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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, January 28, 2013

NorCo Council Candidates Like Dandelions

Kelly Gross and her pink gavel
I was a little disturbed to hear, Friday night, that a member of Northampton County Council took it upon himself to tell a potential candidate not to bother running for one of the five at-large Council seats up for grabs this year. I guess he has his own slate of preferred candidates and is trying to clear the field for them. I think he should let the voters sort it out.

Personally, I hope 100 people run. At the rate things are going, that just might happen. Below are some of the people I've heard about. Some have already announced, while others are keeping their powder dry.

Unlike Lehigh County, these are at-large seats, meaning that they are selected among voters throughout the entire County instead of in districts. The national mood tends to have an impact on these races. Just as 2009 was a bad year for Democrats, this appears to be a bad one to be a member of the GOP.

Democrats:

Yeah Jerry does look exactly like Amanda Seyfried
Ismael Arcelay - The only real question about this guy is whether he's in Pawlowski's pocket or Reibman's. My guess is both. His political consultant is Mike Fleck, who just happens to work for Pawlowski and Reibman, too. When a candidate starts talking about a "five point plan," Fleck is involved.

In addition to being a puppet, Arcelay seems to have problems being truthful about his political past. He was recently forced out at the Human Relations Comm'n when it was discovered he was using his position to get a job with the Reading School District.

Christen Borso - I went to grade school with her husband and sister-in-law, so I have to be nice to her or they'll beat me up. She recently graduated from the inaugural Citizens Academy, and has become a fixture at Northampton County Council meetings.

Deb Hunter - Deb ran in 2009, when the political winds were blowing the other way, and narrowly missed out. She's a schoolteacher in Northampton and was on the Nazareth School Board for ten years, so she must be into pain. She is another graduate of the Citizens Academy and periodically attends Council meetings.

Jerry Seyfried - People have been begging this former Executive and Council member to come back, and I'm one of them. No one knows as much about the Home Rule Charter as he. But the real reason I support him is because his second cousin is movie star Amanda Seyfried. Jerry claims she got her good looks from him.

Ron Heckman
Ron Heckman - Like Jerry, Ron is extremely knowledgeable about County government. He tried to tell me he's Gene Hackman's second cousin, but I think he was playin' with me.

Chris Amato - Chris is a chiropractor, former Lehigh Township Supervisor and ardent environmentalist. (Updated: Chris is not running, I'm sorry to say.)

Geoffrey M. Roche - Geoff is a government relations professional at Pocono Medical Center.

Bill Wallace - A soldier for the local Democratic party, Wallace has been defeated in bids for the state senate and in two County Council races.

Kelly Gross - Currently West Easton Borough Council President, Gross played a major role in negotiations that led to a modern work release and treatment center for drunk drivers. Gross has acted as an unpaid borough manager for the past several years. She's been involved in local government since she was seven. Her trademark? A pink gavel.

John Stoffa - A man of integrity and honor, Stoffa might feel compelled to run for Council, if only to counteract the character assassination being mounted by Lamont McClure and his henchmen.

Jeff Warren - A member of Easton City Council and legislative aide to State Senator Lisa Boscola, was accused of "political grandstanding" when he opposed Sal Panto's proposed commuter.

Randy Galiotto - Randy is an architect, something Northampton County Council could probably use. He also ran Easton Mayor Sal Panto's re-election campaign. He is, like Panto, a big believer in open and accountable government.

Jason Toedter - Remember Jason? He applied for appointment as Bethlehem's Controller, a job the Courts ultimately gave to Bob Pfenning. Jason did work for Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan when he ran for Congress.

Republicans:

Tom Dietrich looks confused
Incumbents John Cusick, Tom Dietrich and Peg Ferraro are three incumbents seeking re-election. Two years ago, they formed a cabal to oust Ron Angle as Council President, after promising him their support. So, regardless what you might think of Ron, not one of these incumbents can be trusted to keep his or her word.

This year, they did it again. Cusick and Ferraro were both illegally elected President and VP with just three votes. This occurred at a meeting in which Republican Ferraro was permitted to participate by phone, but Democrat Ken Kraft was excluded.

They have avoided two opportunities to correct this blunder by conducting their vote again. The right way.

Maybe they think we forgot. I'm sure Democrats will remind everyone.

Ferraro will likely survive the onslought, but Cusick and Dietrich are in big trouble.

Seth Vaughn. - Seth came very close in his race against Ken Kraft last year. He's a great guy. Good ideas. Iraq War vet. Goes to meetings. But the mood of the country is against him right now. And if that were not bad enough, there's this candidate.

Tricia Mezzacappa - As if things were not already in the shitter for NorCo Republicans, the Wicked Witch of West Easton comes along and declares her candidacy. She's been convicted of disorderly conduct for threatening to drag Kelly Gross to the Delaware River and drown her. She claims she's incompetent to stand trial in my defamation action against her as a result of some "drug cocktail" she consumes.

Ron Angle. - Hey, you never know. He wants a pink gavel, too.

Updated 1:30 PM to include reference to Jason Toedter and note that Chris Amato has decided against running.

58 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like thoer may be 20 Democrats running. Heckman needs to lose weight, he was once thin.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I'm a shitty photographer.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bernie O'Hare said...

3:41 is obviously the cRaZy woman, who has a few questions of her own to answer, under oath. I'm sure voters will respond well to your message of hatred.

See It said...

So, we now have Mezzacappa hiding behind "Anonymous" posts.

Once again, she proves that her running for an elected position has nothing to do with serving the public. Rather, it's about serving herself and her need to satisfy some personal vendetta against a woman she is jealous of.

Kelly Gross has the respect and admiration of West Easton. She cares about her community and her leadership will be missed when she wins the county level election.

None of that can be said about Mezzacappa, who once again, resorts to name calling and making libelous statements.

Bernie,
Do let us know how the GOP intends to keep this nut job in check. I would think that the Republican candidates have the same guidelines that Democrat candidates receive when running for office.

"... candidates shall not engage in, and shall condemn the use of, personal vilification, character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, negative innuendo, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or his or her personal or family life."

Mezzacappa adheres to none of it.

Anonymous said...

BO, can you tell us who the council person was that is discouraging candidates to run?

Chris Amato said...

I plan on running for the Father of the Year award that my children are sponsoring. Maybe I'll run for office in a decade or so, after I have earned the chance by volunteering more. For the record Bernie, there is a difference between an environmental advocate and an environmentalist. I fall into the advocate category. In short, I am NOT running for county council at this time, but it is an honor to be on the list with so many good people.

Anonymous said...

They're not all good people, Chris.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"BO, can you tell us who the council person was that is discouraging candidates to run?"

I can, but was asked not to do so by the person who told me this story. I will honor that request. That Council member has been contacted and has apologized.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Do let us know how the GOP intends to keep this nut job in check"

I'm sure they can't be happy about her, especially the candidates. Their biggest prayer is that she will not get 250 signatures.

But to those who say why bother writing about Mezzacappa, this is why.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Chris Amato, I am sorry and glad you're not running. I''m sorry bc you would be such a good candidate. I know that you are one of the guys who actually listens to people. But I am glad bc there are so many good people running that it is going to be very hard to make a good choice, even keeping it to five.

Jason Toedter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason Toedter said...

Mr. O'Hare,

The official announcement of my candidacy for County Council is not until this upcoming Saturday. It will be my first run for public office. As such, I understand why I was not included in your list of potential Democratic candidates.

I know that you have your finger on the pulse of Lehigh Valley politics and one day you may wish to post something about my candidacy in the future. I would like to invite you to my announcement so that you can hear about who I am and why I have decided to run.

If you cannot make it for whatever reason, I understand.

The announcement is February 2nd, from 12:00-2:00, at the Machs Gute in Bethlehem.

Thank you for your consideration,
Jason Toedter

Bernie O'Hare said...

Jason, I apologize. I was told you were running and forgot to include your name in my list. I can stop by for thirty minutes. My grandson has a basketball game on Saturday.

Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein said...

Bernie, I am sorry. I am a little dense in the head. Are most of these names confirmed that they are going to run or is this just a list of what is going around in the rumor mill?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Both. I have not spoken to them all. Like I said, these are the people I've heard about.

Anonymous said...

I was at the meeting in Easton on Saturday. Heckman nor Seyfried truly Committed to run. Thomas O'donnell was there and he said he was a candidate for County Council. Of all those mentioned, including Heckman and Seyfried, nobody is a shoe-in. Most are well qualified. This will be a good year for the D's because they have many good candidates. R U sure Heckman and Seyfried are candidates? They don't come around much.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Heckman and Seyfried are definitely in, and will be announcing officially soon. Seyfried, in particular, has attended more meetings and has done more volunteering than any ten people.

A for Thomas O'Donnell, what can you tell me about him?

Anonymous said...

O'Donnell? Just another Irish drunkard...

I'm speculating of course...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Tricia Mezzacappa (Anonymous 3:41 AM) made the same or similar false personal attacks on Kelly Gross in 2011 when she ran against Kelly for a seat on the West Easton Borough Council. There were five candidates running for three seats. Tricia actually campaigned door-to-door in an aggressive attempt to tarnish Kelly. Tricia failed miserably. The voters didn't buy the nonsense she was selling. Not even close. On election day, Kelly was the top vote-getter and was re-elected. Tricia finished a distant fourth. Instead of graciously accepting defeat, Tricia has played the role of extremely sore loser. Her comment at 3:41 AM is a continuation of her relentless harassment campaign against Kelly and other Borough officials and staff.

Anonymous said...

A few months ago, Tricia Mezzacappa was convicted of disorderly conduct for a profanity-filled outburst at the West Easton Borough Hall in which she made threats of violence against Council President Kelly Gross and against the Borough's lawyer. It was Mezzacappa's second disorderly conduct conviction since moving to West Easton in 1999.

Anonymous said...

Besides her two disorderly conduct convictions, Tricia Mezzacappa's resume includes getting fired from a NJ charter school in the late 1990s for unexcused absences, uncooperative behavior and resistance to taking direction. She mismanaged her personal finances into Bankruptcy Court and was under the court's Chapter 13 jurisdiction from 2005 until July 2010. And she currently is being sued for defamation. After a preliminary review of the defamation complaint, Judge Edward Smith concluded: "Contrary to Mezzacappa's contention, these statements do not merely appear to be expressions of non-actionable opinion. Instead, these statements not only appear to be defamatory, they appear to be defamatory per se."

Anonymous said...

I cannot vote for old heavy people. I doubt you can either.

Anonymous said...

On May 14, 2012, Tricia Mezzacappa made a legal filing in Northampton County Court in Bernie O'Hare's defamation lawsuit against her. She claimed she would be "unfit to stand trial." Mezzacappa, acting as her own attorney, said the following:

"...I have had to seek medical attention to properly handle my anxiety, fear and stress. It is the opinion of my physician that I must be sedated with medicines that are included on the Schedule of Class IV Controlled Substances for all matters involving Bernie O'Hare, to quell the situational anxiety I have suffered at the hands of Mr. O'Hare. It is my opinion (as a Registered Nurse of 10 years) that due to the potency of this medication, I would be unfit to stand trial or provide for my own defense pro-se."

Mezzacappa goes on to say in this legal filing: "If this matter does land in the hands of a jury, I would need to testify from a closed-circuit TV, where I would not be subject to the immediate presence of Mr. O'Hare."

And yet Tricia Mezzacappa chooses to run for a seat on the County Council, knowing full well that Bernie O'Hare attends council meetings and writes extensively about county government.

Was she lying to the Court or did she make a complete recovery from her situational anxiety?

Jason Toedter said...

Thanks for adding me. I hope to chat on Saturday. Thanks again for your consideration.

Anonymous said...

I'm solidly behind Tricia------why should Lehigh County have all the looneys ?????

Anonymous said...

Old Seyfried can't stay out of anyhting. Word is he is a stalking horse for the Callahan slate.

Anonymous said...



Hasn't worked in 20 YEARS, sounds like SSI payments.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Seyfried probably does more work in retirement than you'll do in a lifetime, most likely bc he does not waster his time with annymous assholes who are too cowardly to identify themselves.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The above attack comes from cRaZy Tricia Mezzacappa, whom I have sued for defamation. Today she filed a motion to dismiss my defamation action against her for failure to file an amended complaint, as ordered by Judge Smith. She's got three problems with that motion.

First, I was under no requirement to amend my pleading I could have let it stand with 2 stricken paragraphs. I was granted leave to plead over, but was under no requirement to do so.

Second, I did plead over. An Amended Complaint was filed on 1/14. It's new and improved and includes some defamatory remarks made AFTER Judge Smith's Opinion.

Third, the Court does not like having its time wasted by game players. Before filing a motion making such a blatantly false accusation, you have some obligation to check the record and see if what you are saying is actually true. You can explain to the Court why you are wasting its time with frivolous motions like the one you filed today.

Anonymous said...

follow the rules

Bernie O'Hare said...

In the motion for sanctions, we'll certainly include this rant, which could only come from you.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Tricia, you are insane. Get some help. Does your mother or sister know about your behavior? I think someone needs to notify them about you. I'm sure they care about you and will be very disturbed at the way you are acting. Get some help. Stop posting lies about people. Give up your guns.

Untouched Takeaway said...

Does this person have an actual job? Because if she does, I want the same one...with all the spare time it seems to entail.

Sheesh. Scare~ree.

UT

Mezzacappa Election Committee said...

Jeezus!

I think Mezzacappa has completely lost the last few marbles she had in that thing she calls a brain. She spent all that time repeating her posts??? And she calls you a blog stalker!

It must be the realization that she doesn't have a farts chance in a hurricane of winning any type of election that has her displaying what a nut she is.

I have a bad feeling that she is going to intentionally hurt the other GOP candidates chances when they will have to publicly denounce her antics and negativity.

The GOP will have to try and rein her in - quickly - or she'll be seen as a typical GOP candidate by the vast majority who don't her past history.

Or, is she intentionally trying for an insanity defense?

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

I hope you know how to capture and copy that IP address. The Internet Provider (RCN, PTD, etc.) can trace it back to the source.

Should be more evidence that she continues to libel you.

Anonymous said...

If Cusick runs he will have NO CHANCE with nut job Mezzacrappa as an R candidate. The party should disclaim her immediately. She is a sick and dangerous person.

Anonymous said...

I think O'Hare should let her do the CrAZy, that she does so well. It shows people what she is about and also helps prove his case.

The GOP Committee does need to disclaim her fast. If she does get the 250 signatures there won't be any R's on the county council. It will be guilt by association.

Anonymous said...

I wish the police, the DA and the Sheriff finally take notice of this woman's unhinged behavior. If someone gets hurt, law enforcement will have a lot of explaining to do. This kind of stuff is right out of an episode of "Criminal Minds."

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Bernie O'Hare said...

Now I can serve a subpoena on Google to get the identity of this person. Thanks so much.

Anonymous said...

This was just posted on the blog that Mezzacappa has. It is alarming! Here it is:

West Easton Foot PrintMonday, January 28, 2013 at 6:42:00 PM PST
the wildly outrageous commetn was just deleted. Any ass who actually believes a taxpayer should have to make a formal Right to Know request for basic information, such as the minutes, be denied receiving them by email, then forced to pay for copies AND postage to boot, after a full 35 day delay for "staffing limitations" has her head so far up her ass, it can only be inferred that the poster is the demented and viscious Kelly Gross.

Here's one bitch:

Post them to your website so Pete Layman can take a snooze and West Easton wont see a mill rate hike, and the cops can catch the criminals. The video footage is soon to be posted here...8/22/2012.

Crony connected disordely charges will be exposed. I paid a $315 fine for shouting, when I should have cracked your filthy mouth instead if you were brave enough to show ...then the court case would have been worth it.

Guess what? You can wait for my borough taxes now for a super long time, and spend money collecting them to boot. You wont let me in the building to pay my bills bitch, then the bills are free, and thats that.

Lets see who wins this battle.

Anonymous said...

In reference to Anon. 10:03 PM, here's the comment Mezzacappa deleted from her blog tonight because she said it was "wildly outrageous." It was not posted by Kelly Gross as Mezzacappa incorrectly infers, and there was nothing outrageous about it.

"Miss Foot Print,

I never caused a scene at the West Easton Borough Hall or anywhere else for that matter. I respect other people, even if I disagree with them. Like you, I "practice" law, although I actually have a license. Unlike you, I am a law abiding person. I've never been convicted of disorderly conduct. I've never even been charged with a criminal offense. Why don't you just pay for postage and ask for the records to be mailed? That would be a more efficient use of everyone's time and avoid your "virtual igloo" problem. If you can't afford postage, you should think about getting a job. I anxiously await your well-reasoned, Fordham-educated reply."

Unfortunately, her reply wasn't well-reasoned. It contained more threats of violence and more angry name-calling. What a waste.

Anonymous said...

That picture of Amanda Seyfried is hot!!!

Anonymous said...

Yo BO. what the Hell is going on. It is like a spam bomb went off.

Bernie O'Hare said...

It did. That was Tricia Mezzacappa. I'll have a post about it soon.

Anonymous said...

I want to stress that there is no resemblence between Amanda Seyfried and Jerry Seyfried. Maybe in Bernie's mind but no were else. They are both human beings and that is about it.

Anonymous said...

I don't think half these people realize how big the county is and how difficult it is to win.

Anonymous said...

Between Heckman and Seyfried you may be pushing over 500 pounds.