Surveillance video captures Chicago alderman candidate removing rival's signs: 'that's garbage'

CHICAGO - Cleopatra Watson Draper was at her campaign office on 103rd street on Jan. 9.

One surveillance camera caught her departing, and another recorded her walking over to pull up a sign for 9th Ward City Council member Anthony Beale – the man she is trying to unseat.

She then put it in her vehicle.

Draper initially would not answer when asked if she'd been removing her rival's signs in the Far South Side Ward.

Then, she was shown the video.

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When asked how many signs she has removed, she responded with, "You see that one sign on that corner on 103rd? That's garbage!"

Sheila Robinson, an ally of Tony Beale, happened to be driving by when Draper was grabbing Beale's campaign sign.

"I thought that was just kinda low. It was not a good look at all for a candidate to be caught pulling up someone else's signs," said Robinson.

A few days after that incident, another surveillance camera recorded someone removing several of Beale's signs from the block where he lives. 

Draper denies involvement in that incident.

"Signs had started coming up missing. I got a call from somebody on 73rd street. They called and said, 'Hey, I'm looking at a dumpster full of your signs!' We went over and saw it was over a hundred signs put in a dumpster," said Beale.

Larger yard signs are being used by Beale and other candidates as early voting is about to begin and campaign emotions are starting to run high.

And, they're a bit harder to remove.