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A congressional candidate confronted a man he believed was stealing campaign signs near 71st Street and Yale Avenue.The man was later identified as a Tulsa city councilor, who says the signs violated city code and were legally removed.Nathan Butterfield, who is running for Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District seat, criticized the incident through his campaign, calling the removal of the signs “pathetic.” Tulsa City Councilor Phil Lakin said the issue was not political.According to Lakin, the signs violated multiple city ordinances governing campaign signage.Tulsa’s sign regulations prohibit campaign signs larger than 16 square feet, signs placed without a property owner’s permission, signs located on public property or medians, and signs placed within street right-of-way areas.Lakin said Butterfield’s campaign signs exceeded the city’s size limit and that some were placed on private property without permission.“They were 32-square-foot signs where 16 square feet is the maximum, and two of those signs were on private property without the private property owner’s permission,” Lakin said.Butterfield’s campaign did not respond directly to the allegations about the signs violating city rules.Butterfield was unavailable for an interview, according to his campaign.In a statement released by a campaign consultant, the campaign criticized Lakin’s actions and accused him of focusing on campaign signs instead of city issues.“How pathetic that liberal council member Phil Lakin spends more time ripping down campaign signs than doing his actual job, like addressing Tulsa’s homelessness problem,” the statement said.“Machine politicians like Phil are exactly why Nathan is in this race.Tulsans deserve better.” Lakin said he attempted to explain the ordinance violations to Butterfield and denied targeting the candidate.“He was highly frustrated and highly unprofessional in a lot of ways,” Lakin said.“I continued to try to help him understand the law and that I was not targeting him.” Lakin added that he has removed signs belonging to multiple candidates and businesses over the years as part of ongoing sign abatement efforts.“I’ve taken them up for auctions, restaurants, politicians, health supplements, junk removal — a wide variety of things,” Lakin said.“Hundreds of thousands of signs have been removed by sign abatement volunteers.” Under Tulsa city ordinance, residents are allowed to remove signs that violate city code.The city also offers sign-abatement classes for volunteers interested in helping enforce the rules.