Lehigh County Commissioners would be right at home in North Korea.

On Wednesday, there was a meeting of the Lehigh County Commissioners. At that meeting, they discussed repealing a resolution to put a term limits initiative for County Officeholders on the ballot in November. One of their reasons was that there would be too many uninformed voters participating this year because of the Presidential election.
      SAY WHAT?
      I always thought having more eligible voters involved in making a decision was a good thing, but the 8 to 1 Republican Commissioner majority doesn't want the 35,000 voter registration majority of the Democrats to have their fair say.
     That's sort of like the President of North Korea only holding elections when he knows he will win, dontcha think?
    I find it amazing that the "REFORM" gang of Three plus their allies are so open about their efforts to suppress any opportunity for the people to use their voice at the ballot box. How Ironic that people like Scott Ott who profess to be such devout supporters of the Constitution would so willingly act to subvert the intent of it.
   So much for Democracy. I guess they only believe in it when it only serves their means. Elections are only good things when the outcome is what you want. Welcome to the People's Republic of Lehigh County, ruled by 8 Republicans who don't want any ballot initiatives that would challenge their benign dictatorship by committee.  Maybe they admired how Saddam Hussein ran Iraq after all. They sure are acting a bit like the Ba'athist party did, excluding the rival religious sects from power.

   It should be noted that the referendum would allow present Executive Don Cunningham to run for a third term, something Commissioner Vice Chairman for life wannabe Scott Ott just can't have.

    Some reform team Ott, Mazziotti and Scheller have proved to be.  It looks like they have the "Incumbent Protection Plan"  all figured out. Same old political games, but they all have an "R" by their names.

Looks like Someone tinkered with the sign at PP&L Plaza

   My lovely wife and I had a nice meal at the Brewworks Wednesday night, and as we were walking to the car, she noticed that the "out" part of the display wasn't lit.
     Thank God for camera phones.

     You can take whatever you want from the message, I only felt it was worth sharing.

Did Pawlowski encourage Jaindl to "Ante Up?"

One nice thing about the Internet is it allows campaign finance reports to be posted online, where everyone can see them. Unfortunately, much like the newspaper, people can still refuse to read them or ignore them all together.
   I don't ignore any of them, what I do is try to read between the lines.

   And on that note, I want to point out something that all the various reporters in local media may have unintentionally, or intentionally overlooked when it comes to the 2011 campaign finance report for the Entity known as "Friends of Ed Pawloski."

   Mayor Pawlowski was not up for reelection in 2011, but he raised a boatload of cash from all over the state. The list of donors was a who's who of the influential.

   But if there was one donation that caught my eye, (and there were many) that made me question the motivation for it, it was one made on 12/5/2011 by the president of the American bank, one Mark Jaindl.

   The Jaindl name means much in the Lehigh valley, not just for Turkeys, McMansions, or the Mother of all Warehouse districts, it also is emblazoned on an entire wing at Lehigh Valley Hospital.
     Make no mistake, when the Jaindl family puts their name and fortune behind a project, you can bet that the project will happen. I'm not arguing whether they are right or wrong, and this isn't about the quarry or any sweetheart deals with Township officials. Besides, that is more of an issue for David Jaindl.

   This is about Mark Jaindl giving $2000 to Ed Pawlowski within days of his investing Jaindl money into the proposed riverfront development down by the Lehigh Structural Steel property.

    Now I personally think that the Jaindl family pushing this is great news. Developing the waterfront, especially as to the Neuweiler Brewery Property is something the city, and the County needs. I'm not thrilled with the EIT tax grab, but that's not my focus here either.

     My focus here is the appearance that Ed Pawlowski demanded tribute from Mark Jaindl to smooth the project along.
   Why do I think this way?

    Mark Jaindl has been here all his life, Ed Pawlowski a decade at most. Since Pawlowski ran for mayor in 2005, I can't find one previous financial contribution to DEMOCRAT Ed Pawlowski anywhere from a member of the Jaindl family, who happen to be staunch Republicans.

   Sure I could have missed them, but really, the one I write about is right there on page 21 0f 28 of the campaign finance report for all to see. It is only two entries above the entry for $2000 from Chris Perrucci. Why isn't anyone in the mainstream media asking questions about that?

    The problem is that the public has a right to know how their elected officials are using public funds, and it always seems like campaign donations are nothing more than bidders trying to get a piece of the pie.

    In Mr. Jaindl's case, he doesn't need the money, the better analogy appears to be that of a new player at the Arena table in Allentown being forced to buy his way into the game.

     Everything that is going on is LEGAL. But excuse me for thinking that it just isn't right.

   If done the right way, with the right motivations, The arena project and surrounding development COULD, revitalize our urban core. But if it becomes a cesspool of greed and manipulated overpriced contracts like other projects around the country before it, Allentown could end up like Trenton. I believe that having the Jaindl family in the mix will prevent that. But I also fear that faced with dealing with political corruption and other unsavory variables, they might cut their losses and bail. They are not fools to be easily parted with their money, and if they see money going down a toilet, they won't go along.

   In this case, the ends do not justify the means. I am an avid student of history, and one thing I read again and again is that eventually people get too greedy and it leads to their down fall. What is taking place in Allentown/Lehigh County has eerie similarities to the Michael Soloman/Glenn Reibman fiasco in Northampton County just over a decade ago.
Those who ignore the past are destined to repeat it. In Ed Pawlowski's defense, he didn't get here until after that "Soloman goes to prison" went down.

   But that is still no excuse.

Scott Ott proves that Slogans don't protect you from Stupidity

The movie was "Dumb and Dumber," but this past week Lehigh County residents were unfortunately treated to to a sequel in the real world, "The Dumbest!" starring Lehigh County Commissioner Scott Ott in the title role.
   Mr Ott ran for office decrying a 16% tax increase. He ran on the REFORM! Slogan, never once showing that he had any knowledge at all of how government worked, and no one dared ask publicly if he was qualified.
     Well, now there is indisputable evidence that Scott is NOT!

      MR. Ott and the rest of ther Commissioners have pushed onward with the reassessment despite a request from the County Executive to wait at least one year for the volatile housing market to stabilize.

      It is the law of unintended consequences, and here is why:

    While the asssessment at the County level is so called "revenue neutral" what Mr Ott didn't think about is that all the other municipal entities will use the new assessments to recalculate their revenues.

    For the always hungry School boards, this is like a buffet.

    All arguments about it being 20 years since the last reassessment aside, here is what will happen.

     Lets say you live on a block in East penn (Lower Macungie) where all the homes were built in 1991 and 1992. The most expensive home back then cost $160,000.  Since then more than 70% of the properties have changed hands, and since 2000, all of those that changed hands were purchased at a price of more than $200,000.
   All the property tax data for Lehigh County is easily accessible online, I urge everyone to go take a look and do some of their own calculations.
    But for the sake of argument. I would say it is a pretty even bet that the family still living in the $160k house is going to see a pretty hefty tax hike at the school district level. If you happen to live in Parkland, as I do, and your house is presently assessed at $!60 K, you pay about $3000 to PSD. you jack the Assessment up to at a minimum $200K, that is a 25% tax increase. That means instead of payimg Parkland around $3000, you will be paying $3750. MINIMUM!

   Gee, Mr Ott, you cried wolf over a 16% increase, where's your outrage now? And this is YOUR DOING! By overriding the County Executive's VETO, you and your team of reformers now OWN a hefty tax increase on the average homeowners, whether you meant it or not.
  
     But then of course, we all have to remember is that you have never paid property taxes in Lehigh County, and you change residences frequently. From Lewiston PA, To Kansas City Missourri, to Happy Vally, Pa, to Zionsville, to South Whitehall, to Lower Macungie. Mr Ott should use "I get Around" by the Beach Boys as a personal theme song.

    But he doesn't own it not like he owns the impending PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.

  Thank the rest of the Reform Team for us. We won't fotget.

Gingrich proposes moon base and eventual 51st State, Mayor Pawlowski interested in being its first Governor.

Newt Gingrich is a Republican running for President. Newt (Best name for a prospective President, EVER!) has proposed that the United States establish a base on the moon by 2020, and eventually create a new American State.
    Newt has endured the predictable ridicule for his proposal, but lost in the laughter was a statement from mayoral Spokesman and advisor Mike Fleck that the Mayor would be willing to move his family to the moon, take up residence, and run for Governor of the  "NEWT" State after first serving as mayor of "Gingrichville."
    When the news of Pawlowski's dream was announced in the local Allentown Chronicle, Residents unanimously supported the idea. Many hoped that he might take all his cronies, campaign donors, and other local political elements with him. One wag suggested that Sen Pat Browne could go with him, but changed their mind when warned that Lehigh County E.I.T payments could be transferred from the County.to help build a hockey arena on the moon base.
     The current EIT arrangement would expire around 2030, just in time to be transferred to the Moon, where many would argue it is already being spent.

Mike Schware endorsed to fill Eckhart's term

   It wasn't a big secret that the Intergovernmental Committee of the Lehigh County Commissioners would be meeting Tuesday night to interview the three candidates to replace Glenn Eckhart. The Voters promoted Eckhart in November and he took office as County Controller a few weeks ago, after defeating incumbent Tom Slonaker for the job.
    But for some reason, other than 6 of the 8 current commissioners,  three county employees, and the three applicants, the only two people in attendance to witness the proceedings were me and Express Times reporter Colin McEvoy. Read his account HERE
     The Intergovernmental Committee consist of  Republicans Scott Ott (Chairman), Tom Creighton, Vic Mazziotti, and Democrat Dan McCarthy, but Republicans Brad Osborne and Percy Daugherty were present as well. Norma Cusick was the first applicant to be interviewed, and she passed out her resume.
      Mrs Cusick rambled on in her introduction about her Republican street cred as a fiscal conservative and her roles in the community, serving on the Lehigh County Authority, the Allentown Public Library board, and as a Township Supervisor in Salisbury. I was quickly put off by her trumpeting of her never voting to raise taxes. I was amused later when during questioning by none other than reform team member Scott Ott she admitted that she had voted for tax hikes as a Salisbury School district board member, but only because of those pesky unfunded mandates.
    There was no question that Mrs Cusick had the requisite time put in doing public service to apply for the job, but it was painfully obvious, at least to me that she wasn't the best candidate.
     Next up was Dan Paschke, a Coopersburg resident and a legislative aide to State Representative Justin Simmons. I would like to think that Dan had good intentions in applying but his answers to the Commissioners questions exposed his naivete and made him look like a political opportunist.
     Paschke had no opinion on a bi-county health commission, and was cautious answering questions about whether he was worried about voting on issues while serving as a legislative aide. It should be noted that former Commissioner Democrat Kurt Derr worked for State Senator Lisa Boscola in recent years without problems. Neither Paschke or Cusick seemed to have a grasp about what being a commissioner entailed, both spoke that they would work to curtail any services duplicated at the County level to cut spending. The two conveniently ignore the fact that the Commissioners and current executive Don Cunningham have been doing just that for the past 6 years, but hey, it sounds good.
     Last up was Allentown  resident and CPA Mike Schware. For his introductory statement, Mike simply read about his life history, growing up in Allentown, his resume, and living with his wife and two daughters on 16th street. He didn't spout any political slogans or agenda, but did accentuate his experience as an accountant and a person willing to work with others of different and varying opinions. I'm not saying that Paschke or Cusick could nor or would not be willing to work well with the other Commissioners, I am just pointing out that Schware focused on serving the electorate over using political catch phrases to try and get appointed to a job.
     I was glad to see Mike get recommended to the full board for appointment. The Three Republicans voted for him, but Dan McCarthy did point out that Norma Cusick's long history of public service made her his preference.  Even though they were present for the interviews, Commissioners Osbourne and Daugherty did not vote, but they did ask questions of each applicant.
     The most bizarre and off topic question was asked by Commissioner Tom Creighton, who asked each applicant where they thought the U.S. Dollar would be in the near future. It was either a genius question to see if they had a grasp of how the strength of the dollar effects municipal bond and or credit ratings or an example of how clueless an officeholder can be. You decide.
      Dan McCarthy asked if each applicant had plans to run for a full term in two years and each was up front that it was likely but predicated on how well they felt they could do the job after two years.
    On their views of the Bi County health bureau, Cusick was for it, Pasche admitted he needed more information before taking a position, and Schware had reservations about how it would be funded, but I got the impression that while he was against it, he would be open to compromise if it could be funded without drastic cost to the taxpayers.

    That's all for now, I will have something else in a couple of days.

"Survivor, Republican Primary" is a God Awful reality show.

  I'm not the amazing Kreskin. I'm not psychic, nor do I pretend to be. ESPN has a show in during the day called "NUMBERS DON'T LIE". I am a serious believer in numbers and data. I don't agree with how some read certain statistics and data, especially when it comes to elections, turnout projections, and results. So I am slightly amused at all the excitement over two early Presidential primaries in two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, that I find hard to accept as a reasonable slice of the American consciousness.
   Lets be real, in the United States of America, White people make up less than 50% of the population, but we are gauging aspiring Presidential hopefuls on two states that are damn near 90% white and make up less than 1.5% of the Population. Iowa has around 3 million and New Hampshire 1.3 Million, according to the last census. There's 308 million plus here now in all of the country. Why are we magnifying their importance?
     Mitt Romney won and Ron Paul came in second. All the various messages aside, I believe that average Americans of every creed and color, White, Black, Hispanic, Christian, Muslim, Jew or whatever, will see thru all the political rhetoric and vote for what they see as the safest course to take.
     And that course is likely to stay with our incumbent, whether some like it or not.

      The politics of destruction that I see being waged by the far right of the Republican party to consolidate themselves in a primary is one that turns off the American public in the General.
     As I watch the PBS coverage, I am struck by the pundits who felt that voters chose Romney because "while voters aren't enthusiastic for Romney, they chose General motors and played it safe."
     The richer and older you were, the more likely Republicans were to vote for Romney. This from columnist Mark Shields. That's a telling observation. Romney got 45% of the vote from voters who made over $100,000. That's great, but in the general, how many Americans make that much these days?
    Exit polls also showed voters chose Romney because they felt him electable.

   This is all wonderful stuff, and if this were a football playoff game the pundits would be hypothesizing how great a chance Romney has in the upcoming Super Bowl In November.

    I look at the Republican Primary as a bad season of a reality show. The networks are hyping false drama to build interest, so people will watch and care. But most viewers, er voters, don't really give a damn. The Republicans have not put forth any viable candidates with good alternatives to what President Obama is pushing. Lets be honest, Who in the Republican party do you see as Presidential?
   
     There's no one that I see, and the Republicans have only themselves to blame for disappointing the American public.