Prime Buzz

brad cooper

In the race for House District 29 in Kansas, the GOP challenger to incumbent Sheryl Spalding is no stranger to politics and the controversy it can drum up.

Turn back the clock two years and the news clips reveal a little incident that found Richard Downing charged with misdemeanor theft when he was managing the campaign of Olathe state Sen. Julia Lynn. The charge was later dismissed for lack of evidence.

The incident occurred around the time when former Johnson County Commissioner John Toplikar went viral on the Internet when he was video taped taking an opponent’s sign.

Downing was photographed by Ed Hayes, the Kansas and Missouri director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a group opposed to illegal immigration.

Hayes gave his photographs to Olathe police and filed a criminal complaint.

The Minuteman group was upset with Lynn and other lawmakers who voted that year against a bill aimed at punishing businesses that hired illegal immigrants.

Hayes and his organization put their signs — reading, “Ask her why she’s for illegal aliens” — near her campaign signs.

Downing said he took a Minuteman sign from private property near 119th Street and Sunset Drive in Olathe. He said he had permission for his candidate’s sign to be there, but Hayes did not have such permission.

In an interview this week, Downing said the propery owner authorized the Lynn campaign to police the area and it was authorized to remove the sign in question.

He said he never fooled with signs for candidates’ campaigns. He characterized the Minuteman sign more as “political.”

“We never touched a campaign sign ever. We didn’t do it,” he said. “That’s not what you do. You don’t touch signs.”