Dear PoP – “Had it with the election”

Photo by PoPville flickr user DCBritannia

“Dear PoP,

This morning I hit my breaking point with the elections. I was walking my dogs, came around the corner or my street, and witnessed a man stealing my neighbor’s election sign from their yard. I stopped him and asked him “did you take that?” to which he replied “is that your yard?” I repeated the question and he had the gall to say “I asked you a question too.” I told him that was my neighbor’s house and he was stealing their sign. He then proceeded ask if I knew what gentrification was all while he tore up the sign. I flat out told him that was stealing, theft, and weak, and had to go inside because my dogs were freaking out and I was livid.

My freakin’ high school elections weren’t this petty and childish! Little does the man know that his actions have made my mind up for whom to vote.”

On a side note the woman accused of removing campaign signs from Capital City Diner has released her defense this morning. Full press release after the jump.

The Committee to Elect Kathy Henderson for the Ward 5 City Council seat strongly denounces the false information unscrupulously disseminated to the public by Matt Ashburn. Mr. Ashburn, an embattled owner of the Capital City Diner falsely claimed that Ward 5 City Council candidate Kathy Henderson removed his campaign signs and replaced them without his permission. Kathy Henderson strongly denounces the false claim, which she believes was fabricated to sabotage her effort to unseat incumbent Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr.

The facts in this matter indicate that Kathy Henderson visited the Capital City Diner on September 5, 2010 at approximately 4:00 p.m. to distribute flyers advertising an open house at 1643 L Street, NE. Ms. Henderson engaged in a conversation with Mr. Ashburn regarding a variety of issues including his need for financial assistance to keep his business afloat. Mr. Ashburn hoped Mayor Fenty would visit his business to boost sales.

During the approximately thirty-minute conversation Ms. Henderson asked Mr. Ashburn what assistance Councilmember Thomas had provided and why he displayed his campaign posters? Mr. Ashburn replied, “…I felt sorry for him and did not want to say no”. As the conversation concluded Mr. Ashburn asked Ms. Henderson to remove the signs and replace them with Mayor Fenty’s signs. Mr. Ashburn also asked Ms. Henderson to post her campaign signs in front of the Diner; Ms. Henderson did not post her signs at the Diner because she did not have them with her at the time.

At some point after Ms. Henderson left the Diner Matt Ashburn contacted Councilmember Thomas and together they devised a scheme to accuse Ms. Henderson of removing the signs without permission. The two then knowingly filed a false police report with the Fifth District Police headquarters. Ms. Henderson believes Mr. Thomas and Mr. Ashburn knowingly fabricated the incident and filed a false police report to undermine her candidacy for the Ward 5 City Council seat. “I don’t know what Mr. Ashburn may have been paid or offered in exchange for participating in this deceitful scheme. I look forward to a thorough investigation of this matter, which will prove that I did nothing wrong”. Ms. Henderson remains optimistic and looks forward to sharing her vision for moving Ward 5 forward with all of the voters of her ward.