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I've told you in the post below that no matter who you elect for district judge in Allentown, you will be well-served. Ron Manesu may be a bit more reserved than his opponent, Walter Felton, but has a deep sense of justice. That became very clear in The Morning Call coverage, where Ron resisted a few opportunities to slam his opponent. Ron's campaign web page contains an alphabet soup of accomplishments. You can see his speech to NAACP here."My name's Ron Manescu and I'm currently an assistant chief in the Allentown [police] department. I've been with them thirty-six years, or as my wife likes to say, since Moby Dick was a minnow. I've been thee a long time.
"During my tenure in the police department, I've been involved in a lot of interesting cases, and I've had a very good and kind career. Some folks have mentioned, 'Ron, we don't want you to leave. We think you're doing a good job.' But I asked them to please bear with me because I would jut like to move from one venue to another. I would like to stay in the criminal justice system as district justice.
"There's some folks that talk about - and I notice that Mr. O'Hare is in the front seat, and he's mentioned a few times about, or on his blog has mentioned a few times - can a police officer be fair at being a district justice? Obviously, Walt and I are both police officers, and my answer to that is yes.
"Throughout my career with the Allentown Police Department, I've had some difficult choices to make. In some cases, some officers needed to be disciplined or they needed to be arrested. I'm not proud to say that I've done that, but it had to be done and it had to be done in a fair and judicious way.
"So anybody that comes into a courtroom, if I'm elected, is going to start off from ground zero. The fact that a police officer come walking into the courtroom does not mean he has a three point advantage or he has a handicap or anything like that. He's going to have to prove his case just like everybody else does.
"So I bring to you a lot of experience. I bring to you a lot of knowledge. I've got a resume being passed around with my qualifications, my work at Temple University. I bring that all to you, and I promise to you that I will be fair, I will be objective and I will follow the law."
22 comments:
one of the highest regarded district justices in allentown was a former city police officer; john dugan, retired.
Benrie writes: "Ron Manesu may be a bit more reserved than his opponent, Walter Felton, but has a deep sense of justice."
Bernie,
The way you write this makes it sound like you don't think Felton
also has a deep sense of justice.
Is that what you meant to say?
Bernie,
Get rid of that 7:01 post.
"The way you write this makes it sound like you don't think Felton also has a deep sense of justice. Is that what you meant to say?"
Of course not. They are both fine candidates and Allentown will be well-served by either one. Walter brings a compassion and Ron brings a deep sense of right and wrong. I wish you could meld them.
8:09 here.
Thanks Bernie
I like the ethics of Ron. Honest, fair and did not take advantage of the retirement bonus.
Hallelujah! Allentown voters finally have two good candidates to choose from in an election which should for once be decided by the quality of the candidates and not unbalanced party registrations. Having met both, I'm on the fence, but I'll give Manesu the nod on experience. I was more impressed in person with Felton, he looks you in the eye, shakes your hand like he respects you and seems very much like a straigt shooter; certainly magistrate material. I'm a tad bit queezy that Ed Pawlowski is running around promoting Felton, for an office that shouldn't be politicized. My heart says vote for Felton (despite the Pawlowski sleaze factor), but my mind says better stick with Manescu.
One bad thing about Felton is that he knocked on my door and had a ten minute conversation about how bad Ed Pawlowski is for the city. Now he and Ed are endorsing each other??? Now I take that as a slap in my face and I consider him not being a very honest person. He was in total agreement about how lousy Ed P. Is running this city and now he right next to Ed Praising him. He lost my vote for sure. Another Politician ust telling votes what they want to hear just to get their vote. My Vote is going to Ron Manescu.
sorry about the typos.
Bernie,
Permission to Change Topic:
With three Allentown-based Subway robberies in as many days, maybe you would initiate a conversation. It is relative to city safety and the upcoming election.
Allentown's public safety is very much on the agenda this week.
Bernie, RE: 12:29 PM POST
This is very serious post about
Felton switching political alliances at the last minute.
Indeed, he looks less than ethical.
Very sad news to hear.
Just In:
A robber got away with three bags of a cash from the Outten Used Car Center in Allentown this morning, according to police.
The robbery was reported at 9:18 a.m., shortly after the car lot at 1902 S. Fourth St. opened for business this morning, police said.
This is the second armed robbery of a S. Fourth Street business in two days.
The 7-Eleven convenience store in the 1800 block of S. Fourth Street was robbed around 1 a.m. Sunday, police said."
I would only vote for manescu if he vows not to take his police pension when he is forced to retire from the police department to assume this position. it feels like he is looking for the next way to pad his retirement portfolio.
Anonymous said...
I would only vote for manescu if he vows not to take his police pension when he is forced to retire from the police department to assume this position. it feels like he is looking for the next way to pad his retirement portfolio.
2:10 PM
Very valid point, but doesn't Felton also get a police pension? Didn't he retire about 3 years ago?
More about that tomorrow.
"One bad thing about Felton is that he knocked on my door and had a ten minute conversation about how bad Ed Pawlowski is for the city."
If this conversation occurred, it is inappropriate, not bc Walter changed allegiance but bc it is unethical. A candidate for judical office must stay out of politics.
If and that is a big if, Felton was among the Blue Wave
that retired a few years back to
cost the city millions for decades to come, folks should be informed.
Walter is among that crew, but does not appear to have abused his position. He retired at 86% of his base pay as opposed to some cops who abused the system and ran up OT in their final 30 days.
You are kidding right Bernie...Walt did not abuse the pension? That is a JOKE. I seem to remember that the retirement package was set up to give the officer 70% of their base salary. Those that retired with a higher percentage did indeed run up their OT for the last 30 days. Remember the stories of officers taking vacation and working the Great Allentown Fair? I suggest you review some of the commentary from that time frame about how officers were working TONS of OT to get the biggest bang for their pension buck. Maybe you should take a look at the Allentown Commentator files from that time. There was a lot written on that site. Maybe Scott could direct you to some archives.
I can only report what I find, and it appears to be that Walter was in the bottom third of pensioners. Now you might argue that he should be penalized for accepting a pension, and some will do so, but it's hard for me to do so w/o knowing more.
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