Today's Express Times awards a well-deserved turkey to Northampton County Controller Steve Barron, the inevitable result of his thinly-veiled threats to T-Mobile. Allentown City Council Prez Michael D'Amore, who accompanied Barron on this Lehigh Valley rendition of "Dumb and Dumber," amazingly told The Morning Call's Jarrett Renshaw there really was no threat. Like Barron, he also refused to answer the complaints of his constituents. In sharp contrast to D'Amore, Northampton County Council condemned and repudiated Barron's remarks. For its part, The Express Times called it "an abuse of his elected position." His written explanation, which he distributed to the press before going into hiding, doesn't cut it, either. "Barron issued a non-apology, saying he made a 'poor choice of words' and 'did not mean to offend anyone.' That’s not the point. Until he admits he misused his authority by hinting at official retribution against an employer, he hasn’t expressed regret — and he feeds doubts about his ethics and ability to represent the public."
Michael D'Amore, this is a shot across your bow.
Photo credit: CWA, disguised as a grass roots blog.
21 comments:
I didn't know of you at that time however, did the Express award you a spot in the Turkey Hall of Fame for your misdeeds as a lawyer? If they didn't prehaps they can run a oldies section, not unlike the vets who receive their medals of honor well after the fact.
There's a reason fewer and fewer union workers exist today.
There's a reason for the majority of the public's open hatred of unions in in an area that was once a hotbed of organized labor.
It's pathetic cartoons like Barron and his crowd of extortionists who apparently can't keep up with current events and don't realize there's 10% unemployment under the stooge they paid to elect.
Don't stand in others' flower beds. Don't use your elected position to threaten tax paying businesses that employ the constituents who regularly vote against you. And enjoy the election in November as the tide turns back and your ilk is slapped back down for the damage it's done in such a short time.
There's a reason you're unpopular. And now there's a reason you're even more unpopular. When idiots are engaged in a circular firing squad, it's best to bust out the popcorn and watch them kill each other.
Barron is a Jaindl's Grand Champion 28 pound turkey on this one.
The only place unions survive to day is on the back of the taxpayer. Someday something will be done about that,but I'm not holding my breath.
9:02 Rocks.
That is all.
6:40 is dead on. If unions weren't on the government tit, they'd be completely gone. Union hacks should contemplate that this Labor Day as they wonder why they're almost gone in the private sector and only exist where the politicians they've bought keep them subsidized.
Unions used to derive their power from their membership. Now, the only power they derive is what is granted through hand-outs by like minded politicians. This is why most people hate unions and union membership in the private sector is almost gone. And taxpayers have another whiny, undeserving welfare seeker to throw bones to.
Unions are a hallmark of a free society. It's a shame to see them commit suicide by doing what the Barrons of the world do. It's really not good for anyone on either side of the labor equation.
when Armstrong, O'Hare and Molivinsky take shots at D'Amore, it guarentees that he wins when Pawlowski calls it quits. I really don't think you guys get it. D's can't stand you. R's don't trust you. I's think you are crazy. In the end, the most powerful party benefits.
Until you guys figure out to get out of the way and let a group of credible people step forward and not have to deal with your anvil strapped around their neck, guys like Barron and D'Amore will win.
Ahh, the marginalization argument.
Seems to me that the ET is pretty credible, and Northampton County Cuuncil did issue a reprimand. They must be cooks, too.
In Allentown, where only one party is in control, the paper offers no editorials, and the Council member is less culpable than Barron, things are harder. Even so, the VP of City Council has now called on D'Amore for an explanaton. Several members of the community, whom you attempt to marginalize, have spoken up. And thanks to CWA, we have video clips to play when D'Amore makes his next run.
He deserved that Turkey. Barron represents what is wrong with elected officials today. He is so focused on "buying" support for the "next" office he wants he will do and say anything to get it. He wants to be county Executive. Do we really want or need another career office seeking pol on the make for that job.
If he was paying attention to his current job and really cared about the unions, he would have done a "real" audit of Gracedale. Instead he makes a goofy speech to get cheers but has done nothing as far as being Controller to prove Angle and Stoffa wrong and help Gracedale.
He comes off as another inept pol who is hoping to live off the public tit. As a Controller he has taken the easy path and pretended to be everyone's friend. Just a Long Dem who even threw Long under a bus. I wonder how much it costs and how corrupt you have to be to become County Executive?
I guess Barron will show us, unless he doesn't even get re-elected Controller. If people were smart they would send a message next year regarding corrupt politicians.
What do you call a Long Dem teletubby?
Bernie I think teletubby is a personal attack and should be deleted, unless of course it is something you can relate to.
"And thanks to CWA, we have video clips to play when D'Amore makes his next run."
Play it. play it often. In a D primary for mayor, it guarentees he wins. given the gop's ability to recruit stellar candidates, it won't put a dent in his campaign. You can play those videos on a 24 hour loop for a full year in allentown and it will ensure that D'Amore is elected to whatever city wide office he wants.
As to the marginalization, it's self-inflicted. MM acts like the smartest guy in the city and I can point to his opposition to every possible quality of life improvement over the past 5 years. Armstrong is a flame throwing partisan who hasn't enjoyed a city-wide gop win since he gave it a go back in 2005. The VP of council has no future in city politics (and I say this as somebody who likes him). Havent you figured it out: every single "gotcha" moment has done nothing but frame it as a partisan attempt to undermine the people being targeted. at this point, it's kind of sad.
Labor Day 2010
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Jobs Recovery
Emrah Ongut, left, a masters degree candidate at Columbia University, of Turkey, talks with a representative of the United Nations Development Program about possible job opportunities during the current world economic crisis during a career fair at Columbia University, Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 in New York. The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to a 14-year high of 6.5 percent in October as another 240,000 jobs were cut, far worse than economists expected and stark proof the economy is deteriorating at a
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Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay – or none at all.
Job creation will likely remain weak for months or even years. But once employers do step up hiring, some economists expect job openings to fall mainly into two categories of roughly equal numbers:
_ Professional fields with higher pay. Think lawyers, research scientists and software engineers.
_ Lower-skill and lower-paying jobs, like home health care aides and store clerks.
And those in between? Their outlook is bleaker. Economists foresee fewer moderately paid factory supervisors, postal workers and office administrators.
That's the sobering message American workers face as they celebrate Labor Day at a time of high unemployment, scant hiring and a widespread loss of job security. Not until 2014 or later is the nation expected to have regained all, or nearly all, the 8.4 million jobs lost to the recession. Millions of lost jobs in real estate, for example, aren't likely to be restored this decade, if ever. Courtesy of: Huffington Post.
Personal Comment:
From the past three years of talking to Lehigh Valley job seekers, the above seems to be
accurate. Maybe someone here will have job suggestions.
Anon 1:41,
Your marginalization argument has been made since blogging began. Those of us who blog about political matters are often marginalized. I've been nailed by just about everyone, including other bloggers. There certainly is much to criticize in each one of us, whether it is me or some other blogger.
But I can look at several stories that never would have seen the light of day but for these blogs. This story about Barron and D'Amore is one of them, and it must really reattle your smug self-certainty to see your clear inferiors do a pretty good (albeit imperfect) job of pointing something out that the public needs to know. In this case, there was coverage in both papers. In A-town, D'Amore was criticized. Council's VP is asking him to explain. In NC, Barron was censured. None of this would have happened but for a blog.
As far as the political damage to D'Amore, I obviously have a higher opinion of the intelligence of the average Democratic A-town voter than you. They have voted for Rs and against Dems if the reasons are good enough. And when they are presented with a greedy Council Prez who would chase non-union business away, and who would promote all kinds of outrageous benefits for public sector unions, I suspect he's gonna' have a problem. He may still win his Council seat, but I doubt he gets elected to Mayor. And outside the City, he is toast.
If you think the blogs have no influence in local politics, talk to Hillary Kwiatek or Jeanne McNeill. They may have made a difference in those races, and certainly had an impact.
Here you are, posting a comment to a blog thread on a holiday weekend. If we are so irrelevant, then why are you here? Lonely?
Bernie,
You do a wonderful service by offering your blog to Valley readers. Don't listen to anything that distorts the popularity of your
blog. No one is forced to come by here. It's voluntary.
"But I can look at several stories that never would have seen the light of day but for these blogs."
We agree.
Now you've done it, BO!
Steve Barron shut down his blog to only invited people. It's no longer open to read.
Nice going, BO! He must be mad at you!
Those morons are only mad that they got caught,they walked up to t-moble like big shots and come out smelling like do do. They all smell.Phillips was a joke.Bernie O for mayor against Pawlumpski.
Bernie o's past transgressions rule him out of all political offices. That's why he does this blogging deal.
"But I can look at several stories that never would have seen the light of day but for these blogs."
We agree.
How many stories does Bernie overlook because they involve his suck buddies, or someone in a circle (as small as it may be) he runs in, or better yet a Panera employee?
Stop defending a crook. he should be tossed!
"When Easton and Bethlehem want something from the county, I gotta start thinking, 'Why should we give it?' "
Sounds almost exactly like the "threat" Barron made....Spin away Bernie...Spin away!!!!
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