Pawlowski's Solution to Fiscal Crisis - A Secret Committee

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

After spending much of the last three years bragging that he's solved Allentown's financial woes, Mayor Ed Pawlowski will have to revise his power point presentations. Allentown is in the red, and Hizzoner tells Morning Call reporter Jarrett Renshaw ''[n]o one saw this tsunami that has taken over the country, that has affected the state and us at the local level.''

Actually, someone did foresee this perfect storm, and he used to work for Allentown. In a well-written op-ed published last October in The Inky, Bethlehem Township Manager Jon Hammer joined Lehigh County Commissioner Dean Browning and Northampton County Council member Ron Angle in warning us that local governments were facing dark times. Hammer, incidentally, was an Assistant to one of Allentown's former mayors, Bill Heydt.

Rising costs to defined-benefit pension plans, soaring utility rates, stagnant revenue, crumbling infrastructure, increased personnel costs, and reductions in state and federal pass through money, have all combined to create that perfect storm.

Pawlowski ignored the warning signs, which included a $51 million deficit in the city's three pension funds, noted by The Morning Call (this article is only available in paid archives) during budget deliberations. City Controller Bill Hoffman told city council to prepare for two decades of contributing at least $4 million more to the city's ailing pension funds, but Pawlowski dismissed those concerns as "speculation," huffing, "No one knows which way the market is going."

Blogger extraordinaire and occasional Morning Call columnist Pam Varkony noted Hammer's chilling, and accurate, prophesy. She even connected the dots. "As one of the lone voices in the wilderness, who has been saying for two years that the city of Allentown's finances is a game of smoke and mirrors, I shudder to think of what the financial future is going to look like for the city's taxpayers when the full impact of this financial crisis comes home to roost."

Cock-a-doodle do!

The excrement has flown into Allentown's HVAC systems. After initially hiding his head in the sand, King Edwin has emerged, flanked by Council Prez D'Amore, to announce his solution.

A committee. All the king's horses and all the king's men.

Now before you start laughing, let me tell you this is no ordinary committee. These are "outside experts" who will hunker down behind closed doors so they can decide who they're going to screw without any worrisome interference from affected workers or the public.

So much for transparency in local government.

OK, now you can start laughing. Or crying. Michael Molovinsky tells us these supposed "experts" are really just salesmen. "[O]ur taxes are now being used to bail out the advice they passed on from their esteemed analysts." LVCI points out the hypocrisy of appointing a committee of finance mavens to come up with solutions while simultaneously adding 40 parcels to Allentown's tax free zone.

And as it happens, these "outside experts" are really insiders. They've been identified on the city's barely navigable web page. Let's look at a few.

Bruce Loch - contributed $1,575 to Pawlowski between 2006 & 2008.
David Olson - $75 to Pawlowski in 2008.
Paul Marin – Marin's wife, Joyce, is Allentown's Director of Community & Economic Development. She contributed $1,150 to Pawlowski in 2008.
Sandra O’Neill – contributed $500 to Pawlowski between 2006 & 2008.
Jim Steffy – Retired VP Planning and Administration, Interim President Muhlenberg College (Two Honorary Doctorates), which reportedly is in the process of buying property from Allentown.
Ibi Balog – contributed $425 to Pawlowski between 2006 & 2008.
Joel Gilley – contributed $225 to Pawlowski in 2008.
Tim Falon – contributed $200 to Pawlowski in 2007.

These are all the King's horses and all the King's men. They are Pawlowski sycophants, named to give him some political cover while he scrambles to put Humpty Dumpty together again.