Candidates for Springfield council offer conflicting views of campaign sign incident

Springfield City Council candidate Jill Cuadros, joined by current and former Springfield elected officials, stood in front of City Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and called for more respect in the election for the Ward 4 seat.

Cuadros, who is support services director at Eugene School District 4J, is the interim councilor, having been appointed to the role in April. She is running against Callee Ackland, a tenant support specialist at the nonprofit Springfield Eugene Tenant Association who serves on the Springfield Planning Commission.

Cuadros said someone supporting Ackland’s campaign came onto her property without permission, and also that her campaign signs have been removed from other locations.

In an emailed statement to Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Ackland’s campaign said community members were returning signs to Cuadros’ campaign and had arranged to have them returned to her home.

The Ward 4 seat is the only Springfield City Council seat on the ballot in the Nov. 3 general election. 

At the Wednesday event, Cuadros said, “I’m going to talk for a second here about the fact that this weekend, someone who supports my opponent came onto my property without permission.”

She said it followed other incidents, “including campaign signs being removed and taken from the locations where I had permission to display them.”

“I’m giving those involved with the situation the benefit of the doubt by treating these incidences as a series of poor decisions,” Cuadros said. “But what brings me here today is I’m concerned about where those decisions are taking this election, and what they could leave behind for Springfield.”

On Sunday, Cuadros posted on her campaign’s Facebook page that someone had come onto her property. She posted what appears to be a still image from a security camera of the person holding her campaign signs, their face obscured. 

“I’m running for the nonpartisan volunteer City Council seat that I was appointed to in April,” Cuadros said on Wednesday. “I expect scrutiny. Voters should question my decisions, examine my record and challenge my positions. And I have a responsibility to answer to them. I also believe we need to respect one another’s property, privacy, livelihoods and personal safety throughout this entire election.”

In the email, Ackland’s campaign said community members were returning signs to Cuadros’ campaign. Ackland said Cuadros and her campaign were “attempting to manufacture a scandal, first by arranging to have material returned to her home, and then using out-of-context footage to depict it as trespassing.”

The email included a statement from Springfield organizer Johanis Tadeo, who wrote, “Last week, upon learning that Jill Cuadros is registered as a Republican, three Latino-owned businesses decided to remove the signs they had displayed in support of her candidacy.”

According to Tadeo, he collected the signs at the request of Cuadros’ daughter and, along with another person, returned them to Cuadros’ home, where they spoke with her daughter. The security image posted by Cuadros shows that person, Tadeo said.

“The framing of her post and subsequent press conference insinuates he was removing signs from her property, when in fact he was returning them as requested,” Tadeo’s statement reads. 

In the email, Ackland wrote, “Any signs that were removed were by the request of business owners and were returned to Jill Cuadros’ campaign, at her campaign’s request.”

Ackland said no one affiliated with her campaign has trespassed or stolen signs. She called on Caudros to release the full security footage.

“I represent a progressive, positive change for Springfield, and I have every confidence that voters will see this ploy for what it is: a lie intended to deceive Springfield and distract from the true issues facing our city,” Ackland wrote. 

In a phone call Wednesday after Ackland’s campaign had provided their statement, Cuadros told a reporter, “I’m not accusing anyone of stealing signs from my property, neither did anyone get invited to my property.”

On Wednesday, Cuadros was joined by state Rep. John Lively, D-Springfield, who said he believes in nonpartisan local elections and that the respect between people running for office and the people supporting them is critical to the tone it sets for the community. 

“I’m honored to be able to stand here and support these efforts to encourage all people involved in elective politics to lower the temperature, respect our differences, discuss the issues and let the citizens then decide,” Lively said. 

Former state Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, said he feels there is “no place for party politics in local government.” 

“Nor should there be any place for negative campaigning or dirty tricks, that sort of thing,” Beyer said.

He said it is “wonderful” that there are people who are willing to give their time for the volunteer position.

“What we should be doing is focusing on what they believe they would like to do for the city and what the issues are,” Beyer said.

Springfield City Councilor Michelle Webber said one of the reasons people choose to live in Springfield is because of the sense of community they share. 

“We care about our neighbors. We support one another, and even when we disagree, we’ve always done our best to treat each other with respect,” Webber said. “That’s why this election season has been so difficult to watch.”

Also present at the event were Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon, Lane County Commissioner for Springfield David Loveall, Springfield City Councilor Steve Moe, former Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken and former Springfield City Councilor Joe Pishioneri.