Campaign signs that attacked a mayoral candidate by using a caricature of a Communist Asian leader brought protests and was widely denounced in Lewiston, Maine, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The signs targeted candidate Ben Chin, a third-generation American whose grandparents immigrated from China. They read, “Don’t vote for Ho Chi Chin’’ and “Vote for more jobs not more welfare.’’

The signs also contained the hammer and sickle of Communist symbolism and a caricature of Ho Chi Minh, the former Communist leader of Vietnam.

The creator of the signs, Joseph Dunne, took some of them down because of tenant complaints, but refused to apologize for what he agreed was a “personal’’ attack on Chin.


Chin, a Democrat, is one of four challengers to two-term incumbent Mayor Robert Macdonald. Last month, Macdonald attempted to propose a bill that would make public the identity of every person receiving welfare benefits from the state. The bill did not move forward because no lawmakers were willing to sponsor the legislation.

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