Norco Council Inches Towards Campaign Finance Reform

The pervasive influence of our "pay to play" culture of corruption is rampant throughout the Lehigh Valley. For the past few weeks, I have provided you with example after example of its common use by Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski. Unfortunately, he's the rule, not the exception.

Pennsylvania is one of only twelve states that place no limits on campaign dough for pols. So Politician Mike Fleck can brazenly defend a $1,500 campaign contribution from the city's own financial advisor, Concord Public Finance. "If you disagree with that reform the system because 90% of the pols. in the Valley do that." In Northampton County, part-time public defenders and other patronage employees were regularly assessed $1,000 per year under former county executive Glenn Reibman. Many individuals who were major campaign contributors just happened to have county contracts. This culture of corruption, in which one hand washes the other, hurts those financially unable to play the game. Locally, developers and big businesses end up making the real decisions, while local voters are ignored. Ridiculous "riverwalks" or "Renaissance squares" are proposed, and the public often ends up footing part of the bill. Taxes go up and wages are frozen.

From this deep freeze, a new kind of pol emerged, county executive John Stoffa. He shunned the wheelers and dealers who attempted to bankroll his campaign, and that is part of the reason he was elected.

Philadelphia, which had problems of its own, enacted its very own campaign finance ordinance. Late last year, the state supremes (you can read their decision here) sustained that law against claims that only the state legislature can decide something that important. Zack Stalberg, president of the Committee of Seventy, a Philly watchdog group, explains this decision has "clearly changed the landscape already, in the sense that the big donors - the corporations or law firms or unions with big political action committees - are already finding themselves with less clout." That decision applies to any home rule municipality. Bethlehem is the first local municipality to propose its very own campaign finance ordinance, which is currently under scrutiny. A bill similar to Scwhweder's proposal has also been proposed in Pittsburgh.

Ron Angle's campaign finance committee, which is considering its own campaign finance ordinance of its own in Northampton County. ran into some resistance yesterday. Council member Diane Neiper originally stated, "I'm not in favor of this. It's my right to raise as much money as I want to run my campaign." Several other council members, including Peg Ferraro, John Cusick and Wayne Grube, agreed. And Ann McHale noted that, whatever limits are imposed, creative people will find a way around them.

But there was still widespread agreement yesterday to at least try to rein in a failing system in which money makes some animals more equal than others. Council members Angle, Neiper, Cusick, Ferraro, Grube and McHale at least appear to support a campaign finance ordinance with the following provisions:

1. Prompt online disclosure of filed campaign finance reports on the county's web page.
2. A limit on individual and PAC contributions.
3. A ban on contributions to candidates seeking county office from anyone who is employed by the county.
4. A two year ban on county contracts with anyone who contributes to a person seeking countywide office, unless that contract is the result of competitive bidding.

County clerk Frank Flisser will now draft an ordinance for legal review.