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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Lehigh County: We Don't Need No Steenkin' Special Election

Last Thursday, Northampton County Council unanimously adopted a resolution asking Lt. Governor and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati to reverse himself on scheduling a special election in the 24th Senatorial District on September 29th. It would be much cheaper to simply wait 35 days and conduct the special election along with the general.

It was Lehigh County's turn last night. After a contentious committee hearing, which I unfortunately missed, everyone went along with Glenn (Commissioner No) Eckhart's proposal. A Republican, Eckhart deserves some credit for taking on the heavyweights within his own party.

Eckhart had an unlikely ally last night - his opponent in this November's election. Softspoken Democrat Hillary Kwiatek told Commissioners "I'm in perfect agreement with Commissioner Eckhart on this. It's inappropriate to have a special election 35 days before a scheduled general election. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars."

Chairman Percy Dougherty was a little more blunt, calling the decision "idiotic." After the resolution was adopted, Eckhart claimed it would most likely end up in Scarnati's trash can. That's s probably where Northampton County's resolution has already been carefully filed.

I hope they used recycled paper.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousAugust 16, 2009 at 11:05 PM

    Thanks for the update Bernie. That $400K seems like a Billion bucks when you consider the belt tightening going on in some of our communities.

    This would be one petition I'd sign in a heartbeat.

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