BIRMINGHAM, Ala (WIAT) – Election Day is a week away and personal attacks are ramping up, leading to confusion and criminal investigations.
Hoover Police and the FBI are investigating racial comments and death threats made against a Hoover City Council candidate, Tanveer Patel.
Meanwhile, Alabaster Police are looking into a possible motive and suspect after the home of a city council candidate was vandalized.
“We were egged, nacho cheesed, barbecue sauced, and somebody defaecated on our driveway, right next to the front door of the car,” Alabaster city council candidate Mike Myers said.
Myers has a son who attends Thompson High School. The Myers’ family has lived in the same home for over a decade, and their property has never been vandalized before.
“It’s disparaging that someone would go to vandalize or insult,” Myers said.
APD are trying to find out if incident was a teen prank, or political intimidation, Myers said.
“We just don’t know,” Myers said. “That’s the problem, it’s pretty early on.”
Over in Vestavia Hills, voters are taking to Facebook to show screenshots of text messages they’ve received from someone alleging to be Delaney Robinson. In some of the texts, the person claims to be a former acquaintance of the Vestavia Hills resident who recently moved back to the area following a divorce.
The sender has a 215 area code and asks about candidates like Karl Julian, who first heard about these messages in July.
“We don’t need to do dirty tricks,” Julian said. “There’s so much detail and personal information that is included in the initial text to these people that have been contacted. It’s obviously somebody or some people.”
At one point, Julian’s campaign supporters received texts from an anonymous source offering to remove his campaign signs from the yard.
“I’m not naive to think everyone likes me,” Julian said. “I haven’t received any type of attack or anything like what’s happening in Hoover.”
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