Badillo Accuses McDonough of Stealing Signs in Baltimore County -

-photos courtesy of Darren Badilllo-

Baltimore County Executive Darren Badillo claims that fellow Republican and County Executive candidate Pat McDonough has been stealing his signs. Badillo also said he has proof as he showed a photo what appeared to be McDonough taking a Badillo sign out of the ground and placing it in a back of a vehicle.

According to Badillo, 30 percent of his signs has been either damaged or stolen in the last month and claimed that some of his competitors have placed their signs in front of his sign. Then Badillo revealed a name at his conference Wednesday evening in Parkville,

“On Monday I received photos of Pat McDonough, one of my opponents in the primary race for Baltimore County, stealing my signs,” Badillo said. “Now I am not saying that Pat stole all the signs I was taking about but I have proof of the one sign in which is a campaign violation.”

Badillo added that he filed a police report and filed an ethics complaint with the Board of Elections

Once the photo started circulating around social media, McDonough responded under his wife Valarie’s social media page and admitted he took a Badillo sign with an explanation.

“Let’s set the record straight. I did take Darren’s sign. That was a one-time event and an isolated incident. The reason I took the one sign was I had a $20 sign placed there and it was stolen and it was replaced by Darren’s sign. To be honest I don’t think Darren did that or took the sign. There’s a third party operating in the sign game and they’re trying to cause friction between the candidates. I have more signs than anybody else and I’ve had at least 50 signs stolen,” McDonough said.

“There is a third party doing this stuff, Darren had five signs up around the Inner Coastal Marine Center on Eastern Avenue. They were little signs and I had five bigger signs at the same location. The next day my five signs were stolen and Darren signs were still there. Should I accuse Darren of stealing my five bigger signs. I don’t think Darren would do that but somebody did it. I think as I said before there’s a third party operating trying to cause trouble.”