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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Voters Rage Against NorCo Dem Machine

I'm pretty sure last night's party for county machine Dems must have been a real dud. Besides Branco and Maher going down the tubes, McClure is in serious trouble. The two Dems who managed to win county seats, McHale and Barron, refused to participate in smear campaigns. Let me lay out the big losers and the winners.

Losers

Lehigh Valley League of Women Voters. It's time this group drop its stifling debate format, in which candidates become bobbleheads and voters learn nothing.

Tony "the crony" Branco. Unable to run a positive campaign on a nonexistent record, he instead rolled around in the mud, hiding behind the skirts of dirty dealer Tom Severson. The Morning Call's Glenn Kranzley last night told WDIY this kind of politics is "always disappointing to see ... suppresses the vote ... turns people off." Maybe Tony should have answered that LWV questionnaire.

John Maher. He disingenuously claimed to be running a positive campaign while simultaneously bad-mouthing his opponent in debates and at county council. His monstrous anonymous robo-calls and sleaze mailings infuriated most of the slate belt.

Tom Severson. The Darth Vader of Sleaze Politics, this political consultant is learning the hard way that sleaze no longer works. Of the four county candidates he worked for, he lost three races. The fourth? This brings me to . . .

Lamont McClure. All the King's Horses. All the King's men. Even Severson. Yet Lamont clings to an 88 vote lead over an underfunded unknown who had no time to campaign. Can you say recount?

Charles Dertinger. He was hoping to add a few votes to his Axis of Weasel, but may have lost two members. Oopsie!

John Morganelli. He's hand-picked two judges. Now, he's stacking county council. First, he plugs in McClure, whose wife works for him. Now, he tapes robocalls falsely claiming that Tony "the Crony" Branco is helping him fight crime. Voters aren't buying it. Unless Morganelli straightens out his act, they won't be buying him much longer, either.

Joe "the Bossman" Long. Against the advice of respected leaders like State Rep. Rich Grucela, he insisted that the party endorse candidates in the primary, only to see two of them go down in flames in the general election. He has constantly inserted himself in the political process, making himself and his own machine style an issue. An embarrassment to local Dems, Bossman Long should step down as party chair.

Winners

Debate at the State. The Express Times and State Theatre performed a terrific public service with its "Debate at the State," featuring Easton mayoral candidates. Its format enabled voters to see the sea of difference between Sal Panto and Gary Bertsch.

Pen Argyl Area Concerned Citizens. Tough but fair questions, candidate exchanges and direct encounters with the public make this the best forum in which to draw out the real differences between candidates.

Meg Holland. Against all odds, this diminutive Republican CPA stood against Bethlehem's old-guard Dems. Outspent three to one, she pulled off a stunning upset. Maybe DiGiacinto should have debated her after all.

Ron Angle. He actually took the high road! Go figure! When Maher called him an "antagonistic life long politician with a record of shenanigans," Ron just shrugged his shoulders and smiled! Must be drugs. When I called him late last night, he said "I'm going to Disneyworld!"

Steve Barron. He ran a very smart and positive campaign with limited resources against an entrenched incumbent, and pulled off an upset.

Easton. After years of poor leadership, Sal Panto is at the helm!

John Stoffa. An antipolitician, machine Dems tried to stack county council with cronies interested in partisan politics, not good government. Stoffa said long ago, "There's nothing wrong with government. But sometimes, the wrong people are in government." The voters listened.

18 comments:

Tom Foolery said...

Holland's win is the real shocker. It looks like the voters in Bethlehem were paying attention. Good for them!

Tom Foolery said...

Well Bernie, McClure won. Looks like you'll have to continue sitting in the back row at County Council meetings..There is always 2009..

Bernie O'Hare said...

Tom,

I agree that Holland's stunning victory is the biggest surprise this elections season. it probablty did not help[ DiGiacinto that he squandered some of the money he raised by mailing campaign ads to Hanover and Bethlehem Townships.

Although McClure is likely to eke out the win, a victory of 80 votesd is low enough to ask for a recount.

Anonymous said...

recount? you betcha. I'm glad the county used lever machines this time around. A recount might actually result in an upset.

McClure spent what - 12K -- 12K for 80 votes ::sigh::

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say thanks to Mr. O'Hare for putting together this blog.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Hayshaker, You're quite welcome.

Blah Society said...

Bernie -

Is it right to compare Severson to Darth Vader?

Vader was good, before he was Vader, but Severson was always Severson. But then, Vader turns good again. I don't see Severson ever turning good.

Use the Force, Bernie!

Anonymous said...

McClure spent what - 12K -- 12K for 80 votes ::sigh::

Oh we are soooooo..... screwed, having him on the team controlling our counties finances. That type of wasteful spending should have auto-disqualified him.

Tom Foolery said...

Let's also call a knucklehead a knucklehead..If McClure's opponent made even a halfhearted run for the post and/or did not run for two posts at the same time maybe he would have won. With the pathetic effort he made to win he doesn't actually inspire me either..

Bernie O'Hare said...

TomFoolery,

Gotta' agree there. Had Schwartz taken the time to mount a grassroots campaign, he would have had lots of help and probably enough small donations for a small mailer.

Anonymous said...

Maureen Holland Schaeffer---

How my mom won--
- Walking to 3,000+ doors
- Poll coverage by family members (almost all polls were covered and we all stood out from 7am-7pm most without leaving) and even with all the press coverage people still did not know much about the Controller race (DiGiacinto floated around between polls, but I believe only had 2 or 3 covered all day)
- Very effective campaign mailers
- Qualifications (people who did read about the race said they understood that she was more qualified)
- "Holland" last name and people's friendship and respect for my grandparents and other family members (Attorney Robert Holland and Marie Holland) (BethDem told me it didn't matter about my grandparents.. a lot of people told us at the polls they came out to vote for my mom because of them)

- The Express Times published an article today stating that she won by 25 votes... she really won by 229 votes. I really thought it was going to be very close and I thought it might be a less than 50 vote difference. I'm very very happy about the outcome and know that my mom will do a wonderful job.

-Bernie- Thank you for all of your very informative posts. I'm glad this is all over (at least for 2 years).

Bernie O'Hare said...

Congrats on your victory. My posts concerning this race would not have been possible without your willingness to come on this and bethDem's blod to state your mom's case.

Anonymous said...

NorCo Dem Machine? What machine???

Our Grandson turned 12 years old on the 5th and our Granddaughter is 5 years old today. wife Beverly will be 62 on the 16th (don't tell her I told you so)! The three of them have more of a "machine" with voters in NC than current nitwits in charge of D Party here and only two of them live inside the County. larry@kisslinger.com

Anonymous said...

BTW, Holland's win was not a real shocker to me! Congrats to Meg, family and friends. Meg will do us proud as Controller in Bethlehem, is my opinion. larry@kisslinger.com

Anonymous said...

To the Dem winners particularly Steve Barron. Congrats on YOUR win!. Both you and your consultant ran a good , informative campaign and it payed off. Now as a vetern of County politics let me give you some advice right up front. Don't, donot, let Boss Long and some of the other so-called self-professed Demo leaders convinece you how lucky you were to have had their help. They will infer they were responsible for your win and you owe them bigtime. You won, they didn't. Don't get me wrong there are many wonderful helpful people in the party that give a 110% be sure to thank them, just remember there are also the after the fact credit takers who talk a good game but in the end, what did they really do?
I learned the hard way, just a tip to a smart young Dem. All the best in the future. PS- Don't trust O'hare he only wants you for your body.

Anonymous said...

Schimmel is now blaming George Bush for his loss and refuses to concede. Classless and clueless.

Mark Schwartz and the Norco GOP didn't think they could win against $$$. It was written off months ago.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Don't trust O'hare he only wants you for your body.

This anonymous dude obviously knows me.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 6:57,

I would blame neither Schimmel nor Schwartz for waiting for certified results. Although I doubt the results will change, both races are very close and just a few transposed numbers from the tapes might be enough to turn things around. I also know someone who moved, changed registration, but did not appear on the poll registry. Fortunately, she remembered enough from this blog, amazingly, to ask for a provisional ballot. The poll workers did not know what she was talking about, but were able to call Easton and then gave her one. If it's counted, that should be another vote for Schwartz.