Earlier this month, the phone rang at a plantation in Upper Mount Bethel Township. The servants were busy, drawing a bubble bath for the master, so he himself answered."Hello."
"Sir, I have a question for you. If the election were held today, would you vote for Ron Angle?"
"Well, since I am Ron Angle, I probably would, and several times!!"
As Angle tried unsuccessfully to sell some fish oil to the caller, he glanced at his caller ID. The call came from MCS Frames, an Easton-based company. Angle has since learned, just from asking around, that at least twenty voters in his district received such a call.
MCS Frames, in case you don't know, is run by Richard Master, a regular Democratic contributor. During the 2004 presidential race, he opened his business up after hours for use as a daily John Kerry phone bank. I know because I participated. In fact, I even met Master one evening.
I don't know much about federal election laws, but I do know it is illegal for a corporation to make any contribution, including in-kind, designed to influence an election for county or state office. Polling for Angle's opponent probably falls in that category. Master and MCS probably have an explanation, and I can't wait to see it.
By the way, did I mention that Richard Master is closely allied to former county exec Glenn Reibman? Did I also mention that Reibman is beginning to spread some money around? In the last election cycle, he spent $4,150 on local candidates, including $1,000 for Lamont McClure's county council quest.
Reibman still has over $101,000 to burn, and I smell smoke.
If he can rid council of Angle, who always has so many damn questions, it will be much easier for Reibman to knock off Stoffa or anyone else in the next county exec election.
It's beginning to look like the King of Pay to Play is making a comeback.
52 comments:
I'm sorry but Glenn is just one of those nobody's home kind of politicians.
Bland, boring same old, same old.
We go from him to Stoffa who really should have his blood pressure checked weekly as he is the most boring politician I have ever come across. The voters who voted, had to choose boring or more boring.
Ron should step up to the plate and shake the county to a new level...
Angle could never win a county-wide seat. That's the reality. But he sure belongs on that council.
Reibman will not run for County Executive.
Anon 4:23,
Unbless you are Mrs. Glenn Reibman, I don't believe you. There is little doubt in my mind that Reibman is making a move.
Boring politicians aren't so bad, we should have more of them. They are usually not self serving, and just want to do the right thing for the taxpayers and the community as a whole.
This makes me sicker than sick. The current county administration is trying to clean-up from the damage done for 8 years by the previous crew and it will take many more administrations to clean it up altogether. If GR comes back, the county may never financially recover. County taxpayers - BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING!
River, In fairness to Glenn, the person you're thinking of is his cousin.
Reibman is running. I heard it from a good source. This time he plans on aggressively going after Stoffa's record that was never put out ny the press. I think he will be the Dem nominee.
Anon 2:55,
I hope he does run. I can see the campaign ads now. A pool party with all kinds of folks writing out checks to Glenn on the very day that people's cars and homes are floating away in a flood. That sums up Reibman.
YIPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!i hope he does run maybe he'll bring some realism back to county government. he really isn't as bad as he's made out to be. look at stoffas cabinet picks i mean really!!!!!!!!!!!
Anon 4:17,
He'll bring realism back to county government, the realism of pay to play.
Let's look at Stoffa's sorry cabinet picks.
1) Admin.: John Conklin v. Nobody. For the last two years, no one was running admin under Team Reibman, and it showed. I'll agree that Hickey was cream of the crop. Conklin's style is much different than Hickey. He's not into political machinmations or building a majority on council, but where he's really good is taking a problem and fixing it. We had two bad elections in a row. A number of us, me included, were quite critical. Conklin quietly and effecticvely ensured that our most recent election wass trouble-free, especially compared to the previous two.
2) Solicitor: Longenbach v. Danny Spengler. Are you being real? Danny once told Angle, in a public meeting, that he had better be packing if he wanted to see a report. No lawyer should make ridiculous statements like that. On the other hand, Karl is quiet, methodical and a very good legal mind.
3) Public Works: DeSalva v. Boscola. I liked Boscola even though his appointment was obnviosly political. But DeSalva has been a real hound dog on the contractors working on the courthouse. The judges were slated for $3 million oin overruns. Thanks to his vigilance, that figure has been cut in half. I see him at all hours, everywhere on that campus. Before he came on board, the court was running project management thru Onembo. That has stopped thanks to Steve.
4) Human Resources: Connie Sutton-Flak v. Polanski. She has been criticized heavily bc of her acerbic personality, but I'll take that over a poliotical hack like Danny Polanski. That dude was just an assistant DA, and not a very good one, and bought that office with campaign contributions. I'll take Falk over Polanski any day of the week.
5) Human Services: Marcus v. Heckman. I don't know much about Ross and don't have many dealings with Human Services. I will say that Heckman was an excellent director of human services who really cared about the county, and always acted professionally and courteously. He eliminated many positions in Children and Youth, and there were many complaints from the caseworkers. But he was forced to do so by Reibman. I don't know enought about Marcus to make a call.
6) Fiscal Affairs: Mazziotti v. Mateff. Are you kidding me? More than once, I caught Mateff in tiny untruths concerning the offices under her control. She was a remote ruler, and had no handle on county finances. She's another person who bought her job. She also resisted changing access to records that would reveal private info about taxpayers. Mazziotti, on the other hand, is a polished professional. Almost immediately after he was installed, he was able to reduce IT costs by $0.5 million per annum. He is fiscally conservative, believing in a 2 month budgetary reserve. And he fights hard, though not always successfully, for his employees.
7) Court Services: Hillanbrand v. Seyfried. Jerry is one of the best guys I know, and he's hard to top. When Ensslin was appointed to succeed him, I knew we were in for trouble. Fortunately, she withered away, and was replaced by Stoffa's best choice - Bill Hillanbrand. He's a dedicated, hard-working public servant. Although he was a deputy sheriff, he always gravitated towards records management, even in the sheriff's office. And he's been ideal as a person to run archives and all the records in our row offices. Maurice Dimmick, our original director of court services, would be very proud of Hillanbrand.
All in all, Stoffa made some excellent choices for his cabinet, vastly suprior to Reibman.
And Reibman, although he's alwways been a gentleman, is every bit as bad as reputed. When he was in charge, nobody was in charge, and that's why the county slowly fell apart. If he wanted to return to council, I'd like to see him. He was terrific on council. But he should not be in an executive branch.
since I was in error in part of my post I will withdraw it
sometimes you get what you pay for. are you sure getting rid of the contractors is such a great idea?as far as marcus can't comment on him but what you said about heckman all true. as for boscola he did hold an enginering degree didn't he? his wife is his wife i still think he did an outstanding job and was hard working and very much dedicated to the county. as far as conklin i can't agree with you on that point nice man no hickey. and as far as hilldebrandt i would say fair and honest guy. coonie sutton falk how many people applied for her position anyway poor judgement choosing her. given her postion seems to me she should welcome all who come to her door. very innacessiable and apoligizes to no one nasty nasty woman. my diappointment lies with john stofffa voted for him very sorry i did. it appears hes all about critizing others. i'm sick of his cristzim of county employees he is one himself last time i looked. as far as gerry god i wish he'd run have a good one bernie.
I heard that Callahan was running for Stoffas job and the Reibman was in contention for the LVEDC Presidency.
That way both counties would be controlled by the same person, at least until Don C. leaves in mid term again for another opportunity.
You should have used this picture for your caption contest.
I don't believe that Reibmann will run for County Executive. The County Unions may not like Stoffa, but the County Unions wouldn't piss on Reibmann even if he was on fire. That's what killed his last election.
I do believe he may run for County Council though. He could win there. He just needs enough time to put in to get another pension. And remember, that would be at his highest rate as an Executive. It's all about the money. Don't let him pull the wool over your eyes.
Anon 5:45,
as for boscola he did hold an enginering degree didn't he?
Yes he does, and he is, in fact, a P.E. I don't mean to shortchange Ed, who was very good. And he happens to be the only Boscola I like right now.
But if you work at the courthouse, and it appears that you do, you must have seen the vast improvement since DeSalva took over. he really has been a project manager, a job that was more or less abandoned to the courts under Reibman. He has insisted on safety, and has dealt with the employees who were getting sick instead of ignoring it or pretending it wasn't here, and that's the way things went under Reibman.
He has probably cut cost overruns in half, maybe more, and Mazziotti has saved the county another half mill on IT services. Those two cabinet members, by themselves, have saved the county at least $2 million in one year.
Not too shabby, dude.
As for Connie, she's probably her own worst enemy. I won't defend her. But look at her predecessor, Danny Polanski. Let's be honest. He's a professional political hack. He made sure Reibman cut him from the cabinet and hired him to work as an attorney for children, God help them, so that he could continue to suck off the county teat until the pay to play boys are back in town.
I'll take the Stoffa crowd in a heartbeat.
The only choice I thought was a mistake, and it was a big one is Ensslin. She was absolutely horrible.
I don't believe that Reibmann will run for County Executive. The County Unions may not like Stoffa, but the County Unions wouldn't piss on Reibmann even if he was on fire.
With two exceptions.
1) Larry Murin, the union rep for the residual unit. He and Stoffa are like oil and water. Stoffa's inability to negotiate a contract with the residual unit for 1 1/2 years will hurt him.
2) The union representing deputies have been tangling with Stoffa since he's been in office.
Unfortunately, some council members like McClure will go behinfd the exec's back and try to damage him in his attempt to negotiate fair contracts or even resolve grievances. Just last week, after a council meeting, I saw McClure tell a deputy the following abot a grievance. "I don't care if you guys [i.e., the union] bring laywers, but I don't want the county to have one."
I am very pro-union, but think it's sad when a county councilman would try to deny his own county legal representation. I'd like him to announce, in an open council meeting, that he doesn't believe the county should have legal representation. Of course, he won't do that. He was just telling someone what he wanted to hear, adding fuel to the fire, instead of telling the truth.
Bernie, Reibman could have had -God, Jehovah, Budda, Gandi and MLK. Stoffa have Lucifer, Hitler, Stalin and Cheney and you would still say Stoffas picks are great. Ask some Lehigh County folk who dealt with Conklin in the community, a zero, nice guy but a hack. There is no point to go through the others because you believe a certain thing and nothing else. Marcus he worked for Mayor Heydt as an Econ Dev. guy now head of Human
services. Ay least Heckman had years of experience and I agree with you to a point, I think he and Jerry were the best picks. Everybody liked Hickey cause he was way out there but most of the ideas you hate about Reibman were his.
No point arguing but not all county employees hate Reibman. He brought a dental coverage and the best and cheapest healthcare we ever had. A lot of residual employees are not to happy with the hot heads who pushed for the union because after all the years and the raise, when you subtract dues and increased healthcare deductions we got a what, 1% raise.
A few hotheads got us fired up over Reibman and we bought the LIES of Stoiffa regarding promised arbitration.
WE will never agree on this and you will attack me but I stand by my facts and sources. I would take Reibman over this chump in a minute.
Anon 11:07 PM,
No, if Stoffa makes a bad pick, I'll say so. I did about Ensslin. I'm not crazy about Falk, either. But what I was doing was comparing Reibman's picks to Stoffa's picks.
The best pick of all was Hickey. Reibman gets a cookie.
The next best picks are Hillanbrand, DeSalva, Mazziotti and Longenbach. I haven't heard anyone compare those folks to Lucifer.
Overall, Hickey might be worth two or even three cabinet members, but he's still not better than Stoffa's entire cabinet. And I'll judge Conklin based on my own observations. He's a different kind of administrator, but still very good. He's apolitical, and doesn't see politics as part of his role. And that's his choice. That's why he's so frickin' pleasant.
So what Stoffa really needs, and does not have, is a hatchet man. He doesn't have to be the director of administration. Pete Houck, Seyfried's hatchet man, came from Fiscal. Stoffa needs someone to slap heads and take names, a bastard. He needs someone who can grab you by the throat and tell you you're not getting every little thing you want. He needs someone to throw gadflies like me off the courthouse roof. He needs someone who can play that nitwit council against each other and into passing his agenda by getting coaltions.
Stoffa does not have that. In that sense, Stoffa is weaker than Reibman. But that may just be my perception because he's been able to do pretty much what he promised to do. He's been winning ugly, but he's been winning.
Man for man, however, I'll take Team Stoffa over Team Reibman in a heartbeat. I'm sorry we don't agree. But I'm happy you think enough of me to come on here and challenge my thinking. Take care.
Hey Bernardo,
In the end it realy is an academic point as to whom is better then who. I'm fascinated by the discussion. But like everything else in a few years all these guys will be gone too. No one, no one is irreplaceable , especially in politics.
I pedict in January 2010, Peg Ferraro will be sworn in as County Executive. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Your less then obedient servant
Sir Dude
Is that Riebman or Nick Nolte's mug shot? :):):):)
Ah, RIVER, I'd love to see you're mug shot. It's not that bad a shot. The best picture of your patron saint Stoffa makes him look only two days dead.
conklin seems like a competent individual.
hickey had the advantage of working for a wildly unpopular (fair or unfair ) exec. all evil done was blamed on reibman, all good ascribed to hickey.
>Anonymous said...
Ah, RIVER, I'd love to see you're mug shot. It's not that bad a shot. The best picture of your patron saint Stoffa makes him look only two days dead. <
4:25 PM <
Reiblover... lets trade mug shots. I look at reibs pic and can't help thinking of that 1960's song called "Smiling Faces"... smiling faces some times pretend to be your friend. sometimes.. they don't tell the truth... beware of the pat on the back,anon 4:25 will stab you like that !
Let it be known. If it was up to me, Northampton County Government would be reduced by at least 50 percent. Why hire more people every year when, if you ask a question, Bill says"thats not my job ask Jim", Jim says thats not my job, I will connect you with Cindy. Cindy says I will get back to you. Finally, after 3 days you call Cindy and she says," well you will have to contact Jim or Bill" !!! There are too many people there just bumping in to each other and not enough people striving for efficiency "I work for the county so I just need to put my time in so I can retire with that fabulous retirement package" 10%, 20%, 30%, tax increase. Hummmm I wonder why? Ol' Ron Angle is the only one there who knows what dollars and cents really means to the taxpayers. Making fun of my pic and Stoffa's pic and Reibmans pic is fun. I do it myself :):):) But look at the bottom line... Reibman , In my honest opinion, Gave us a Royal Screwing...paint a happy face on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Reibman vs Stoffa. Do you know what was sad about that whole thing? A big political machine was trying to pick and chose the winner of the election instead of the voters. In the end Stoffa came from nowhere and defeated that big Pay To Play political machine. That was a great day for the taxpayer. However, there is still so much partison politics in NC it will be hard to get back to a government for the people and by the people. Reibman, Pay to Play, Boss Tweed, it never ends. If it wasn't for Angle on council, I would say we are all doomed. But he only has one vote and you saw what took place with that boondogle last month. As long as these political machines like Longs pay to play exist we are all doomed. Free speech baby.. don't let it die Joe
River, buddy, calm down take a pill or a shot of ol' grandad. I'm not praising Reibman just kidding about the shot not looking that bad. As far as getting screwed you have been screwed by every Executive since Hartzell ,except for Seyfried, including Stoffa. Remember he raised your taxes his first year. Yea he promised he would, but it wasn't necessary he's sitting on a load of cash. Bernie and others like yourself will defend him but he took dollars and people got what they wanted. He's no better then all of them. Lets see how he does over four years. Two points, one I know people who worked hard in private sector for years got a pension, Companies then said it was unamerican and only give it to top executives. So now many sing the company line Pensions bad. Governemnt workers not all are a waste some do valuable work. Lets see how effective a job this Exec. does over time. Check the # of county workers today and see how many are there in Jan 2010. Don't blam Council ,Executive puts budget together.
Untill next time, relax, they all have their hands in our pockets, it just depends on which smiling face you believe. By the way I, like you, pay taxes.
Anon... which anon are you? there are a hundred on here and none of you has the balls to add a name to your post
Anon.. are you Bob Dodo?
I wonder if the Anon is ol Bob Nyce?
Hey River!
I have a challenge for you. Since your such a BIG MAN, why don't you come down to NCP (in case you don't know what that is, that's Northampton County Prison) and talk to any Correctional Officer the same way your talking on this blog. You wouldn't last 2 minutes.
It's easy for you to comment. Your a BIG MAN. You think it's easy down here. Come on down. Talk to me or any of my brother CO's the same way your talking now. Let's see you spend twenty working years of your life in hell. Then you wouldn't be crying over the poor wages or time away from your family because there's not enough personnel to do the job.
Anon 4:10 -
That's really sad. You were probably that kid in school that beat up everyone smaller than you if they didn't cough up their milk money.
Same challenge to you AJ. I am not a Neanderthal. What I meant, if you were any type of human being, is instead of criticizing Norco employees, why don't you try our jobs out for two minutes. Why don't you try having feces thrown at you from an inmate that has AIDS. Pretty graphic, huh? Neither River or AJ would last. Criticize all you want. You wouldn't take our jobs. We are proud of what we do.
Anon 6:18 -
You say you're not a neanderthal, but the first thing you did was issue a challege to me! That's two peopel you've challenged! But that's OK. I love a challenge from an anonymous person. Grow up.
You speak of us critizing - What gives you the right to assume we wouldn't last. You must be the all-seeing eye of the Lehigh Valley, and the world who knows everything about everyone.
If the rest of the Norco employees share your intelligence, then we should replace them all! I hope they didn't elect you as their PR guy (or girl).
If you were really proud of what you do, you wouldn't try to make other people fear it and complain about the actual work. YOU chose to have that job. Don't take your hatred for its downside out on everyone else.
And by the way, I never critized the Norco employees (just you, which had nothign to do with your profession.). So make challenges all you want - everyone is tough-guy on the internet.
I'm actually 6'9'' until you meet me in person...
AJ, you just proved my point. I wanted to goad both you and River, in that -
Those who can, do.
Those that can't, criticize.
Again, thanks for proving my point.
If it was up to me, Northampton County Government would be reduced by at least 50 percent. Why hire more people every year when, if you ask a question, Bill says"thats not my job ask Jim", Jim says thats not my job, I will connect you with Cindy. Cindy says I will get back to you. Finally, after 3 days you call Cindy and she says," well you will have to contact Jim or Bill" !!!
River, I've followed the county many years. I see the employees at work. Most of them are dedicated pubvlic servants. Even when ther were layoffs and wage freezes, they never took anything out on the public. And I've never experienced the runaround you describe.
Now, I think those comments are what really pissed off the corrections officer, and I'd be pissed, too, if I worked for the county and read that. I think you disparaged a very good workforce who put up with a lot of shit over three years.
You also state the county could get by with half its workforce. From what I see, it can't. I don't know about Gracedale or the prison. But from what I see at the courthouse and Governor Wolf, everyone is pretty busy. I have no reason to believe the prison or Gracedale would be any different.
I don't think we need to be adding 40 employees every year. I agree we could look at ways to reduce costs. But it really is unfair to denigrate the current counmty staff.
Anon 4:10,
I have a challenge for you. Since your such a BIG MAN, why don't you come down to NCP (in case you don't know what that is, that's Northampton County Prison) and talk to any Correctional Officer the same way your talking on this blog. You wouldn't last 2 minutes.
As a correctional officer, I expect you to act like one and not like an inmate. I understand that you're annoyed by what River said, but there's better ways to express yourself than by threatening violence. You just cheapen yourself and your brother COs by getting all macho and intimating violence.
River is out of line. He had no clue what county employees have endured at the courthouse. And I have no idea what you've suffered inside those prison walls, although I'm sure the stories would stand my hairs on end. All I have are rumors, and they are wild. I'd like to know the truth.
But you just marginalize yourself with that kind of banter.
Sadly, there are many folks who feel like River. When you threaten him, you just validate him.
You describe twenty years of hell. Tell me your story. You know me. My email is BOHare5948@aol.com. You can talk to me at the courthouse almost every day. And I won't be running away. If you want me to come to NCP, I can do that, too. If you want me to roll around in the gutter with you first, I can do that with the best of them.
You want your side of the story known? Talk to me. But you don't make any points threatening people. You know who I am and I'm not running from you. So what's it going to be?
Wow! I got off easy there, lol.
Anon said...Let's see you spend twenty working years of your life in hell. Then you wouldn't be crying over the poor wages or time away from your family because there's not enough personnel to do the job. "
4:10 pm. " Maybe Reibman should have taken care of that while he was the CE all those years.
anon said"I have a challenge for you. Since your such a BIG MAN, why don't you come down to NCP (in case you don't know what that is, that's Northampton County Prison) and talk to any Correctional Officer the same way your talking on this blog. You wouldn't last 2 minutes."
Go ahead and kill me... between the lawsuits, hospital bills and Karoly's fees, the taxpayer is just getting hammered again. ps perhaps i'll just become an anon too.
Anon said "why don't you try our jobs out for two minutes. Why don't you try having feces thrown at you from an inmate that has AIDS. Pretty graphic, huh? Neither River or AJ would last. Criticize all you want. You wouldn't take our jobs. " You either like it or you don't. There are a lot of factory jobs out there that are pure hell too. Try keeping up with a machine that goes faster and fasterjust so your boss can get his production bonus.
Bernie Said "You also state the county could get by with half its workforce. From what I see, it can't. I don't know about Gracedale or the prison. But from what I see at the courthouse and Governor Wolf, everyone is pretty busy. I have no reason to believe the prison or Gracedale would be any different."""
Bernie, I said said... ""
Let it be known. If it was up to me, Northampton County Government would be reduced by at least 50 percent. Why hire more people every year... "" It was a hypothetical statement. If I had my way I would eliminate entire departments. Now NC wants to add a health dept. What are they going to do? If you are sick you call them they tell you to go to your doctor? All government should not be expanded but reduced. How much is too much I ask. NC seems to be getting like the school districts. "oh they have a new school.. we need a new school, they have astroturf, we need astroturf, .. Nc says oh LC has a health department we need a health department. Just to be nosey Bernie, How is that swimming pool debate going on in the big NSD? Thanks
I understand the need for fiscal restraint, but not the sweeping generalizations.
So far as I know, NASD will be building a new pool.
Personally, I like the idea of a health department, but that's a topic for another day. I think you were out of line when you spoke of bureaucratic runaround, and associated it with NC. That's what probably got to that corrections officer, who was also out of line. Most county employees are hard-working and dedicated public servants.
Hi Bernie I know they are hard working. I know you were always pro NC employees ever since I heard you on the Ron Angle Show claiming that a guy at McDonalds made more than an NC employee(which was not true). Anyway, I still think a lot of patronage still goes on there and it should not. As for the Jim and Bob , and Cindy runaround thing, you said you never experienced it. well I did. You see bernie.. you are there all the time and are friends with a lot of people there at the NC government center. I am just the average joe picking up the phone. I honestly believe you will always get better service than the average guy because of your ties there. That is not right either. Thank you for letting me state my opinion.
River,
Your opinions are always welcome.
The example I gave on the radio was a taco bell employee who was on work release from the prison and whose salary was higher than one of the O&M employees. The employee, Dan Sell, later called the show to confirm it. And I went to Taco Bell and discovered it was true, at least with managers.
You say I get better service bc of my ties there. I think I get worse because I'm so miserable.
Bernie said"The example I gave on the radio was a taco bell employee who was on work release from the prison and whose salary was higher than one of the O&M employees. The employee, Dan Sell, later called the show to confirm it. And I went to Taco Bell and discovered it was true, at least with managers. " Hi Bernie I heard the caller. He didn't know if the Taco Bell guy had a one week check, two week check, deductions for child support, etc. Bottom line is when you add the pay per hour and the benefit package, the Northamptop County Employee is gonna be on top every time Thanks
River, That's not quite true. Taco Bell managers were ahead of most O&M employees, according to the research I did at the time and I mentioned that on the air. I don't know if the new salary increases change that, but it was true back then.
I can imagine a manager making more than an employee. How does an NC manager and a Taco Bell manager rate in the wage and benefits. How about retirement? can a Taco Bell employee retire with full benefits after perhaps 25 years of service? Its hard to compare them without all the information.
River, I don't have my notes anymore. Maybe this should be a topic for a post sometime in the future. My recollection is that Taco Bell wages were higher but that county benefits were better.
River, you attack annon's. So your name is River. Gee, that does certainly clear up who you are. My name is CANAL.
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