Accusations of stolen yard signs and campaign dirty tricks are nothing new in New Hampshire politics. But the addition of Apple technology has kicked one story up to a new level in the Second Congressional District GOP primary.
Casey Crane, a long-shot candidate in the NH-02 primary, is demanding a full investigation into opponent Bill Hamlen, claiming his campaign tried to frame her for allegedly stealing signs.
Both Crane and Hamlen are polling in single digits, well behind Lincoln entrepreneur Vikram Mansharamani and Weare activist Lily Tang Williams. But that hasn’t lowered the heat in what is turning into a grudge match between Crane, a former state representative from Nashua, and Hamlen, a Hanover businessman and first-time candidate.
And according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, the Nashua Police Department is now involved.
The story began, according to the Hamlen campaign, with frustration over widespread theft of its campaign signs.
“Over the last few weeks, our yard signs have been vandalized and stolen,” said a Hamlen campaign spokesperson. “Our campaign placed AirTags in a sign to get to the bottom of it. That sign was stolen, and we gave that information to local authorities.”
The Hamlen campaign insists that’s the end of the matter as far as it is concerned.
“Bill Hamlen is focused on securing the border, lowering costs, and protecting and persevering New Hampshire’s way of life for the Second District,” the campaign said in a statement. They are leaving the sign issue to the Nashua police.
That Airtag reportedly led police to Crane’s neighborhood. And that, Crane said during a press conference last week, is no coincidence.
She says the Airtag was planted in an attempt to smear her campaign in retaliation for Crane pointing out that Hamlen was recently a registered Democrat.
“This is all about [Hamlen] being a Democrat and I outed him,” Crane said.
Worse still for a GOP primary candidate, Crane points out that Hamlen voted in the Democratic First in the Nation presidential primary in January, a fact Hamlen has acknowledged.
The bad blood between the two candidates led to a confrontation at an Aug. 17 barbecue at the Winchester VFW, Crane said.
The same day, someone from Hamlen’s staff went to the Nashua Police Department to report Crane stole a Hamlen campaign lawn sign, Crane alleges.
“As soon as I said that, they did this,” Crane said.
Several Nashua police officers went to Crane’s home looking for the sign the same day. She claims officers told her that not only did they get a report that she stole a plastic campaign law sign, but the Hamlen campaign had proof. The Hamlen team secured an AirTag device to the sign and its signal indicated it was at her property, she said.
Stealing political campaign signs is punishable by a $1,000 fine in New Hampshire. Crane claims members of Hamlen’s team were showing off an AirTag during the VFW BBQ, saying they attach them to all of the campaign signs.
But, according to Crane’s neighbor, James Down, whoever put up the tagged Hamlen sign went to the wrong address. Days before the police were scouring the neighborhood, Down said his teenage son and his friend found an AirTag in the grass in the front yard. Down took it, assuming it belonged to his brother. He told NHJournal he didn’t see any Hamlen campaign sign on his property.
When police went looking for the stolen sign, Down was questioned as though he might have taken it.
“Why would I take signs? I’m not running for nothing,” Down said. “Who would steal a sign? And who would drop a $24 GPS on a sign?”
Police didn’t find any Hamlen sign at Crane’s house, or on her neighbor’s properties, Crane said. Now, Crane wants Hamlen and his campaign held accountable for filing a false police report.
Nashua Police did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Deputy Attorney General James Boffetti said his office is in communication with Nashua officers about the incident.
“They have shared the information with us and we have reviewed their reports, but the case remains with Nashua [Police],” Boffetti said.
State records show Hamlen was a registered Democrat when he voted in the First in the Nation primary earlier this year. Hamlen says he was casting a “protest vote,” and that he’s a longtime Donald Trump supporter.
“I have contributed to and voted for Donald Trump in the past, and I’ve donated to Donald Trump’s campaign again this year,” Hamlen said in a statement.
“I saw what the Democrats were doing, I saw how undemocratic their process was, and believed as many Granite Staters do that Joe Biden was one of our worst presidents in history. Knowing that Donald Trump would safely win the Republican primary, I decided to exercise my rights and cast a protest vote against Joe Biden by voting for (Robert K. Kennedy Jr.).”
Crane argues that, even if the campaign put an Airtag on a sign, what are the odds that, of the many campaign signs across the district, that specific sign would be stolen?
“It is too much coincidence that all those Hamlen people were on our lawns and right after an AirTag Tracking device was found in front of my house,” Down said in a statement. “In my opinion, it’s a total setup. There was no sign ever on that AirTag. I know it was perfectly clean; I held it. There was no residue or tape. That tracker was never attached to any sign. In my opinion, they got the wrong house with their dirty tricks and got caught.”
Beyond the Airtag intrigue, the political realities remain. None of the candidates in the race have broken out of the pack, and two recent polls show Mansharamani and Tang Williams as the only two candidates with double-digit support. In the St. Anselm College Survey Center poll, the two are tied at 16 percent, while in the UNH Survey poll, Mansharamani is first with 21 percent, followed by Tang Williams at 17 percent.
But that may all be changing. Campaign finance reports show Hamlen, who’s already loaned his campaign $150,000, just put in another $300,000. With so many undecided voters, that could make a difference with just two weeks to go.
The Cook Political Report rates the Second Congressional District as likely to remain Democrat.
