Slate Belt Voters Will Take a Bulldog Over a Weasel Every Time

District Four is the slate belt, the most rustic area of Northampton County. It is also the county's most interested and passionate group of voters. They tend to be well-informed. And that's bad news for John Maher, part of the Axis of Weasel.

Express Times: "[V]oters in the northern tier of the county should re-elect Republican Ron Angle, a bulldog who has learned to control his bark but still knows when to bite. Angle has been an obstructionist, but he's learned to work with the Stoffa administration, which of late has been stymied more by Democrats than by Republicans."

Morning Call: "Re-elect Republican Ron Angle. Mr. Angle has almost 30 years in local and county elective offices and over that time his style has changed. He is less personally combative than he once was; more likely to go to court than to stage publicity stunts to make his points. Meanwhile, he is one of the smartest elected officials in the Lehigh Valley, especially when it comes to financial matters. That is key in recommending him over Democrat John F. Maher, himself retired from a banking career. Mr. Maher is not as conversant with county issues as is Mr. Angle and he has disappointingly allowed his campaign to be dragged into the gutter by Democratic Party-sponsored mailings and 'robocalls.'"

Bill White: "[A]nyone who sends out anonymous political attack ads not only is lawbreaker, but a weasel. ... Anyway, both Maher and Branco said they know nothing about the source of the anonymous calls, although only Branco made a show of being concerned. Maher, who also has benefited from negative mailers sent out by the county Democratic Committee, says he's running a positive campaign and doesn't care what anyone else is doing on his behalf."

White claims Maher's excuses are both "disingenuous" and "reflect a less-than-admirable attitude." Put a little more bluntly, Maher is a lying weasel.

Maher proves Bill White right in a Friday morning rant to machine pals that include Charles Dertinger, Joe Long, Lamont McClure and Tony Branco. His little missive, which fell out of the sky and into my grimy little hands this weekend, demonstrates Maher knows damn well who is doing his dirty work. He even proposes a lame strategy to explain it.

John Maher: "Guys; FYI, Does Bill White work for Bernie or is it the other way around! I had a brain fart this morning! Tom Severson is a constituent of my district and of Tony and isn’t within his right to take pot shots at Angle and use whatever resources he has at his disposal ? Just a thought! Regards, John"

Maher's claim to be running a positive campaign is also disproved by his complaint to county council, conveniently made on a night when Angle was not physically present to defend himself. He accused Ron of having a personal interest in a controversial slate belt development. County council solicitor Leonard Zito had investigated that complaint months earlier and had ruled, as a matter of law, that there was no conflict. Is this what Maher considers a positive campaign?

In town halls at Pen Argyl and Nazareth, Maher read from a script in which he called Angle an "antagonistic life long politician with a record of shenanigans." In Nazareth, once he was sure Angle was stuck at a hearing, Maher blurted out this snark, "He's like a child if he doesn't get his way. He stands up and stamps his feet." Once again, is this what Maher considers a positive campaign? And do you notice he only goes on the offensive when he knows Angle is not there to answer him? Those are the tactics of a person who would resort to anonymous robo calls and other smear tactics.

Ron Angle, when he spoke with The Express Times, makes it pretty clear that he had Maher's number long before last-minute finance reports made clear that Dertinger ($2,500) and McClure ($7,000) are two of the characters behind the smear campaign. Here's part of what he said. "Mr Maher has given every indication that he intends to join up with the 'Dertinger Gang' and go back to the Glenn Reibman form of government where the taxpayer was considered last and vendors and campaign contributors were considered first. To give you one example, this summer I went to bat to save taxpayers nearly $1.8 million on a county computer contract. I stood against the majority who said they were afraid of offending the contractors. My interest was saving taxpayers $1.8 million. Mr. Maher has publicly defended the majority’s position to try to award the bid to a high bidder. All in all, this race is really about good government versus bad government, moving ahead or going back."

Angle called it. He really is, as The Express Times labels him, a bulldog who still knows when to bite. And Maher really is, as Bill White labels him, a weasel.

On November 6, Pop! goes the weasel.