On the left sidebar, you will see links to the six candidates seeking spots on Allentown City Council. As the race progresses, I will continue to update those links with additional information from this and other sources. Let me give you a run down with two weeks to go.Here's what I think is going on. First is the resurgence of Lou "the Watchdog" Hershman. Sure, he's despised by the Pawlowski machine and elitists look down on him, but those with nothing love the guy. He fought and won against a City Council that tried to muzzle him. He fought Afflerbach budgeting highjinks, preventing a 40% tax increase. He will accept no salary. The NAACP nearly adopted him.
Second, Joe Brudnak's desire to see Allentown restored as an All-American City, combined with his common sense approach, has resonated among voters. In fact, other candidates are beginning to borrow his lines.
Third, Ray O'Connell has established himself as a voice of decency who wants to make Allentown a better place, not advance a political career. Older than Lou, it's unlikely he could serve more than one term. He's not in this for himself, but for you.
Fourth, Julio Guridy has been a disaster. With his reputation as a Pawlowski lap dog who already has a cushy taxpayer-funded job at the DRJTBC, he barely squeaked through the primary. In the general, he needed to distinguish himself as an independent voice. In his first debate, he was barely able to put two sentences together, and spent much of his time agreeing with everyone. In his second debate at the NAACP, he objected to a videotape that would allow people to judge him on his own merits. He skipped out on a third appearance last week, where the moderator assured me he'd let me film. He also threw a hissy fit at me after the NAACP debate, establishing himself as thin-skinned.
Fifth, Mike Schlossberg has been a disappointment. He skipped out on two of the three debates I attended. At the NAACP debate, he did send his fiance, but many people in the audience felt his message was condescending.
Sixth, for a Council President, Mike D'Amore has been extremely cautious, unwilling to say or do anything that might attract too much attention.
Of course, money will have a big impact on this race. This will favor Schlossberg, Guridy and O'Connell. On election day, it is unclear many voters will even know who Joe Brudnak is, to say nothing of his message. Hershman will be villified, as he was before the primary, because Pawlowski and his henchmen know Lou is onto their games.
37 comments:
Bernie, what happened to the challenge on one of your prior Blogs, Hershman vs Mayor and Hopkins as to the misinformation they spread on the Ro Bo calls the Sunday prior to the Primary and you where to be the moderator I wonder what the Mayor and the Democrats will be saying about Hershman the next two weeks, or wil they again wait the Sunday before the Election.
Bernie, I have heard from several inner city Dems that they think Guridy is in trouble. As usual, it is going to be all about who gets their voters to the polls, and I din't think that D'Amore and Schlossberg will have big enough coattails for Guridy. Now who gets that spot if it comes to pass is uncertain.
din't, don't? same difference!
Bernie, in reading your bloggs as to the events that you are covering, Hershman the watchdog, has a agenda as to how to get City out of the mess they are in, while the other candidates are clueless including curent councilman Darmore and Guiridy. Based on your information Hrshman needs to be the Allentown taxpayers watchdog on city council.
Bernie; Quick note of appreciation..
Lot's of extensive work on those informational links on your other blog location.
Thanks
Anon 5:09, They were willing to slm Hershman anonymously, in a robocall, but are unwilling to do so in an open debate, where he can defend himself. That more or less says it all.
LVCI, You are welcome. It's an important race.
Chris, Guridy was actually prepared to concede on primary night. If Lou can keep some of his Democratic support while appealing to the Rs, he has a shot at an upset.
How much money will King Edwin spend on Gurody? Will there be another, last minute, hatchet job?
As a matter of accuracy, I've been told Ray is actually younger than Lou, but they're both older than me.
schlossberg has impressed me each time he has knocked on my door. the other guys have done nothing to talk to me. Sorry, but I work at night and don't have time to go to debates. but when a candidate braves shaky weather on a saturday afternoon and knocks on my door, I'll listen. the kid has my vote. the other guys... I don't know enough about them but I know I won't vote for guridy or hershman. those guys have been around long enough and done enough damage.
west end voter
Schlossberg's efforts at voter outreach have been impressive. But he should have been at the NAACP debate, so people see how he measures up to the others. I understand he had a prior committment, and he is fairly open, so this is really a minor criticism.
he's a watch dog alright. he's watched as every single bad decision over the past 30 years has put allentown in a terrible position. tell Lou to keep being the watchdog and when he is ready to actually "do" something product rather than just "watch" to give voters some notice.
Won't vote for this guy or Guridy. I'll vote for the regular Joe oil guy, Schlossberg, O'Connell and D'Amore. That's a good mix of young blood, experience at the helm, proven community service and regular perspective. Let Julio continue to be a waste of space somewhere else and the watchdog keep howling at the only thing that listens to him anymore... the moon.
If Anon 2.3 could list LOUS bad decisions, would help. could be smoke from Pawlowski camp. Remember the ro bo calls.
police contract. he voted for it. he's come up with great excuses but has accepted no responsibility. all of those memos and no action.
still watching and barking.
3:24pm here again... and I'm not voting for Pawlowski. He's a clown. Not voting for Philips either. Neither of these goofballs deserve my vote.
I bet ANON 3.2 is part of the PAWLOWSKI camp and was part of the ganf that promotd the ro-bo calls. Did you not offer c hallenge to Pawowski and HOPKINS todiscuss why he lobbied JULIO AND lou to drop the Councils lawsuit as to the binding arbitration .Council turned down the contract and th F.O.P. requested binding arbitration. I ovrheard JULIO mention how the Mayor pressure him to drop the lawsuit so,he could get F.O.P. support for the General Election.
gREAT IDEA. GET PAWLOWSI;HOPKINS, JULIO AND HERSHMAN TO DEBATE THE ISSUE AS TO THE POLICE PENSIONS AND BERNIE, YOU ARE THE MODERATOR. WE THEN WILL FIND OUT THE TRUTH. TO MANY RUMORS. THIS WOULD BRING OUT THE VOTERS, I BET THE MAYOR WILL TURN DOWN THIS CHALLENGE. RUNNING SCARED ALREADY, SEE ALL THE SIGNS HE HAS PUT UP AROUND THE CITY.
Schlossberg skips out on his cushy Chamber job to knock on doors.
I still think the Chamber of Commerece employees should stay out of local office. Power grab.
Julio and Lou are adults. If they backed off b/c Pawlowski convinced them to do so, then they have to accept responsibility for their willingness to do so. Lou wants to be a watchdog but he failed to be a watchdog there. A true watchdog doesn't wait until after he's been scammed.
Like i said, not voting for Pawlowski but voting for Lou or Julio is failing to recognize that their bowing to Pawlowski's wishes created many of the problems in Allentown. They want to blame Pawlowski, but in doing so, they diminish their stature even further.
No votes for anybody who voted for (or advocated for) that contract. It's possible to oppose Lou, Guridy and Pawlowski all in one shot. Only the most superfacial partisans would make this an "either, or" proposition.
Anon 5.38 - If you read previous blog. julio and lou did not vote for contract. then went into aribitration and the award wasbinding on he city. possibly if mayor agrees to debate lou you would get the facts that the watchdog did not bow to pawlowski.talk to julio or lou. i heard at a meeting lous phone number is listed and would take calls.
your right... they voted against contact but did cast votes that led to the high costs.
And when Lou runs against Pawlowski, he gets to debate him. But, Lou is more interested in watching than in actually doing so he runs for city council.
A vote for Lou is a vote for somebody who is content to watch from the sidelines. A vote for Guridy is a vote for a political hack. A vote for Pawlowski is a vote for a snake.
No vote cast for mayor. A vote cast for Joe the Oil Man, D'Amore, Schlossberg and O'Connell.
Based on past experence I'll continue to vote for all the Democrat candidates.
Allentown Democrat Voter
Hey West End Voter,
So you will vote for anyone who knocks on your door, even if that person will in all likelihood be just another gear in the same Democrat Machine that is crushing Allentown?
Feel good about the fact that you are possibly enabling a new career politician.
Scott Armstrong
I think I am correct that Julio voted for the police pension contract with the words, "summer is coming and we need cops on the street".
Yes it is a painful memory, one of many that relate directly to Julio. To all those in doubt, it is sound advice indeed to vote for candidates other than Julio, he has been given chances galore to do right for the city and has passed on every one preferring instead to follow party dictates.
Scott Armstrong
Anon 7:08,
Your shot at Hershman is unwarranted. he is by no means on the sidelines, but attends every city council meeting and does not hesitate to provide construction suggestions to council members and Pawlowski. The view that Hershman is some sort of wing nut is wrong. He is actually a very good man who never says a bad thing about other people.
In one of my posts, LVCI does a breakdown of Hershman's career as councilman. On the whole, it's pretty good. He did manage to whittle 40% from one of Afflerbach's tax hikes, and has an admirable record of oversight unlike few other people.
As far as the police pension goes, he opposed it and actually filed a lawsuit about it. He dropped it when Mayor elect Pawlowski made certain misrepresentations about it. At that time, it was generally unknown that pawlowski would rely on government by deception.
I have no probelem with the choices you have made. They are certainly well-informed, but you've done Hershman a disservice, believing the hype instead of the truth.
And let us not forget as councilman, hershman was but one of 7 votes. Tough to get things done with 6 other lapdogs and only watchdog.
One thing about hershman, he is no coward, you know where he stands on the issues, like it or not!! He goes to every debate and speaks his mind on the issues.
Amore and schlossberg are hiding behind their ballot position. DO NOT FORGET these two cowards have yet to apologize to Hershman for the negative robo calls!!!!
If you want Atown to be a domincan socialist state - vote the straight demo ticket.
And let us not forget that Paloser, Damore and Guirdy are incumbents who have yet to tell us how they are going to balance the budget -wait till the day after the election for news ofmthe tax increase and the layoffs!!!
Anon 708:
Louie watch from the sidelines, you must have been in a coma for the past 30 years!!
If you would attend a council meeting, you might notice that hershman is the only candidate other than the incumbents who is ALWAYS there, the past two years.
All right once and for all
Binding arbitration is binding arbitration, council could do little one the mayor gave the store away to the police.
BUT, it was hershman and and howells who wanted to hire a lawyer and go to court. BUT, the Morning Call and others said enough was enough! so the lawsuit was withdrawn. Hershman and howlls also wanted to hold hearings and interview police on overtime fraud. But in the deal the MAYOR Paloser negotiated, they could not hold hearings. But what few know, is that most police willfully gave back a portion of thier pension in the deal. Now why would some could old policemen voluntarily give back 5% of their hard-earned pensions. Because hershman and howells knew there was fraud. But you never hear this from the mayor or the robo-callers!!
please elaborate on "pension fraud"...i would love to hear this conspiracy theory...yes, some worked overtime during that 30 day period, but that isn't fraud...it is just exploiting a provision in the contract that was awarded to them at the time...and to counter another conspiracy theory of yours, the FOP did not endorse Pawlowski, nor would it ever...they do not support candidates running for Allentown City offices, nor have they ever
I'll field this pop up. Any cop who runs up his OT during his final 30 days with the specific intent of padding his pension is committing a fraud on the taxpayers and is abusing the very system he is sworn to uphold. I'd have no respect for him. it's unconscionable and should be voided as against public policy.
Anon 10.25 Your comment f.o.p. does not endorse candidates. i was told that felton in his speech at meetings brings this out. if you know a officer of the f.o.p. should tell them felton claims endorsemet. as to the excessive overtime issue, let mayor and hopkins debate hershman and find out how many police officers pensions included excessive overtime.
Overtime fraud = police buying Ot from other police to load up the last 30 days, while police management stood by. everyone knew was was going on. this was the Willie Wonka goldenticket. The most I ever earned as a cop is $50K in a year, but retire with a $60K pension. FRAUD, FRAUD, FRAUD. Most of these guys left allentown and went right back to work the next day in one of our neighboring cities. This, like the recent firemen OT scandal ALL occured under palowski. So, he can blame council for voting for the pensions, but it was under his adminstration when the cops racked up the OT.
Why do you think Palowski does not want to debate hershman after smearing him twice with the poension thing, once during the controller's race and then in the primary.
Plus, it is a public safety hazard to allow police to work back to back double shifts, many times in month just to rack up OT. But palwoski balmes everyone else. Just like with the firemen OT. His Chief of police should have been fired over the cop pensions, and fire cheif should be fired now. Who is watching the cash register?
and the overtime issues still prevail and palowski is silent. Cannot see the forest thru the trees....
Taxpayers get out your checkbooks!
Like I stated, where is the "fraud"? Did they take advantage ????? Yes . Fraud ? No. Instead of just saying there were fraudulent activities, name se specific examples. Switching ot or paying to switch for ot at the fair has been going on for 20years... Se guys even take off on vacation for that entire week to work the ot. Once again, fraud? Nope. Just taking advantage of a system that allows it. As for Felton and the Fop endorment, I said "city offices " which the magistrate race isn't.
Dude, I'm sorry, but some of these dudes were padding their pay with all kinds of unwarranted OT in the final 30 days and that is fraud. It may be legal fraud, but in my view it is unconscionable. I do not have specifics but can get them in a hurry. Be careful what you ask for.
What about Republican Bob Toth for City Council? You know he has a disabled brother that he wants nothing to do with. I can't vote for a person who doesn't have basic human compassion.
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