Lehigh County Poor House

The Lehigh County Alms House, or poor house, goes back to the 1840's. Today, 175 years later, now known as Cedarbrook Nursing Home, the residents are still fighting for their dignity. A few years ago I visited the county pauper's grave-field. It is now separated from the nursing home by the 309 highway at Hamilton Blvd. Although the name of Cedarbrook has changed over the many years, nobody ever chose to become old and poor.

Julie's Big Fib

Julie Harhart's oversized card contains an oversized lie of omission. While she claims that she voted against a pay raise for state representatives, she omits the fact that she voted for a 50% increase to her pension payments, for life. Although she claims that she has a proven record for jobs and small businesses, the empty storerooms along the main street in Slatington and Northampton prove otherwise. In very small print we learn that the mailing was paid for by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. I hope to send one mailing, paid for by the people of Lehigh Valley. Please consider using the paypal button the the sidebar, to help me inform the voters that they now have an alternative to politics as usual in Harrisburg. Thank you.

The Party Machines

I've worked with a local Democratic activist on several causes who would like to think of herself as bipartisan. When I asked her why she was working for my Democratic opponent, Terri Powells, she stammered and said that she and Terri met Michele Obama together. Powells herself, lists her experience as having campaigned for Barack Obama. Apparently, in Democratic circles, having worked on a campaign counts as relevant experience. She is also being endorsed by some unions, although she never actually worked on an issue. Likewise, local Democratic promoter Sam Bennett has held fund raisers for her. All the local elected officials and advocates know me from my involvement in one issue or another for the last two decades, although none has crossed party lines and publicly endorsed me. I've been told that when they close the curtain, they vote their true choice. I don't think that's good enough. I think that's why Harrisburg is paralyzed. I ask those, in and beyond the 183rd District, who want more choice politically, to contribute to my campaign. I have installed a paypal button on the sidebar, thank you.

The Heart Of Harhart Country

Harhart family businesses dominate the main intersection in Northampton. While Northampton has been good to the family, it's not apparent that Julie Harhart's twenty year reign as State Representative has been good to the 183rd District. While she rubber stamps $billions of dollars in Harrisburg going to Pennsylvania's large cities, the smaller towns in her district haven't received their share. I erected a billboard in Northampton, close to the entrance of her office, to let the citizens know that an alternative is available. They may decide to allow Julie to retire this year, and start receiving the 50% increase in pension that she voted for herself.

The Culture Of Harrisburg

Today, before any revelations about pornographic emails, I intended to write about Pennsylvania's DEP. One must wonder exactly who they have been protecting? Opponents of hydraulic fracturing are dubious about the oversight at the drill sites. Considering the resources and influence of the gas companies, plus the economic benefits to portions of the state, the suspicions of the opponents are very well justified. In this current election cycle, the politicians on both sides of the aisle only concern themselves with the tax equation, nobody talks about public health concerns. This blog has been questioning the DEP for years. While sewage overflows along the Little Lehigh for years, repair plans keep being extended, rather than implemented. Pennsylvania has torn down more dams than any other state in the country. Are we more environmentally progressive than Washington state or California, or just less discriminating with approvals? Locally, the Wildlands Conservancy has a pipeline of grants from the state's DEP, destroying our parks under the disguise of stream improvement. The indiscriminate demolition of the Trout Nursery Dam contributed to the unprecedented fish kill this summer. Like the Girls Gone Wild videos, Harrisburg has been wild for years. Notice I mentioned both sides of the isle. That's part of the problem, there should be more than just two sides. I'm an Independent, fed up with the culture of Harrisburg.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's An Independent

Yesterday, on my campaign page, Mr. Molovinsky Goes To Harrisburg, a member the local Republican Party chided me for taking a Democratic position on the minimum wage increase. He must have mistaken me for a Republican Lite, which I am not. Likewise, I am not a Conservative Democrat. I'm an Independent, who analyzes each issue separately, free of any party playbook. I'm pragmatic, looking for solutions which could be implemented to improve our situation. The voters have been programmed to partisan politics for too long, but they realize that they are being victimized by the stagnation in Harrisburg.

Allentown's Frankenstein Plan Abandoned

Allentown's Mayor Pawlowski has a new vision for Allentown; mixing our trash and sewage together to make energy. Yesterday's paper had a long article on the power brokering involved in this trash to energy proposal. A facility would be built next to the sewage plant on Kline's Island. Sewage sludge would be mixed with trash and burnt to produce electricity. This particular mixture and process has never been tried before, lucky Allentown. The principals in the project are counting on Governor Rendell's appointee's to approve a $32 million dollar bond for the project, on their way out the door, before year's end. What doesn't smell about this vision?

UPDATE: Allentown should be concentrating on upgrading the LCA sewage line along the Little Lehigh, which periodically spills raw sewage into our creek and water supply. Also periodically, the sewage plant must bypass raw sewage into the Lehigh River. It is inappropriate to be promoting a private for profit company, with unproven technology, instead of fixing long existing problems.
Reprinted from November 15, 2010

UPDATE September 30th, 2014:  Allentown's Pawlowski has apparently outgrown his need to capitulate to Delta Thermos hideous plan to mix sewage with trash and burn it to produce electricity.  At one point they were even going to allow Delta to import additional trash from New Jersey if we didn't have enough.  I don't know if they were also going to import additional sewage,  what a concept. Anyway, Pawlowski has graduated to bigger things now with the arena and NIZ. The city had spent one half million dollars of taxpayer money on studies justifying the plan. Congratulations to Rich Fegley and Dan Poresky for their perseverance in fighting this monstrous plan.

The Minimum Wage and The Speech Givers

Although I consider myself a conservative, especially in fiscal matters, today I joined Lehigh Valley's State Representatives and candidates in endorsing the bill to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The event was organized by Alan Jennings of Community Action, and held at the Second Harvest Food Bank. My position is simply that the fruits of person's labor should earn them more than one Happy Meal. Although the sparse audience was essentially the food Bank workers, one by one, the representatives gave essentially the same speech, some even quoting Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. To whom were they speaking? Although they were clearly preaching to the choir, they all rambled on. It's my pledge to work more and speak less than they do.