Tony Hanna: "We Believe in the First Amendment in Bethlehem"

"Save the sign!"

That's the battle cry from LV Congressman Charlie Dent's Facebook page. Here's why. Bethlehem is supposedly trying to force a local business owner, who lives above his antiques shop, to remove a huge "Charlie Dent for Congress" sign. His business is right across the street from City Hall.

"Ridiculous!" says one Facebook friend.

"I think I should go buy some antiques from that guy!" says another.

These are all reactions to a Morning Call news account, in which Bethlehem's evil zoning officer, John Lezoche, wakes up one morning and decides to take on the Dent campaign over ... zoning.

It's one helluva' story, resulting in 86 comments online, although it's mostly people calling each other idiots and morons. The story has just one little problem.

It's completely untrue.

"Political campaign signs are a mark of a truly free country," says elections lawyer Larry Otter. Local Dems should know. Back in 2004, with a little help from Otter, they sued practically every Northampton County municipality from here to Kingdom Come over restrictions that many of them place on campaign signs.

I called Zoning Office John Lezoche today. He's a quiet, unassuming man, not exactly the type of person who leaps headfirst into the dark and muddy water of Congressional politics. Lezoche asked me to speak to his boss, DCED Director Tony Hanna.

I had heard stories that the antiques dealer was being cited daily and wanted to know what exactly was going on, and when I was told to contact Hanna, I immediately began to think this really was a political decision from up above.

I was wrong. Hanna told me, "We intend to do nothing about it because it's protected by the First Amendment." He told me that Bethlehem is working on a new zoning ordinance, and feels that the language in the current model is a bit "too restrictive." He insisted nobody has or will take any action on a possible violation. "We believe in the First Amendment in Bethlehem," he added.

So why the big write up in The Morning Call?

Hanna would like an answer to that question, too. He tells me that, whatever Lezoche may or may not have said, reporter Matt Assad was specifically told by Assistant City Solicitor Joe Kelly that there would be no attempt to enforce a zoning ordinance that infringes on free speech. "Matt Assad had a subsequent conversation with Joe Kelly, and Joe Kelly told him they weren't enforcing the zoning ordinance," says Hanna. He offered to put me in touch with Kelly, but I felt the information provided by Hanna was already adequate.

Now Bethlehem's legal team are certainly all in the tank for Callahan, but they're not stupid. They are not going to go against law made by their own party in 2004.

According to Hanna, reporter Matt Assad was also provided with this information before his story appeared in the paper. But in the news account, Assad fails to tell his readers that Bethlehem had already decided the zoning ordinance was unenforceable. Perhaps wires were crossed.

Now just as Joe Kelly and Tony Hanna are in the tank for Callahan, I'm in the tank for Charlie Dent. But neither the candidates nor the public are helped by a false story that places either candidate in a bad light.

Gatekeeper Bill White has warned you that "there may be a good reason why that story you're reading on someone's blog still hasn't appeared in your newspaper." I suspect this is one such story. That's because it reveals that the MSM is not so "fair and accurate" as they pretend.