Chemung County Legislature Candidate Caught Removing Opponent’s Signs

According to a report by Rhea Jha of 18 News, a Chemung County Legislature candidate found himself in some hot water this week after getting caught removing his opponent's signs from private property just a couple of weeks before the primary election.

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After being caught on camera removing the signs, Francis Freeman acknowledged that it was in fact him in the video, and the video was exactly what it looked like. He had removed his opponent, Brett Tarntino's, campaign lawn signs from a piece of private property.

However, Freeman contested that he believed he was the only candidate who had permission from the owner of the property to put campaign signs up, and that his removal of Tarntino's signs was justified. He claimed that his actions were not illegal or malicious and said "I believe putting signs up on someone's property without asking for permission first would be wrong."

The report indicated that it was not known whether Freeman knew that Tarntino had permission to put his signs up on the same property or not. It was also not known whether Freeman attempted to contact the owner of the property to inquire about Tarntino's signs before removing them.

The owner of the property later confirmed that both Freeman and Tarntino had permission to place their campaign signs on the land.

Freeman and Tarntino are running for the Republican nomination for County Legislator in the first district of Chemung County. The primary vote for the nomination will take place on June 28th.