BY ALLISON LEVITSKY
Daily Post Staff Writer
A vandal was caught on spray-painting and stealing Mountain View City Council candidate John Inks’ campaign signs at a house on Church Street.
Around 3:40 a.m. yesterday (Oct. 19), a supporter’s porch surveillance camera captured a light-skinned man in a black hooded sweatshirt, blue baseball cap, sunglasses and gloves spraying over an old campaign sign on her front door and stealing a second sign from her lawn.
Inks, a Libertarian, was one of the few city leaders who opposed Measure V, Mountain View’s rent control law that was passed with 53.6% of the vote in November 2016.
The house is on the 100 block of Church Street, at Calderon Avenue. Police told Inks he could send the video to them as evidence.
The incident was the fourth time vandalism to Inks’ signs has been reported to police since last month, when a sign was stolen a day after it was posted at a home on the 1000 block of Villa Street, between Oak and Franklin streets.
Around 6:35 p.m. on Thursday, police Lt. Saul Jaeger passed an Inks sign at Shoreline Boulevard and Montecito Avenue and discovered that someone had used black spray paint to cover Inks’ name and the office for which he’s running.
The paint went onto a sheet of plastic Inks’ campaign had used to cover the sign, expecting vandalism.
“The people taking care of the signs are using preventive methods to preserve the signs by covering the sign itself with a plastic sheet,” Inks said.
That way, when someone spray paints the sign, the sign stays intact underneath because the plastic can be removed and replaced.
A 4-foot-by-4-foot Inks sign that cost about $200 was vandalized with black spray-paint at South Shore- line Boulevard and Church Street in early September. That $200 sign wasn’t covered in plastic, Inks said, so there wasn’t a way to clean it without destroying the sign.
It’s great to see how tolerant liberals are in the Bay Area! They gladly accept everyone’s right to freedom of speech!
It’s obvious who this individual is. He is a well known activist in Mtn. View. Part of the pro tenant group that is atfqcking Mr. Inks.
Reminds me of something that happened in Menlo Park a few years ago. They didn’t have video of it, but a cellphone was discovered.
If you know who this guy is, here’s a way to report him anonymously
https://mountainviewpoliceblog.com/2013/07/18/how-to-text-mvpd-good-intel-anonymously/
What is the Libertarian view of spray-painting campaign signs? Isn’t that just free enterprise?
No Mr. Hunk, you’re mixing up the broken windows fallacy right there
The Libertarian Party adheres to the Non Aggression Principal very strictly. If you have to use an act of aggression to get your way then you can/will be removed from the party. Shame the other parties don’t hold their members to a higher standard.
Glad to see that civil disobedience is alive and well in Mountain View. Its what is needed to counteract the right-wing, libertarian attacks on the most vulnerable people in our city! Between the deception committed to get signatures and the 3% vacancy trigger buried in the language of the Sneaky Repeal petition, I would say that Inks is the one responsible for playing dirty politics and is associated with tactics that are aggressive. Shame on anyone who supports Inks who is attacking rent control and the RV residents in our city!