ToplikarToplikarStories of political yard-sign thefts are like fish yarns -- big and elusive.

But this one didn’t get away.

Olathe police cited Johnson County Commissioner John M. Toplikar of Olathe on a charge of misdemeanor theft over the weekend after he allegedly stole two campaign signs belonging to his opponent, Calvin Hayden of De Soto.

Hayden’s wife, Kelly, and a campaign volunteer videotaped the thefts Saturday afternoon across the street from the Johnson County Election Office. She notified police, who found the signs in Toplikar’s van.

Hayden, who retired this year after a 27-year career with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, has filed four police reports for stolen and damaged signs. He is pressing charges against Toplikar, who has been on the County Commission since 2003.

"This is unbelievable," said Bob Beatty, an assistant professor of political science at Washburn University in Topeka. "This kind of thing could easily go national."

YouTube and the spread of inexpensive video cameras have made this moment possible, Beatty said.

"Being arrested days before an election is one of the most disasterous things that can happen to a candidate. But even more disasterous," Beatty said, "is having it on video. That can turn a candidate into a laughing stock easily."

It happened to U.S. Sen. George Allen, a Republican from the Commonwealth of Virginia, who lost his 2006 bid for re-election after he was caught on videotape making a racial slur.

On Aug. 11 of that year, at a campaign stop, Allen twice used the word "macaca," or "monkey" that in the south is a commonly understood racial slur. Allen apologized and later said he did not know the meaning of the word.

Two years later, the Washington Post speculated that if Allen had not not made that lapse, he would have been a strong candidate for president today.

"We have to remember everyone is innocent until proven guilty," Johnson County Chairwoman Annabeth Surbaugh said Monday. "But this is a personal matter for John Toplikar the candidate … and needs to be left with Mr. Toplikar and the voters of his district to resolve."

For his part, Toplikar has been laying low, declining to return phone calls. Fellow commissioners say the plan to let the judicial process to take its course before they comment.

Commissioners take an oath pledging to follow a rigid ethics code. But the code, says chief counsel Don Jarrett, does not apply once a commissioner is on his or her own time and not acting in an official capacity.

Commissioners say they do not expect the issue to be discussed at Thursday’s meeting, but a forum is always open to the public.

The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. in the third-floor public hearing room of the County Administration Building, 111 S. Cherry St., Olathe.