This article reprinted courtesy of keoland.com, written by Erich Schaffhauser

BROWNS VALLEY, MN - The weeks leading up to an election can get nasty. But candidates and citizens in one Minnesota district say posters being hung around town are over the top.

They're printed with Browns Valley Mayor Jeff Backer's picture and a swastika in the background.

The posters don't have any references to a political race but Backer is running for a state senate seat. Both he and his Democratic opponent Keith Langseth say they do not condone the posters but they also don't know who put them up.

By Monday night, fourteen of those posters showed up around the small Minnesota town of Browns Valley. Backer and supporters took down nine on Friday. At least another four hung around town Monday.

"Whoever put those up are really the ones who need the sympathy to go out because it really shows their shortsightedness," Backer said.

Every poster Backer has found has a picture of him with a swastika in the background. Some have a picture of Hitler too and others have photos of Backer altered to look like Hitler.

"Without question, there's no place for that, not in this country anyway," Ken Warren said.

Warren lives in Browns Valley and has a Keith Langseth sign in his yard. Just as Langseth doesn't condone the posters, neither does Warren.

"There's other ways to display your favor or disfavor, nothing with a swastika by any means," Warren said.

Backer says the prints aren't slowing his campaign and he's moving forward. He’s not disheartened or threatened by the posters, just saddened someone would make them.

"Our election is really about something different. We do not want to focus on the trivial, meaning someone putting up these posters. What we want to focus on is what's important to the voters," Backer said.

Langseth said he didn't hear about the posters until Monday when a reporter called to ask him about them. He also said he doesn't want to make accusations but finds it suspicious that the Republican Party is informing the media about them.

To that, Backer said he and his supporters want to run a clean campaign based on issues and certainly didn't put out pictures of Backer with a swastika. But he adds he doesn't believe Langseth's campaign did either.