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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, August 20, 2009

ScrappleFace is No Joke!

He calls himself a member of the "new media." I like that. I think I'm in that club, too.

I'm talking about Scott Ott, who is running against Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham this Fall. If you know anything about Scott at all, you most likely know him as "ScrappleFace," where he takes a satirical look at national news. He also blogs, a little more seriously, at Townhall and even has a column with The Washington Examiner.

I met Scott and Bob Romancheck for lunch at Stahleys, a great sportsbar built with no public money or tax breaks. I love their cheesesteaks, but my grandson is partial to the clams. At age 8, he's already wolfed down 8 dozen in one sitting. Once Bob uttered the magic word "Stahleys," everything else became a jumble in my aging mind. He did mention Scott, but I thought he was talking about Allentown pundit Scott Armstrong, bane of liberals everywhere. Armstrong is actually quite the refined guy in person, no doubt the result of a liberal and refined French wife. He listens to classical music and everything! So I figured we would get together and discuss Plato.

Instead of seeing Scott Armstrong, Romancheck introduced me to the very well-dressed Scott Ott, who was sitting at a table looking very much like a patient about to undergo root canal. He knows I'm a big Cunningham cheerleader.

What struck me right away were the similarities between Ott and Cunningham. Both are charming in person, obviously good-hearted people who actually listen to you. Both have a background in journalism and public relations. Both have great radio voices. But that's where the similarities end. For one thing, Cunningham's warchest is in the vicinity of $700 thousand, while the ScrappleFace web page reveals just $671 as of last night.

"You know you can't win," I told him, perhaps a bit too cavalierly. For a moment, just a heartbeat, he took on a steely look, then relaxed. It dawned on me then that Ott, despite his humor and satire, is in this race to win. He's never held elected office, has no money, is challenging the Lehigh Valley's most formidable politician, and is nevertheless convinced he can win. Or perhaps he believes that the issues matter more than the final victor.

I think the main difference between these candidates is that, while Cunningham believes government exists to help people unable to fend for themselves, Ott believes government's primary role is to "protect people from being oppressed by other people." He refused to classify himself, noting that if he told me was a Republican, I would know nothing more about him than I did before.

Doesn't that sound just like a Republican?

If elected, he told me he would focus on balancing the budget and reducing Lehigh County government, which he claims has grown from $345 million in 2006 to $405 million in 2009. Most of this, he acknowledges, is state pass through money, but he questions this reliance on state funding. "We are essentially helpless to do so many things because we are so dependent on the state."

As far as balancing the budget is concerned, he and I had some disagreements. He notes that Lehigh County spends more money than it takes in annually, and that's certainly true. But he fails to consider that Lehigh County has a tax relief fund established by Republicans for the specific purpose of balancing the budget. Why shouldn't Cunningham use that fund when revenues become meager? Ott disputes that, but it's called a tax relief fund for a reason. There's also a tax stabilization fund, a $20 million rainy day fund that Cunningham has left untouched.

Although the budget has grown, largely as a result of state pass through grants, Cunningham has actually reduced the size. He has fewer people working for the county now than at any time since 1995.

Ott stated he would support the elimination of offices that serve no vital roles, anything to be a "good fiscal steward."

Community policing grants? No.

State tree grants? No. "The whole thing is a shell game."

Noting that Cunningham will soon be proposing a new budget, Ott claims at the current rate, a major tax increase is only a matter of time. He worries how this will impact seniors on fixed incomes. "They can't rip a piece of siding off and roll it into the county when taxes go up. We owe it to these people to treat every single penny as though it was precious."

As our lunch went by and Ott's hamburger began to kick in, he grew more passionate. I admire his willingness to give voters an alternative, a debate that I'm sure Cunningham himself will enjoy. As Ott put it himself, and this is no joke, "I really hope people start paying attention to county government. Four hundred and five million dollars will blow through the county this year and most people don't even know we have a county executive."

Did he make the sale? No. I still prefer Don's less ideological approach to local government, and have never seen a county executive make a difficult job look so easy. But if you advocate limited government, Scott is the man for you. He promises a few surprises as his campaign progresses. I hope none of them involves farm animals.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Farm animals? Isn't that Angles domain.

Anonymous said...

Daahn Cunningham is Rendell with a worse accent. Baaaaaaaaaah. Companies are boarding up and running, not walking, running from Lehigh County. It's a microcosm of the rapidly dying state Rendell has fostered. Cunningham = Rendell. And it really does hurt the ears to hear either of them attempt to speak.

Anonymous said...

Met Ott at last week's health rally in Allentown. Seemed very nice and well-spoken. Told same to a friend and his reply, "Give him a few years in politics, it will change."

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:00 wrote: Met Ott at last week's health rally in Allentown. Seemed very nice and well-spoken. Told same to a friend and his reply, "Give him a few years in politics, it will change."

That's fine. If it happens, we can vote him out of office at that time as well.

Anonymous said...

bloggers make terrible elected officials and elected officials make terrible bloggers (sorry, Mike Donovan is a terrible blogger). stick to blogging.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Donovan's blog is an important public service bc it provides an inside look into what is going on at A-town City Council.

But as for your admonition about bloggers seeking office, you need not worry in my case. Even I would never vote for me.

Anonymous said...

Article didn't seem very fair. Cunningham is a train wreck in slow motion. Ott wants to stop the wreck if possible and get it moving again. All Ott gets is a "you know you can't win" comment. We better hope he does win. Or there won't be a business left in the county.

Bernie O'Hare said...

From my perspective as a person who thinks Cunningham does a pretty good job, I tried my best to be fair to Scott. I also made my readers aware of my admitted bias. I represented his views as accurately as I could, and am merely being realistic when I note his chances are slim. Ott obviously does not share my view, and that's fine.

I have no journalistic training and can only pledge to try to be fair. If I have a view, I will try to make sure that the other side is heard unless there really is no other side. I make no pledge to be unbiased.

Anonymous said...

Ohare you are about as fair as hungry dog.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Is that supposed to make some sort of sense?

Unknown said...

I have been following Scott Ott for a few years on the internet and I admire him and contributed to his campaign even though I don't live in your state. His philosophy is sound and he is not only intelligent but seems to have a lot of good old fashioned common sense, a trait which is sadly lacking in most people who seek public office. This is not too say that all politicians lack common sense when they run for office but most get caught up in self adulation and go for the money and there's plenty of that in politics these days. Scott impresses me as being interested in public service instead of making a fast buck. We certainly need more people of his ilk in public service. As for the above interview, I thought it was very condescending.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joyce, you summed up ohare quite well. If he has a mancrush on the person they crap roses. But if he doesn't, he will try to tear them down. That is the ohare way. Everyone other than a few rightwingnuts realize that.

The only reason legitimate pols give him any time is to minimize his vicious attacks. Behind his back they will tell you they feel sorry for him and think he is nuts.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"The only reason legitimate pols give him any time is to minimize his vicious attacks."

I see. How's that working out for them? And what are illegitimate pols?

Bernie O'Hare said...

" As for the above interview, I thought it was very condescending."

I don't. I could have been very condescending bc I understand how county government works and most people, including Scott, do not. He's still looking at things from the top down.