Two words. Caesar's wife.Pompeia was almost certainly innocent. But when a man was discovered in her home during the Bona Dea festival, a ritual supposedly open only to women, Rome was scandalized. Caesar, the high priest (Pontifex Maximus), immediately divorced his second wife. As he put it himself, "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."
Like Pompeia, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is under a cloud of suspicion. As a brilliant piece of investigative journalism by The Morning Call's Jarrett Renshaw makes abundantly clear, Hizzoner's campaign finances clearly reveal an appearance of impropriety.
Pawlowski, who incredibly admits using business cards supplied by city vendors to solicit campaign contributions, goes on to claim he's still acting ethically because he graduated from bible college.
Alrighty then. Pontifex Maximus Scott Armstrong, at The Allentown Commentator, points out the absurdity of Pawlowski's plea.
Here's a general rule of thumb, when one believes firmly in their own sanctity trouble is sure to follow. The hubris that arises when doubt is lacking is often very destructive. History is full of calamitous case histories of those who never doubted their own sincerity and goodness. Judging by Ed's own words in the "Pay to Play" article and his constant use of similar rhetoric in the past can there be any doubt that he falls into the same category? From the start Ed has used his Moody Bible degree and his "Faith" as a selling point for his political advancement. Now he is using the same as a shield to fend off any doubts as to his intentions and to rebut accusations of wrongdoing.
Ed seems to use his Moody Bible degree and his "Christianity" as both a vote getter and a "get out of jail free card." The mayor wears his links to Jesus right on his sleeves and waives them around when it is convenient. This was of course the case again in the "Morning Call" article that detailed links between those who gave to Ed's nonstop campaign and awards for city contracts. His remarks were plain enough; how dare we question Saint Ed, don't we understand what a truly good and godly man he is?
One may choose to put their faith in God, but it is never wise to do the same with any elected official. We should all be wary when any politician uses his or her faith and/or religious training as a technique to ward off questions or concerns regarding their stewardship of a public office.
61 comments:
I thought it was a good article. You fail to mention the accompanying article abvout the Cunningham pay to play.
That failure is purposeful. My focus has always been Pawlowski and P2P as practiced on a local scale. That is where most of my blogging activity is focused.
The Cunningham article was excellent, but it is not an area in which I feel qualified to write. Were I to write about campaign finance excesses in a statewide race, my focus would be Dan Onorato. He has raised around $4MM so far while Cunningham has only around $700k.
The focus in this blog is mostly local, not statewide or national. Sure, P2P exists statewide, but it has not been used so much on a local level until Pawlowski arrived. He has made it an art form.
Good work Bernie. And I am surprised by the Morning Call. Note, not the reporters, but the editorial staff which has killed "big" stories before.
If we allow a City Hall that will sell itself for thousands of dollars here and there, when will this become much larger amounts of money? When will the corruption become "really big"?
There are Republicans who give this incompetent Mayor money just so they have favorable treatment. When will our self proclaimed "leaders" demand higher standards for Allentown? I fear, never.
But your work has created the situation which demanded an acknowledgement of the obvious.
Thank you as a Democrat to do that to a Democrat politician. And to "prove" my bipartisanship, I am helping to do that to the incompetent, Republican run East Penn School Board.
If citizens DEMAND better government, regardless of party, we would get it.
Cut away the BS and Cunningham gets a pass for doing exactly what Pawlowski is doing. You are a hypocrite.
Ed Pawlowski should sue Boonie O'Hair.
"Cut away the BS and Cunningham gets a pass for doing exactly what Pawlowski is doing. You are a hypocrite."
Bait 'n switch.
O'Hare, when you list all the political donations that your employer has made to Dent, then you can talk.
Your Hypocrisy has reached levels unimagined. You only have a job because the money for your hatchet jobs is being "washed" through the realtors to pay for them.
Go ahead O'Hippocrite, lets see you post all the financial contributions by your realtor/abstract friends and whose campaign they went to.
And I'm not surprised that you ignored the little factoid that so few of the contributors got contracts with the city. You opnly read what you want to read, and spin as you would want to spin.
Intelligent people read your blog for laughs. This is a good one! And I see all the usual suspects, Armstrong, Hilliard, et al. You and your group of Chicken littles couldn't fill a table at McDonalds.
All seem to conveniently forget how bad Bill Heydt was.
"Your Hypocrisy has reached levels unimagined. You only have a job because the money for your hatchet jobs is being "washed" through the realtors to pay for them."
Really? Oh I can be much more hypocritical than this.
If realtors pay me to blog, that will be news to both of us. Incidentally, I don't wotk for realtors, but for title companies and attorneys. Amazingly, NONE of my clients is political.
"when one believes firmly in their own sanctity trouble is sure to follow. The hubris that arises when doubt is lacking is often very destructive. History is full of calamitous case histories of those who never doubted their own sincerity and goodness."
Pretty much describes the calamitous reign of Cheney/Bush.
"And I'm not surprised that you ignored the little factoid that so few of the contributors got contracts with the city."
You misuse the word "factoid." Traditionally, that word has meant a spurious assertion. Assuming that you mean fat, the simple fact is that 1/5th of Hizzoner's contributions comes from current contractors. The article fails to account for the percentage that comes from people who work for the city.
Bill Heydt never used Jesus for his own political gain.
Scott Armstrong
Most noteworthy in the P2P columns was the absence of Northampton County's Executive John Stoffa. He is the antithesis to P2P and the only major political leader in the bunch with a conscience.
""when one believes firmly in their own sanctity trouble is sure to follow. The hubris that arises when doubt is lacking is often very destructive. History is full of calamitous case histories of those who never doubted their own sincerity and goodness."
Pretty much describes the calamitous new reign of Obama.
Scott Armstrong
"Most noteworthy in the P2P columns was the absence of Northampton County's Executive John Stoffa. He is the antithesis to P2P and the only major political leader in the bunch with a conscience."
I believe, unlike Bill White, that this is called leadership.
Calamitous reign of Obama? Gotta love it. The guy has been in for a month and a half and already it's a calamitous reign. The rednecks are up already? Didn't think they got up until after noon..
We'll see about Stoffa. he could have beaten a weakened Reibman and Nyce without any money. However, McHale he won't beat without raising cash.. We'll all be watching..
This is as weak and baseless as the article in yesterday's paper.
I also heard 98% of cancer victims wore diapers at some point in their life. Diapers are therefor the cause of cancer for sure.
"We'll see about Stoffa. he could have beaten a weakened Reibman and Nyce without any money. However, McHale he won't beat without raising cash.. We'll all be watching.."
Watch and learn.
"This is as weak and baseless as the article in yesterday's paper."
Yesterday's news account clearly establishes the pernicious influence that money has on politics. If Pawlowski really wanted to avoid the appearance of improproiety, he would not be collecting business cards from city vendors. He would not be dunning them or collecting large sums from them, as he has done with Cityline, Stellar, Cozen O'Connor, Zawarski & Gross. He would not be raising obsene amounts of money in off election years.
If I or the MC could establish a quid pro quo, Pawlowski would be setting in jail. In most cases, nothing is said bc nothing need be said. It's called legal bribery.
I plan to watch and learn. Again, he'll have to raise funds to win so I can't wait to watch and learn. Also I also understand no matter what he does you'll justify it. So we'll be watching and learning for ourselves mostly..
Good.
If anything, you will learn that Stoffa is even more opposed to P2P than me. He has led by example and won't change now, even if that means he loses.
At a time when people are being forced out of homes and losing jobs, the last thing Stoffa wants is an expensive county exec race. He has been executive for 4 years, enough time for people to know him. If you want to return to P2P politics and cronyism, elect Ann McHale. If you want a county exec who thinks we must do something, regardless of county needs, elect Ann McHale. If you want a county exec who will raise your taxes 64% in two years, elect Ann McHale.
On the other hand, if you want good government, elect John Stoffa.
No matter how you slice it, the message to businesses is: pony up the money if you want a city contract.
A donor list should be public. I don't want a 3 page document from a lawyer defending all the city contracts - I want to read who donated what to the mayor's campaign. That should be public.
The whole "Jesus loves me" angle is disgusting - how dare the mayor expect us to believe this crap? Pawlowski really does allude to the "fact" that he's above suspicion because of his oh-so-Christian background. I mean, this is the work of a scam artist.
Anon 8:46, what is weak and baseless about this article? I'd like to know exactly what you take issue with in the Call's article.
Is it true that the mayor takes donations from those who benefit from his reign? YES. That's the bottom line. It may be legal, but it serves as the perfect example as to WHAT IS WRONG IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT today. You can basically buy yourself a political office, and then, you can basically buy your friends jobs. It is the very defnition of "PAY TO PLAY." If this ISN'T pay to play, then I'd like to know what is.
One issue I wish the Morning Call would have included in the very well done piece, was the Mayor's spearheading of a Charter Amendment past the clueless straight ticket voters to lower the amount of $$ required to do no bid contracts. This City Charter provision was carefully written to avoid this kind of pay to play corruption. Now King Ed gets to award even smaller contracts to those who make campaign donations. Give him credit for shrewdness.
Pawlowski, Cunningham, Rendell are different heads of the same political ass on this issue.
The triangulation to skirt criticism of Cunningham is both laudable and laughable. Local blogger support/silence will be instrumental to his statewide ambitions. And if your best defense is that another guy did it more/worse/better, then you're part of the P2P problem as well.
The religious angle is eerily reminiscent of Al Gore carrying bags of cash from a Buddhist temple. The latest nominee for Sec Com, Gary Lock, was a bag man for that Buddist cash as well. Rs are flagged as religious nuts and routinely avoid churches as radioactive during campaigns. Ds can't seem to spend enough time campaigning in churches. Curious.
Hi Bernie-
Great work and great story by th MC. So the way I see it, if you are commenting that its OK to solicit and receive donations from businessews hoping for contracts you arfe either A. One of the contractors, Or B. A flunky for one of the politicos. Because, really, if you are just a citizen how in the world could you condone this?
BTW, that is a general "you" directed at the comments saying the reporting on Eddie is baseless...
Anon 1:01,
I am part of the P2P problem, too?
I completely agree that Cunningham should be examined as closely as anyone else. All elected officials deserve this scrutiny. But writing about this topic with anything more than vague statements, is very time consuming. I daresay the time I spent looking at Pawlowski's campaign finances is several 40 hour weeks in total. Even there, just about every word I have written is challenged, as it should be.
I picked Pawlowski because he has taken P2P to an extreme. Since my focus is primarily local, he's my logical first choice. My logical second choice is Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, who is currently sitting on more money than Lisa Boscola.
Cunningham would actually be my third choice. To be fair about it, I would have to look at Onorato, Wagner & Corbett, too. Those are some of the rumored gubernatorial prospects.
When all is said and done, I would be spending just about all my time looking at campaign finance reports.
The suggestion that Cunningham could bear closer scrutiny is fair. The suggestion that I must be the person to do it is not. I'm pretty busy just keeping up with this stuff. It's not like there aren't other local bloggers out there who could do an admirable or better job.
The fact that I have not examined Cunnighman closely is, incidentally, no justification for Pawlowski's excesses during off election years.
So I can't give it all to you. IO can only give you what time permits. Since you're so knowledgable, why don't you do the research and write it up? Be sure to attach your name to it because anonymous critiques tend to lack credibility. If you can't do that, thewn I suppose we can all say that you are part of the P2P problem as well.
31 comments at Jarrett Renshaw's Forum article.
30 comments here (same people probably).
This is way less than even the 3% lunatic right-wingnut fringe that voted for Molovinski in '05. Wow talk about being marginalized.
And way more real comments from real people than ever appear at Chez Villa, home of grant-seekers, hatred and phony Pawlowski interviews.
You're OT, O'Hare.
Not at all. Merely responding to and identifying one of the Pawlowski P2P crowd, Bill Villa. Unlike you, Villa, I have enough respect for my readers to attach my name to my comment. It's called honesty, something alien to you and your corpulent sponsor.
"I believe, unlike Bill White, that this is called leadership."
I believe that is the "tou" and the "che."
Well said, Bernie.
bernie, you wrote;
"Cunningham would actually be my third choice. To be fair about it, I would have to look at Onorato, Wagner & Corbett, too. Those are some of the rumored gubernatorial prospects."
to be more fair about it, cunningham is not a gubernatorial candidate (yet) but he IS a candidate for county executor, and should be thought of as such, or are we blessed to just have him keep the local position as long as we are lucky to have him?
The amount of comments on Bernie's post or the Mcall site are not the only measure.
More and more people "on the street" are talking about this. People, from out of the blue and people I wrongly assume wouldn't follow the details of politics, are asking me about this - because they know I am involved with issues.
They know it stinks. They know it is what is wrong at every level of government. They know that politicians of both parties engage in this disgusting behavior.
And they are getting sick of it...
MM, DC is the county executive, not the county executor. So far as I know, LC is still alive. He is collecting $ for his gubernatorial race, not to run against Scrappleface. But I agree he should be scrutinized, too. I think fairness would require an examination of Onorato, who has raised $4MM so far. Don't you?
Oops, forgot to put my name to the Anon 3:58 comment!!!
AP reports LATEST OBAMA NOMINEE RON KIRK AGREES TO PAY BACK TAXES FOR THE YEARS 2005, 2006, and 2007.
The Obama fraud squad continues to run wild!
ABC NEWS
"President Obama To Sign Pork-Laden Omnibus Spending Bill"
Great quotes from Obama on campaign trail about how there would be no earmarks!!!
All Obama promises have expiration dates...but I don't mean to infringe upon anybody's hero worship.
So, pro-spend, spend, spend I lover big government because they can be trusted to solve ALL my problems people, please continue.
LVR. Darndest "liberal" blog I ever seen...
If it is "liberal" to permit government officials to auction off government contracts to those who make the biggest campaign contributions, then you can call me conservative. I don't really care.
If it is "liberal" to support a Mayor who wishes to spenfd public moneyt for an upscale hair salon that won't pay a living wage, then call me a conservative.
If it is "liberal" to steer a golf course restaurant contract to a political crony, please call me conservative.
B.O., whatz w/ all the comment poofing?
Oh forgot. "Call Me Conservative" blog.
Cuckoo. Villa forgot his pills again.
Watch for "Comments Disabled" ;) coming soon
Bernie why are you upset that Callahan steered the Bethlehem Golf Course food contract to a hughe contributor.
I don't know the details but that's exactly what bothers me about P2P. It may not be exactly the same thing as happened in A-town, and there the restaurant is in action and is a success. But this is what happens when Pa. places no limits on campaign contributions.
Stoffa is being pay to play in his own way. You watch. It just so happens that after years of waiting for capital projects he now decides to send out a "no fee required engineering rfq". Give me a break. Leaving an engineers fee open ended is shameful! Look what happened at the CH expansion. I'm guess Steve will be doing another audit when this is done. This my friend is a disservice to the taxpayers. All services like this should be bid. That is joke and I'm guessing McHale will be all over this. I can tell you right who will get the contacts, and yes that is contracts plural. Didn't we learn our lesson with the Reibman Butz contracts. WHY WOULD WE DO THIS AGAIN?????Pay to Play.
I can guess who will get it. The first letter of the name starts with a D and no one can ever pronouce it correct. They are Pay to Play.
We did learn our lesson with the Reibman Butz contracts and that's exactly why DeSalva is doing what he is doing. I asked you to email your concerns and you failed to do so, preferring instead to make anonymous attacks.
Let me tell you one thing right now. No engineering firm is goijng to bully its way into a contract with Stoffa, so take your whining and go cry to McHale. I'll find out who you are when I check her campaign finance reports.
What DeSalva is talking about is an RFQ, not an RFP. For those who don't know, an RFQ is a Request for Qualifications. DeSalva is the only engineer employed by the county. He needs an organization that is intimately familiar with all the engineering problems that arise from the many properties under county control.
There are probably only three outfits that would be qualified. If you're not one of them, that's not my problem. That's your problem if you lack the organization or depth to respond to county issues.
The county is not going to piecemeal its engineering work out to 100 different engineering firms, nor should it. What DeSalva proposes is in the best interests of the taxpayer, and that's the special interest he serves. TYhe special interest you serve is your bottom line.
Go complain to Ann 64% McHale. I'm sure that for the right figure, she'll take care of you. But quit your whining here and start acting like a professional.
If three outfits are qualified why are they wasting the time of 20 different firms??????? Answer that. And if three firms are qualified why not get a freaking fee from the three of them or at least compare their hourly billing rates. BTW i hate McHale.
Because it is an RFQ, not an RFP. If you can't tell the difference between those two, you might as well stop now. An RFQ just determines qualifications, not the fees. If you have questions, pick up the phone and call Steve DeSalva, instead of making bullshit accusations here. This was his idea, and he can explain it to you better than anyone else.
No, the best interest of the taxpayers is for the county to hire more engineers to take care of these problems in house. For the money that they will spend on consultants they can employ three or four qualified engineers to handle the problems. I will be voting for Stoffa for certain in the primary but he is WRONG about this one. This RFQ is an engineers dream. Capital Improvement/Maintanence Plans are business plans for engineers. And i can tell that a certain engineering is already bullying their way into a contract with Stoffa. Answer me. Why are they wasting the time of the other firms? STOFFA is wrong about this one and McHale is going to eat it alive. And why would Stoffa wait until an election year to send this out.
It was his idea because he wants to make his job easier. Why the hell do we have a county engineer if we have to spend millions in fees for consultants for standard maintanence items?????
I believe Steve DeSalva has the right idea here. This is his idea and he is the county engineer. He's doing it now because he needs the help.
If you think he's going about this in the wrong way, I repeat my suggestion that you talk to him. I'm no frickin' engineer and neither is Stoffa. If what you say makes sense, he will listen. If what you say does not make sense, he won't. But it does you absolutely no good to talk to me. I'm already peeved that you lacked the courtesy to send me an email and choose instead to make OT commentrs here.
" Why the hell do we have a county engineer if we have to spend millions in fees for consultants for standard maintanence items?????"
Nothing in NC is standard. WSe don't spend millions for engineering consultants. DeSalva is the county engineer bnut he needs help. How many times must I say that? This is not Bethlehem or Allentown, wherre there are several engineerrs. In NC, the only person in Public Works who really understands engineering is DeSalva. He's already working 16 hour days and you ask why we need him?
For the third time, talk to him.
Let me repeat that I have vowed to accept no money, and have suggested that people who feel a need to support me make a donation directly to a local agency or non-profit, or the city itself, so that whether I win or lose I'll have done good for the City. My campain suggests that you tie a green ribbon to your house and/or your car to demonstrate your support. I think the amount of money Ed has raised to run for Mayor is obscene. How many policeman would that buy? How many mailers do you want in your mailbox? How many times do you want to see his face on billboards and TV? How many yard signs do we need to clean up after an election? What does he need all that money for if his record speaks for itself?
Excellent comment, Dick, and one of the few on topic.
I've tried talking to him in the past and he just strugged me off so that's no longer an option. My point is that this is wrong and you refuse to accept that. There is an RFQ out there that doesn't even lock in the engineers hourly rates. Thats Bull. Do you agree? Second, the RFQ references maintanence items. How many maintanence people does the county employee? Next, every body should be pissed about this because it cuts out the small guys like me who specialize in one area. I didn't even get a RFQ it was forwarded to me from another firm who is also pissed. The RFQ only lists a few buildings. Hell, school districts have more buildings than the county. This is just simply a bad idea. DeSalva is obviously trying to get work for some of his friends. And i am exteremly dissapointed that Stoffa would cut out the small guys. It goes against everything that he stands for or atleast what i thought he stood for. The reason for nothing being standard in the County is because of this same process.
DeSalva is doing exactly what Ed Boscola, also an engineer, did. The difference is with Boscola. O'Hare knew more than the engineer with DeSalva , O'Hare has no knowledge and no questions.
The all things Stoffa mancrush is just too strong. Well O'Hare you shmefully attacked anyone who thought of running for Executive so now you have just McHale and Stoffa, score another for your defense of Democracy.
Another good rule of thumb in these situations:
in the immortal words of Mr. Dooley (satirist Finley Peter Dunne's turn-of-the-19th-century Irish bartender/philosopher):
"Trust everybody -- but cut the cards." :-)
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