While the media institutional memory is light, I was there since before day one. I actually ran against Pawlowski in his first election as a long shot independent. The Morning Call never even ran my picture and excluded me from their debate, but this reality report is about Pawlowski, and more so, Alan Jennings.
Jennings has been Pawlowski's champion since the day they took him away. Considering that every city contract was awarded on the basis of contributions to Pawlowski, instead of value to the city, I question Jennings' compass. Jennings even suggests city hall might want to take advantage of his experience when released. When you run a sacred cow like Community Action as Jennings did, such organizations receive little to no scrutiny. They are a vessel for people and corporations to feel good about themselves, and perhaps get a tax deduction in the bargain. Over the years this blog has questioned several of their programs. In my opinion, they bought people fish markets, rather than giving them fishing poles, There always have been sacred cows, and there has always been cynics...Blogging was made for us cynics.
Does Ed's family still live in Allentown?
ReplyDeleteJennings corporations is a criminal organization that is a smaller microcosm of allentown PA's reillyville with the same designs.
ReplyDeleteanons@6:55 & 7:40: In the future, comments such as yours may well not appear.
ReplyDeleteanon@6:55: Personal questions requiring answers don't add much to dialogue.
anon@7:40:Jennings is retired. CALV is a wasteful feel good, but not criminal. NIZ is a waste of diverted tax dollars, but not criminal, on the contrary, created by the state house.
Alan Jennings specialized in legal extortion. While morally bankrupt it always stayed within the bounds of the law. Every bank executive and politician knew what Alan’s price was.
DeleteJennings has always been an arrogant SOB who thinks he is WAY more important than he is! He thinks he has made a real difference in the Lehigh Valley when in reality few know who he is and his impact he been negligible
ReplyDeleteanon@9:03: I disagree about the impact. There was a group of social agencies whose generosity helped make Allentown a destination for those looking for assistance.
ReplyDeleteGood point Mike! Jennings agency and work has actually made Allentown worse !
ReplyDelete9:03 - If you measure Jennings’ success in terms of growing his non-profit, he was incredibly successful.
ReplyDeleteIf you measure Jennings’ success in terms of making the city a better place, Jennings has been an abysmal failure.
MM - You say that CACLV is a wasteful feel good (which is correct), but you add that it’s not “criminal”. I’ll agree that no charges have been filed (so no convictions have been made), but I also know that fraud seems to be rampant in one-party, democrat cities across the country and that CACLV has received MILLIONS in federal money over the years.
So yes, I find it suspicious that Allentown City Hall continues to measure success for the group by the number of people served instead of how much things like poverty are reduced.
I also find it interesting that Jennings is so invested in getting Pawlowski out of jail early. It’s almost like he needs Pawlowski to keep quiet about something.
@10:08
DeleteThe difference between a “process evaluation” and an “outcome evaluation”.
anon@10:08: IMO the term one party city is getting old. Most cities are "one party", and the D's have no monopoly on corruption. I don't believe that Pawlowski has anything on Jennings or anybody else, or he and his lawyer would have played those cards.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats might not have a monopoly, but it’s like comparing McDonalds to someone selling burgers off their home grill.
DeletePlease let me know where the large scale corruption is in Republican cities, we can go after that together.
The difference I see between the parties as far as corruption goes is that republicans will try to find it to get rid of it. Democrats seem to use it as a strategy and look how to get their slice of it.
Pawlowski still doesn’t think he did anything wrong, because that’s the system the democrats put in place.
Jennings did indeed have a singular brilliance.
ReplyDeleteNo one, locally, ever, in living memory had his genius for self promotion.
No one.
Jennings single handedly prevented a generation of emerging grass roots leaders and activists from advancing into leadership roles. Jennings consistently tool all the oxygen out of any room
he was in and all the ink of the front page of the Morning Call.
No one else at CLCLV mattered.
No one else in the Lehigh Valley mattered.
He was a Superstar!
Jennings had every fawning “journalist” on speed dial. Jennings could get an announcement that he was preparing to release an announcement.
Anyone who denies this wasn’t there.
Alan was a corrosive influencer who was not driven by money or political office. (He never had the courage to actually run for office. The thought of a possible defeat was inconceivable and being a back bencher an affront to the ego.)
Then, as now, Alan Jennings lives for adulation.
He is a Savior.
He has a second chance to deliver his surrogate son, a Second Coming, and he means to insert himself front and center.
This time there won’t be any highfalutin
Federal Judge or inaccessible jury of 12 citizens standing in his way.
It’s all about “friendship”.
Just ask him.
Alan Jennings, G_d bless him, was a reliable and steady voice for the little people.
DeleteAlan Jennings was Senior Class President at Emmaus H.S., and no one, however critical of him they may be, can ever take that away from him.
ReplyDeleteEd Pawlowski was a great Mayor. He lived right near downtown and he talked to me personally on at least four or five occasions always really friendly. I know he helped people and that he loved his city. He transformed the downtown and created the NIZ and built the arena. He didn’t do anything wrong that every politician doesn’t do. I know that he made some mistakes but I think that his sentence was way too harsh. Ed has apologized at least twice.
ReplyDeleteThe law should be changed so that Mayor Pawlowski can run again. I believe that he has the support to win.
Signed, another Ed Pawlowski supporter.