect” on this one……..and it looks like the one placing the camera leads the pack right now. The sign taker ought to admit to the obvious and just be thankful him and his old lady didn’t do anything “nasty” in front of that camera.
Course it isn’t legal to put signs on the right of way in the first place!
I will have to think real hard before placeing my vote in this race….
Look how these two are acting BEFORE they get into office. I can’t imagine what they would do if elected. We have enough problems with elected officals that we thought were straight up people. Please, lets move past these two and focus on the remaining canidates.
Most of the comments here are seriously inane or ignorant. Brown cautioned his wife that she was leaving her fingerprints on the signs on the ground. Absolutely blows a hole in his claim he thought he had a right to remove the signs. if he did why would he worry about fingerprints? Liar!
The opponent had had his signs removed before and did what was smart to identify the thief. Just turns out the thief was a criminal politician named brown and his wife. brown to the garbage heap where most politicians belong.
brown does not have a leg to stand on. and is a lying sack of politician crap If he was an honorable man, a tough call for politicians, he would pull out of the race.
“The DemocraPs and Repulsives have had over 150 years to run this country and run it into the ground they have”.
Off with their Heads
REGARDING:
“The purpose was obviously to destroy Mr. Browns reputation. It has done the complete opposite for me. I for one WILL NOT vote for Broxson.”
The opposite of destroying his reputation would be to make you think higher of him. It’s nteresting if true.
It looks like the signs were placed at a site of high visibility. Yes, Mr. Broxon’s brother was sneaking around but he didn’t make Mr. and Mrs. Brown do the deed which also appears to have included sneaking around.
A vote for either person might well be a vote for a sneaky person.
Maybe they’ve both seen the light (even if it were infrared) and will repent of evil and be perfect candidates in the future.
David lacking infrared vision
This was obviously a complete setup. The opponent purposely put signs in his area and sat with a video camera knowing he would remove them.. The purpose was obviously to destroy Mr. Browns reputation. It has done the complete opposite for me. I for one WIL NOT vote for Broxson. Anyone who wants someone this childish in office needs to have their head checked.
REGARDING:
“For either party to make a big deal of this shows their true intentions. Can’t they move on?”
If either one will commit minor crimes before coming to power, is there any reason to assume they won’t commit major crimes if they ever come to power? A few Presidents were known to be liars before being elected to office. voters either didn’t know or didn’t figure it mattered. Many people died as a result of subsequent lies they told while in office. It matters. it’s a big deal.
AND
“If it’s true that he got the property owner’s permission. . . ”
It seems he had A property owner’s permission. He did not have the permission of THE owner of the property in question. Imagine if my neighbor gave someone permission to cut down all the trees on his property and that person cut down all the trees on MY property. He doesn’t have MY permission, and it seems Mr. Brown didn’t have the permission of the real owner.
David thinking adults seldom change
Greg Brown is a sneaaky snake.
WELL if brown wanted to see his picture around the world BINGO he did it. Quit while there may be a chance of people forgetting this little video or hang in there so they surely won”t forget it.
This story is absolutely hilarious!! What difference does a few signs make? For either party to make a big deal of this shows their true intentions. Can’t they move on? Or do they not want to serve the public?
If it’s true that he got the property owner’s permission, it seems he would have got the property owner to remove the signs, rather than removing them himself.
Now that there’s funny, I don’t care who ya are!
Brown’s guilty behavior contradicts his statements of innocence.
Like Perritt, Brown is done in by his own stupidity. Broxson on the other hand is no better by having a relative sneak around hiding in the bushes with a night vision camera hopping to catch someone removing his signs. As far as I’m concerned, all three are damaged goods and neither one is worthy of holding office.
If Mr. Brown believed he had a right to remove the signs he would have done it in the light of day. His behavior as car lights go by him proves that he didn’t want to be seen.
REGARDING:
“Using a night-vision camera, Broxson’s brother videotaped Brown and his wife Jennifer removing signs. Brown has not denied that he and his wife removed Broxson’s signs, but he calls the entire situation a “masterminded set up”.
“They knew what they were doing when the had the camera there,” Brown told NorthEscambia.com Tuesday afternoon. “How far did they go to plot this out?” ”
It’s nice of Mr. Brown to admit his opponent is smarter than he is and that Mr. Brown doesn’t even know where he is when he tears signs down or whose property they are actually on, but I still don’t understand how the opponent got Mr. and Mrs. Brown to tear down all the signs for him or to talk about getting rid of fingerprints and such silliness.
It really looks like Mr. Brown had a pattern of destruction, trespass, sneakiness, and sub-geniusness if his opponent could reasonably expect to catch him in the act that easily.
I’m sure Brown’s actually a fine man but it LOOKS like he set HIMSELF up to look like an extremely petty dimwitted criminal.
Is that really the kind of image he wants to project while running for public office?