And he picked on the WRONG guy’s sign to boot. That would be Grokster Norm Silber’s sign (who just announced his bid for re-election to the NH House where he served on the Election Law Committee). And he’s a lawyer admitted to both the NH and FL bench. He’s also not an unknown entity in town having served on the Budget Committee (the last year, serving as the Chair). He’s also a “pitbull” when people do wrong things (or suspected of doing such and trying to get away with it). Which is what Jim Babcock did. He thought he got away – clean and quick. He got out of his truck where Norm’s sign was put on “neutral ground” (Salt Marsh Pond Road and Cherry Valley Road if you know the Gilford area) and threw it into his truck:
Smooth move, fool. Known for being a partisan Progressive here in Town with a hair trigger temper, he’s just help cement a stereotype that we on the Right have of the Left – no respect for other peoples’ property when it gets in the way of their Narrative. Or in his case, his anger towards Norm as someone that simply disagrees with him politically.
Someone that knows Norm saw the theft in real time, captured the truck’s license plate, and turned it into the Gilford Police department. An officer was assigned promptly.
That officer tracked down the perp – Jim Babcock from the license plate. Knowing he was stupid enough to have been caught dead to rights, he ‘fessed up. No, the evidence was NOT present – he thought so poorly of Norm’s private property he just threw it into the woods. No, not a large sum of money on a per one printed sign / wire frame each but it adds up during a campaign for an elected position that pays $100/year. From my standpoint, this is both the Principle of the Thing and the Law of the Thing. Norm wrote me (yes, I was one of the folks Norm told – for full disclosure, he writes here at GraniteGrok and I consider him a friend):
The officer said the perp was going to retrieve the sign from the woods where he had thrown it and bring it to the PD. I have been told that he will be charged with a misdemeanor and that I can try to pursue a $1,000 civil penalty under the applicable RSA.
$1,000 penalty. Semi-retired lawyer. Served on the NH House Election Law Committee. WHAT do you think Norm is going to DO? Sorry, you can be moron grade and still have a preview of Jim Babcock’s future. Start writing that check and start lawyering up, dude!
Anger management classes, to which I can attest to, may be in his future as well (see below), depending on the Judge. Not only that – learning to always tell the truth. And not do STUPID STUFF:
Well, the perp just showed up at my door to “apologize.”
THAT was almost as big an element of Dumbness as first thinking “*I* think I’m going to pull over RIGHT here for a moment”. I think Babcock MAY learn that he just lite the fuse of a stick of political dynamite by “dropping by” Norm’s house unannounced and unsolicited (see above, the obvious reasons) in trying to CYA himself:
I told him that an apology was not acceptable and that he better have a lot of money to cover his lawyer and the civil penalty, and that I would not enable bad behavior by in any way condoning what he did. We do not have “do-overs” for criminal behavior.
This is a great example of “the broken window” of enforcement – if the Law is ignored in the little things, it will just lead to being ignored in bigger and bigger items. Just ask Rudy Giuliani about the benefits of “Broken Window” arrests worked for making NYC safe after the horribleness of the previous administrations.
Sidenote: and which we are seeing with these riots all over again as Democrat mayors and Governors are giving the black bloc the “distance to destroy” all over again.
And then it became clear that Jim Babcock lied. Did he lie to the officer or did he lie to Norm?
He had told the officer that he did it because he was angry. I asked him why he did it and he said he did not know why. I asked him why he chose to do that to my sign and he said he dd [sic] not know why.
I think he lied to Norm. While stealing a sign (and we at GraniteGrok have chronicled partisan politicians, family members, friends, or campaign workers blatantly and willfully stealing other candidates / advocacy signs – welcome to that infamous club, Mr. Babcock!) is bad and many just toss it off as “normal politics”, lying about it is going to make it just that much worse when the Judge hears testimony. While diminutive in action on a one per case, the legality of it rises far above its perceived weight class. It is, as blithering Gropey Joe once said to the LightBringer “this is a BFD” and has been treated as such in the past (just wish they’d treat voter fraud just as much).
So why DID you lie to Norm, Mr. Babcock? With that, he will find out, as I said above, he picked on the wrong person.
I have had some older data from the RNC as I’ve helped local candidates. Every time I’ve looked him up (he literally lives around the corner from me), he is listed as a “Hard Democrat”. In this case, clueless or uncaring that he might get caught. Certainly a visible example that he doesn’t care for The Rule of Law.
Oh, one suggestion for him (above and beyond the obvious “LEAVE OTHER PEOPLES’ STUFF ALONE!); if you are going to apologize for doing bad things, don’t make yourself a victim (“my high school aged son passed away 15 years ago”) or “do you know what I do” (as in running the Francoeur-Babcock Basketball Tourney) as the leading excuses for bad behavior. I think Norm put it best:
BFD. Like that should excuse bad behavior.
No, Norm is wrong about this. It IS a BFD. He is also certainly right that a 68 year old man that was a counselor to middle school kids before retiring should have known better.
But it isn’t BAD behavior – it is an example of a willful act of CRIMINAL behavior by a partisan Progressive.
Sidenote: this is akin to the nasty letter he left in my snail mailbox 15 years ago. Does your wife know that you did that, Mr. Babcock? Does she know what you actually WROTE in that letter? I still HAVE that letter (in the cloud) and I’ve thought about publishing from time to time. Jus’ saying.
Anger management indeed.
