Dennis Lieb Mulls Write-in Campaign Against Fleck in Easton

This Spring, I was so obsessed with the Northampton County Exec and judicial races that I completely missed an important Easton City Council race between politico Mike Fleck and community activist Dennis Lieb. Apparently, most of the West Ward snoozed through that contest, too. Ninety per cent of Easton's registered Dems never showed up at the polls, and Fleck squeaked by with a 182 to 141 win.

Blogger Noel Jones, whose Neighbors of Easton does a terrific job covering the West Ward, was quite disappointed. "This is a sad day for the West Ward. Sad because we lost an opportunity to elect a progressive candidate with vision, Dennis Lieb, over recycling an old City Council member, Mike Fleck, who has never been to canton or town hall meetings in this neighborhood in the last year and a half, but even saddest of all, because in our neighborhood, only 323 people got out to vote for first ever WW rep on City Council, and just 19 votes the other way could have won the election for Lieb."

A reader named Tim, who sounds suspiciously like former Easton City Council Prez Tim Pickel, joined in the fun. "The glaring truth is that Easton will never improve when council counts Mike Fleck and Sandy Vulcano as members. Politics is a way of life for them instead of a servitude to the people as it should be."

Few people could be worse for Easton than Mike Fleck. He's a bum. In his first unsuccessful Easton mayoral bid, he claimed to be both a Moravian College grad and a business administrator at some used car dealer. He lied. After going down in flames, Fleck suddenly became a political consultant, and paid himself an obscene $21,000 over just 11 weeks in Archie Follweiler unsuccessful state house race. Most western Lehigh County Dems run when they see him, hands on their wallets. Fleck then decided to be a politician again and ran for mayor a second time, crashing and burning again. This time, he was sued by an ex-girlfriend over money she had borrowed for him. After that race, Fleck was charged with theft of services when he dumped a bunch of Fleck signs and old gym trunks in an Autozone trash bin. Those charges were ultimately dismissed, but not before The Express Times snapped a lovely picture. Editor Jim Deegan's caption? "You won't Fleckin' Believe This!"

These days, Fleck is killing two birds with one stone. He's running for Easton city council while simultaneously managing Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski's campaign. Oh yeah, he also applied for appointment to Wayne Grube's seat on Northampton County Council, this time claiming to have a "general degree" from Notre Dame High School. Northampton County Council is crazy, but not that Fleckin' crazy. His pal, Council candidate Lorraine Pasquali, thinks Easton will be lucky to have him.

Is she out of her Fleckin' mind?

Fleck's opponent, Dennis R Lieb, is an Easton activist who has worked tirelessly for the West Ward. His reservations about Riverwalk have been published here, and he was ultimately proven correct. He is the first person who warned that Easton's Properties of Merit program was being perverted into garden rakes for elitists.

Unlike Fleck, Lieb does no political consulting. He knows little about the elections process, but is learning. He is currently weighing the viability of a write-in campaign. Odds are against him, but he has four things going for him: 1) New voting machines make write-ins easier; 2) Turn-out will be low; 3) Fleck is a bum; and 4) Lieb actually has a message.