THOUGHT POLICE TO POLICE POLICE THOUGHTS? Cape Cod Man Demands Barnstable County Commissioners Screen Police/Sheriff for “Seditious Beliefs”

JANUARY 27, 2021

by Lonnie Brennan

(Note: Letter excerpts printed as presented without editing/corrections.)

In an extensive, more than 1,500-word letter to the all-Democrat Barnstable County Board of Commissioners, longtime Cape resident Steve Lipman urged action on the part of the commissioners to help determine if the local police, district attorney, and sheriff harbor seditious thoughts, which he claims would be born out of their support for President Donald J. Trump.

In short, Lipman wants to launch a serious of “forums” apparently to grill the police on where they stand with their support of President Trump, and apparently “screen” out those who don’t think like Lipman thinks.

“With the overtness in support of Donald Trump, by the DA and the Sheriff, and the broad support in general by the police of his candidacy, what do we really know in terms of the sentiments of those that hold positions, and not knowing creates mistrust,” Lipman wrote. “Seditious beliefs that the election was stolen cannot be reinforced by those in power and law enforcement attitudes are something that each of us must trust.”

In essence, if you believe that voter fraud occurred in the Trump/Biden matchup, you are seditious. You should not hold a job of public trust, you should be censored, expelled, cancelled. This flies in stark contrast to more than four years of what has been called Trump Derangement Syndrome manifesting itself with extremist liberals charging that President Trump colluded with the Russians to commit voter fraud. Despite more than $40 million and four years of investigations, not one shred of evidence was ever unearthed. However, when a non-Democrat even mentions the potential of voter fraud by team Biden, hell rains down upon him or her, and folks such as Lipman want them to lose their jobs.

Lipman dedicated the first 240 words of his letter to list his associations and accomplishments, including noting how he had previously (apparently briefly) hosted a local radio talk show but “it became clear when I worked for WXTK that alternative truths by the rantings from Rush Limbaugh, and alike, jarred my sense [of] reason and logic, and I was turned off by this brand of self promoting, demonizing entertainment.” Lipman noted that he “spent the better part of 42 years living and working, living and loving the Cape.”   

He went on to write that “those that have been elected, or appointed as the guardians of the Constitution by their oath to office, have a responsibility more than ever to make public the policies, procedures and institutional regulations that screen for those whose beliefs could impact the impartial and unbiased enforcement of public safety.”

His proposal to screen the police, DA, and sheriff would consist of a series of forums in which they would be grilled by the public. A public grilling? A public flogging?

“I call upon the Barnstable County Commissioners unanimous vote to support establishing and organizing an online forum that invites the police chiefs of each town, the District Attorney, and The Sheriff to participate. I further call upon each [of] them who are invited to join this online forum to examine the benefit to all, including themselves, by supporting this endeavor, so as to provide the public the reassurance required to build greater trust in those institutions they so honorably serve,” Lipman wrote.

Long-time WXTK talk show host Ed Lambert and his audience took umbrage with Lipman’s call to identify and expel (fire) any supporters of President Trump. “I don’t know about you, but I am telling you this letter from a guy that I know, Steve Lipman, is the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever read in my life.”

Lambert went on to read the letter, “the calling out of seditious behavior, and noted the libel, McCarthyism, left-wing group-think, social credit scores like the Chinese do to stifle free speech, cancel culture, no First Amendment,” and related ways Lipman and his like “seek to deny others their thoughts, their speech, their rights.”

Lambert’s show touched off a firestorm of reactions against the proposed “witch trials” with caller after caller questioning the sanity of Lipman, and by extension Democrat Sheila Lyons, the vice-chair of the commission. In the extensive discussions it was noted that the letter was apparently placed online and on the agenda by the request of the vice-chair, in an unusual move (a search back for more than 11 months revealed no other such letters/placements in the commissions’ archives. All prior items related to groups and actions, not individual demands.)

“We need to know how you think, how you believe, how you act, because you cannot be a police officer, if you supported Donald Trump,” is how Lambert summed up the Lipman letter.

“Unfortunately, I believe it’s time for everybody to get a little more familiar with fascism, because one of the key elements of fascism is suppression of the opposition,” one caller noted.

 Lambert echoed the sentiment: “This letter is a distinct call for making sure that those of you in law enforcement, on the air radio, whatever it might be, that there’s a danger. If you believe what we don’t believe, if you don’t believe in the progressive left aspect of things, then you should be shunned. You should be canceled. You should be asked to resign.”

“The Fiddler on the Roof, a magical movie,” one caller noted, “but it depicted what Stalin did. What Stalin did is he purged Soviet Russia of strong individuals. The Orthodox Jews had a remarkable relationship with God. They were never going to fall under the leadership of the tyrannical communist left. So, you know what Stalin did, it was too expensive to shoot them [all] with bullets, and he saw what the Nazis did with the Jews in building camps, so he basically took them from their farms to areas where they had no farms and let them starve, by the millions.”

For their part, following the firestorm on the Lambert show and beyond, at their Wednesday a.m. meeting, the commissioners did not discuss the letter. Instead, Democrat Chairman Ronald Bergstrom stated that the letter from Lipman was about the environment and a shooting range. Not one member spoke up and corrected the chair that the letter posted to their site had nothing to do with the environment or a shooting range. Lambert and his guests speculated that either the commissioners saw the storm and ducked, or else someone screwed up and there were two letters written the same date? Highly improbable, but speculation was that such a letter could be magically created to save the commissioners’ backsides.

At this time, multiple inquires have been made to the commission for clarification.

A review of the prior week’s meeting reveals that vice chair Lyons briefly introduced the letter, making mention of its content, and requesting that it be placed on the agenda.

So, the letter was introduced, placed on line, and then the board tapdances and runs for cover after being called out by Lambert?

Lambert’s and the Broadside’s direct inquiries to the commissioners have resulted in no explanation at this time.

More as we get it.

BARNSTABLE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ AGENDA:

LETTER AS POSTED ON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ WEBSITE: