Slate Belt Concerned Citizens, an unregistered group partially funded by retail unions, was a vocal opponent of the Wal-Mart and Lowes proposed in Wind Gap. One of its organizers, spokesperson John F Maher, is a tireless worker who poured his own money into the effort as well.
Northampton County had unbelievably donated $3 million from its $111 million megabond to develop a road for this project. It had resisted numerous efforts by Ron Angle to kill the project. Last June, Maher's group had enough. It sued.
Just a few weeks ago, Wal-Mart's developer, National Realty and Development Corporation, packed up its tent and returned to New York. It was a terrific and rare victory for the little guy. Maher withdrew the lawsuit, quitting while he was ahead, something that never stopped me.
Today, Maher told me he intends to run for county council. "Yep Bernie, I'm running as a Democrat for the 4th district of Northampton County Council. I 1st need to win the primary, then I'll oppose Ron!"
I admire John, but wish he were running for an at large seat instead of facing Angle. Maher would easily defeat Tony Branco. Branco is an appointed councilman who has failed to distinguish himself, to put it charitably.
It's one thing to go after Wal-Mart. But going after Ron Angle in his own district? That's just nuts.
10 comments:
As somebody who has run against a well financed incumbent, I say give the guy some props for taking the harder road. Anybody could run against Branco, It takes a special person to challenge Ron Angle.
So, if they both oppose Wal-Mart, on what do they differ?
He's not Ron, and that's the difference between a bull in a China shop and a Mouse in a Mansion!
Ron's the Bull!
May the better man win.
The difference is he's NOT a racist or bigot... and he might get something done other than get his name in the newspaper for opposing anything. Sadly, Angle would be the better choice if this is just going to be one of Joe Long's boys who govern with no common sense.
I think the best candidate to take on ron is the one who lets him go off and then points at him and says, "this man is nuts."
I don't know much about electioneering. It seems that whenever I work on a campaign, it's the kiss of death.
Of course that didn't stop me last night from giving Maher all kinds of advice. Basically, I was telling him to run against Branco, who can be defeated. Branco should think hard about whether he really wants to be a councilman.
Well, I'm not expert when it comes to election tactics. I bray about other things. But I'll share what I heard from two seasoned and high profile Dems. They think Ron can be beaten. They believe the best strategy for success would be to run a very positive campaign and ignore any dirt, whether it is thrown at Ron or by him. They also said the ideal candidate would be from Northampton, where Ron runs very strong. He runs stronger there than he does in the slate belt. With this combination, Ron can be defeated, according to these gurus. I asked Angle about this, and he agreed.
John Maher is a great guy - but I would also much rather see him run against Branco than against Angle.
John ran for Wind Gap Borough Council as a write-in and got quite a few votes, actually a remarkable number for a write-in candidate in the days of stickers that would not adhere (pre computer voting).
He is fairly new to this area as a resident, having previously lived in California - not that this matters, but I don't know if he fully realizes how messed up NorCo truly is :)
Windgapper, I know John has attended council meetings involving the WG road. He was there again last Thursday, and asked council to kill the road project. He must see what council is like. I'd like to see him on council, but not as Angle's replacement. That would be replacing one watch dog with another who would be on a learning curve. I say again that John would do best if he were to tun against Branco. True, he would have to face Peg Ferraro. But he'd win in the slate belt, where he is respected and would win in Bethlehem because he is a D. Actually, he's a better candidate against her than Tony Branco.
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