Gary Johnson campaign takes down modified Houston Chronicle editorial cartoon

Johnson's post A Facebook post from Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson posted Wednesday morning featured a cartoon by Houston Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson. But, the wording had been altered and credit to Anderson was removed. less Johnson's post A Facebook post from Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson posted Wednesday morning featured a cartoon by Houston Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson. But, the wording had been altered ... more Photo: Facebook Photo: Facebook Image 1 of / 59 Caption Close Gary Johnson campaign takes down modified Houston Chronicle editorial cartoon 1 / 59 Back to Gallery

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson posted on Facebook a cartoon of a crowd saying "I'd vote for Gary Johnson if he had a chance to win."

The catch: That's not what the cartoon originally said. The signature of the artist - Nick Anderson of The Houston Chronicle - was crudely marked out in Johnson's post. And, the campaign never received permission to use the image.

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The post went up Wednesday morning. Several friends tagged Anderson on Facebook, who immediately tweeted in response.

"@GovGaryJohnson is a thief. His official FB page stole my art, crossed out my name and changed the words #ruleoflaw," Anderson tweeted.

Johnson's post was shared 30,000 times and elicited nearly 1,000 comments within four hours.

The original cartoon, published in November 2014 ahead of the Texas gubernatorial election, showed a large crowd of people saying, "We didn't vote because it wouldn't make a difference." That cartoon had Anderson's signature and The Houston Chronicle name in the upper right corner.

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Anderson opted not to report Johnson's campaign to Facebook, but to deal with the issue himself.

"I had a feeling if I just shamed them it would be a lot faster," Anderson said. "And, it was."

A second Facebook post and a tweet first prompted Johnson's people to give Anderson credit for the altered cartoon, then pull the image down completely.

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Johnson's spokesman, Joe Hunter, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon posting the cartoon without credit or permission "was a mistake" and the campaign sought to take it down as soon as it came to their attention.

A man identified on Twitter as "Aristotle Grumpus" tweeted Wednesday afternoon that he made the cartoon on Reddit and apologized for making the change.

Anderson said people use his cartoons without permission frequently, but a gentle warning is usually enough to put an end to the problem.

"If you change it, I'm immediately not friendly," Anderson said.