Your Vote Counts On The Local Level

If you are going to complain about the parking meters, slumlords, trashed neighborhoods, crime, absentee landlords, blight, homeless issue, graffiti, lack of government transparency, lack of city services, illegal dumping, traffic, lack of community engagement, lack of green space, unsafe streets, lack of youth programs, etc then you need to get out and vote on May 19th for the candidates that you feel will do their best to address the issues in the city. It is the local government who makes decisions that can affect your life right here in Allentown. Local elections determine what happens in your neighborhood, from your water to your recyclables, from your public safety to your quality of life. Your vote doesn't matter? Truth is, local elections are where the power of one vote is greatest. Local elections are frequently decided by a handful of votes. This year’s election will be your opportunity to exercise that one vote and have a voice in who represents you in our local government. By Julian Kern, candidate for Allentown City Council

Addendum:  Julian Kern For City Council Website

Pawlowski Manager Makes Honest Man Of Morning Call Reporter

Mike Fleck has made Daryl Nerl an honest man. I don't mean that they got married, but Fleck has hired Nerl to promote Pawlowski for his senate campaign. As a former reporter for the Call, Daryl did that anyway, making him very unobjective as a journalist. After being laid off by the Call during a major downsizing, he landed at a local AOL Patch. Now, at last, he can apply his political bias as a paid spin doctor, for Fleck's political campaign consulting. In addition to managing Pawlowski's senate campaign, Fleck has the entire Pawlowski stable of candidates; The PAC(s) includes the Allentown School Board, Allentown City Council and Lehigh County Commissioners. These campaigns are being financed by the NIZ Barons, bringing us some of the best candidates money can buy.

EMAIL From Ed Pawlowski

Dear Friend, We hope this email finds you doing well. We would like to take a moment of your time to tell you about Allentown School Board candidates Elizabeth Martinez, Audrey Mathison, Charlie Thiel and Marc Telesha and their plans to restore the community’s confidence in the Allentown School District. Allentown is becoming a better place to live and work every day, but the community has lost faith in the city’s school district. The staff has been reduced to less than bare bones, school buildings are not as safe as they should be and the quality of education is suffering. We aim to restore the community’s pride and confidence. With the right leadership, we believe we can make this once-great district the best in the Lehigh Valley. To restore the community’s confidence in the district, Elizabeth, Audrey, Charlie and Marc will do the following: 
Work to restore proper student to staff ratios 
Work to improve the safety and security of our students and staff 
Hire a more diverse staff that reflects the community
Partner with business and other government entities to promote programs in the best interests of our students 
Provide support for school athletics, which drives school pride
For more information on Elizabeth, Audrey, Charlie and Marc and the rest of Citizens for a Better Allentown slate of candidates, please visit www.citizensforabetterallentown.com. Thank you for your time and consideration and please don’t forget to vote for Elizabeth Martinez, Audrey Mathison, Charlie Thiel and Marc Telesha on May 19. Citizens for a Better Allentown

Mayor Pawlowski, your letter begs a few questions. You do realize that two of the four candidates that you're promoting are already on the school board, which you apparently find deficient? How will electing your chosen candidates achieve these goals without significantly increasing taxes? Do you honestly feel that these goals are not shared by the existing board, and the other candidates that are running? Do you understand that democracy and the city is better served if not all candidates, on every board and council, are chosen by you? Please stop confusing Reilly's new buildings with a better city. As mayor, please stop saying that quality education is lacking in Allentown.

Lehigh Valley's Political Lethargy

Political apathy in the valley crosses most sectors of the community. If it's inter-city low income people preoccupied with day to day food and shelter issues, or the well heeled in the suburbs, few elections provide choice at the ballot. Last fall, I observed that the majority of incumbent state representatives were unchallenged. Despite the Wehr's Dam controversy, come November, South Whitehall residents will have three choices for three slots. Uncontested elections have almost become the norm in the Lehigh Valley. There are a few exceptions. The Allentown School Board race this year is highly contested. The local Syrian Community tends to vote, and vote en masse. Although election returns indicate higher turnout in the more affluent areas, that demographic seldom produces candidates on the local level. There will be no waiting in line at the primary election next month.

South Whitehall Clerical Staff Unionizes

molovinsky on allentown was late to press this morning, running down a tip that South Whitehall's clerical staff unionized. Sources verify that this past Thursday the staff voted 9 to 4 to join the Teamsters. Apparently, the idea to organize grew out of a employee dismissal last summer, affiliated with the Tonkin tax embezzlement case. Although no criminality was ever suspected by the affected employee, her competence came into question. This fall the discourse between the employees and commissioners was further heightened by the unanimous vote to change the defined pension system, from benefit to contribution, although only future employees would be affected by the change. The received tip said that the staff unionization resulted from "meddling" by the Commissioners. Although unionizing does indeed seem unusual for a small staff of only 13 employees, it's not clear if "meddling" by the Commissioners is a bad thing. The residents of South Whitehall deserve elected representatives who are engaged, and willing to guard the taxpayers best interests. On a personal note, as an advocate engaged on the Wehr's Dam and other issues, I've had only courteous and helpful responses from all staff members over the years.

The Morning Call's Pawlowski

There used to be a billboard on the New Jersey border that said You have a friend in Pennsylvania. It can be said that want-a-be senator Pawlowski has a friend in The Morning Call. Actually, it's sort a new friend. Neither current reporter on today's Call article really knows that much about Pawlowski. Although Pawlowski has only been in the valley less than twenty years, the reporters have been here only twenty minutes. Their frame of reference is the Morning Call archives, whose stories were as distorted then, as they are now. If historical accuracy and truth are what you're looking for, this blog is one of the few places that you're going to find it. In today's timeline on Pawlowski, they write that in 05 he beat former mayor Heydt in what was then the most expensive mayoral race in Allentown's history. Actually, there was a third candidate then, a self-funded independent. Although I only got a few percentage of the vote, I attended over thirty events with Pawlowski. Night after night, I suffered through his same power point presentation, and heard his well rehearsed feigned sincerity.

Because Pawlowski has been mayor while Browne and Reilly created the greatest state sponsored private windfall in history, his campaign manager has a story to tell. We here in Allentown know the real story. That story involves dirty streets, crime and no improvement in the quality of life. So, plug your $2 into the parking meter, and listen to the Morning Call's version.

UPDATE:  Ed Pawlowski has officially announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate this morning.  From his website :  I intend to spend the majority of my time calling donors and  doing the hard work required to defeat an incumbent senator.  Ok Ed, but who will be running the city for the next  two and half years of your mayoral term?