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Monday, November 11, 2013

One Last Callahan Post-Mortem

Since Tuesday's upset victory by Bangor Mayor John Brown in the Northampton County Executive race against favorite John Callahan, I've noted several factors that might have added up to a loss. A poor Democratic turnout; the lack of any real difference between the two candidates on the issues; the contrasting personalities; the possible involvement of Charlie Dent; the damage done to Democrats by Obamacare; the failure of the County party; Callahan's endorsement of J. Willie Reynolds over Bob Donchez in a hot Bethlehem Mayoral race; and finally, a lousy ground game. Today, I want to focus on Callahan's campaign team in my final autopsy.

Blogger Jonathan Geeting, in one of his typically uninformed and mean-spirited essays, blames everything on Callahan's campaign manager, Eric Nagy. That's nonsense. If you want to lay the blame at any one person's doorstep, that person would be John Callahan. He was the candidate, not Eric Nagy. Callahan would blame himself, I am sure. Besides, how can a person who ran such a brilliant primary campaign, in which Callahan got a majority in a three-way race, suddenly be so terrible? That makes no sense to me.

If there is any one person who is free of blame, it is Nagy. He never lost that sense of urgency in this race and was working 24/7, even over the Summer months. But others did.

Congressman Charlie Dent, who to my knowledge has never lost an election, has often said, "There's only two ways to run - hard or unopposed." John Callahan ran hard in the primary. He was in every municipality in the County and had numerous public events that created an air of inevitability about his race. But after the primary was over, Callahan stopped running hard. He ran as though he were unopposed. And lost.

Callahan has an inner core of advisers who met with him every Monday during the primary race. They left nothing to chance. Every proposal made by Nagy was reviewed and, sometimes, overruled. But those weekly meetings topped after the primary was over. There no longer was a sense of urgency. The race was in the bag, so there was no reason to run hard. No news conferences about County issues.

Nobody told Callahan's opponent, John Brown. He thought he was in a race.

Callahan's field director, the general of his ground game, was let go after the primary and never replaced. So when Callahan decided to go to Israel for a month week or more at Israel's expense, there was no one hounding him about the need to knock on doors in Chapman.

Some of Callahan's advisers wanted a mail drop that included pictures of Callahan with his primary opponents, Glenn Reibman and asbestos lawyer Lamont McClure. They wanted a drop directed to Bethlehem residents, showing Callahan with Bethlehem Mayor-elect Bob Donchez. But that never happened. Because there were no weekly meetings, there was no one to question this failure. There was also no one to question why mailers skipped people under 40, or why there was no mail addressed to Republicans.

Callahan's message also changed. In the primary, Callahan made a point of telling voters that he would be Executive of the entire county, not just Bethlehem, and would be interested in what they wanted. He proved it with public appearances in Easton, Nazareth and the Slate Belt. But in the general election, Callahan's focus was a long goodbye to Bethlehem. He would wistfully tell voters how great things are in the Christmas City, even in his literature.

That's nice, but the people in Stockertown don't want to be Bethlehem. They are proud of their own community. Callahan's message was off. But his advisers, most of whom work for or live in Bethlehem, never noticed. With no weekly meeting, nobody was there to remind him he was running to represent the entire community.

Nobody insisted on a return to the ground game that was so effective in the primary. Sure, there were 30,000 robo-calls made in the last two days, but that just pisses people off. When Brown was trudging in the July heat, up and down the streets of North Bethlehem, Callahan was getting no votes in Israel.

Had someone been invested in the field, Callahan would have learned he had a problem in Easton. Since Obama's election in 2008, Easton Democrats have been a force. But that fell apart this Summer. On election day, just one person was calling voters.

Nagy has been taken to task for going into the final days of the campaign with $118,000 in the bank. It's a good thing he had that money. Brown had been sand-bagging Callahan, luring him into complacency, and then suddenly had $40,000 in last-minute contributions for TV ads and mailers. Because Nagy held on to that money, he was able to counter these TV ads with ads of his own, along with mailers.

The fault lies not with Eric Nagy, though I am sure he is beating himself up and makes a convenient scapegoat. The fault lies with Callahan for not taking the race seriously. I didn't take it seriously, either.

Charlie Dent is right. There are only two ways to run - hard or unopposed.

78 comments:

Anonymous said...

Casino did fine in Easton as did other Dem's. Bethlehem Dems' didn't vote for Callahan. More Bethlehem Dem's would have just been more Dem's not voting for Callahan.

Callahan was a bad candidate. Killed in the primary against bad Demns' but his Bethlehem weakness showed so in Bethlehem in the general. Sadly, he dragged down the entire county ticket with him.

Anonymous said...

Sure Bernie. I understand that ultimately, of course the blame is all Callahan's. That's where the buck stops.

Think about this: Callahan's strategy and Muller's strategy were exactly the same. Ignore Democrats with mail. The same thing happened in Lehigh County except Muller won.

What do u think was the difference?

Anonymous said...

He is finished as an effective public person. He doesn't come across as a caring figure.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Callahan really sucked ass in Bethlehem. Probably a case of Callahan fatigue. The guy's behavior, smirk and arrogance finally caught up with him. People do vote for likable people. he is not that likable nor are his camp followers.

By the way he didn't accept responsibly for the loss. he still cries about not getting out enough votes n Bethlehem, he should check out the numbers Donchez racked up.
Callahan barely took the city and got knocked doff on the north side.

Sorry, he is still passing on the blame.

Anonymous said...

Callahan never took the primary seriously. Neither did Kelly but the fault is Eric's. You hire a campaign manager to ride heard and make sure things get done. Did you notice that they didn't even Facebook anything in Election Day?

Anonymous said...

You missed the entire point. Charlie Dent was right. He said Callahan was a pay-to-play ethical oil slick whose Bethlehem record was a sham. Charlie Dent was and is right. Voters knew this as well. Callahan's wrestling match idiocy confirmed Dent's and voter's suspicions. Callahan was in an uphill battle the whole time.

Anonymous said...

Astute observations Bernie. No one out works John Brown. The guy is relentless and goal focused at all times. The voters chose wisely and will be rewarded for the confidence they have shown in him on election day. I expect at least a 10% reduction in county spending or possibly more within a short period of time.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately for the Democratic ticket, Callahan did not campaign hard. No door to door in the General. Minimal contact with the electorate. Poor campaign strategy. Eric Nagy is his advisor? He didn't see this coming? They depended on mailers. Who makes the most money on mailers? Answer is the consultant, Eric Nagy. The consultant will tell you that mailers are the most effective. Not so anymore. Everyone does it. The most effective is knocking on doors and getting into peoples homes and people seeing you and talking with you. This election was Callahans to lose and he lost it by not doing the same thing in the General election that he did in the primary election. Fact is, He did not have Reibmans poor record of administrative ineptitude to run against and McClures poor record of attendance at meetings to run against. He up against a candidate that made one poor choice, that being he took a junket at taxpayers against. He had three great candidates on his ticket. Heckman and Seyfried should have been front and center in his campaign. He also had newcomer Hunter. How do you run with Heckman and Seyfried, two of the most highly regarded Democrats in the County and not flaunt that positive to the elctorate? If you were under 40 you did't even recieve a mailer. If you were Republican you had minimal contact with the the Callahan ticket.
No Bernie you are slightly wrong here. The Consultant was and is to blame here along with Callahan and his track record. This isn't the first race Nagy has lost but I am willing to bet it may be his last highly visible Dem race that he loses. Who will hire him after this.

Bernie O'Hare said...



He was paid a salary. It was not dependent on mailers. Nagy is not at fault. The fault lies with Callahan and his inner circle. They were the ones who took the general election lightly. They were the ones who decided not to get a field director for the general. They were the ones who stopped the weekly meetings. They were the ones who allowed Callahan to go to Israel for a month. Do you think Nagy would have agreed with that? They were the ones who were not there to tell Callahan he needs to play to his strengths and feature people like Seyfried and Heckman. They were the ones who did not reach out to Morganelli, who did not think it mattered.I agree the under 40s and Rs should have been contacted, but where were Callahan and his inner circle when these decisions were being made? In Israel?

There are only two ways to run - hard or unopposed.

Anonymous said...

So, let me get this straight. You belittle this Geeting character for writing that Callahan's campaign manager was horrible but then go on to write how Callahan's campaign was horribly managed.

You'll stoop to blatant hypocrisy and nonsensical comment to simply belittle another blogger? (And I'd guess that Geeting is more informed than you on most issues.)

Anonymous said...

"Ignore Democrats with mail" ??? I got two flyers a day some days from Callahan.

Anonymous said...

I expect at least a 10% reduction in county spending or possibly more within a short period of time.

Just what we need. More austerity.

Give me a break. THis country is falling apart thanks to clowns like you.

Anonymous said...

So in Bernie's reply, he refers to this nebulous "inner circle" and not to the guy paid to manage the campaign and give advice. How the fuck do you know what Nagy did and didn't sign off on? where are your sources or are you blowing wind out of your ass?

Anonymous said...

Whoever the inner core of the callahan campaign failed on multiple levels to remedy D defections probably only in bethlehem and maybe just the north side. That failure combined with message failure; failure to define Brown in unacceptable terms;failure to coordinate attacks on Brown; failure in mail and media; failure on ground game. And give the size of his war chest if polling was not done, malpractice is confirmed

John deserved better and had the resources to change the outcome. And that sucks.

above is question i asked which u sort of answered--but who is this inner core that went along with John's sleep walking? The entire point of a campaign is to keep the candidate focused, execute the plan and anticipate necessary corrective measures.

So if not Nagy, then who Dolan? Cunninghahm, Seyfried, his brother, Mafalda, Blogger Bernie?

It is John's ultimate responsibility but what are campaign friends for but to speak truth to their candidate?

Anonymous said...

So, did Eric Nagy write this story for you or did he just supply the faulty details?

Anonymous said...

It's not austerity..it's trimming the fat and bloat. Any organization has room to downsize and improve services and efficiency. Political appointments are an obvious target and they should be aware of their situations.

Anonymous said...

Nagy took on an uphill campaign and did the best he could with it. Callahan had a terrible record, lots of personal demons, and abrasive personality. Everyone thought Nagy snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. In fact, he never had a shot at victory with his putrid candidate. He gets credit for making it as close as it was. He had lots of baggage to haul around. Local and state Rs knew early on that they had a good shot at winning. The playbook for defeating Callahan had been given to them by Dent three years earlier.

Doc Rock said...

John Callahan did a fine job as Mayor of Bethlehem. Back in the day - when he professed that being Mayor was his dream job - times were good. It started to go wrong when he got stars in his eyes and sought a national stage.

Had he remained focused on Bethlehem rather than Congress (and BHO), I believe he would have won last Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for Nagy-never met the guy-but I have met Callahan. Callahan is known for not listening to advice. The better man won-plain and simple.

Anonymous said...

I respect your opinion and your writing, Bernie, but I think you're very wrong here.

All of the failings you cite (and you're correct to point each of them out, they likely all contributed to the loss) are squarely Eric Nagy's fault.

The campaign manager schedules and manages weekly meetings with the consultant team. The campaign manager schedules the candidate's time, and pushes him to do more if needed. The campaign manager makes decisions about the allocation of resources and the targeting of direct mail.

In a high-profile political campaign with this kind of spending, the candidate's job is not to manage the campaign. Every single failing you cite is Eric Nagy's fault, and anyone who's ever managed a major campaign knows this is true.

Even if some of these bad decisions were John's originally, part of being a successful campaign manager is building a relationship and level of trust with your candidate that allows you to say, "No. You are wrong, and this is a bad decision. You need to trust me." Is it possible that Eric Nagy did that at every turn, and John just didn't listen? Sure. I'll grant you it's possible. We weren't there. I don't believe it's likely.

John Callahan would blame himself if anyone asked. Say whatever you want about him as a politician; he's a kind person and not the kind of guy to blame his staff. But he'd be wrong.

Ryan said...

Haha -- It takes absolutely no time after reading a few sentences of this post to prove you've never run a campaign before.

Anonymous said...

What do u think was the difference?

The Muller campaign was able to successfully define Scott Ott as an unqualified extremist. Muller (a DINO) peeled off a significant number of Independents and liberal/moderate Republicans.

Dent had already defined Callahan as a fiscally incompetent liberal. Unlike with Muller, no R's crossed to support JC, he lost I's and he failed to turnout the Dem base. Game over.

What was he doing in Israel for a month? Who paid for the trip?

Anonymous said...

Callahan lost by 1300 votes. He would of had to spend more money than he had on turn-out to overcome that in the D districts. One of which would have been Bethlehem were he won but on all other scales lost. It's just that simple. Bethlehem was tired of Callahan. Brown figured that out and Callahan lost.

Bernie O'Hare said...

10:18, it is cheating for you to sum up in two paragraphs what took me three posts.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Ryan, actually, I did once run a campaign for a county council race, and have been involved in numerous county level races over the years. I do know that it is very easy for you and Jonathan Geeting to play Monday morning QB and blame everyone but the candidate. But I know that the Exec races are won and lost based on the decisions made by the candidate. Jerry lost an exec race bc he relied too heavily on a consultant instead of using his own good judgment. Reibman lost bc he took Stoffa too lightly. Angle lost bc he failed to spend the money he had needed to spend. Stoffa beat McHale by defining himself as the anti-politician. In this case, Callahan dismissed Brown and lost.

In about 30 years, you'll be amazed by how smart everyone has become. Right now, you are a smug know-it-all who can't tie your shoes.

Bernie O'Hare said...

8:42, I called Eric after reading Geeting's factually inaccurate piece. I spoke to a few in Callahan's inner circle, the ones who were meeting every Monday, and they blame themselves.

Bernie O'Hare said...

8:35, it is not difficult to figure out who was in John's inner circle. It serves no public purpose to identify and publicly embarrass them, as Geeting attempted to do to Nagy. Ultimately, the fault lies with Callahan for resting too easy. I am sure he is beating himself up, too, and don't want to belabor this point.

Bernie O'Hare said...

8:30, I spoke to three members of Callahan's inner circle. They blame themselves, not Nagy.

Bernie O'Hare said...

8:22 is the Blog Mentor, who does not give a shit about anything. This post was written to correct the disinformation spewed by Geeting, and to stop the scapegoating of one person.

Anonymous said...

And who is this secret inner core u speak of? Cunningham/Dolan/Urself?

Bernie O'Hare said...

I am by no means part of Callahan's inner circle and have already answered this question. Get off your ass and do some digging if you want to know.

Anonymous said...

Nagy is not to blame. Bernie is right. The Callahan inner circle, or the Js as I heard them called, made all the final decisions.
This was a well oiled machine in the primary, but got rusty over the summer, and never recovered in the fall. Too bad because they could run a great campaign, they just did not run one here.

Ryan said...

You're right about one thing: I hate tying my shoes; I always leave them tied and slip my feet in.

I don't doubt I'll learn more as I get older -- but my guess is that I've done more races in my life than you, regardless of how many years you've got on me. And it's hard to learn how campaigns work from the outside, regardless of how much you read or inquire.

John's not completely free of blame -- as if he didn't also presume his inevitable win, it would have kicked Nagy into gear. But the point of Jon's post was that it's ultimately the Campaign Manager's responsibility. Most of the points you made in this point (besides when you blamed it on Callahan) back up that point very well.

It's the Campaign Manager's job to make the candidate does the work regardless of how little they want to do it. Dent's totally right that you run hard or unopposed -- and that very well might be his personal mentality -- but it's much more likely that it's Shawn Millan's philosophy that Dent adopted. And even if Dent didn't want to adopt it, it's Shawn Millan's job to make sure he does.

Jon's point wasn't to kick Nagy, it was to show that the job ultimately lies with the Campaign Manager. If my candidate didn't do any work, that would be on me. Especially if I had a very good/qualified candidate.

Ryan said...

Though Callahan definitely does have a very tight inner circle and they certainly share the blame as well -- you're right about that.

Ryan said...

Also, 10:00am nailed it the most.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Ryan O'Donnell, for those who would like to know, did the field work in Callahan's Congressional race, which he lost by 15. Great job, Ryan! People will certainly be interested in your political analysis.

ryan said...

I was actually legally never directly associated with the Callahan 2010 campaign until two weeks before the election when the DCCC coordinated -- but thank you for being wrong again! Really helps prove the point here.

Anonymous said...

The three J's. Joe Ulianna, Jack Spirk and Jim Hickey.

Enough said.

Anonymous said...

"The three J's. Joe Ulianna, Jack Spirk and Jim Hickey."

that's funny, and pretty far from the truth

Bernie O'Hare said...

It does. It proves you are not as experienced as you claim on your resume, and shows your involvement in a major loss. Thankfully , it is a mistake Callahan did not repeat.

It's obvious that assholes like you and Geeting will trash people like Eric Nagy bc you want their jobs. But after what you both did by kicking this guy while he is down, I doubt anyone will ever be interested in your services.

Your willingness to attack someone who is supposedly on your side, demonstrates that you are and will sleays be bush league.

Ryan said...

Plus, it was amazing that you focused on one of the two total races I've lost (in the worst year for Democrats in 62 years) to try and discredit my comments that you didn't respond to. I love debating with you! So satisfying.

Also, when you lose a race, you gain way more perspective as opposed to when you win -- I'm sure Eric is feeling the same way recently.

Ryan said...

I have nothing against Eric -- and when did I start kicking him while he was down? We've gotten along the few times we met. I also certainly didn't want his job; I don't even live in the Lehigh Valley anymore.

I just thought your post was silly. You literally listed all of the responsibilities of a Campaign Manager, and then blamed those things on Callahan. It was funny.

Anonymous said...

If only O'Donnell had gotten off his lazy ass and knocked on a few more doors, Dent's 30,000 margin would have evaporated immediately.

Spot on as always, Bernie. Now tell us more about Fleck's turnout miracle!

Bernie O'Hare said...

Ryan, be honest, if you can. You and Geeting, neither of whom know a thing about the Callahan campaign bc nobody would be idiotic enough to listen to you, kicked Eric while he was down. In fact, Geeting's mean-spirited headline screams that the loss is all his fault. You now tell me you don't live here anymore but we all have to listen to you bc you have experience in getting your ass kicked.

Ryan said...

Also, you have my resume!? How does it look? Feel free help edit and send back. Especially because you'd have to edit it to see the word "Callahan" anywhere on there.

Maybe I can put on "Lehigh Valley Ramblings: Intern, 2014." Call me!

Bernie O'Hare said...

You're not qualified to be a bottom-feeding blogger.

Ryan said...

And I don't know about how much money is left in the account or whether they didn't send mail to people under 40 or how early in the race they accepted their poll numbers -- I'm not claiming to know what they did on any of that stuff. Never have.

Just jumped on here to clarify that Jon's point -- whether we agree or disagree on the specifics -- was that the buck ultimately stops with the Campaign Manager, not the candidate. And that you listing all of the responsibilities of a Campaign Manager and then blaming everything on the candidate is funny.

Anonymous said...

Read the Brown interview in the Morning Call. He made great points about waste. He stated that he knows the county has waste and he will cut it. Good! He has the real conservatives on county council to help.

Hopefully he finally stops the slop wagon in county government. Even your precious Human Services spends millions more than it is required to by law. Time to tell the six figure bosses who don't earn their keep to go home and then shake things up.

People are hoping for big things from JB and the conservative team.

Privatize the prison and some of Human Servicess. Privatize as much of Gracedale as possible. Install a profit motive and get people to work smarter.

Anonymous said...

Come on Bernie don't be such a sore loser, Ryan has you beat on this one. Ask your buddy Charlie Dent point blank who came up with the "run hard or unopposed" trip. If Shawn leaves Charlie for more money and a higher tiered race,Charlie Dent is fucked.

Anonymous said...

O'Donnell, you sad wannabe, until you guide a well-known candidate with a 17-1 fundraising advantage to a shocking 6-point defeat against a virtual unknown, you have no right to voice any sort of opinion on the staggering genius of Eric Nagy.

Listen to the experts for once, chump, and dispel yourself of ridiculous notions like campaign managers actually being involved in the management of a campaign.

Anonymous said...

Just so I'm clear on your arguments, Bernie --

1) John Callahan lost by 6 points in 2013 because of bad decisions made by him/his inner circle. Eric Nagy is smart and we should listen to him.

2) John Callahan lost by 15 points in 2010 because RYAN O'DONNELL. Ryan O'Donnell is dumb and we should not listen to him.

Right. Ok. Makes sense.

Anonymous said...

"O'Donnell, you sad wannabe, until you guide a well-known candidate with a 17-1 fundraising advantage to a shocking 6-point defeat against a virtual unknown, you have no right to voice any sort of opinion on the staggering genius of Eric Nagy."


I don't care whose side you're on...that's funny

Bernie O'Hare said...

5:01, Here's what makes sense. When a candidate loses, it is his fault. This attempt to scapegoat his campaign manager is the effort of two assholes who think they should be running campaigns.

Anonymous said...

JC has burned through all most 3m in campaign spending over the last 2 failed campaigns............he is just a lousy candidate who is mot well respected in his own city, not to mention elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

He is arrogant. At the end of the day it shines through, regardless of all the PR.

Donchez must clean house in the city.

Ryan said...

Man, you've really got nothing here, do you? I also love how I thought your post was silly, so I started commenting, then suddenly Jon and I are the same person.

I know you're intending to be disrespectful to me, and that's fine, but I'm really not trying to be that way to you (as much as possible, anyway!). Your post was/is very silly -- and I think that's a good word for it. But there are times when you should just admit that you don't know what you're talking about, specifically when you list the duties of a Campaign Manager and say that they're the candidate's fault.

I also have no plan to scapegoat Nagy, nor do him and I have any problem with each other; like I said before we got along well when we met. I do however plan on pointing out when somebody makes a silly post.

It's the candidates fault when the campaign works its ass off and the candidate fumbles debates, can't connect with voters, can't raise money, can't inspire volunteers, etc. We know that Callahan can do all of these things well, and we know the campaign took a big break because they thought they had it in the bag. It's ultimately the Campaign Manager's responsibility to make sure the campaign does everything it can do to win the race and to set the candidate's priorities and schedule. They didn't work hard, John Brown did, and they lost when they clearly shouldn't have. What Jon was saying is that it's the CM's job to kick the candidate into gear on that stuff. Run hard or unopposed.

But, hey, maybe I can run your campaign next! O'Hare 2016! Or, nevermind. If you're the candidate, you're making all the decisions anyway -- so there's no need.

Anonymous said...

If you want to know about the real Johnny Casino call WFMZ's Jaqqui Farris and ask about the stories from Gregory.

Bernie O'Hare said...

if you want to know about the real Jim Gregory or his cRaZy moll, Tricia Mezzacappa, look at their criminal dockets.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Ryan, I can guarantee you that if i ever ran for anything, I would be calling the shots. Neither you nor Geeting would be allowed within a country mile. And yes, you and Geeting are both the same thing. You both think you know more than anyone, both weigh in on races in which you had no involvement, and both scapegoated Nagy while trying to deny it, primarily to market yourself. You did yourself no favors here bc what you have really done is identify yourself as someone who speaks out of turn. Not personal? Give me a break. Get lost.

Ryan said...

Haha, I'm "marketing" myself solely in the comment section of your blog? Man, I hope I make it big! Someday. Someday.

Also, if you noticed, I barely made any specific comment on the actual Northampton Exec Race. I've been commenting solely on the roles and expectations of the candidate vs. the campaign manager, using your silly comments as examples. There are plenty of things I don't know about -- I felt like this was a time to make sure you knew that you didn't know what you were talking about.

No matter how many times you say I'm trying to portray Nagy as a "scapegoat," it doesn't make it true. Your post is just silly. That's all this is.

It's also really funny that I'm (but I'd also imagine you're just equating me to Jon again) speaking "out of turn" about a race "in which I had no involvement" -- because that makes me really wonder what your involvement in this race was? Were you working for Callahan? Brown? My god, Bernie, no? Way to speak out of turn! I am truly, truly disappointed.

But I'll keep reading every now and again because you have some good posts! See that compliment? They feel good! Feel free to try it sometime -- it helps not to take everything so friggin' personally.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Jon and/or Ryan (you are both the same to me),

1) You both scapegoated Callahan's campaign manager, and I have called you both on this. You have done this for purely self-serving reasons. You have both already established that you're for sale.

2) I supported Callahan, and never hid that from anyone. I believe he should have been elected and is the better candidate, but the voters disagree. I am not for sale.

3) Your actions are bush league and make you appear that way to anyone who might consider hiring you. You both attacked this guy knowing nothing about the campaign and without even trying to talk to him.

Now I am tired of repeating the same points over and over.

Ryan said...

I'll just remind you quickly that I did not write either of Jon's blog posts nor did Jon comment once on your blog post. Just want to point that out in case you missed it.

Even if I did call Nagy out (which I didn't), I would have absolutely nothing to gain from it. So I'm very confused as to what your point is and how this is possibly self-serving to me, but repeat whatever you want to repeat! You seem to be having a ball.

Maybe the reason why you're tired of repeating the same point over and over is because you know that it has no justification? Please look back! All I've done is try to clarify what campaign managers do vs. what candidates do. The fact that you listed duties of a campaign manager and blamed those on the candidate was too funny not to comment about.

And there were no compliments in there! Gah! Maybe next time. We'll be best friends one day yet.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Ryan, you commented on Jon's post and largely agreed with him, and piped up here as well, largely agreeing with him. Now go away.

Norman Snodgrass said...

Bernie I'm the coach of a high school debate team and have to say Ryan has obliterated you in this duel of words.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Totally.

Anonymous said...

enuf said spirk and hickey got jobs via soloman. shockd uliana he is a long time republican.

Anonymous said...

Dolan sure didn't help Johnny C.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, is it rue Ron may go for Bob Donchez vacant city council seat?

Anonymous said...

5:01, Here's what makes sense. When a candidate loses, it is his fault. This attempt to scapegoat his campaign manager is the effort of two assholes who think they should be running campaigns.

You are the one coming off as an asshole here. Calling others assholes and then censoring views opposed to your own? NEver thought this would become a poof blog.

Anonymous said...

uliana is the only one of the inner group to run a campaign county wide and he was candidate. hickey i guess ran reibman after soloman but never did the nuts and bolts and lost to stoffa in primary

and isnt spirk the one who told callahan to roll the dice on lawsuit when police killed the kid and cost taxpayers millions?

callahan needed better inner advisors

Bernie O'Hare said...

You need to do a little more research before you start commenting on these people, who may or may not be part of Callahan's inner circle. Uliana was a state Senator and knows how to run an election and win. Hickey was involved in Reibman's first two runs for office, and basically managed his campaign in his second run. He was out of the picture when Reibman went against Stoffa. You know not what you speak.

Anonymous said...

Makes sense to me. I find Uliana and Callahan have similar personality traits. Now lets see if John follows in Ulianas footsteps and becomes a lobbyist. No one in Norco has a bigger ego than Joe Uliana.

Anonymous said...

hickey was not involved at all in reibman first campaign n he did work the primary loss to stoffa.

and everyone knows he was inner core callahan n direct leaker to boh blogman

n spirk advice cost taxpayers millions n prob part of disaster bethlehem results.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Wrong on both counts. Hickey was involved in Reibman's first campaign. He was basically his campaign manager in Reibman's second run against Angle. He had left Reibman and had nothing to do with Reibman's third run, in which he lost to Stoffa. I know. I was involved in these races. You are spreading disinformation, which is why you remain anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Whoever the inner core of the callahan campaign failed on multiple levels to remedy D defections probably only in bethlehem and maybe just the north side. That failure combined with message failure; failure to define Brown in unacceptable terms;failure to coordinate attacks on Brown; failure in mail and media; failure on ground game. And give the size of his war chest if polling was not done, malpractice is confirmed

John deserved better and had the resources to change the outcome. And that sucks.

above is question i asked which u sort of answered--but who is this inner core that went along with John's sleep walking? The entire point of a campaign is to keep the candidate focused, execute the plan and anticipate necessary corrective measures.

If i am to believe this blog, the "3 js" constitute the inner core and I cannot believe any of them would have left John down.

Again, Executive-Elect Callahan should be making his cabinet choices. The fact he is not, is a shame.

Bernie O'Hare said...

11:44, I've already told you I have no intention of embarrassing these people. They feel lousy enough. In fact, part of the reason why I wrote this post is bc Jon Geeting ft some compulsion to kick Eric Nagy around. Ultimately, the responsibility for this rests with John Callahan, and I am sure he feels shitty, too. There is no compelling reason to name names.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the inner core constituted a different group of js

Anonymous said...

no we all know who the js are just ask morganelli boscola or donchez we all know who johnnny listens to..or heckman seyfried gavin basically any one with a clue