Election Day Rundown for Lehigh Valley Voters - Boscola, Browne & Wonderling Will Retain State Senate Seats

This is the second election day rundown promised for Lehigh Valley voters, covering our gerrymandered state senate seats. There will be a third post for contested state rep. races and the Lehigh County referendum question.

State Senate Races - Boscola, Browne & Wonderling will win.

18th Pa. Senatorial District: This district is a crescent that includes portions of Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties. Incumbent Lisa M. Boscola faces reformer Bonnie L. Dodge.

Bonnie, a devout Christian, will quietly tell me she cannot apologize for her strong religious convictions when I start lamenting her constant references to the Heavenly Father. I am suspicious of religious politicians, but perhaps that's my problem. If you can get past her religious tenor, she's a sincere and hard-working woman with a reform agenda. She belongs in government. She's hit Lisa hard on the issues, but never was personal. I'd like to see more strong women in government. And that's the problem. Incumbent Lisa Boscola and Bonnie Dodge are mirror images. Boscola has been a staunch advocate for property tax reform. She's refused payraises, and thumbed her noses at party bosses more than once. Although I wish Lisa was a bit more liberal, her views are in line with those of most Pennsylvanians. She will crush Bonnie Dodge, and I'll be voting for her, too. I just hope Bonnie tries again. Despite her conservative views, she's an advocate of good government, and we need as many of those as we can get.

The Morning Call and Express-Times both endorse Boscola.

16th Pa. Senatorial District: This is another gerrymandered district made up of bits and pieces from Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties. Rick Orloski is trying to unseat incumbent Pat Browne.

In a world of negative and misleading campaigns, these are two class acts. Orloski, uncharacteristically quiet for a seasoned trial lawyer, has a terrific sense of humor. And Browne, despite his legal and accounting background and prior experience as a state rep., is surprisingly modest. They are both gentlemen and what you see is what you get. Orloski is an unabashed liberal while Browne is moderately conservative. Orloski proposes conversion of Pennsylvania clean coal into alternative fuels, and is promoting a Lehigh Valley medical school. His problem? He's run for office so many times he's become our local Man of La Mancha, tilting at Lehigh Valley Windmills. For that reason, he'll lose. I'd still vote for him.

The Morning Call has endorsed Pat Browne.

24th Pa. Senatorial District: Third Lehigh Valley Senate seat. Third gerrymandered district. This is a jigsaw of Lehigh, Northampton and Bucks counties. Democrat Dave Wilsey, a Quakertown Borough councilman, is pitted against incumbent Robert C. Wonderling. Wilsey has yawned his way through the race, hasn't spent a dime and certainly is an unknown in the Lehigh Valley. He has devoted so little attention to this race he couldn't be bothered to sign on to a proposal to strengthen our Sunshine Act and Right to Know Law. Wonderling will trounce Wilsey, who has done nothing to earn anyone's vote. "Vote for me. I'm not a Republican." That's not enough.

What really apples me is that Wonderling is a poster boy for the Lehigh Valley partnership, but the blue collar party has come up with only token resistance. Something is wrong there.

Wonderling is endorsed by The Express Times and Morning Call.