About Me

My photo
Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Did I Mention that DA John Morganelli is Running For AG?

He's been pretty quiet lately, but is still running hard, trying to drum up the money needed for a statewide campaign. PoliticsPA recently caught up with John Morganelli, and he's predicting a close race.
Well, I think the history of this race shows it will be close. Every election for AG from 1980 to the present has been decided by between 1-2% of the vote except, one race in 2000. Even in 1984, when we had the Reagan landslide in Pennsylvania and all over the US, the incumbent Republican AG Leroy Zimmerman won only by .005% - 25,000 votes. In 1992 Ernie Preate's re-elect year, he won by 1% over Joe Kohn. In those years the Democratic registration edge was somewhere around 400,000-- today we have 1 million more Dems than R's. The mood is Democratic, too. If you add it all up, plus my 16 years as a DA in the Lehigh Valley, a swing area of the state, I think it will be close.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What you didn't mention was the fact that Northampton County hired a sex offender in Children & Youth.
Had that been Allentown you would be all over the story and Pawlowski.
Any reason you failed to mention it here..

Anonymous said...

Had that been Allentown you would be all over the story and Pawlowski.
Any reason you failed to mention it here..


I considered writing about it but there was nothing I could add to what already appears in the MSM. I have no additional details. When I wrote about the embezzlement in the criminal division last year, I did have additional details concerning how then Director of Court Services Ensslin reacted to the situation.

Had this been Allentown and it were Pawlowski, I would certainly write about it if I discovered it independently and there was no coverage in the MSM. That's what often happens concerning A-town. For whatever reason, there is very little coverage of what happens there. That's why MM is able to break a story two hours about Rite-Aid closing two hours before Channel 69 and a full day ahead of the MC. That's why MM is able to break a story about that fitness center m,oving a full day before Channel 69.

A-town (and the rest of LC) is wide open. It is a fertile field for blogging. In NC, where two papers compete against each other, the coverage is much better and more detailed. The competition makes the papers better.

The notion that I have some bug up my ass about Pawlowski, incidentally, is misplaced. Sure, I'm critical of his actions as mayor. He's not nearly so bad as Afflerbach, but he's not the messiah, either, even if he went to bible college.

Perhaps bc you are from the A-town area, you don't like to see some honest criticism. But the MSM no longer has a monopoly on the dissemination of information. That's good for us, and it's good for them, too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the free ad. Thanks for not asking about hiring sex offenders and thanks for not asking me to disassociate myself from my best bud Scissorhands Severson. As you know, I'm trying like hell to get elected here! Thanks, again.

Your pal,

Morgy

JM/ts

Bernie O'Hare said...

Actually, I have asked John to disassociate himself from Scissorhands Severson.

Blah Society said...

Funny how an anonymous commenter is concerned with a legal election when he/she breaks the law when posting.

Anonymous said...

a.j.c., I'm lost - what law did they break?

Anonymous said...

thanks for not asking me to disassociate myself from my best bud Scissorhands Severson.


Now there's an example of exersizing good character judgement! Makes you wonder if things come in three's...

Oboma- The Good Reverend Wright
Oboma- William Aires
Oboma- Tony Rezko

Gives me a real good feeling...

Anonymous said...

I am surprised Bernie didn't know about the big Northampton County news. A Children and Youth caseworker was hired even though he was a child molester.
With your sources I am surprised that big story slipped by.
Someone screwed up big time.

Anonymous said...

Given his keen grasp of things satirical and legal, I'm gonna deputize a.j. just as soon as I git out o' Dodge and become the top Keystone Kop. Thanks for getting my back. You and Bernie certainly are reliable. Vote Me! Hahaha.

Warmest regards,

Morgy

JM/ts

Anonymous said...

p.s.

If I find the person who's making these posts, I'll arrest, water
board, and beat 'em as if they were indigent illegals trying to steal our souls by changing sheets and cleaning toilets at the Days Inn. Dirty little bastards! Vote Me!

Morgy

JM/ts

Anonymous said...

Stoffa's extremely troubled Human Services Department hires an alleged sex offender for its Children and Youth Division, but don't expect Bernie to be critical of Stoffa. Just one of those things that happens right ?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Anon 9:13,

As I mentioned before, I have written nothing because I have no information beyong what is already published in the excellent accounts of two newspapers. If you have information that you would like to share, please do so, but substantiate what you write. From what I read, the county probably did perform a background check. That background check would have been fruitless because no warrant weas issued until a few weeks ago. Last time I checked, even publid employers are barred from publicly discussing employment relationships. if you are aware of some law that permits county administrators to discuss this case freely, please let us know.

What you're really doing is making an OT comment in the vain hope of damaging a very popular county exec who will easily be re-elected. You don't give a shit about anything else.

Anonymous said...

The Express-Times Editorial did a good job with there statements and questions.
Your lack of coverage is your business as this is your blog. But all know if you had half as much as this on Pawlowski or Boscola, you would have three threads going. No more from me on this but I think what you don't write about Northampton County Government says far more than what you do write.

Bernie O'Hare said...

No more of this? Did you read what I wrote above? I gave a detailed answer to your OT comment. This matter is being thoroughly covered by two newspapers and I have nothing to add to what I've read. If you have something beyond that, produce it, but you better back it up.

The public does deserve some answers, but the need to keep certain details confidentials is a legal requirement to which the county is bound. You don't break laws in search of the greater good. if you destroy every tree in the forest to capture the devil, you'll have nowhere to hide when the devil turns on you. Nopw if you are aware of a law allowing the county to speak, produce it. If you don't have it, then will you reimburse the county when it gets sued for violating an employee's confidentiality? No, you'll whine then that it doesn't follow the law.

In Allentown's case, the situation is a lot different. Sometimes, there is absolutely no coverage at all bc there is no competition. Chances are, a story like that would be broken by a blog before it hit the papers, and people like you would be making anonymous snarks to defend the King.