"Can you explain why you ignored minority merchants along Hamilton Street adversely affected by bus routing changes in late 2007. You refused to return calls from a number of established businesses, including the House of Chen, which has existed on Hamilton Street for thirty years. You refused to respond to my inquiries. As the mayor, your voice would have helped those merchants. Your silence hurt them. Now, many of the businesses that once thrived are out of business. Are you proud of the way you handled that?"This is a comment I submitted on February 13th to King Edwin's supposed campaign blog, a tool he has used to pretend he cares about the little people. "I look forward to hearing your feedback, so please leave comments," claims the King. But he sure as hell wasn't looking forward to any feedback from me. My remarks went into a cyber trash bin.
The King of Renaissance Square claims "Change is in the Air," and I'm beginning to believe he's right. Allentown voters, both Democrat and Republican, are fed up with the Systematic Home Inspector.
Unlike HRH Pawlowski, who is so thin-skinned he apparently walks out on a campaign announcement by city council President Mike D'Amore, mayoral candidate Tony Phillips can take a punch. He did it as a boy from the poor side of town. He did it as an Allentown cop for 22 years. He did it as a victim of racial discrimination.
Tony Phillips has started a blog, too. It's called Time for Tony, and is being administered by campaign manager Ken Matthews. Unlike King Edwin's blog, the proletariat is actually permitted to post comments there.
Instead of dancing through the daisies, pretending everything is wonderful, Tony's blog looks at the gritty reality. As his campaign manager succinctly puts it,
Why so many cameras and so few Police in Allentown ?
Fact: MORE COPS = LESS CRIME
LESS CRIME = BETTER ALLENTOWN
COPS CARE
CAMERAS DON'T.
At least Pawlowski doesn't waste taxpayer money like NC. Pawlowski is going to loose bad in this race. The writing is on the wall. Tony will win with 51% of the vote.
ReplyDeleteI think Tony Phillips would make a great mayor!
ReplyDeleteI love Tony Phillips but I have a feeling his past with the "hooker" or w/e will cost him. It's a shame, he is exactly what allentown needs!
ReplyDeletePawlowski will beat Phillips by at least 5% or more. Ken Matthews??HAHAHA
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Ken Matthews did campaign work.
ReplyDeleteAs for the blog he made - it needs work.
I checked out the blog and I agree with A.J.C. It does need some work (although I'm not one to talk).
ReplyDeleteThis may be the first time in my short life as a voter that I cross party lines. My father was a police officer for 25 years. The experience you get on the force is invaluable for public service. I'm going to pay attention to this man in the next few weeks. Hopefully we get more updates.
You aseem to be under the impression that there are more than the 12 dimwits who read the Commentator reading your blog O'Hare.
ReplyDeleteThis election will be won in the media. Message is everything.
The "I'm Not Ed" message will fail badly. Mike Welsh tried "I'm not Jen Mann, and failed.
Same bunch of syncophants, same result. No wonder you Republicans can't win in Allentown.
Good lord, Phillips would be better off without a blog! That thing is terrible, and the worst part is, ONLY ONE PERSON has commented. (Good job, O'Hare.)
ReplyDeleteToo bad those of us in Upper Mac can't vote for A-town mayor.
Ken Matthews was a good DJ. He's a good speaker. He is not a good media strategist for a political candidate.
ReplyDeleteTwo, very, very lame blogs.
ReplyDeletePhillips should really check his facts before having his sidekick post things. Every numerical statistic on there is wrong!
Gee, I'm a blogger, and don't really look too much at how these things are set up. I'm more interested in what they say. Apparently, neither blog looks very good on the outside.
ReplyDeleteEd's blog is all fluffy on the inside, and he refuses to permit any comments that question him. Tony's blog is substantive, hits hard on Allentown's most troubling issue and allows commentary by others.
Both blogs are like the people they portray.
Anon 6:15, you sound scared. You should be. There goes your grant.
Thanks for the tip for the blog " Time for Tony,". Which I agree. Sure could have employed a lot of cops with $1.2 million Irregardless of the debate over the costs, I believe most of the costs were from outside funding...
ReplyDeleteU.S. Senator Arlen Specter successfully secured the funding last August from a Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill, which I believe could not be used for the purposes of hiring more police.
CLICK ON MY NAME
cameras are a good idea. as long as backups are done and kept of the videos, they can be used later for reference if something occurs and is disputed between two parties. no, they won't prevent a crime from happening, as a police officer could do, but they can come in handy if needed.
ReplyDeletei do think more cops are needed in allentown. i have never met an allentown cop, so i can't say good or bad about them. my husband was a cop in florida before we moved back here, so i understand that cops need to be very actively involved in the community, such as setting up rapport with ALL the citizens, good and bad. cameras cannot do that. citizens need to feel like they can depend on the police or they will shut down when they witness a crime out of fear for their own safety. a big hinderance for police trying to solve crimes is witnesses not speaking out.
allentown deserves more cops and all the cops need to continually build a good standing with ALL the citizens of the city.
a good leader will be able to encourage that sort of thing; a bad leader will ignore it.
it all starts at the top. i hope the next mayor has the character, integrity, and perseverance to handle and succeed at such a task.
I would like to make a formal appology Bernie... i used to think you were a left wing liberal nutjob.. but i now know your just a hater of politics as usual just like i am and just like most people have become with this screwed up system of lawyers that know better than everyone else does what is good for them. so sorry i ever doubted you and keep up the good work on calling out those that claim to be holier than though.
ReplyDeleteGee, I'm a blogger, and don't really look too much at how these things are set up.
ReplyDeleteMost people do.
There needs to be something to catch someone's eye and get them interested. Most people, especially those who don't read blogs on a regular basis, need to be impressed before they begin reading.
Since it's a blog for Phillips, there is no need for Ken Matthews to be promoting himself at the bottom of the site. It takes away from the importance of the blog...
Retired ASD teacher here.
ReplyDeleteThat's just it, Tinkerbell. Crime, or the perception of crime, should be Job One.
The current mayor is in denial and seemingly spends his days providing grants and favors to purposes of far less value.
There isn't much else important to folks than the feeling of safety.
A hair salon, a trendy downtown bar, etc. does NOT address what really concerns people who live in this mayor's current city.
View from outside:
ReplyDeleteAre these two the best of the best? Is there no one better than this incumbant of this other person? Then I guess that's the problem in A-Town. Leadership seems poor, maybe all good candidates are scared off by the daunting task at hand? All I know is that neither of these guys is very inspiring.
"Since it's a blog for Phillips, there is no need for Ken Matthews to be promoting himself at the bottom of the site. It takes away from the importance of the blog..."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I did not catch that.
guys- I' can't figure out how to remove that Ken M profile because it's part of my other blog stuff. Let me know if you know how to remove it and I will. I agree
ReplyDeleteThanks
Retired ASD teacher here.
ReplyDeleteKen, impressive that you responded to these comments, and for seeing the benefit of reading here.
I was on that site, and really didn't pick-up on any reference to you. I will say, the Time4Tony site is not very appealing from a graphic design standpoint, and I do have some knowledge of such things.
The Tony4Mayor site DOES have a strong masthead, excellent Tony photo, and some experienced typographic knowledge is evident there.
Ken, I'll send you an email explaining howw to fix that problem.
ReplyDeleteFormer Hater is Bernie O'Hare!
ReplyDeleteCuckoo.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:15 says:
ReplyDelete"Same bunch of syncophants, same result. No wonder you Republicans can't win in Allentown."
Well, the Dems aren't winning on your spelling, that's for sure.
The word is S-y-c-o-p-h-a-n-t.
I don't know what a syncophant is - maybe it's related to having your servility, such as you displayed, being accented on a different beat.
^(Don't shoot the messenger)^
ReplyDeleteThe Urban Dictionary Site Says:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=syncophant
syncophant
n. A person who enthusiastically toes the party line. A combination of "synch" and "sycophant."
A misspelling of the word "sycophant" used by ignorant ghetto people and neocon morons.