Northampton County Exec Stoffa Smeared For Trying to Sell His Own Land

If you ever meet Northampton County Executive John Stoffa, you're going to notice a few things. First, he's ninety feet tall. Second, there's a sad look on his face - as though he's really constipated. Third, large and rough hands, with a finger missing here and there.

He came up hard.

You'll still never know a thing about this amazing man unless you sit down and actually talk to him. What you'll find is a bright and surprisingly humble man with a laconic wit that bloggers and news people envy. Like flamboyant Jim (are you looking at me?) Hickey, one sentence from Stoffa is usually worth a few stories.

With Stoffa, you'll also find a simple set of ideals that no one in local or any other office possesses.

He does what he thinks his right, and never lets political considerations interfere with his thinking. When he ran for county exec, he actually promised voters he'd raise their taxes. As he puts it, "They elected me anyway." When council adopted a popular American Heroes Grant, it was really just window dressing that helped no one. But voting against that is political suicide. Stoffa, himself a vet, vetoed the bill, saying it needs more work. When council attempted to shove an overpriced IT bid down Stoffa's throat, he ignored them, and saved county taxpayers $1.8 million in the process.

The nonpolitician has slaughtered a partisan council every time they've tried to tangle with him.

As an eight-year old farm boy, he struggled one hot day until he finally yanked a nasty ragweed from a cornfield. He eventually went to college and got involved in county government. But in his outlook, he's still that eight year old farm boy, pulling out ragweeds. There's no shortage of them in Northampton County government.

I've been labeled a Stoffa sycophant, but John and I have our differences. We were actually on the opposite sides of the open space referendum question a few years ago. He supported it. I organized the opposition, and ran a dirty, negative campaign. Anonymous fliers. Automated robocalls. I still remember making prank calls while he was out baling hay or doing whatever the hell farmers do. I even had forty pizzas delivered to his home. It was a close race. The bastard beat me about 65/35. Severson Scissorhands was so impressed he offered me a job.

After it was all over, I blamed everything on Angle. Stoffa bought it.

Concerned about poor government performance, Stoffa came out of retirement to challenge a heavily financed, two-term, county executive who had the party's blessing. John had no paid advisors, accepted only small political contributions and did no negative campaigning. Handmade signs and mimeographed fliers did the trick. On the night he defeated Glenn Reibman, John and his wife were at the movies.

The "pay to play" crowd never forgave him for that.

Now it's crunch time. Stoffa's trying to decide whether to seek a second term. I'm sure his wife would like nothing better than to have her husband home. But a lot of us think John can do a lot of good in a second term. That's the last thing the "pay to play" crowd wants, so they're trying their best to muddy him up now, instead of waiting for the usual nasty anonymous robocalls and mailers.

In yesterday's post about John Stoffa's meatloaf cabinet, someone anonymously (and of course it's always anonymous) snarked Stoffa.

8:05 PM: "[W]hile no one is looking he carves off a piece of his environmentally sensitive land from his farm and tries to sell it for a profit using a real estate agent he just reappointed to the assessment board who was also a campaign contribitor."

I said I'd look into it on Thursday, but that wasn't good enough. Twelve hours later, this comment appeared.

8:35 AM: "The question is, is Stoffa selling land across the street from his house, that he separated from the original deed, or not? Is he using Miklas as his realtor or not? Is Miklas on the revenue appeals board or not? Did Miklas give to Stoffa's campaign or not? Is the land that Stoffa is selling in a flood plan or not? If it is, is this an environmental friendly Stoffa or a man trying to make a buck off the county? I have many more so called spurious questions, but I know you will never answer them Bernie, because you espouse Stoffa as the next coming of Christ. Maybe the MSM can check this out, or are they Stoffa disciples, also."

Wow! A challenge to do some investigative reporting! And I get first crack, too! Here's what I found.

1) Stoffa owns two tracts of land in Allen Township. He still likes to do a little farming. His big piece, 26 acres, is where his home is located. But across the street, there's a smaller, 2.9 acre, tract of vacant land. Stoffa bought these properties in 1989. There are two separate parcels and two separate deeds. The larger piece is outlined in red above. The property was properly subdivided before Stoffa purchased the tracts. To be honest, because of the size of the land involved and the natural division caused by the road, no subdivision is really necessary. I know that because I'm a title searcher. I even went to college. It was subdivided anyway.

2) The realtor involved in this shady transaction is Bob Miklas, a licensed real estate agent and appraiser. I know Bob. I've seen him at the courthouse many times, looking at deeds. Miklas is an old fart like Stoffa and does a little farming himself, so they hit it off pretty well. Prior to '89, they had never met. But now, after an extensive interrogation of Bob Miklas, I've discovered that he and Stoffa are friends. This is pretty hot stuff, isn't it? I strapped Miklas to a waterboard, and he confessed that Stoffa sometimes visits his grandson and gives him little trinkets for his tractor. Man, this stuff is dynamite!

3) Stoffa may still think with the ideals of an 8 year old farm boy, but he's now nearing seventy. It now takes him nine hours just to cut the grass on his larger tract. He's often seen at 10 PM, cutting his lawn with lights on his lawn tractor. So, as campaign consultant Russ Shade tells me, Stoffa decided during his county exec campaign that he should sell off his smaller piece.

4) As Stoffa explained to me, he worries when taking his equipment across the road to cut the grass on his vacant lot. It's extremely dangerous, especially at night.

5) After being elected, Stoffa simply had no time to cut the grass. When he finally did get to it, it would be torture. Ron Angle offered to help out, but stole one of Stoffa's tractors and drove off, laughing. He later fenced the tractor at one of Zee Weikel's Allentown yard sales.

6) Stoffa and his very lovely wife, Barbara, tried selling the property to an adjacent neighbor, but the price offered was unacceptable. They also tried with Allen Township. Hokendauqua Creek does go through the property and the Stoffas have always allowed fisherman to try their luck there. They've never posted or kept people off the lot. But Allen Township supervisors had no interest. So the Stoffas tried to sell the lot.

7) First, they tried on their own, but were unable to guarantee that a buyer could build his dream house there. Realtor Bob Miklas was already familiar with the property and knew the procedures necessary for site approval (PennDot, perc testing, environmental studies and other appropriate approvals), so he was engaged to try and unload this vacant land. The property did not sell.

8) Last week, the Stoffas took the property off the market. Their 36-year-old son, Jeffrey, has returned from Miami to live with them and will cut the grass. Problem solved.

9) Bob Miklas did contribute a small sum (between $250 and $500) to Stoffa's campaign. After I pulled a few of his fingernails out, he admitted why he did this terrible thing. "John Stoffa has the best interests of the people at heart."

10) Miklas was appointed (by Stoffa) and confirmed (by council) to the Revenue Appeals Board. As a licensed realtor and appraiser, he has excelled in deciding property valuation questions that inevitably arise. As Bob explained to me, "I hope I'm doing a service for the county." According to Deputy Director of Human Services Lorraine Cordaro, the revenue appeals board conducted hearings at twelve meetings last year, and Miklas was paid a whopping $1,800 for his services. As supervisor of an eight person office, these hearings in all probability resulted in a net loss of income to Miklas.

11) Stoffa has asked his wife to engage Miklas to sell their property if something happens to him.

Sadly, this type of anonymous, negative and spurious smear has become the norm since Bossman Joe Long has ascended to the throne of Northampton County Democrats. They still have not learned they are only hurting themselves. This is also why good people avoid public office like the plague. In Stoffa's case, he's being hammered for trying to sell a piece of his own land. And Miklas is being flogged for his willingness to share his real estate appraisal knowledge with the county, and in an area where it is desperately needed.

These sleaze comment were made, not to further good government, but to prevent it. John, this little episode had to be distasteful to you, your wife and Bob Miklas. The attempt to smear you makes me want to jump in the shower. But it's also why you need to seek a second term. The county still needs you.