NorCo Elections Office, Area Agency on Aging Schedule Elections Presentations at Senior Centers

From Northampton County: The Northampton County Area Agency on Aging and the Elections Office announce a series of specialized election presentations exclusively for senior citizens residing in Northampton County beginning in August.

These informative presentations aim to provide the senior community with knowledge on effectively exercising their voting rights. Key topics of the presentations will include assistance for senior citizens in voter registration, how to apply for mail-in ballots, instructions on completing mail-in ballot envelope procedures, and more. Elections staff will be available during the sessions to assist attendees with any questions they may have and will provide necessary documentation for same-day completion.

 

"We are excited to announce a partnership between our Elections Office and the Area Agency on Aging to enhance voter education among our residents,” says Executive Lamont G. McClure. “It is crucial that our senior community members are well-informed about the voting process and have the resources they need to participate in elections."

 

The Northampton County’s Area Agency on Aging Division and the Elections Office encourage interested senior citizens to attend an informative session.

The session dates and locations can be found below.

Why NorCo Administrators Stopped Baratta's Detective Hire

I told you yesterday that NorCo DA Steve Baratta wants to hire a retiring Bethlehem police officer to add to his stable of county detectives. At the same time, he proposed giving all county detectives what amounts to a 15% payhike over what they are currently paid. But when Baratta and First Assistant Bob Eyer appeared before County Council last week, a resolution that authorized the hire and salary increases was missing. That's because Executive Lamont McClure pulled it. He had good reason to do so.

One of my readers slammed McClure: "He must have it his way and will push back on anything that doesn't get him donors or publicity." But as McClure himself advised Council, county detectives are in a collective bargaining agreement, and the county administration is the sole bargaining agent when it comes to doling out money. 

This appears specifically in the Home Rule Charter's enumeration of the powers of the Executive branch. Among them is the authority to "supervise and direct the negotiation and administration of any collective bargaining agreements with employees ... ." This applies to all union contracts, including the courts and the DA. 

Without question, as an independently elected official, the District Attorney has authority to hire and fire. But he has no authority to raise or lower salaries. That is the province of County Council. If a union contract is involved, it is the province of both the Executive and County Council. The Executive negotiates. County Council approves any collective bargaining agreement. 

Baratta argued that he has the right to "move pieces" as he sees fit so long as he stays within his budget. But that view is wrong. Under the Home Rule Charter, they, and not he, set the salaries.  

In addition to defending the Home Rule Charter, McClure has another reason to put the brakes on Baratta's proposal. Baratta is proposing a 15% wage hike for detectives who already are paid pretty well and drive a county car home every night. He is doing this just as contract negotiations are beginning for a new contract. How does he justify this to Human Services workers who are also getting 15% raises, but spaced out over three years? How does he justify this to other county workers? And how does he justify it to county taxpayers? 

County Council solicitor Chris Spadoni told Baratta last week to just prepare his own resolution so County Council can vote on it. That would also be a mistake and would be just as meaningless as the various toothless resolutions being hurled at County Council in recent weeks. 

Gracedale Rating Jumps From Two to Three Stars in Latest CMS Rating

Though the most recent nursing home star ratings have yet to appear on the CMS webpage, they are in and it's good news for Northampton County. The county-owned nursing home has jumped from two (below average) to three (average) stars. 

What's most impressive about the new rating is that Gracedale is now assigned four stars (above average) for staffing. Reported hours of nursing care per resident per day now stands at 4.078 (four hours five minutes), above the national average of 3.798.  

Gracedale still relies heavily on outside agency nurses as it beefs up its staff. Nursing turnover is still quite high and was 68.75% in 2023. 

The nursing home received only one star (much below average) for an item called "quality measures." That is pretty much expected. Gracedale accepts a large number of residents with issues like dementia and Alzheimer's  

NorCo DA Baratta's Proposed Detective Hire Stopped by County Administrators

Before last week's meeting of Northampton County Council, District Attorney Steve Baratta submitted two personnel requests. First, he was proposing the elimination of one vacant full-time Assistant DA position ($67,828) and replacing it with two part-time Assistant DAs ($58,584).  Second, he was proposing a new county detective, with the understanding that all detectives would be paid at Step 7G (salary unknown) County detectives are all union positions. But when County Council met last week on July 17 and 18, the Detective hire was missing. What happened?

Baratta was unavailable for the committee meeting to vet these requests on July 17, but First Ass't Bob Eyer was there. He and Council President Lori Vargo Heffner both noted that a proposed resolution authorizing a new detective was missing. 

Before they were able to discuss this, Council member Jeff Warren (a McClure ally) began complaining about the multiple personnel requests streaming in from the DA asking for salary increases a position restructures. He said he's like a "plan of action in terms of what [the DA] is looking to do in terms of salaries ... ."

At this point, Executive Lamont McClure approached Council to say he had a "nice conversation" with Baratta earlier that week. He indicated that the changes with the detectives implicate an existing collective bargaining agreement. "The county is the exclusive bargaining agent for the District Attorney's office, so these things need to be done in negotiations. He indicated any action taken by Council "would be a nullity on its face because it would be violative of the collective bargaining agreement." 

That's not how Baratta saw it. At the full County Council meeting on July 18, he said a secretary in Human Relations advised him that his detective proposal violated the collective bargaining agreement. "That's a pretty heavy legal opinion for a secretary to make," he observed. 

He said that, as District Attorney, he has the right to move positions around as he sees fit. He indicated his detectives are exempt positions, and so long as meets the budget, the caselaw says he is free to do as he wishes. He believes he can promote and hire detectives without violating any collective bargaining agreement.

Council President Lori Vargo Heffner told Baratta to prepare a resolution on his own and Council will consider it when they meet again August 2. 

NorCo Council Rejects Election Resolution as " Fluff"

Several resolutions proposed by Council member Kelly Keegan at recent meetings of Northampton County Council have nothing to do with county government and have accomplished little more than further divide an already divided body. But just as a broken clock is right twice a day, a resolution she proposed at the July 18 meeting has everything to do with county government. The administration of elections is a core county function in Pennsylvania. Public confidence in Northampton County elections has been shaken as a result of design errors in the Express Vote XL during the 2019 and 2023 elections. The county administrator was forced to resign after the most recent debacle. It's important that citizens who choose to vote know that their votes are counted. But at the July 18 meeting of Northampton County Council, a resolution endorsing election integrity was rejected by a 6-3 vote. 

Voting No were John Brown, John Goffredo, Tom Giovanni, Jeff Corpora, Ron Heckman and Lori Vargo Heffner. Voting Yes were Ken Kraft, Kelly Keegan and Jeff Warren. 

Whether you lean right or left, chances are you think our American democracy is in peril. Some of us fear the emergence of autocracy while others worry that our institutions are being abused to persecute political enemies and suppress free speech. This concern is even expressed in the way we vote. Some of us worry that the right to vote is being compromised, while others earnestly believe that we have set in place so many ways to vote (in person, on demand mail-in ballots) that it's become difficult to prevent voter fraud. 

With this in mind, a nonpartisan group called Keep Our Republic has been formed to "strengthen trust in our electoral system." It supports three basic principles: (1) Let every eligible voter vote; (2) Let every vote be counted; and (3) Let the electoral vote stand. Executive Lamont McClure drafted a resolution expressing these three basic tenets and Kelly Keegan sponsored it. 

Here's what Council members said at the meeting and in a previous committee hearing:

John Goffredo: "If you take it at its word, I agree, it's not controversial at all. The problem is that I think over the last four years our elections systems have changed dramatically and there have been problems. ... I think it's full of holes and problems. ... We do have problems. I think we've experienced them. And we're going to continue to experience them until we fix them."

John Brown: "A resolution like this ... is kinda' like fluff." 

Ron Heckman: "I don't really need to bend a knee to some out-of-state group asking me to reaffirm what I've said 100 times." 

Lori Vargo Heffner: "Whay are we saying something we already do? ... 

Kelly Keegan: "Why wouldn't everybody support this?"

Jeff Warren: "This county has done a very good job of making sure that every single vote regardless of hiccups, every single vote is the right vote ... . We have had some hiccups [Warren's term for the election disasters in 2019 and 2023] and there have been hiccuops since the time our country has started." 

The Lord Almighty Has Spoken, But Does He Endorse Kamala?

After a disastrous debate in which he looked like he was auditioning for a part in the latest zombie movie, President Joe Biden attempted unsuccessfully to show that he has a few sparks left in several disappointing interviews. He told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he'd withdraw his candidacy for President only if the "Lord Almighty" came down and told him to pull the plug. That must have happened over the weekend because, as we all know by now, he's finally realized he has no path to victory and has pulled out of the Presidential race. At the same time, he's thrown his support behind his VP, Kamala Harris. While she's already received the endorsement of all 50 state chairs and many would-be rivals, several prominent Democrats (Obama, Pelosi, Schumer and Jeffries) are mum. I'd prefer an open process myself. 

Harris would almost certainly emerge victorious from a competitive convention. This would also prove that she can win, something she was utterly unable to do when she ran four years ago. It would also open her up to a little scrutiny. I believe she had a rough start as VEEP but has come a long way over the past year. My chief concern is whether this Californian from a deep blue state can finally succeed in laying out a vision that appeals to America's disaffected working class. If she can do this, as Trump and JD Vance have done, she could win. 

America has never elected a woman to our highest office. I'm uncertain whether that is coincidence or evidence of the sexism I saw hurled at the female Secret Service agents who protected Trump. I do know this. She will be subjected to numerous similar attacks precisely because of her sex, and some of them will almost certainly come from Trump himself. And those attacks will backfire, drawing more moderates to her. 

What's your take on Biden's withdrawal and Harris' sudden candidacy? Do you support an open process, or should the party just embrace her as if she were an heir apparent?