Recently, a North Carolina Democratic county leader was arrested after allegedly stealing Trump signs near a roadway last week. Moore County, North Carolina, County Chair Lowell Simon faces two charges of misdemeanor larceny of political signs after he confessed to taking the Trump signs and keeping them in his car.
Moore, 68, is also running for a seat in the North Carolina State House of Representatives. Given North Carolina’s critical importance as a swing state, the alleged theft of the signs is troubling. According to reports, authorities witnessed Simon taking the signs before following him to his residence and confronting him on the issue. Following the incident, the Moore County Democratic Party announced that Simon had resigned from his position.
“The deputy, who was responding to an unrelated call at the time, later followed up at Simon’s residence, where the signs were found in his vehicle,” per a statement from the Sheriff’s office. After the signs were locating in Simon’s possession, they were confiscated and returned to the owner. “Simon admitted to removing the signs, which were then recovered and returned to their original owner,” he said.
Acknowledging his resignation, the Moore County Democratic Party wrote on Facebook, “While we appreciate the hard work and dedication he has shown to the Democratic Party and the community, the Moore County Democratic Party cannot and will not condone the tampering of political signs or any other illegal activity. Mr. Simon has offered an apology for his actions, as well as his resignation, both of which have been accepted by the MCDP.”
However, Simon attempted to defend his actions, explaining that he believed the Trump signs were obstructing other signs he had placed in support of Josh Stein, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate. He explained that he had been frustrated with his signs being interfered with for months, including other signs that supported Democrats.
“I’ve been telling people for years don’t touch opposition signs, but I was [mad],” he said, as reported by WRAL News, noting that his emotions got the better of him during the incident. “My worse angels got the better of me and I removed the signs,” he added. “I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t do it in the stealth of night or anything. I did it when it was five o’clock in the afternoon.”
Simon maintained that the law has to be upheld, accepting that he must face consequences for his actions. “If people are going to break the law, myself included, there should be consequences,” he said. “But, the law should be applied equally. I understand that sometimes you catch the criminal and sometimes you don’t, but it has to be applied equally.”
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The American Tribune recently reported on comments from former President Trump with Bloomberg News at The Economic Club of Chicago, which he sounded off on the reporter, telling him that he had been wrong on the economy “all your life.” Trump said, “What does the Wall Street Journal know I’m meeting with them tomorrow. What does the Wall Street Journal know? They’ve been wrong about everything.” He then called out the reporter, asserting, “So have you, by the way, you’ve been wrong…You’re wrong, you’ve been wrong. You’ve been wrong all your life on this stuff.”
Watch Trump below:
Featured image credit: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donald_Trump_campaign_sign.jpg