Over the weekend, a group of about 30 people attended the annual Lehigh Valley Workers Memorial at Bethlehem's Rose Garden. It was established to commemorate the Lehigh Valley's working men and women who been killed or injured on the job. Lamont McClure, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Congress in Pa. 07, was there. He's been doing it for over 20 years. None of his Democratic rivals showed, nor incumbent Ryan Mackenzie. Although State Representatives Bob Freeman and Steve Samuelson came, none of Bethlehem's elected officials wished to pay their respects. Their absence is astonishing, especially since Bethlehem's Recycling Center has been named after two employees who were killed on the job.
It was April 16, 2002. Dana Grubb (then a Bethlehem City employee) received a call telling him to get out to the recycling center immediately. In his own words,
"Our police department was already on site investigating. There was a lot of blood in the area were Ray Theis and Lewis Cornfeld had been hit and crushed against a cardboard compactor and building.
"I was back and forth with the City's police communications center as we tried to locate their families.
"Ray had been medivacked to Lehigh Valley Hospital and Lew to St. Luke's Hospital. There was confusion about who had been sent where. I was asked to go to St. Luke's to provide identification. One had died on the way to Lehigh Valley Hospital, the other was still alive, but they weren't sure who was who.
"When I arrived at St. Luke's I was ushered into the emergency room where I was able to ID Lew. I will never ever forget what the trauma of his injuries had done to his appearance. He was hardly recognizable.
"Afterward I was sent into a room where Lew's family was waiting along with a chaplain. When an emergency room doctor arrived, he told them to prepare for the worst. You could feel the heavy emotions in that room. Lew would pass very shortly after.
"I left and went to Town Hall where a City Council meeting was underway and let Mayor Cunningham know the status of the situation. He made an announcement to Council.
"For years each April 16 a brief remembrance is held on/around April 16 to remember these co-workers. Unfortunately, the current management no longer does anything to remember the two men whose names are honored at the Their-Cornfeld Recycling Center. They're just names these days."
Incumbent Ryan Mackenzie might have shipped this event because it attracts mostly union members, but this could be one way he could have demonstrated that he actually does care about workers and their on-the-job safety. Ryan Crosswell, who appears to have lived everywhere in the United States but the Lehigh Valley, probably knew nothing about this annual tribute. That's what I'd expect from someone who moved here to run. Obando-Derstine was until recently was a systems engineer with rate-greedy PPL, has never had any real connection to the working class. But Bob Brooks is a former Bethlehem City firefighter and a union president. His absence tells me what he really thinks about the working class, not his TV ads.
Don't get me wrong. I recently watched the Blue Ridge Cable TV of the Dem Congressional candidates who were sparring in Jim Thorpe. All seemed likable. McClure and Crosswell were easily the most polished speakers, which should be expected because that's how they both made a living. But Brooks and Obando-Derstine were fine.
Of the four candidates, Crosswell is best suited to beat Mackenzie because he might attract GOP votes from disaffected Trump supporters. But the problem with Crosswell is that he will not be representing us, as his finance records reveal. He simply lacks the understanding of local issues and people that McClure has. He's been doing it many years. Along the way, he has made some enemies. But he's been on the frontline, and here in the Lehigh Valley.
10:55 AM UPDATE: I am informed that Congressman Mackenzie was at a ceremony to honor Lehighton's last surviving WWII veteran at its American Legion and attended a Department of Labor Memorial event in DC on Thursday.
