Man Who Stole Campaign Signs Speaks Out, Hopes to Start a Movement

Stealing campaign signs as a form of protest?

NBC 5 reported on Thursday that a man was arrested for swiping signs in Keller.

One day later that man, Walter Brown, is speaking out and he says this is not about politics.

Brown considers campaign signs outside the polls to be political litter. He thinks they have no place outside a polling location, potentially influencing people in the final moments before they vote.

Brown says he hadn't planned on this when he came to vote at Keller Town Hall Thursday, but snatching up the signs became a spontaneous protest.

It's part of the political landscape every election, dedicated folks with campaign signs and a few words as you head in to vote.

"Just double check before you cast your vote," Cynthia Fanning told passersby outside Keller Town Hall.

But this year, it just felt wrong to Brown.

"Sometimes things hit you square in the face," said Brown. "The politics should stop somewhere. Especially at a polling station. You shouldn't be seeing signs and being stopped by people as you go in."

Though he admits how he handled it was wrong too.

"I didn't care who's names was on it, didn't matter to me,” said Brown. “I just started picking up signs and grabbed them, put them in the car."

He swiped eight of them before two ladies confronted him, and asked for them back. When he refused, they called the police and Brown took off.

"What’s the difference between that and just a normal piece of paper, except politics is tacked onto it? To me trash is trash,” said Brown. “I thought about it and said no maybe not. I went to the police station and asked them am I right or wrong here? I'll take them back. Time out, sorry!"

Brown was arrested and booked on the spot for misdemeanor theft. It’s his first run-in with the law in his 59 years.

"I really feel bad, I really feel bad about what happened. Especially if I upset the ladies because I had no intent in doing that."

Brown is an Independent and, he says, “a true independent."

He's also a retired Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 and American Airlines pilot.

"I defended our right for freedom for 21 years and now I feel I should defend our right for political justice," said Brown.

And speaking of rights.

"Until they change the rules we have a right to be here," Fanning said.

Opinions clash and Democracy marches on.

The rule is any political signs or language have to be 100 feet away from the entrance to a polling location.

Brown wants to change that to ban them from the whole polling site. He's starting a Facebook page called “Neutral Polling Locations” and plans to reach out to lawmakers.

Visit the Facebook page here.