When Northampton County Council reorganizes in early January, they'll be selecting a new President. Courthouse whispers are that current President Ron Angle will remain at the helm, while Rev. Mike Dowd will take over as Vice President. Mike Dowd has been increasingly mentioned as a possible successor to John Stoffa, although he tells me he's not thinking about an Exec race. Dowd has been attending numerous committee hearings for the last two years. Rich Grucela is not thinking about a run for Executive, either. Like Dowd, he once served as Council President. Rich recently recently retired from the state house and said he wants to "fade into anonymity."
That should last about three weeks.
What abut Angle? He told me he sees no reason why he can't serve as Council President AND Executive. AND Controller. AND judge. And School Board.
Councilman Dowd has shown no qualities of leadership. he goes with the prevailing wind. He would be worse than Stoffa.
ReplyDeleteyou forgot coroner and court administrator
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteO'Hare does a thread about Angle and then starts to immediately delete anything that deviates form the "We all love Ron Angle", script.
ReplyDeleteHow appropriate!
No, I delete the vicious smears. If you want to criticize him, knock yourself out. But I am tired of reading anonymous trolls who claim he's going to jail, his son is no good, etc. There are two hate blogs where you can post that nonsense. I have no problem with anyone who wants to criticize Angle, but the hate will be deleted, whether you like it or not.
ReplyDeleteisn't that what he's being now ?
ReplyDeleteas much as i like ron angle , i really don't think he should be president again .... i really fely he overstepped his boundries with stoffa and in so doing even with his apology to stoffa , he lost credability with me .
ReplyDeleteHoliday comment extolling the virtue of Christian love and forgiveness over hatred and revenge. When one suffers a wrong, is it not better to forgive and forget rather than be consumed by hatred and revenge?
ReplyDeleteWe can all get on that team especially this time of year.
Revenge (also known as vengeance) is a harmful action against a person in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Although many aspects of revenge resemble justice, revenge is usually depicted as more injurious and punitive as opposed to being harmonious and restorative. Whereas justice implies actions undertaken and supported by a legitimate judicial system grounded upon a foundation of ethics and morals of the majority, revenge implies actions undertaken by an individual outside the boundaries of judicial or ethical conduct whose goal is to force a wrongdoer to suffer the same or greater pain than that which was originally inflicted to a party.
Site of perceived wrong: Lower Mt. Bethel Tshp.
Site of proposed vengeance cloaked in high minded garb: Northampton County.
Subject of revenge: 1 out of the County's 1800 or so employees.
The crime: Temerity of spouse.
Even a blind man can see that the motivation behind getting rid of this employee is nothing other than pure revenge for some perceived affront of long ago.
Where is the love? Where is the forgiveness?
Just dispassionate observation made of a classic case study. No emotion of hatred expressed or intended.
I prefer to read all of Ron's quotes in their original German.
ReplyDeleteHey Bernie, I hear Steve Barron is sucking major ass to re-invent himself. he was exposed as a classic young "Long Dem". Now that the truth is out he is scrambling big time to revive his County Executive ambitions.
ReplyDeleteAny rumors on people running for County Council, County Controller, or City Council in Bethlehem or Easton?
ReplyDeleteI heard the League of of Women Voter's had a candidate training recently.
"Hey Bernie, I hear Steve Barron is sucking major ass to re-invent himself."
ReplyDeleteI have heard that, too. I have not spoken to Steve since he refused to acknowledge his error and still proudly maintains a picture of himself at T-Mobile.
I'm all for second chances, but first, there must be an acknowledgement that a mistake was made.
"Site of perceived wrong: Lower Mt. Bethel Tshp.
ReplyDeleteAngle will lose that battle. He's already lost it once so it's actually foolish for him to try to do it again. But let me tell you a few things.
1) Angle has ALWAYS maintained that the position of Director of Court Services is redundant. We already have a Court Administrator.
2) The position was created primarily to park potential rivals to the County Exec. Marty Bechtel used it to park Gene Hartzell. Glenn Reibman used ot to park Gerry Seyfried.
3) When Angle was negotiating with the Courts over their budget, the Director of Court Services was thrown at him and he was asked if the would get rid of that. Angle was more than willing, and the Courts conceded $300,000.
4) When Council overruled Angle on the Director of Court Services, Angle felt he had let the Courts down and actually made a motion to give them their $300k back. That failed, too.
5) The Controller's argument is that the position must be kept filled to prevent the kind of embezzlement that occurred before. That's bullshit. When the embezzlement occurred, the position was filled.
Yes, there is friction between Angle and Disidore's wife, but to suggest that this is purely revenge is to overreach.
Why is Angle negotiating with the Court, that is Stoffa's job. After five years on the job Stoffa is still the invisible Executive.
ReplyDeleteWhy are we paying his and his pals' salaries.
One has to ask what purpose he serves at the County.
What Stoffa did is restore honesty and integrity to County government. That means little to you, but it matters to the people of Northampton County, who overwhelmingly re-elected him despite your best attempts to smear him.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteReally have to admire your remove the hate mail stance. Kudos.
"When one suffers a wrong, is it not better to forgive and forget rather than be consumed by hatred and revenge?"
ReplyDeleteNo. This kind of thinking is why the bad guys keep getting over. This approach is what allows government officials, generation after generation, to keep ripping people off, wasting money, doing as they please, printing money and mortgaging the future of those yet to come into this world.
Contrary to the myth, Jesus ain't coming, the meek aren't inheriting jack shit. Fail to deter and the weak will continue to get crushed. If you don't wreak vengeance upon those who exploit your misguided benevolence, you choose to live with butt humping they give you while they laugh all the way to the bank.
I agree with you Bernie and Ron
ReplyDeleteI admire the remove the hate comments too
Cuckoo!!
ReplyDeleteIn 2008, Angle abstained from voting for hiring this guy, but 2010 alone this is second attempt in elminate the position. What gives?
ReplyDeleteI gave a fairly detailed explanation. It goes beyond vengeance. Angle will lose, must know he will lose, but has never liked that position and has complained about it since he's been on Council.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the fact that he is working on a pension with the County, but I don't see him working on that.
ReplyDeleteYes he is in the pension program. Here's why.
ReplyDeleteWhen he was elected to Council, he refused his salary. McHale made a stink, claiming he had to take it or he would not be fulfilling the oath of his office. So he takes it and put it into an account for Region 4. He does not touch it, but has to pay income taxes on it. That really bothers him, so when he found out he could participate in the pension plan, he did so to offset the $ he must pay in income taxes.
There were stories about this a year or so ago. The twist now is that the Solicitor has been asked to determine whether Angle should be in that plan. Now there's been no determination, but a story was published anyway. The Solicitor may actually determine that everyone MUST be in the pension plan.
Give the man credit, the ability to avoid paying taxes and circumvent the home rule charter, he's a hero!
ReplyDeleteI just got done explaining that he is paying taxes, and on income he does not use. And state law trumps the home rule charter.
ReplyDeleteRight, Angle has a trust fund for the slate belt. O'Hare anyone but Angle and you would be tearing this bullshit to shreds.
ReplyDeleteThe guy is the Valley's number one con artist. always has been always will be.
Unbelievable
The fact, and it is a fact, has been confirmed by Council Clerk Frank Flisser at several meetings, while you make anonymous smears..
ReplyDeleteBarron has told some folks his re-election to Controller is a formality. The union thing is nothing and he will have no opponents for the race. Next step
ReplyDeleteExecutive. He is hoping Angle is his opponent.
Next Executive???? We need to seriously look outside the current county officials. None of them have shown any real leadership. none of them have offered new direction. Nono of them have cared to look into cost effective ways of delivering county services.
ReplyDeleteLet's see. There must be someone. I asked Mayor Panto in Easton and he says he has no interest in the County
Executive position although I think he could be a good choice. I also asked Mayor Callahan and he said his plans are up int he air. Panto has shown true non-partisan leadership and has brought his city back. He is respected in my neighborhood of Bethlehem and is a well-known throughout the Slate Belt.
Please Dems, put somneone up that is credible..the last thing we need is Dowd.