Ives blames Casten after campaign signs defaced with vulgarity
A disparaging vulgarity was spray-painted on several signs promoting Republican congressional candidate Jeanne Ives' campaign at different locations in DuPage County over the holiday weekend, prompting police investigations and angry condemnations from Ives' camp.
Naperville and Glen Ellyn officials on Tuesday confirmed the vandalism reports. A spokeswoman for the Ives campaign also said signs were damaged in Wheaton, but a Wheaton police spokesman couldn't be reached Tuesday.
Ives, a former state representative from Wheaton who's trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove in Illinois' 6th Congressional District, blamed the congressman and his supporters for the vandalism.
"This is Sean Casten's campaign," Ives said Monday morning in a Facebook post. "He refuses to stand up to vandalism and lawlessness."
The Casten campaign denounced the vandalism later in the day on social media.
"This is completely inappropriate and beneath the dignity we must all demand from one another," a Casten representative said via the campaign's Twitter and Facebook accounts. "This has no place in our campaign."
Ives campaign spokeswoman Kathleen Murphy wasn't placated by Team Casten's response.
"This is the kind of division he has stoked from the moment he stepped foot in the political arena," Murphy said.
An Ives sign was discovered defaced Sunday on the 700 block of Crescent Boulevard in Glen Ellyn. The local man who called police said other signs in the area were damaged in the same way, but the investigating officer couldn't find any, Deputy Chief Kurt Vavra said.
In Naperville, one similarly vandalized sign was discovered Monday morning at the corner of Mill Street and Diehl Road, and two were discovered about a mile away at the intersection of Warrenville and Herrick roads, a city representative said.
Glen Ellyn's Vavra said his investigators will reach out to other departments to see if security video captured the vandalism or for other clues.
The 6th District includes parts of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties.
Libertarian Party candidate Bill Redpath of West Dundee also is running for the 6th District seat.