A drug taking, student screwing, aging hippie.
Posted on 12/30/2008 8:30:45 PM PST by Wegotsarah.com
Former visiting St. Olaf College professor Phillip Busse paid a $480 fine after pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft charges stemming from a series of political campaign sign thefts.
During the election season earlier this fall, Busse admitted to taking multiple John McCain/Sarah Palin lawn signs along a stretch of Hwy. 19 near St. Olaf in an article on the “Huffington Post,” a national news blog. After receiving several complaints about Busse’s article, members of the Rice County Sheriff’s Department met with Busse in late October and charged him with theft of three campaign signs.
The erstwhile journalist and professor appeared in Rice County Court on Dec. 1 and pled guilty to the theft, according to the Rice County Attorney’s Office. Shortly after being charged, Busse resigned his position in the St. Olaf College Media Studies department.
Because it is so difficult to track down individuals who do steal campaign signs, Sergeant Dave Stensrud of Rice County Sheriff’s Office said, rarely is the department able to prosecute the thefts. In this case, however, Busse’s own article, and a photo of the stolen signs in a recycling bin attributed to Busse, made the investigation fairly straight-forward.
“Normally you don’t have that much concrete evidence,” Stensrud said. “It was pretty quick from start to finish.”
In addition to the fine, Busse also faces an $880 restitution claim filed by the Scott and Rice County Republican parties for the material cost of 50 political signs — the number of missing signs for which the Republican parties believe Busse might be responsible.
“It was our feeling that he owed that amount to us,” said Kathy Dodds, the chair of the Rice County Republicans. “We did feel that the theft of those signs dug right into our pocketbook.”
In the article, titled “Confessions of a Lawn Sign Stealer,” Busse likened his thefts to an act of civil disobedience and said that stealing the signs was “one of the single most exhilarating and empowering political acts that I have ever done.”
“Whether he was a Democrat, Republican or Independent, what he did was so unusual and so brazen,” Dodds said.
Just another variation of democrat election fraud.
““Whether he was a Democrat, Republican or Independent, what he did was so unusual and so brazen,” Dodds said”
What he did was typically fascistic - denying free speech to one’s political opponents.
This guy needs to get out more, maybe ask a girl on a date or something.
Well said. I mean, get real, "Oh, wow, I just ripped a sign off my neighbor's lawn. I'm SOMEBODY!" I last had that particular form of exhilaration in the sixth grade.
The world is full of idiots!
“Whether he was a Democrat, Republican or Independent, what he did was so unusual and so brazen,” Dodds said.
Except it is mostly Dems/Liberals who resort to this idiotic behavior.
When Gerry Studds was still in the Congress, somebody on my old neighborhood was running around with a spray paint can doing red circle Xes on home owner campaign signs for that POS pinhead.
I thought that it was great and I certainly have no sympathy for that dead SOB teenage (statutory) raping Homo.
Justice is served.
Not by a long shot. This guy shows no remorse. He interfered with the free expression of his neighbors and interfered in the political process. This jerk should have been sentenced to some hard, disgusting labor for at least 60 days with 5 years remaining. He should have then been paroled with the stipulation that if he ever did anything like this again, he would serve the remainder of the time doing hard labor. We are way too lenient on jerks like this.
A totally immature, self-absorbed twit. This is what the Academy has deteriorated into...the stench of decadence and rot sickens me.
He may be a college professor, but he’s also an idiot.
So why wasn’t he charged with multiple counts of trespassing?
Since when is it simple civil disobedience to deny other citizens their first amendment Constitutional rights? Honest to God, this guy has a mental disorder.
Then there's the icing on the cake. As a Democrat, this was his single most exhilarating political act in his life. Mine was voting. It's the same every election day. And if I catch some guy entering my property to take my signs, he better have insurance.
And to think parents and students go 10's of thousands of dollars into hock just to get indoctrinated by the likes of this.
Why am I not surprised that, as a journalist, he is so incompetent that stealing campaign signs is "more exhilarating and empowering" than writing.
Too bad the P0$ is allowed to vote. Most sign thefts are done by teens out on the prowl looking for a thrill, not a grown person. He has nothing more than a juvenile mind.
A drug taking, student screwing, aging hippie.
Sadly, having seen some, up close, when SirKit was an Asst. Prof for a year at a large midwestern Univ., I must agree.
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