Morning Call reporter Jarrett Renshaw could really use a little help. He's been awful busy. Renshaw first exposed Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski's "pay to play" campaign finances, chronicling a culture of corruption in which contributors are rewarded with cushy jobs and city contracts. He followed that up with the revelation that, by the end of this year, Allentown's deficit may exceed $10 million. This, of course, is completely contrary to Mayor Pawlowski's insistence that he had restored the Queen City's fiscal stability. Most recently, Renshaw has cast a spot light on sick time abuse in the fire department, which has cost $1.54 million in overtime costs since January 2007.Now Renshaw is a journalist, not a member of Allentown city council. What have they been doing? How has that seven-member city council reacted to these reports of abuse? Investigations? Audits?
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Last week's regular meeting, scheduled to consider twelve different ordinances, had to be canceled because of lack of interest. Council was unable to establish a quorum. No effort has been made to reschedule that meeting this week despite a Home Rule Charter provision clearly mandating that it shall meet twice every month.
I've emailed Council Prez Michael D'Amore to ask when this meeting will be rescheduled. No reply.
The City is in obvious crisis, but the body created to provide oversight can't be bothered to meet, let alone provide direction. Is it any wonder City Council candidate Lou Hershman calls this litter a collection of Pawlowski lap dogs?
In Sunday's Morning Call, Jarrett Renshaw makes very clear that of all six candidates, only Hershman has responded to the report of a Peanutville blue ribbon panel, calling for dramatic changes.
"Republican candidate Lou Hershman, 73, has laid out a plan that seems closest to the committee's spirit of reform.Hershman also wants to audit landlords so all tenants pay earned income and business privilege taxes.
Allentown should consider dissolving the parking authority, Hershman said, and use any surplus revenue from violations to help pay the city's operating expenses."
He has specific ideas. He is also the only candidate running who will decline to accept a salary.
Perhaps you'd prefer pious platitudes. Julio "I speak two languages" Guridy proposes looking at "all expenses, line-by-line." Silly me, but aren't they supposed to be doing that already? What the hell has Guridy been doing the last eight years? Energetic Mike Schlossberg proposes buying supplies like paper clips in bulk. Last time I checked, the city already makes most of its purchases through the state at a discounted rate.
D'Amore and Guridy take the cake for most ridiculous idea. The want to restructure the debt that they've already just restructured. In other words, they want to shackle the city with thirty years of debt to pay for their mismanagement.
During this campaign, Hershman has already been disparaged with anonymous sleaze robcalls engineered by Pawlowski. Candidates Sclossberg, D'Amore and O'Connell - the three blind mice - paid for that smear job. But they've all been too timid to lay the blame at the mayor's door mat publicly, where it properly belongs. Is this independence? Of the three, only Ray O'Connell has been decent enough to acknowledge an error and apologize like a man.
After sliming Lou, Council Prez D'Amore and VP Michael Donovan tried muzzling him, preventing him from speaking out at city council meetings during public comment segments, a clear violation of both Allentown's Home Rule Charter as well as the The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Michael "I'm still learning" Donovan was unwilling to listen to someone who has long served Allentown, as both Council member (8 years) and Controller (24 years). D'Amore and Donovan, in trying to silence Hershman, undermined public confidence in the democratic process and sent a chilling message to anyone interested in getting involved.
It's an insiders' club.
Lou stood up to the insiders, and thanks to the eloquence of Council members like Jeannette Eichenwald, Council eventually backed down.
Amazingly, Hershman is still fighting for the city he loves, even if it is an uphill battle against money and partisan politics. A good man, he sticks to issues, and never slams people personally, not even in retaliation. If you are an Allentown voter, don't you think you deserve at least one more watchdog on city council?
Jeanette Eichenwald is beginning to ask hard questions, but she needs help. So does Jarrett Renshaw.
So does Allentown.
Bernie,
ReplyDeleteThe other Republican candidate is worth voting for, his name is Joe Brudnak. Does anyone doubt that the city needs people on council who will question the administration and provide oversite? I will cast only two council votes on election day; one for Lou and the other for Joe.
Scott Armstrong
Scott Armstrong
the same article says very clearly that Joe doesn't know enough about the city finances to say what he will do. So Scott is fine and dandy supporting a republican who is admittedly clueless. How is this good gov't? Oh, I forgot... b/c he's a republican, it's ok.
ReplyDeletefrom bernie's facebook page, a former reporter tells us about hershman. I'm sure bernie will find a way to trash this.
ReplyDeleteDaryl Nerl writes:
Bernie,
Aren't you forgetting that Lou Hershman was one of the guys who signed off on the great police pension disaster of 2004? It was one of the worst financial fiascos in Allentown's history, and Uncle Lou cast one of the deciding votes in FAVOR of it. The firefighters' OT issue is petty theft by comparison. Some watchdog Lou was then.
What short memories his Republican supporters have now. They were screaming bloody murder at the agreement crafted by Roy Afflerbach's incompetent administration, which Lou supported.
Let's not forget that Lou was one of two holdouts on council who supported efforts to repeal the updated human relations law, which protects Allentown gays and lesbians against discrimination. Uncle Lou actually told fellow parishioners in his church (as he collected obviously invalid anti-law petition signatures) that the law would lead to men wearing dresses at work. Real progressive, rational, statesman-like thinking. This is what the watchdog watches out for: Crossdressers?
Why don't you ask Bill Heydt, Todd Stephens or Frank Concannon what kind of controller Hershman was? In 24 years, he never performed one honest-to-goodness audit. He did nothing but turn out mountains of meaningless, nonsensical memos that seemed to accomplish nothing but kill off forests of trees.... Read More
Look, I'm not going to pretend that I am up to date on what's going on in Atown politics these days. I have no idea what kind of job Pawlowski or D'Amore and his crew are doing. Maybe they are really bad for the city. I just know I'm pretty happy my parents bought their house in Bethlehem.
But I would also submit that Mr. Renshaw lacks institutional knowledge of even Allentown's recent past. And you, Bernie, are a newcomer to politics west of the Lehigh.
For six years, I got to watch Hershman act as controller and councilman. To say he was a dancing clown would be an insult to clowns. You should be careful what you wish for.
Wow, Daryl's journalistic objectivity is really showing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Lou's performance as controller, it is laughable that Daryl advocates talking to Frank Concannon. You see, Frank NEVER performed an audit as controller, and even admitted to that in front of council. On the other hand, Lou has many reports to back up the work that he did as controller.
As to the pension issue, Lou was the only one of the councilpeople who voted for the pact that actually tried to do something to fix the problem after it was evident that Afflerbach had lied to council.
It is funny that Daryl brings the pension issue up regarding Lou and remains silent about other council members - such as Julio Guridy - who voted for the pact, did nothing to try to rectify their vote, and who is also running for re-election. Nor does Daryl mention Ed Pawlowski's involvement in the pension deal - something that I am sure Daryl is aware of.
Since Daryl is admittedly NOT up to date on Allentown politics, perhaps he should remain silent - as he previously did on so many stories affecting the city until it was too late.
daryl's report is perfect b/c it puts Hershman's sad record of leadership on display. Trying to justify Lou's failed leadership with the failed leadership of Concannon, Guridy and Pawlowski doesn't add up to anything but a pile of memo's.
ReplyDeletemy dad always says that you can't spit shine a turd and that's what hershman is hoping can happen to trick voters into thinking he can actually do what he says he will do. He's failed for 30 years... we don't need another 4 more years of failure from Hershman.
Daryl Nerl posted his comment on F/B, where it has a bit more privacy, and I don't know that he would like seeing his words reproduced here, but I will let it stay so that I can reply. Let's get the facts right.
ReplyDelete1) Mayor Afflerbach presented City Council with the ridiculous pension deal w/ the FOP as a contract, and it was shot down. Lou Hershman voted against it.
2) The very next day, the FOP asked for binding arbitration.
3) During the hearing on the arbitration, Lou Hershman testified that the city was unable to afford this excessive pensions deal.
4) As a result of binding arbitration, the police were awarded the deal originally proposed by Afflerbach.
5) City council sued over the this pension. Lou voted to sue. At the common pleas level, the FOP argued city council had no standing, the judge agreed, and the next step was a trip to commonwealth court.
6) Pawlowski wins the primary and begins urging council members to drop the law suit, using Guridy as a go between. He promises only 9-12 officers will be taking the pension and that it will save the city over $300k. The MC runs an editorial, uusing the exact argument being advanced by Pawlowski.
7) Lou makes the mistake of believing Pawlowski and agrees to a memo of understanding.
8) Contrary to what pawlowski promised, 53 officers seek pensions for exorbitant sums.
9) Hershman forms a committee to investigate, learning that 43 officers manipulated OT, with some of them reporting 88 hours of OT over one weekend.
10) While this goes on, Pawlowski works out another deal where cops agree to reduce their pensions, and the courts force Lou to drop his investigation as a result of this deal.
From my vantage point, the only mistake Hershman made was to believe Pawlowski, a mistake that will never be repeated. He never acted like a rubber stamp in this ordeal and discvovered much of the abuse that was occurring.
I'm sticking with Nerl's assessment. He was there bernie. you weren't. YOu are admittedly anti-pawlowski and in the bag for hershman. I'm gonna trust the words of a man who was there to be a paid pain in the ass to ALL elected officials. He's providing the kind of vantage that we need more of.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that citizens wake up to the realization that Lou Hershman is the ONLY Council member that will be keeping their interests at heart. You say that Jeanette E speaks up, which is true, but follow the issues, there is never any followup. Having attended many meetings, I hear "wer'e going to investigate" this or that many times, but very rarely is there a definitive answer given. I think that they all are waiting for the Mayors' view on the subject.
ReplyDeleteLou will at least ably and honestly represent the citizens of Allentown, despite what that pompous, self righteous Councilor proclaims from his throne on Cedar Crest Boulevard.
Good News, Bad News: Mayor Pawlowski stood in front of his community and announced, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is we have enough money to retire our deficit. The bad news is that it’s still in your pockets.”
ReplyDeleteDarryl Nerl never worked as a City Hall Reporter, I was told that Afflerbch prepared Nerls press releases and when Mrning Call found out they transferred him to cover Bthlehem. I also learned that when Bill Heydt was Mayor threw him out of his office because he wanted Heydt to prepare his press releases, would leave him with little to do but collect his paycheck.
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:48, Fair enough. Daryl is a pro. I do wish whoever pasted his comment here had cleared it with him first for precisely that reason.
ReplyDeletetypical tactics of those who don't like the message: go after the messenger. Nerl is a quality newsman. Heydt didn't like any reporters b/c they spoke the truth. if it wasn't his version of the story, he threw them out.
ReplyDeleteThe way Bernie explained is exactly how I remembered it going down.
ReplyDeleteSomebody got some clippings or links that say otherwise?
Bernie, I do not believe Lou Hershman can solve any of Allentown's problems.Lou Hershman does have the ability to make the tax-payers aware of the fiscal disaster Allentown has found itself in.Mayor Heydt left office and the City while not perfect was on a sound footing.Eight years of Afflerbach and Pawlowski's total lack of caring for the City has destroyed it.Please vote for Lou so the tax-payers have a clue to where spending can be cut so the Mayor and Council will be forced to acknowledge ares where savings can be realized
ReplyDeleteWhat Nerl fails to tell you is that one voice (hershman) crying out in the wilderness cannot alone solve the city's problems.
ReplyDeleteBUT, let us all achknowledge that:
1. Palowski fears hershman for some reason? So does do-noting-damore.
2. hershman was the only one on council with a heat-beat willing to challenge both republican heydt and demo afflerback!!!!
3. Regarding the pension deal::
SUPER FACT: Hershman wanted to go to court to stop. you all said it was a waste, now you know better!!
SUPER SUPER FACT hershman haters. Question: WHEN WAS the overtime accumulated. Answer, while paloswki was mayor and damore and guiry sat on council - who was watching the store
6. Fast forward to now: fireman Overtime gone wild while palowski is mayor and damore and guridy sit on council.
Dispute this Nerl??
Both palowski and damaore are waiting till after the election to drop the financial a-bomb on taxpayers!!
ReplyDeleteThese two are bad, they have already mortaged away my children's future and now want to fix another $$$ problem by paying $2Million less into the pensions - more debt for my children
Nerl - how many audits did concannon do while controller per year versus louie, how many has palowski's self-proclained independent contoller hoffman done? Where is the wall-street wizard hoffman while a-town goes bankrupt. Who is not watching overtime accounts go thru the roof??
ReplyDeletePalowski, Hoffman, Damore - take your pick
i've had much experience with daryl nerl. he doesn't have an objective bone in his body. he forms an opinion, then crafts the news to conform. he purposefully distorted the facts concerning the west park historic district and denied me fair coverage in the 05 mayoral election. he received and published articles from his former reporting partner, bob whitman, who served as pawlowski's press agent. heydt, on the other hand, had to work for coverage. he attended, but did not report, on two major press conferences i conducted. (wfmz reported on both of them.) one was on low income housing, the other crime. the most offensive portion of his comment is that renshaw doesn't have the institutional memory. that may be true, but he also doesn't have the intentional distortions that characterize nerl.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to congratulate the bold individuals who post attacks against me on this blog for the strength of their spines and the size of their gonads.
ReplyDeleteI do not have the time, at the moment, to go post by post and respond. But I will. Later.
For the moment, I will first respond to Mr. Molovinsky, who has been obssessed with my coverage of him for six years and cannot seem to let it go. Mike did not like that I pointed out that he was not living in the city when he entered the race. He tried to pass it off that as a landlord in the city he was still entitled to the rights and privileges thereof, but he clearly was not.
Second, I will say that I do not have a dog in this fight and couldn't care less who gets elected or re-elected.
However, I will say that the two finest elected officials I ever covered in Allentown (in my humble opinion) were REPUBLICANS. Sadly, I will add that Lou Hershman was NOT the worst elected official I ever covered. There were at least two that I can think of who were worse and I'm not going to name names. Most people involved in local politics understand that party affiliation has little to do with competence and effectiveness. The lunatics who post on this blog seem to forget that.
Fourth, I am entitled to express an opinion now. I am no longer a reporter at The Morning Call. I wasn't fired or demoted for doing my job improperly. I was in the modern parlance "downsized." I was quite good at my job. I have nothing to apologize for. I think 99.9 percent of the people who dealt with me would agree. I did my best to be ... fair. Objectivity is an illusion. None of us is truly objective. Especially Mike Molovinsky.
Still being a good reporter at heart, if not in reality, I blanch at the idea of becoming the focus of this debate and discussion. I was merely responding to any notion that Lou Hershman was an effective public servant for 30 years.
By any objective standard, he was not. But hey, Allentown, has had MANY, MANY ineffective elected politicians over the preceeding decades. Why stop electing them now?
Maybe there will be no need for me to write more on the subject. Actually, I hope not.
Sweet Dreams,
Daryl
All very interesting. So Bernie is it true that everyone is waiting till after the election for things to happen? The true extent of the City's financial problems. Also which job will Mike Fleck get with the City.
ReplyDeleteAll will be clear but not before the November election.
Daryl, As I said above, I consider you a pro. I do wish the person who posted your F/B comments here had cleared it w/ you first. I knew some people would take shots.
ReplyDeleteYou and I disagree about Lou. I think that's what's great about interactive blogs. People can read both sides and decide for themselves.
As far as the personal shots go, they unfortunately advance your argument at my expense.
I frankly wish you were still at the MC or ET, doing your thing. People like me will never replace people like you.
daryl, the legality of my candidacy was for the election judge to decide, not you. since she had no problem, your duty was to cover all the candidates. yes, daryl, i was clearly entitled to the rights, which YOU denied me.
ReplyDeletethe most telling indication of your bias was the online chat session on mcall.
http://www.molovinskyformayor.com/Campaign2005.html
although you never interviewed me during the campaign, you asked so many negative questions, the Morning Call narrator had to ask you to please leave the line open for outside callers.
your comment about me being a landlord, not being a "real" resident and entitled to run, speaks for itself. I assure you if i didn't meet the requirements, my candidacy would have been challenged by the other candidates, it was not your place to judge and suppress.
i only wish you were so honest during the campaign.
I quite agree with you Bernie, about the interactive blog part. The problem is that there are too many self-absorbed morons who think the whole world needs to hear nothing but their opinions.
ReplyDeleteOne more thought about Lou. It is mighty big of him to forego that councilman's salary of, what? $6,500? or something? Especially when he is collecting a pension from all those years killing trees in the Controller's office. If he didn't forego the salary, wouldn't that be, kind of like, double dipping?
Thank you for the personal comment about me, Bernie. You are a class act, no matter what Bill White says about you. :)
Cheers,
Daryl
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI don't really want to indulge your OCD issues about me. And I'm trying to be kind to you. Actually, I was always trying to be kind to you despite my better judgment.
None of the other candidates made an issue about you because you were never a serious threat to them. That is also why TMC's editorial board (not me, I had nothing to do with that) made a decision to leave you out of the debate. You were a needless distraction.
Finally, the minority community of Allentown called you out on being a racist. (I was trying not to say this, but you won't let it go.) I covered that and for that you accused me of being biased. I thought a community made up of at least 40 percent Latinos and blacks had a right to know that the NAACP thought that one of the mayoral candidates was a race-baiting bigot. My personal opinion did not matter to the coverage, though I happened to personally agree with Dan Bosket's assessment of you.
End of story.
Now put your crayons away and stop stalking me.
I'll call the cops. I mean it.
Daryl
daryl, I meet the requirements of candidacy. i legally established residency in allentown before i began my campaign. the clerk of elections verified all the necessary documents. my platform of allentown being a poverty magnet was offensive to dan bosket, and apparently also to you. again, it was your job to report, not judge and suppress. your comment about me stalking you is absurd. i think you mean i'm embarrassing you by documenting your journalistic shortcomings
ReplyDeletedaryl, btw, let me straightened out your attempted distractions. being excluded from that debate was a decision by the editoral board and muhlenberg, nothing to do with you. as matter of fact, scott kraus and paul carpenter both wrote articles about my exclusion. furthermore, i was included in the woman's league of voters debate and the channel 69 debate.
ReplyDeletei never accused you of being bias for any coverage you gave me, such as the naacp debate. i accuse you of being bias for the coverage you DIDN'T give me. for the events the other media found newsworthy, and which you didn't report on, such as my press conference on low income housing.
i'll go further and say i think you didn't report because you knew that my points WOULD resonate with many people, and you were attempting to suppress my campaign. there have been only two independent campaigns in the last 40 years.
Afflerbach owned nerl, period. Now palowdki owns both Whitman and nerl, birds of a feather flock together
ReplyDeletethey all fear Louie because he has not sold out like they have , Louie still holds true to his working man roots, and like it or not, he opens his mouth and keeps us informed
What a wiining team for palowski: Hopkins, spang, nerl and Whitman - flock together
ReplyDeleteWhat ever happened to the Hopkins/palowski debate on police pensions? Robo-calling cowards?
ReplyDeleteDaryl,
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see you post here on Allentown politics. Why don’t you take the opportunity to explain to readers on this site how four years ago when reporting on the NAACP debate for the Call, you failed to report Ed Pawlowski’s comment that “community groups are divisive”?
Then, in a later event (Business Matters Forum) that you also covered as a “professional” you again failed to report Ed calling me a “liar” when I challenged him on the comment.
Daryl, in your capacity as the “Call’s” city reporter you were clearly part of the problem. The question I have for you is, was your partisan reporting and non reporting based on your own partisanship or was it directed by your editor?
Allentown and its residents have suffered greatly from the last two Democrat Administrations but the real culprit was a blatant partisan complicity of the press.
Scott Armstrong
Folks, the subject here is Lou Hershman's viability as a city council candidate. A comment made by Daryl on F/B ended up here, a choice he did not make. He defended his position. Let's stick to Lou.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteI think it is safe to write that Daryl has, through his own words, revealed himself for exactly what he was as a reporter and what he is still to this day, nonobjective, judgmental and opinionated.
Scott Armstrong
Bernie,
ReplyDeleteYeah, let’s stick to Lou but we’ll never forget who stuck it to Allentown.
Scott Armstrong
Bernie stop the "Holier than Thou", routine. You took that County Council candidate Pasqualle womans info off her facebook page and used it to smash her because you hate Deringer and think she is part of the crew.
ReplyDeleteWhen called on it you used the excuse that she posted it on facebook so tough crap for her. Mo advance notice to her. Same deal here. You are just a hypocrite and twist anything to work it for your favor and who you happen to support or slam.
You nail Pasqualle and Deringer as part of the corrupt Long crew, yet you give Barron who was the ficken Party Treasurer a pass, please ohare you have a fun blog but your accurate newsworthyness is right up there with the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.
If I get a F/B exchange from a candidate for public office, I'll post it. If the individual is a prvate citizen, I'm a little more reticent. But i don't know why you're whinng because Daryl's comments are here for all to see.
ReplyDeleteStay on topic and knock off the personal bullshit or you will be deleted.
Bernie O'Hare gets off on emotionally torturing already suffering grief-stricken families. He's an evil sadist. Ask the families of George Usry ... Lucille White ... and Sheena Villa. Hopefully your family isn't next on O'Hare's torture list ...
ReplyDeleteSo according to Scott Armstrong, Michael Molovinsky and a couple of spineless anonymous jackasses, I, alone (with perhaps an assist from Bob Wittman) is to blame for Allentown's problems. Gosh, I had no idea I had that kind of power. And to think I've had this kind of long-term impact. It's been probably five years since I wrote a word about city politics.
ReplyDeleteI alone defeated Molovinsky in his mayoral bid? Does anyone actually believe this insanity? Never mind that he was so out of touch with Allentown voters, his chief goal as mayor would have been to repeal the landlord licensing law that 80 percent of the city's electorate supported. But I guess it was all my fault. I'm sorry Mike. Can I get you a lollypop and a Band Aid? How about a teddy bear and a pacifier?
Let me just add, Mike, that none of the decisions to not cover you, were made in a vacuum. My editors were always aware of what I was doing, what I was covering and what I was and was not choosing to write about. They all saw you as an irrelevant wing nut unworthy of ink. I do not recall Kraus writing anything about you, unless it was part of the campaign wrapup story, which gave you a perfunctory mention. Nothing more. I remember Carpenter's column. It was a column. That means it was an OPINION PIECE, for those of you who do not understand what that means, which I am gathering, is most of you. It wasn't written as news. I also remember you whining about me to some columnist at a weekly. That was really classy. Showed a lot of balls and a thick skin for a guy who wanted to make it in politics.
And Scott, what I just said about the editors at The Call goes double for you. I had supervisors (yes, plural) who despised you because you were and remain an unreasonable, insufferable, intolerant prick. If I had ignored everything you ever said or did, it would have been fine with them. Yet, I did my best to be fair and maintain some class and decorum, which God knows, Scott, in your presence, is damn near impossible because you are the biggest goddamn bully I have ever encountered in my life. I know you think that your pearls of wisdom are the gospel truth and should be equated with the word of Jesus Christ, himself, but I am here to tell you, IT IS NOT.
Maybe one reason I never reported on Pawlowski's alleged comment about community groups because, as I have told you many times before, I NEVER HEARD IT. That doesn't mean it wasn't said. I'm not perfect. I was taking notes and listening at the same time. How many of you can do this effectively and have perfect recall of what was and was not said? That doesn't mean I was in the bag for Pawlowski. I have more integrity than to report a quote that I never heard. Oh, I know, Scott, because you said it happened, it's like God's word. I'm sorry, Scott. This squid is an atheist.
I never reported on the confrontation at the TV show, because, quite frankly, Scott, nobody gave a good goddamn about some argument between a private pissant (who no longer even had an official role with a neighborhood group) and a mayoral candidate. I mean, I know you think you are Allentown's most important citizen, Scott. But trust me, you are just like everybody else. Only louder, meaner and nastier.
(more to come)
And Anonymous A--hole(s), I would like to correct something you said about the pension deal. It was based on OT done while Afflerbach was mayor, not Pawlowski. Again, through the mists of time, my recall is not perfect. The details and sequence of events is fuzzy and I have no direct knowledge of what went down on the agreement or out of court settlements that took place after Pawlowski became mayor. I had been transferred to Bethlehem. Remember? I had been caught by my editors allowing Roy Afflerbach to write all my stories for me?
ReplyDeleteBut I digress. What I do remember is the initial vote to approve the pension offering, while Afflerbach remained mayor. It was 4-3. Hershman, Bausch, Howells and Guridy voted for. Tom Burke, Marty Velazquez and Gail Hoover voted against.
At the risk of sounding overly opinionated to Scott's delicate ears, the three best members of council voted against it.
I can just smell the wood burning and the crayons sharpening on this one. Can't wait to read what you idiots have to say about Gail and Marty.
But does any one of you have the balls to argue with me about the integrity and smarts of Tom Burke? He saw through the BS as soon as it came down.
And more important to the core of this conversation ... Remember the core of this conversation?
Where was Uncle Lou??????
Daryl Nerl
Excuse me sir, but why would a person that claims to be an atheist use words like God, Jesus Christ, and Gospel in a derrogatory context? Why would you draw parallels, as you did, using words and terms such as Jesus Christ and Gospel?
ReplyDeleteIf they have no meaning or very little meaning to you, they are words of great reverance to Christians. Do you know that they are hot button issues when they are used in the type of context you used them?
For a person that believes that God does not exist, you have a knack to include God in your vocabulary. This is confusing to me. Your choice of words may mean that you have a perceived value of God or lack there of. Therefore, you believe that there must be a God, especially if you are trying to push our buttons. You shouldn't suppress your faith. Let it go freely to examine an educated way of thinking, called Christianity. I suggest starting with St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica or St. Augustine's City of God.
~~Alex Joseph
Mr. Joseph,
ReplyDeleteI apologize, sir. I did not mean to offend (at least not you, personally, or to anyone in that particular manner).
I should not have been so careless in the usage of this language. Though there was a rhetorical point in using it on Mr. Armstrong, who, I think, believes he is Allentown's chief deity.
Daryl
Another thought for Scott Armstrong on two terms of Democratic supremacy in Allentown.
ReplyDeleteSaying it was the complicity of a biased press that made it so is a copout in the extreme.
Search your heart and access your memory banks. Doesn't it have a lot more to do with how the city's Republican party ate its own in 2001? Afflerbach never becomes mayor if the Atown GOP doesn't royally screw over its most electable candidate during primary season.
You wanna know why the GOP is irrelevant in Allentown, Republicans? Take a good long look in the mirror.
Daryl Nerl
What is this about Fleck getting a job with Pawlowski? That cannot be true. What would he do?
ReplyDeletenerl, had you ever interviewed me, you would have known that i never intended or wanted to repeal the Landlord Licensing Act, and I publicly said so during the MCall live chat session. because i was an opponent of that act, and you are a third rate reporter, you took your bias for that act and used it against me in the election. your comments should be used in a journalism class.
ReplyDeleteyou say that I'm thin skin because i whined about your lack of coverage? daryl, here's a news flash- i worked just as hard as pawlowski, i attended all the events (31). when you were assigned the election, you should have come forward and said "i have an attitude about him because as a community activist he opposed all the measures which i supported and reported on...
Daryl,
ReplyDeleteI think you have demonstrated quite clearly here just who and what you are and how that affected your performance as a reporter.
Thanks for that.
Scott Armstrong
Apology accepted.
ReplyDeletePeace be with you, ~~Alex
Daryl Nerl wrote:
ReplyDelete"...I, alone (with perhaps an assist from Bob Wittman) is to blame for Allentown's problems. Gosh, I had no idea I had that kind of power. And to think I've had this kind of long-term impact. It's been probably five years since I wrote a word about city politics."
Daryl -
First, I (and probably many other readers) find it curious that despite admitting that you are not up to date on Allentown politics you still choose to attack Hershman's candidacy. Also, despite the fact that other current candidates are guilty of many of the same "sins" you accuse Hershman of, you focus only on Hershman.
Second, I find the language, vitriol and personal attacks in your posts unprofessional. I realize that you are no longer employed by the Call, but I don't think that the level of bias and anger that you are displaying here can just be put aside when you are employed (past or future). You might hide it better publicly, but it certainly would find its way into your articles and perspective.
That said, the most important thing we need to focus on is Lou Hershman's 2009 candidacy for City Council.
No one currently on council - other than Tony Phillips (who will not be on the next council) - dares to even ask the tough questions of the Mayor that need to be asked. None of the Democrat council candidates are bringing up the tough issues that might embarrass the Mayor, and their candidacies are being funded by the Mayor.
Lou is the only council candidate willing to ask those tough questions and willing to speak out when something is wrong. He has continued to attended council meetings (even before he decided to run again) because he cares about the city, and cares about the taxpayers.
In light of the fact that the Mayor will still have 6 rubber stamps on council after the election, there is certainly room for at least one independent opinion there.
Until a Tom Burke-like candidate decides to run again, we can only vote for the names on the ballot. The only sane vote for council this year is for Lou Hershman.
If you've ever seen the Twinkie Boy, you know that he has even less respect for himself than for those who've endured his personal attacks here.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't do this, but that dude is one big blob of hate.
Even though he was ideologically aligned with them, I'll bet it wasn't hard for his bosses to put him on the list when layoff day came.
TO: Daryl Nerl
ReplyDeleteYou really are a hateful liberal aren't you? The way you deal in half-truths and outright falsification of facts makes it quite clear why you found a warm home under that old lefty farom the 1960s, Glenn Kranzley, and the Allentown version of the poltically correct Los Angeles Times for all these years.
Remember Daryl, it all will eventualy catch up with you. I understand that you are an 'ex' MC reporter, so I guess it already has caughat up with you. Good riddance. God bless Allentown!
Thanks for showing yor true colors! This is further evidence that my choice to cancel my MC subscription years ago was a wise one.
Anon.
A general comment about Lou Hershman:
ReplyDeleteAs an Allentown native, and someone who remembers when this city was a glorious place to live in, and grow up in... give more people like Mr. Hershman (who are hysterically denounced by the lefties at the Morning Call as 'pains in the ass'), the paper to write more and more of those memos purporting to harrass current office holders who are career politicians. Keep on cutting down those trees Lou! I want you to have that writing paper so that you can continue to be a 'pain in the ass' while looking out for the interests of the public in their war with corrupt politicians, and also corrupt newspaper writers.
Anon.
It's hard to make personal attacks on people who don't have the guts (I know, I know. I have plenty of them, ha ha ha) to attach their names to their posts.
ReplyDeleteMike and Scott have it coming to them. I've endured Scott's bullying and Mike's whining (and now you are just lying your ass off about landlord licensing, your desire to repeal was black and white on your Web site, Michael) long enough.
I wasn't attacking Uncle Lou's candidacy, nor was I supporting anyone else's. I was merely trying to point out that Lou was a supporter of the -- by anyone's standards -- disastrous police pension plan, which would seem to contradict his public image as a "watchdog."
As I said before, I could care less who wins. Actually, I'm kind of rooting for Tony Phillips and Lou Hershman. If nothing else, it would be very entertaining. We could all use a good laugh.
And for the record, I don't like Twinkies. I prefer coffee rolls from Dunkin Donuts.
Daryl Nerl
daryl, my website still exists, i never took it down or changed one word except i noted it is no longer a political campaign. again, i was an opponent of the bill, but once passed, it became law, i support all laws. the website is www.molovinskyformayor.com. please come back and let me know where i say i will repeal the law, or ask council to do so.
ReplyDeletedaryl, on the morning call election online chat, oct. 28, 2005, last week prior to the election, you ask me questions you never bothered to during the election.
ReplyDeleteDaryl Nerl asks; Don't you believe that your opposition to the landlord licensing law, which received a whopping 80 percent of support from voters, has been the real reason why your campaign isn't getting much support?
no daryl, the real reason why my campaign didn't get much support was because you never reported on it. i think that who is lying "their ass off" is apparent to any objective reader.
Daryl,
ReplyDeleteYou have again put on display through your own words an attitude unbefitting of a journalist. That is what we( those who fought for good government in Allentown) always suspected of you.
Try to deny that the city is much worse off now due to the shoddy journalism of the Morning Call.
Scott Armstrong
Yeah, Scott, actually I am going to deny that. I think you are just trying to deflect your repeated failures as the city's GOP coordinator. How many elections have you won? Zero? You've delivered less often in autumn than A-Rod.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the 0-fer continues this year, doesn't it? How's that annointed GOP mayoral candidate working out for you?
But just keep blaming the messenger, even years after he's gone. Maybe people won't notice what a fool you are.
Interesting how you had no issues with Renshaw's assessment of the City Council candidates. I suspect you would jump on board anything that justifies your existence or completely coincides with your prejudged worldview. So let's not pretend you have any intellectual credibility, OK?
And by the way, I'm not a journalist anymore, so I no longer have to have an attitude befitting one.
What's your excuse for having an attitude unbefitting a human?
Michael, I am going to try this only once more with you. And I'm going to use small words so that you will be sure to understand.
You did not work as hard or as well as Mayor Heydt or Mayor Pawlowski during your campaign.
Heydt and Pawlowski recruited armies of volunteers and raised thousands of dollars to buy ad space in newspapers, on TV and on the radio. They sent out mailers to spread the word of their campaign platforms. In short, they did not rely on TMC to get their message out for them. They did it themselves. If memory serves, Heydt didn't hold more than a press conference or two that we covered. Yet he managed to get, I don't know, a thousand times more votes than you did?
Under the law, newspapers are not required to give equal time to candidates. That was determined by the U.S. Supreme Court 35 years ago in Miami Herald v. Tornillo. Look it up, if you like.
Now I am sure, Michael, that a lot of politicians I have covered over the years will back me up on this statement. I always warned them that TMC's policy on campaign coverage was that we would not write about press conferences that got repetitive. In other words, if you kept repeating the same stuff over and over again, without some new policy initiative or new information, we would not print it. Even if I went back to the office, and wrote the prose of angels (or had Roy Afflerbach do it for me), the editors would spike it. It is a policy I completely and wholeheartedly agreed with. You want to repeat the same shit over and over again: Buy an ad. We print news on the news pages. Period.
Now, I believe I did write your first news conference. At least your campaign announcement. That and every conference that followed was a variation on the same theme: that an influx of minorities has been bad for the city and you would do all you could to stem the tide of brown-skinned poor people. I believe I did write that. Once.
Twice and it would not have seen ink. Those were decisions made above my pay grade. I told you before: No decisions about any story (the ones written and the ones aborted) at The Call were made in a vacuum. At least one, if not two or three editors got to weigh in.
Now, Michael. I have made one final earnest attempt to explain to you why I alone am not to blame for you losing the mayoral election of 2005.
So Captain Ahab, will you finally stop hunting for the whale?
Get it? Whale?
Derhuh! Derhuh! Derhuh!
Twinkie Boy made a funny.
And they accuse me of being mean and vitriolic.
Stay classy Allentown.
Daryl Nerl
daryl, your analysis of the 2005 election is as slanted as your reporting. to equate money raised from an independent with a major party candidate is absurd, and then to equate the money with the effort involved to attend voter functions is more absurd. do you think pawlowski is working 6 times harder than phillips?
ReplyDeleteyou only covered my press conference about the parking authority, you attended but did not write up the two others, one on low income housing, the other crime; hardly repetitive.
you asked me more questions on the online chat, several days before the election, than you did all year. you never wrote an article on me, with the exception of a short announcement questioning my residency. your opposition to me was based on my community activism from years prior; for instance, the rental law was passed back in 1998.
lastly, it's a easy cheap shot to equate racism with informed opposition to a poverty magnet. although everyone decries the center city problem being from too many apartments owned by "slumlords" (that's more polite than talking about the tenants) the city has yet to find an effective solution. wouldn't it be nice if a straight talking person who had experience as a conscientious landlord stepped forward who really understood the problem. what an opportunity that would be for a good reporter.
Daryl,
ReplyDeleteFYI I am no longer involved with the local Republican Committee.
The fact that extremely well qualified Republican candidates lost council races in Allentown was a loss for the city. I recruited the best candidates and ran respectable races. I did it in an effort to bring good government to the city. That unfortunately did not happen and the results are what they are. All one can do is try their best and that I did. I failed to overcome the political dynamic of the city and the nation.
One thing we share is the fact that we are both losers, however one of us never sacrificed their integrity for mere partisanship. The people I worked for were worthy of the public trust.
Scott Armstrong
scott, although not much of a reporter, daryl deserves credit for his craft at distortion and innuendo. he probably knows that neither you or I resort to anonymous personal disparaging remarks, the "whale" matter is now associated with us.
ReplyDeletehe ignores burke's and thiel's loss, both obvious victims of straight party voting and hangs the blame on you.
he knows that i never claimed he cost me the election, but rather that he failed to give me fair coverage. although he never explored what my experience at property management could bring to the table, he always called me "Landlord Molovinsky". Had he paid just minimum attention to my campaign, he would know that i did advertise in the paper (ten small ads), did have volunteers, and spent less per vote than heydt and pawlowski. perhaps the most illustrative point of his biased coverage was that my picture never once appeared in the paper.
bernie, i believe we are beyond being dismissed as "off topic" with the nerl/armstrong/molovinsky dialogue
ReplyDeletei'm trying to understand your silence
i know that you are flattered by visits from the MSM, apparently that must hold true for former reporters
considering that daryl questions hershman's motives, unnecessarily notes renshaw's lack of institutional memory and clearly states that he is no longer a reporter...........????
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember that both Daryl and Bob Witman posted personal attacks on the internet with their mcall e-mails when they were employed with the paper. They apparently thought that was appropriate behavior then. Clearly Daryl has axes to grind now and has made our civic and professionally related complaints and disagreement very personal. Although I was disappointed by Daryl’s reporting I was always respectful when our paths inadvertently crossed, now I know he thought he was shaking hands with, amongst other slurs, “a wing nut”.
Scott Armstrong
MM,
ReplyDeleteWhat I am trying to do is cover the 2009 election, not the 2005 election. There are people running now who deserve our attention.
Yes, I'm astonished at all these exchanges, but what happened four years ago will be more interesting after the election.
I will add that you are baiting me and I resent it. Very Villa-esque.
ReplyDeleteLet me do my thing. I took me several hours yesterday just to get and assemble the data for the NC Council finance reports. I am trying as best I can to cover what is going on right now and really have no time for this now. I do think it's pretty interesting, but I'm more interested in Northampton County Council, LC Exec, LC Com'r and Allentown City Council.
bernie, do me one favor. feel free to express exception to my suggestions, but don't use the term villa-esque. i don't think that there is any comparison to the comments that we submit to your blog.
ReplyDeleteWhen you attempt to enlist allies in your jihad against Daryl by baiting them, you are acting like Villa. When you focus on a squabble with an ex-reporter (who did lose his jobn and might be a little angry) while the whole LV is more focused on Tuesday's election, you act just like him. When you tell me what I can and cannot say, you are there again.
ReplyDeleteDo me a favor and don't ever try to bait me again.
bernie, i wouldn't say i have a jihad against nerl. i have maintained, but seldom wrote, that he under reported me in 05.
ReplyDeleteif we have learned anything from the phillips situation, nerl shouldn't be surprised that a comment put on your facebook page ended up here. in that comment he calls lou hershman a clown. as you know i have supported lou on my blog, which seldom supports candidates. although i took the opportunity to express my opinion of being mistreated myself by nerl, he certainly confirmed my contentions. He did so in such a blatant fashion that i have linked here from both my blog and poliblog. if i have a "jihad", or was actually a victim of a biased reporter, i have invited the public to decide.
There you go again, Michael, blaming me for things that have nothing to do with me. I never got to make decisions about whose photographs got to appear in the newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI would say jihad is a pretty apt description of what you are doing here, Michael.
That's been the main point of most of my posts. I'm just trying to get you to let it go. I didn't come after you until you questioned my ethics and professionalism here by for the millionth (please, excuse the hyperbole) time that I am somehow to blame for your failed campaign in 2005. And yes, this is exactly what you have done, time and time again. I should ignore it. But I am tired of it.
Perhaps the language was a bit strong, but all I did re: Hershman was try to remind Bernie (and only Bernie, since it was a FB post) that Lou's track record as a watchdog isn't quite what is claimed. Excuse me, but I think the pension vote is fair game and should be out in the open for the public to review.
But for this crime against humanity, you and Scott decide to play whack-a-mole with an ex-reporter who is trying to contribute something of value to the public discussion.
A few points for you Scott:
I have made it quite clear in my posts here that I have nothing but the utmost respect for Tom Burke. He may be the finest public official I have ever covered in my career. (Remember, he voted against the police pension deal Uncle Lou supported.) Charlie Thiel is an intelligent and thoughtful man who I consider a friend. The same goes for Vic Mazziotti, who you did not mention. Kudos to you for trying to get them elected. I never felt anything differently as far as that was concerned.
So square that away with your attacks accusing me of "sacrificing integrity for mere partisanship."
When it comes to local government, there are no Democrats or Republicans. Only public officials who do good work and public officials who do poor work. Sometimes that is all embodied in the same person. As a reporter, I always felt it was part of my duty to illuminate the good work and expose the bad. Unfortunately, during my years in Allentown, most of it was bad.
You, on the other hand, will attach your name and seal of aproval to any candidate who shares your opinions. You demonize everyone else as evil, a pox on the city of Allentown.
I'll add that in your dealings with me, you were always quite schizophrenic. If I wrote a story you agreed with, I was the greatest journalist in TMC's history. If I wrote something you found disagreeable, I lacked integrity and was contributing to the destruction of the city.
To my knowledge, every reporter who ever knew you grew to loathe you for this reason. And I knew quite a few reporters who worked with you.
We all grew tired of getting the shit kicked out of us for nothing more than trying to do our jobs. And none of us could truly defend ourselves from you because we always had to maintain a certain level of professional decorum and distance. This is something you knew and took advantage of. Repeatedly.
I no longer have to stand here and be your punching bag. And I won't. If you hit me, I am going to hit back. I learned on Brooklyn school yards 30 years ago that this is the only way you deal with bullies.
And if I have sounded particularly angry, it might be because I am. I don't deserve to be unemployed. So if my language and tone has been too sharp for some delicate sensibilities here, I apologize.
One more very important thing: The accusation that Bob Wittman and I ever used the Internet or e-mails to personally attack anyone while we were covering the city is a bald-faced lie.
I expect a public apology for Mr. Wittman and myself, from you Scott, presently.
Daryl Nerl
"When it comes to local government, there are no Democrats or Republicans. Only public officials who do good work and public officials who do poor work. Sometimes that is all embodied in the same person."
ReplyDeleteLoks like I fond tomorrow's one-liner. How true!
daryl , i don't know anything about facebook, was never on it. i also don't know what sort of back channel communication you have with bernie, if any. HOWEVER, there is something strange about this reference to jihad. Actually, although i have complained about your 05 election treatment of me privately, i don't believe i ever have written about it on my blog. i think the history of my public complaint is mostly limited to this comment thread, one comment from me is hardly the "millionth time." you revealed here you considered me nothing more than a racist landlord, distracting from the election. your coverage of me clearly reflected that was your perception. you might have chosen to see me as an informed property right activist. prior to the election you knew that i led both the opposition to the rental inspection law and the historic district. in your one short article on my candidacy, about 400 words, you chose to describe me as a landlord who had filed a homestead act paper in southwhitehall. another reporter might have found a conscientious property manager who knew you couldn't successfully legislate pride of ownership. another reporter might have found a historic preservationist who opposes the arbitrary decisions of a historical review board. lets be honest daryl, i actually picked you up at the morning call and drove you around to all the buildings i managed and explained my philosophy on allentown real estate, BUT YOU NEVER WROTE ONE WORD. you even asked me to let you know if i had a vacancy.
ReplyDeleteyou made the decision to suppress my candidacy
Daryl and I have very little back channel comment on F/B. It is mostly limited to his comments on my blog, which he chooses to place there. Somebody deliberately copied his comment and placed it here. I told Daryl I would delete it but he told me I might as well leav it.
ReplyDeleteAll of my blg entries immediately appear as Notes on F/B as soon as they publish here. Anyone who is a "friend" can see them. I have about 1,100 such friends, mostly because I play Mafia Wars and use it as a diversion.
But on F/B, unlike here, everybody knows who is leaving a comment. There is no anonymity. The only people who can see a comment there is someone who has been accepted as a F/B friend.
It leads to more gentle conversation than what you see here. Nobody can get away with being a troll there bc yo can just defriend them. But there is also less coversation.
I've opted for both. The F/B is friendlier than here
D.N. “When it comes to local government, there are no Democrats or Republicans. Only public officials who do good work and public officials who do poor work. Sometimes that is all embodied in the same person. As a reporter, I always felt it was part of my duty to illuminate the good work and expose the bad. Unfortunately, during my years in Allentown, most of it was bad.”
ReplyDeleteIf only it were so, Daryl.
D.N. “You, on the other hand, will attach your name and seal of aproval to any candidate who shares your opinions. You demonize everyone else as evil, a pox on the city of Allentown.”
Why not point out the good Democrats that I “demonized“, perhaps, Frank Concannon who never did an audit as city controller, Roy Afflerbach who is now legend for incompetence on a grand scale, his acolyte Ed Pawlowski who has done even more damage by steering the city to machine politics and even more debt, or how about any of the Democrats on council now, or even the new controller, which of these people have I unfairly criticized and who do amongst this group do you think deserve praise and perhaps even re-election?
“One more very important thing: The accusation that Bob Wittman and I ever used the Internet or e-mails to personally attack anyone while we were covering the city is a bald-faced lie.”
Gee Daryl, look what I have hung on to after all these years, why not ask Bob to authenticate it. I’m sure he will tell you he wrote it from his mcall e mail.
“Hi Scott
1. What you wrote this morning was as predictable as what you said last
night.
2. Newspapers report news. The root of the word "news" is "new." I
heard little
of that last night.
3. You told me last August you no longer read the newspaper. Do you
need the
telephone number to complete a stop order?
4. Are you aware there are some really good prescription drugs that
would do
wonders for your attitude problems?
Bob Wittman
Fri Jan 31, 2003 11:15 am”
By the way Daryl, I drew Bob’s scorn because I dared to ask Roy some tough questions at his first town meeting at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. I wasn’t the only one but Bob wrote a puff piece on the event and I called him on it. This was his response.
I will find your comment to Trent Sear in time, still want to call that a bald face lie.
Daryl, it hasn’t been easy being a community leader or political activist seeking good government in a city with a paper that didn’t report the truth. You were part of the problem and clearly still are. In time I will no longer be part of any equation regarding this city but the problems I fought against will inflict pain on the city for years to come. That is the legacy of those who collaborated with the last two Democrat regimes. You weren’t the only one, Glenn Kranzley was the real villain, you were but a part player but guilty none the less. Plead your case all you want here but remember your record is preserved in the paper’s archive for all to see, even when the Call fails the record will be preserved . Those who care to know the truth can go back and read the rose colored reporting that masked the then gross mismanagement of Allentown by those who governed the city.
Scott Armstrong
daryl, here's another elaboration for the historical record. ed pawlowski gave a press conference at 438 liberty st. in which he touted how the property was rehabilitated and being sold. you wrote quite a glowing article. i gave a press conference at the same property, and gave the real history of the property. how it had been owned by four different low income housing agencies and passed between them for over 12 years with no taxes paid. how much money was put into it, and how many homes were for sale by private owners which this subsidized property was competing with. you attended, but didn't write one word. i asked you if you were going to write about it, you said yes, i asked if you would write about it before the election, you laughed and said yes. you never did write an article. you previously stated here that heydt only had two or so articles. so one for me (parking authority) two for heydt (i remember one was the hotel traylor) and how many wittman articles did you hand in for pawlowski? i'm angry too!
ReplyDeleteWe have really gone far down the rabbit hole now, haven't we? Three stubborn assholes are we.
ReplyDeleteLook Scott, when I talked about your tendency to demonize people, it was more a general observation about your interpersonal relationships with everyone. When you disagree with someone, you routinely become unhinged and unreasonable. You don't know where the line is. You go too far. We only have to scroll up the page to see what I mean.
I'm not going to point out "good Democrats" that you demonized. I'm not here to defend any politician, past or present. Politics and city government really has very little to do with what I am talking about here.
I did say, however, that you abused a lot of reporters.
And on that subject, I just wonder what you wrote to Bob to elicit that response. Why don't you post THAT so everyone can see how you really treated working reporters who most of the time had no choice but to nod, smile and accept your abuse? Or else be threatened with a phone call to the publisher?
I do recall a sharp e-mail exchange I had with Mr. Sear. I don't remember what it was about. But I do remember that I apologized to him and he to me. That's called behaving with some civility and class. As far as I know, Trent and I have been on fine terms since.
Two isolated incidents in which Bob and I might have acted out of anger is hardly evidence that we "used the Internet to attack people." Worded that way, it holds a much different connotation.
Finally, Scott, I stand proudly behind my record as the Allentown City Hall reporter at TMC.
I'm not going to talk about the specifics because it would only sound self-serving. All I'll say is that I was honest, worked hard and always tried to be fair.
But some people won't believe that no matter what I write, so I think this will be it for me. At least in this thread.
I know, I know, Michael. I'm sorry. You're right. I suppressed your candidacy.
Funny how you and the Volvo Driving Soccer Mom are suppressing my response on the Lehigh Valley Politics Blog, but I suppose turnabout is fair play.
So you're right, Michael: I'm Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez all rolled up into one. I came to Allentown just to thwart you.
My confession is complete. I am the world's foremost suppressor of local democracy.
Wonder if I can put that on my resume.
Daryl Nerl
you can make light of it, but when you attend events by a candidate which channel 69 covers, and you ignore, your suppressing. i actually receive more coverage now from my activism than i did from you as a candidate. my expectations were humble; all i expected was one fair article on my candidacy and the two presses conferences covered. why was pawlowski's puff piece news, while the real history wasn't?
ReplyDeletealthough i'm a guest blogger at poliblog, the comments do not go through me, nor do i actually even know volvo mom. i will open up comments on my post about this, and look forward to receiving your comment.
mr. nerl, let me clarify, comments are now open at molovinsky on allentown.
ReplyDeleteDaryl,
ReplyDeleteMy work is done here. Have a good life, all the best.
Scott Armstrong
daryl, i have put up a new post at molovinsky on allentown with open comments.
ReplyDelete"my expectations were humble"
ReplyDeleteRight. Michael, if you are humble, I'm St. Francis.
bernie, i may not be humble, but my expectations for coverage in 05 were. nerl paints me here on your blog as a fool with only one message in my campaign. you have yourself linked to and supported several causes of mine in the last two years. rest assure if i called a press conference, i had something unique to say.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny how you should relate or merely mention humbleness with St. Francis (of Assisi).
ReplyDeleteHe was known for humbleness, tranquility, and humility; but especially tranquility. Legend goes that his fraternal brothers and the condition that they lived in were very noisy. St. Francis would reflect inwardly and outwardly present humbleness and state of tranquility to all.
Little did the brothers know that rage was consuming him. He wanted to bash the brothers' heads in. But he allowed his inner most strength to prevail.
(I need to cite where I heard this story and back it up with facts. But this story is more of a common legend than anything else. I think it is remarkable that our weaknees, can sometimes be noted as our strength. Thank God he supressed his natural feelings and let his teachings prevail.)
St. Francis (all of them), Pray for us!
Peace, ~~Alex