Ever have a dripping faucet that leaks day and night? Drives me nuts. No matter where I may be, that slow and constant drip can keep me awake all night. Now I'm experiencing the same thing here in Blogistan. Let me explain.Last week, I innocently posted a rumor about Jim Hickey, the miserable bastard who repeatedly threw me off the courthouse roof when he was Northampton County's Director of Administration. Hickey, I'm told, is now working Mike Fleck's Easton mayoral campaign. Being personally familiar with Hickey's prowess as a campaign consultant, I concluded Sal Panto can no longer view this race as a cake walk. My post was not really about Fleck, but Hickey.
But the comments that followed this post were about Fleck. His own work as a campaign consultant has given him a bad rep, at least in some local Dem circles. One reader tells me Fleck fleeced Archie Follweiler, an unsuccessful state house candidate in the Kutztown area. "Fleck took the money and ran. Literally." Hmmm. When Fleck ran for mayor four short years ago, he falsely claimed to be both a Moravian College grad and a business administrator at some used car dealer.
Drip.
Follweiler's campaign finance reports confirm that about $21,000 was paid to Fleck in just eleven weeks. That's a very large sum of money in a very short time for a state house race. It led to my second post, "Will Mike Fleck Fleece Easton?" I have no beef with Fleck, but think it's a fair question. My second post has led to a trickle of constant accusations, mostly anonymous, about Fleck's character.
Fleck is accused of trying to fleece several campaigns simultaneously. I've seen nothing to back up that claim.
Drip.
Fleck's Easton amusement tax, something he advocated when he was on city council, is ridiculed.
Drip. Drip.
Fleck is called an idiot ". . . and I mean no disrespect to all the idiots out there, but this guy really IS your King." "Anyone who paid Fleck ANY amount of money to help them win a campaign is even MORE brain damaged than Fleck is . . . and, believe me, Fleck has no brain."
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Someone claims Fleck is being hypocritical. He publicly condemns Easton's controversial Riverwalk and pledges to refuse money from any special interests involved in that project. Yet he has accepted a large campaign donation from the engineering firm involved in that disaster. Is this true? Beats me.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Fleck's consulting work on Ed Pawlowski's 2005 Allentown mayoral race is disparaged. "I worked on Pawlowski's campaign and (to a lesser degree) with Follweiler's campaign, and Fleck was no upgrade for Ed's field team. He inherited a race that was already won, and did a decent job finishing someone else's hard work. Fleck was a useless cash pit for Archie, a good man who The Valley deserved."
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
PaProgressive, aka John Morgan, and a person whom I deeply respect, says this. "I noticed this in Archie's [Follweiler] campaign reports last summer. I took him aside and asked him why he was paying this guy so much money. As a political consultant myself I was concerned that this guy was robbing him blind. There's just no way you charge $20,000 for a state house race, for crying out loud."
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Late this afternoon, a blogging plumber called Nun Yuzz stopped by. He's tried to repair my leaky blog with a mixture of profanity and even more inside info about the Follweiler and Pawlowski campaigns. I'm beginning to think the entire frickin' Democratic party worked both races at one time or another. Nun Yuzz tells us Fleck actually won Ed Pawlowski's mayoral race. This should be a surprise to Pawlowski. He claims Follweiler lost because he listened to his wife, and Archie also pissed off the "fat guy." Huh? Was this a campaign or The Maltese Falcon? He closes by calling us "bullshit and innuendo repeaters." And "Go fuck yourselves." Very clever.
Nun Yuzz has left the building, but guess what happened to my blog forty minutes later?
Drip.
The comments continue. If the mere mention of Fleck's mayoral race causes a steady leak of comments on my blog, I think those same comments are being repeated elsewhere. Mike Fleck is a sinking ship.
51 comments:
Bernie,
As an announced candidate running as an independent in November's general election, at least for the moment - after switching from my previous intent to seek the one at-large seat on county council occupied by Tony Branco - I enjoy a comfortable position between whoever wins the May 15 Democratic primary, my good friend of long standing Sal Panto or Mike Fleck.
(As his party's only candidate for the position, Gary Bertch of Easton's West Ward neighborhood, he has already won the Republican nomination by acclamation.)
Though I may have criticized Fleck in the past, I never ridiculed him.
And if I were to criticize or ridicule him now, it would not be for his successful campaign when on council for Easton's amusement tax.
Indeed, I would be more inclined to ridicule or criticize him for pulling his punches and not going for PILOTs, or Payments In-Lieu-Of Taxes - IN ADDITION TO THE AMUSEMENT TAX, ESPECIALLY AS APPLIED TO THE STATE THEATRE AND LAFAYETTE COLLEGE.
At last night's Easton City Council meeting rubber-stamping the Easton Historical Commission's "Certifcate of Appropriateness" for the mixed-breed cur that answers to the name "Riverwalk," young Mike Fleck may well have earned the vote of the Sierra Club and the Riverkeepers - albeit at the risk of losing the PETA people by kicking Riverwalk to the curb.
As for Sal, he's halfway down the block toward catching up with Fleck on the issue of developing in flood plains: At the debate of Easton's mayoral candidate held on April 17, 2007, in St. Peter's Lutheran Church on College Hill, Sal was asked by a member of the audience his position on Riverwalk.
Sal hedged his answer: "I disapprove of the process," meaning the so-called "approval" process. But Sal didn't commit to disapproval of the the albatross on (and too often IN) the Delaware River.
Moreover, as the executive officer for Palmer Township developer Gary Strausser, Sal maneuvered the Black Mill Apartments project on Bushill Drive and Bushkill Creek through the four municipalities that the apartment complex straddles: Easton , Wilson Borough, and Forks and Palmer Townships.
Sal repeated that "success" by manuevering the Strausser development through the shoals of Frost Hollow Road and the tributary that follows it and empties into the Delaware River at the North Delaware Drive (State Route 611)intersection.
Hurricane Ivan "the Terrible" took much of Frost Hollow Road with it into the Delaware.
seems more like character assasination by rumor. that is the danger with the blogosphere-a handful of people in a campaign can plant lots of innuendo, supported by very few facts, to create a negative buzz.
issues about fleck aside, what's with the constant deification of hickey? to the best of anyone's knowledge, he's never run a campaign or organized a GOTV, or been retained on a professional basis by any campaign. unlike BTNP, he's not a skilled analyst either. in a world where elections are increasingly (and perhaps regretably) run by professionals, he has never been anything more than an amateur.
"never been anything more than an amateur."
and by all accounts an ethically challenged one, at that.
I can't believe you folks in the Valley! Seems like you don't know what a real political consultant is so you just designate the next local guy who declares himself a "consultant" the mantle. You go from, years ago, Mike Solomon to Hickey, who has never actually done work as a paid professional political consultant but always worked on the public payroll while dabbling in politics, to any number of other self-proclaimed experts to now with Mike Fleck. It is the collective parochialism of the Valley that keeps the area from getting the political respect and power it needs. It also inhibits good candidates from running and leaves you with wannabe candidates with no reason to be taken seriously like Bennett. When will you folks ever learn?
Anon 7:39,
I have high regard for Hickey's campaign skills because I personally saw them in action. I saw them in local campaigns, not the bigger types like you mention. If you make the mistake of underestimating him, you do so at your peril.
I actually think Hickey is more of an idealist than most, but he'd never admit it. I saw him in action as NC's #2. We had many disagreements. He can roll around in the gutter and plays hardball. But I grew to respect and admire him. And I watched the county fall aspart after he left.
The dripping in my place is the fish tank. When the water level isn't high enough, it makes a dripping sound and keeps me up at night. For some reason, the fish don't like it either. Must be the problem of being out of the water.
Personally, I don't think Fleck ever had a chance in this one. But what do I know.
Oh, took your advice Bernie and posted an article at my blog. Once a month can't hurt.
Anon 6:06,
This is a danger, to be sure. But the constant stream of comments lead me to think otherwise. Comments from people like LVDem, Chris casey and PaProgressive make me wonder. Two of those guys are from LC and Pa Pro is in Berks. So these aren't plants from the Panto campaign.
Fleck is stuck with his campaign 4 years ago, when he made some claims about himself that were untrue. That hurt him. He's also stuck with the fact that he did collect $20,000 from Follweiler in a very short 11 weeks. Another thing bothering me is that when Fleck was on city council, he accepted a big donation from Abe Atiyeh right around the time he voted to give Atiyeh's Cinema Paradiso the tax break of a KOZ classification. Atiyeh promised some big office complex and then it became a movie theatre paying low wages with very few jobs. It eventually went out of business.
LVDem, I'm glad you posted.
I have to respond to the character assaination of the Follweiler family by the Nun-yuzz character.
Mr. Fleck can't step forward and defend his actions, so personal attacks against Archie and his wife are the response. Upper Mac has only 32 % registered Democrats, yet Archie was competitive. Why? Because he went door to door through the district.
That's not campaigning?
I use my real name, and I say that Mr. Fleck, if he truly wants to expose the truth, should come out and explain his role in Archie's campaign. Tell us what he did precisely to earn that money. It's simple, but I bet he can't or won't do it. The ball is in Mr. Fleck's court, put up or shut up.
Excellent question, Chris. I wonder what Fleck's response will be.
Anon 8:13,
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Are you suggesting that a local candidate for office can only succeed with someone from Madison Avenue calling the shots? This area does have a fair share of very good political consultants. One of them is under contract with the state Republicans. I'm talking about Precision Marketing.
Define "good". Is it just winning? Is it electing good people to public office? I think we all need to be more critical about what we use as a definition of a "good" political consultant. Too many candidates decide on the spur of the moment to run for office and look around for someone who calls himself a "political consultant", but who may in fact be a complete waste, just so they can say they have one. Too many LV candidates think they only need to have a local consultant and spurn regional or national operatives who may very well know how to run successful campaigns in the Valley. Too many others think that they only need a national name brand consultant, usually very expensive, and don't have a way to span the differences between national and local tendencies and methodologies used in successful campaigns. And then there are those candidates and local consultants who get a little knowledge and experience and think they know way more than they actually do and don't know what they don't know. Bottom line? Candidates and commentators need to do more critical thinking and analysis before getting into the big time politics needed to run for statewide or national offices and too many LV folks, especially on the Dem side, don't do that basic task. The results are obvious.
Anon 12:06,
Winning is nice. But I see your point.
Actually, when it comes to political strategy and that sort of thing, I'm an idiot. I'm pretty much a disaster whenever I "help" a campaign, although no one has ever made the mistake of paying me.
So why don't you a list a few consultants that you think could run a LV campaign for someone like Linda Minger or Archie Follweiler?
You think the local boys are a disaster and just said Madison Ave types are NG. So who would you use?
Honestly, I'm not in that business but I would think that you could look at the successful campaigns of people who you would consider were or are currently quality elected officials and maybe ask them who ran their campaigns and how they were able to win. Then see if those are the same consultants that people are touting in this election cycle. Just a thought.
Two of the best in the business are Craig Rogan and Levi Price, at least on the Democratic side. So is Shawn Millan for the Repubs. I'm sure there are more.
Whose campaigns did they do and when? Are they local, regional or national consultants? Who did Dent, Mann, Boscola, Freeman, Brennan, Cunningham and other recent campaigns? They all seem like good people. What about past campaigns for other offices like City or County Councils, judges or other Congressionals? Any of those people still involved?
Dent was run by Shawn Millian, his constant Campaign Manager and I think he may work in his offices as well. Mann's most recent race was...? Not sure. Must have been someone local, she didn't need much help. Freeman didn't have an opponent, so I don't think he did much. Boscola...uhh, BTNP? helloooooooooo? Brennan had a local do his, Cunningham's was run by Levi Price, a consultant with national experience. I think he now works for his administration as well.
This time around (I only know Dems)...hmm. Peter Schweyer is probably running his own campaign. Same goes for Michael Donovan, with help (i'm guessing unpaid) from Courtney Robinson. No idea about the rest of those folks.
On the judge side, McCarthy is being helped...in some way or another...by Craig Rogan. Glenn Clark is being run by Patricia Smith-Mendelson. Tom Lonnardo...no idea, but Bar Johnson (former Pawlowski manager) is doing his mail. Varricchio is being run by either Mike D'Amore (Allentown City Council) or Mike Schlossberg (Rendell field organizer).
Just wanna stress that this is just what I think, not what I know. Very possible some of this info is inaccurate.
Shawn Millan oversaw Dent and several local republicans that won. He is a a tough hombre, Don't bring a knife to a gunfight with him, there will be no mercy. Ask Charlie Dertinger how many attack ads he was hit with? It was brutal.
Levi Price busted ass to get Don Cunningham elected. He hung that 70% tax increase around Jane Ervin's neck like a used tire.
Because of him, when you say Jane Ervin, everybody thinks huge tax increase.
So who is working for Mile Fleck?
Jim, "I am a bloodsucker who gives" Hickey. It's so hard for a Democrat to win in a Democrat town, but Fleck sucked the tailpipe so bad last time, we are still laughing. Fleck is the Titanic, Lusitania, and Andrea Doria all rolled into one!
Shawn Millan sounds like the Karl Rove of the Valley. Good inside fighter with a pliable candidate who is not too smart. Is that what the Dems need to beat Dent? Is there a Dem candidate and consultant combo that can do the same?
No. The democrats need a candidate who is smart and that's the problem. First of all because they don't have any bright lights and also because then they would then need a consultant who is also smart, or smarter, than their candidate but doesn't want to hog the limelight. Harder for the democrats to find that combination than it is for the Republicans. That's why we win!
last time freeman work with consultants was when he ran for state senate in 1994. he hasn't trusted them since. He hires print shops to do mailers once in a while, but he last credible opponent (Cusik) ran a no go campaign.
BTNP is great but isn't locally based. He knows the valley inside and out though. Not sure if he wants to be counted in the LV gropu. Levi Price is hard core. He ability to position Don to be governor is top notch. Good luck pealing him away though. Bar is great too. Schweyer is a good go to guy but is busy this year on his own. Don't forget Russ Shade. He ran a better campaign for stoffa than his own. Schlossberg got a real job and to my knowledge isn't consulting any more. Courtney ran Minger's 2006 campaign. Rob Hopkins ran Dertinger's campaign (on just about zero cash) but also got Pawlowski through the 2005 primary. Jack Pressman has run campaigns in the LV (Mann 2005 race after they fired the big shot from out of state). Karen Freidman is a name that I've heard of a few times too.
But I do agree with the sentiments. We do have a number of activists in the LV that think they are consultants and are worthy of managing a campaign. Lord knows that teh cast of characters hanging around here (cept BTNP) should be running your campaign.
sorry, that should say that none of the characters running around here.
Actually best strategy I saw was to convince your opponent to hire O'Hare.
Who the heck is Friedman? Never heard of her. Is she local? I heard that both Schweyer and Rogan got their start with Mann's early campaigns? Did Friedman do Mann's earlier house races before the senate race? Is that the connection? And, by the way since I'm (relatively) new to the Valley (moved here 5 years ago), how long has Mann been around? Seems like she has been in office for quite a while.
Schweyer got his start earlier than that, he worked for Boscola and Samuelson for a time. Not sure about Rogan. And Mann has been in office since 1998.
I am aging myself here but I seem to recall that Mann ran against Emma Tropiano for the Democratic nomination back in 1998 and then had a tough Republican opponent to beat in November. Am I right about that? Anybody know who Mann used to run her first campaign? I don't think she did it on her own but I could be wrong. Anybody else here old enough to remember that far back?
I can see that the world of political consulting is way overdue for a story. Who's good? Who isn't? That will be a project for me.
Incidentally, LVDem is right. Every now and then, I get cocky and think I'm a political genius and push my way into someone's campaign. It's always the kiss of death. I am associated with most of the major losses in this area. I can't even plant campaign signs.
I don't know who worked Mann's first campaign, but I'll be asking.
Anon 2:33,
You may win more, but we're much prettier, except for Chris Casey. "The women are strong, the men good-looking and the kids are above average."
Bernie...a story on political consultants sounds great. Good idea!
Yo! lVdem who or what is BTNP ? Russ Shade..come on, what did he do? An opponent overlly confident and no longer credible and a candidate that should have listed the major papers as in-kind contributors. Oh and bloggers who played down past records and performance.
I'm probably too old to be reading these blogs things but here goes. I am appalled at the lack of historical perspective expressed by some of the people who write in with comments. Doesn't anybody know Lehigh valley politics beyond the last two or three years? I have been volunteering in campaigns going back to the mid seventies. I remember walking across the Fahey Bridge from South Bethlehem to the Steelworkers hall with about 200 others and our new Congressman, Paul McHale, after he beat Don Ritter in the 1992 election. That was a heck of a campaign. The guy who managed that campaign was a labor guy named Bob or Bill something who was married to, i think, Karen Ritter a state rep from Allentown. i also remember that Jennifer Mann was involved in that campaign I think as a volunteer. Or it might have been McHale's second campaign in 1994. I think they also were involved in Jennifer's first campaign for the state house in 1998. I don't know if those two people are still doing campaigns but I do remember that Karen Ritter was a really good and highly respected state Representative and her husband, McHale's campaign manager, was a low key guy but not someone who you would want to tangle with. Hope that helps to jog some memories.
if you're gonna do something on consultants, bernie, i'd appreciate it if you'd limit it only to those who actually hold themselves out as such, e.g. take money for their services. i'd rather not be called a "bloodsucker" and "ethically challenged" by some anonymous, mouthbreathing, cretinous troll with respect to a profession i've never purported to practic.
and don't you dare call me an idealist again, you no-good irish bog-trotter.
feel the wind...
Anon 5:44
Getting chilly in here.
Do you know any good Irish bog-trotters?
I'll be planning a story on this, but I'll limit it to those who actually get paid.
Shit, you've been called a lot worse than "bloodsucker" or "ethically challenged" during any single meeting of county council. And those were the Dems!
I promise not to say anything nice about you for a few days. I don't know what came over me.
And that cold wind ....
Anon 4:45,
1) BTNP = Bernie Takes No Prisoners = Bernie Kieklak = Lisa Boscola's chief of staff = your worst nightmare if you piss him off. He's nastier than Hickey if provoked. And he's one of the best. Lisa Boscola pulled in a 73% vicorty, highest in the LV. About a month before the election, Kieklak sent me an email telling me his internal polling had her winning with 72% of the vote. I thought he was spinning me. He wasn't. He's the real thing, and that's one Dem example of a political consultant who, except in the blogosphere, stays behind the scenes and lets his boss look good. He is a consultant who is also smart, or smarter, than their candidate but doesn't want to hog the limelight.
2) You really must hate Stoffa. Now you're trashing his consultant, Russ Shade, too. Stoffa won because of bloggers who played down past records and performance? I hate to break this to you, bippy, but the LV blogosphere was nonexistent at that time. We are a new phenomenon, and LVDem's very first post was AFTER the election was over. I wasn't even blogging about politics back then. Maybe there was a blogosphere in your I HATE STOFFA dimension, but not in the real world.
oh, i don't mind being called names. just ask my kids. but usually it's in connection with something i actually do.
hey, so I just read that comment about Fleck (the first post about Fleck/Hickie, and the comment was one of the ones towards the end) where some dude went nuts protecting Fleck.
For those of us who know Fleck, his temperment and his ego, anyone else think that the one commentor who was cursing and protecting Fleck is actually fleck himself? Makes sense to me...
We don't hate Stoffa if he can get you and the media to run interfertence for him he's a smart shrewd politican. Stoffa has a record but for some reason Reibman held back and didn't get the info out. That was Reibmans mistake. The point is I doubt that makes Shade a great consultant. If he was that good he would have gotten himself elected. Even the press tried to help with an endorsement over Harhart who is just as competent as the other fairly useless state reps from the valley.
Russ has a record its just not as a political consultant. Peace
Anon 8:47,
The Internet is a funny place where people can say all kinds of things under a cloak of anonymity. I allow anonymous comments bc I love the dialogue, learn a great deal, and some folks who have things to say can only do so if they are anonymous.
But I would not conclude Fleck who made those comments. It could just as easily be a Fleck detractor who was trying to alienate the entire local Democratic party. It could have been a republican who wanted to get a chuckle at playing Dems off against each other.
Personally, I think it was that bastard Casey.
I'm not anonymous "or" a consultant! I've lived in Bethlehem my whole life, supported and know almost every single elected official, past and present in the Lehigh Valley! I've helped many of them for FREE! Most of whom have won public office. Panto should be Mayor of Easton again! Heckman for Bethlehem City Council, Buskirk and Romig for Magistrate in their Districts are some of my my current favorites! Political Party organizations are a thing of the past,(sorry to say)
with no clout whatsoever. Also, paid consultants are a big waste of time and money. Severson (Precision Marketing) ran Tony Rybak campaign against my candidate Brennan and lost! My friends, can deliver more votes in five minutes than any of these, so called "experts" could deliver in five years. What part of these discussions am I missing? Best consultants are FREE advice from friends and family and candidates going door-to-door introducing themselves, is my opinion.
Elections are mostly won in 3 very
"equal" parts, money, volunteers and a good candidate. None more important than any of the other.
When anybody wishes to blog about consultants (sic), please don't forget family, friends, neighbors, hard work, decency, common sense and the candidate.
Larry, I appreciate your sage comments and actually got your letter today regarding Buskirk. I met him tonight along with all the other magistrate candidates and will have more to say about that later. You're right. A consultant is only part of the picture. A lot of candidates don't use them at all.
Hey O'hare, don't take the Casey name in vain! I sign my work you know that, to separate it from the dregs like Billy Biter!
mama doris wants you to drop by for some chicken Pomodoro, with her fine arsenic sauce!
Rumors are bad blogging.
People keep trying to ruin our with rumors and insinuations too.
Bernie, when you repeat a rumor yo tacitly endorse it.
I've seen nothing to back up that claim.
...amusement tax... is ridiculed.
Is this true? Beats me.
btw The amusement tax is a good thing. Yes, in my opinion Mike made some bad copromises by capping the tax for the State Theatre, but the tax is good and fair.
House of Crayons,
You died and made you the King of Blogging Ethics? I know you're some kind of comment cop over at Easton Undressed, but please check the sanctimonious shit at the door when you come in my house.
I already this conversation with you back in March. I follow a code of ethics I've set forth on my blog. If something is speculation, I say so. The business about not reporting a rumor is complete horseshit, especially in the blogosphere, which is highly interactive. When I say something is speculative, that's hardly a tacit endorsement unless you're a complete moron. I went thru this with you before. I even went to the trouble of publishing my own code of ethics, and I follow it. Where's your code of ethics? In your head? I'm just not going to follow your little condescending commands. I spoke to a few reporters and some big time bloggers about rumors and know there is nothing unethical about reporting them so long as the appropriate disclaimer is made. I rejected what you said back in March and I reject it now.
Karen Friedman is a based out of blue bell so she's not the best example of a LV based. I was trying to think of a few other names when I wrote that long post and Ritter was the one that I just couldn't think about. But now that I remember the name, I remember it from Mann's state senate race I believe. I wouldn't be shocked if Jenn was a volunteer at Paul's campaign b/c her father has been very active volunteering for campaigns.
As far as my focus on new consutants, it's b/c I'm young and tend to congregate with them, as I'm sure you did back in the day. But somebody asked who the consultants are that could help make the next big candidate. BTNP and Levi Price fit that bill.
To whom it may concern. The guidelines I try to follow, which I posted on March 13, are as follows:
1. Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true. (If your statement is speculation, say so.)
2. If material exists online, link to it when you reference it.
3. Publicly correct any misinformation. (These corrections would appear in the most current version of your blog and as an added note to the original entry.)
4. Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry. (Changing or deleting entries destroys the integrity of the network. I will correct a spelling or grammatical error anytime I discover one. And I have a fifteen minute rule for changing posts. Once it's up for fifteen minutes, it's there for the entire world to see even if I know I'm dead wrong. At that point, I have to do a correction.)
5. Disclose any conflict of interest. (This is particularly important for an anonymous blogger.)
6. Note questionable and biased sources.
Bernie your blogging is ethical. It's your behavior with Billy and Casey last night that's unethical. Poor goat.
Yiu think it was a goat? Naaaaaaa.
Bernie,
I don't get to read too many blogs (no time) but someone pointed out that there was a series of discussions going on here that mentioned my wife and me (sort of).
So, to clear up any questions or misconceptions: I ran McHale's campaign in 1992 (thanks "anonymous 5:09 pm" for the kind words) and was called in again to save his dumb ass late in 1994.
After McHale came out as the first Democrat to call for Bill Clinton to resign from the Presidency I wrote him off as the self-absorbed fop that he had become.
I met Jenn Mann in the '92 campaign through her father Dave who I had known for many years as an Organizer for the UAW.
In 1998 my wife Karen Ritter and I had the honor to run Jenn's initial campaign for the 132nd District and Karen also helped in her first re-election race in 2000. Since then Jenn has gone on to a bright career based on her own merit and skills.
Karen did not run Jenn's State Senate race although she did help out where she could.
I am not too surprised at the lack of historical knowledge about campaigns and consultants who work or have worked in the Valley.
People only seem to focus on the tactics of the last election cycle and who did what to who. The amount of self-promotion that self-styled "consultants" do now days is also amusing to me.
Guess I'm too old school for that kind of waste of time and the fact that I ran the Congressional in 1992 against one of the Valley's all time top self-promoters (Mike Solomon) made me even more averse to that kind of activity.
By the way, Karen and I are still around working with unions and good Democrats all over the country. To paraphrase a line from Spamalot: "We aren't dead yet!"
Hope this clears up some things for your readers and I promise to try and spend more time cruising through the Lehigh Valley blogosphere and reading your blog, too.
It is always interesting to hear people's opinions, even the ones that are based on unsupported opinions or misinformation.
Bob Wolper
Bob, It's an honor to hear from you.I hope to have the privilege of meeting you soon.
I'm looking forward to Fleck's Op-ed on the Waterwaste. Will the papers publish anything written with a crayon?
If the papers publish me, they'll publish anyone.
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