Campaign Sign Theft Arrest

A Tulsa woman is arrested on a complaint of stealing campaign signs and the candidate she stands behind says the volunteer was not acting with her permission. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Carina Sonn

Thursday, November 2nd 2006, 6:06 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa woman is arrested on a complaint of stealing campaign signs and the candidate she stands behind says the volunteer was not acting with her permission.

News on 6 reporter Carina Sonn says 50-year-old Virginia Howe was arrested Wednesday night for stealing Dana Kuehn campaign signs near 71st and Yale. Howe supports current Judge Caroline Wall.

Howe was arrested for misdemeanor larceny, and booked into the Tulsa County jail. Tulsa Police Sgt. Karen Tipler: "The Kuehn campaign did have permission to have their signs in the Coldwell Banker Raider Group's yard and the folks from the Wall campaign did not have permission to take them.â€

Tulsa Police say Judge Wall was at the jail Wednesday night â€œmaking inquiries as to her friend.â€ But Judge Caroline Wall denies that. Her campaign manager issued a news release stating that, "reports that the judge went to the Tulsa County jail and paid or attempted to pay Howe's bail is ludicrous."

Tulsa Police Sgt. Karen Tipler: "We don't know if the judge bailed her out but she was there before the suspect was booked in making inquiries."

Richard Neel lives near 71st and Yale and says his campaign signs supporting Kuehn have also been stolen. "The first ones we put up were gone the next morning which we didn't think too much about. We replaced them with some other campaign signs and then the next morning only the Kuehn signs were down again and that happened twice."

With less than a week until the elections, Neel says he wants to see more of the candidates. "What we need to hear are debates about politics and platforms and things and not vandalism."

The News on 6 spoke to Judge Wall Thursday afternoon and she denies she was at the Tulsa County jail and doesn't know why anyone would say that. She says she has tried to conduct her campaign with the highest ethical standard.

The election for the two candidates next Tuesday is bi-partisan.