Not all that long ago, I posted a blog calling Lehigh County GOP Boss Wayne Woodman a "Joe Long on steroids," referring to a recent Dem Boss in Northampton County who played favorites and made sure the rest of his party followed. Woodman reached out to me, but instead of threatening to work me over as Long once did, he invited me to a lunch in which he insisted he'd be Switzerland in the primary. Did I have Wayne figured out all wrong? Nope. I called it right the first time.Shocking, isn't it?
During my lunch meeting with Woodman, he denied he was forging a slate of County Comm'r candidates to knock off GOP incumbent Dean Browning, as Bossman Long tried to do to Dem incumbent John Stoffa. Woodman claimed he was trying to empower rank and file voters to make those decisions themselves. With the understandable exception of his wife, a Commissioner candidate, he would avoid making any statements or doing anything that favored one Republican over another. For him, the important thing was to create interest by attracting full slates of candidates, and he would support the people's choice.
But actions speak louder than mere words. If you look at the four circulator affidavits I've attached below, you'll see that Bossman Woodman is notarized as the circulator on four different petitions as follows:
Lisa Scheller (that's his wife, and domestic tranquility trumps party politics)
Scott Ott
Vic Mazziotti
David Najarian
This is a de facto endorsement of this gang of four. According to statements Scott Ott has made to Browning, the above four may claim to be running individually, but are in fact running against Dean as an anti-Browning slate.
Browning, you may recall, refused to bow to Bossman Woody and vote with the rest of Republicans to send Executive Don Cunningham's budget back to the drawing board last year.
How dare Dean follow his own conscience as opposed to the edicts of a recent California transplant with gobs of money!
Woodman circulated no petitions for GOP Comm'r candidates Dean Browning, Brad Osborne, Norma Cusick or Mike Welsh.
Can Bossman Woody brush this off by saying he was circulating as a private citizen? No. He can buy property, execute a will or do any number of items requiring a signature and that is nobody's business but his own. But nothing is more germane to the function of the Lehigh County Republican Committee than getting names on the ballot for the primary. By participating in the signature process for the candidates he has obviously handpicked, Wayne has given them his endorsement as the Chair of that Committee.
He was also less than forthright with me and my readers.
On a bright note for Browning, he's still got the canine vote. Despite Bossman Woody's doggie treats and scrapple, Dean was just elected Treasurer of the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of America. Apparently, dogs get indigestion from Scrapplefaces.
Woodman's Circulator Affidavits
At least those petitions weren't left unattended in a bar!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the by laws say about the political activity of the Chair...can activity done personally really be separated from his official capacity as chairman? How blurry is that line?
ReplyDeleteHe is the chair of the GOP and can engage in partisan activity. But what bothers me is that he said he would stay out of the primary and let people make their own choices. He can defend what he did by saying he would have circulated for anyone, but I'm not buying that. He was circulating for the same 4 candidates whom Ott said were going after Dean.
ReplyDeleteI see what you are saying but I wonder if he is collecting signatures on their behalf and someone doesn't want to sign, does he hold it against them if that person later decided to run for some elected position? It seems to me that if there were an endorsement process all this would be moot. I just don't think there needs to be a civil war in the GOP tent right now.
ReplyDeleteI a sure that people feel pressured to sign.
ReplyDeleteRs "pressured to sign?" That's rich. I think you're confusing them with another party.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Woodman will never be effective is because he does not behave as someone who understood the art of politics would behave.
ReplyDeleteI've been in his company on several occasions, and he sure comes off as a dictator who is unwilling to compromise. Those types are almost always failures in politics....the ART of compromise.
He has alienated the top fundraiser in the Republican party, a guy who used to be party chair and has been an effective elected leader for a few years now without much reason at all. That's not a move that a smart politician makes. It's the move of an angry amateur who thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.
If you can't tolerate any opinion other than yours, there's not much hope for you in the world of politics.
Anon 9:52 is right...we don't need a civil war now. But with a chair like this, the ONLY thing possible is civil war.
I'll be glad when we can just focus on the CANDIDATES, their positions and (if applicable), their votes.
ReplyDeleteThis is just a distraction from that.
Very secretive stuff here. Lots of operating in the shadows. His signature appearing on publicly circulated petitions for God and everyone to see is very secretive, indeed. This post is Pulitzer material. The comment about pressure to sign takes this from the ridiculous to sublime in one sentence. You are very good.
ReplyDeleteI never accused him of being secretive. I am accusing him of being dishonest. He was very clear in telling me he would not be participating in any way in primary campaigns. I wrote a blog about it, only to find he was being disingenuous.
ReplyDeleteAnd this race is about the candidates. But who is backing them, and why, is just as important as the candidates themselves.
So who circulated petitions for Pip The Mouse?
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that Pip survives the petition challenge. I got him to run as a REpublican in the County Commissioner's race.
ReplyDeleteI signed his petition three times.
ReplyDeleteLCRC Bylaws can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lehighgop.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16:by-laws-of-the-republican-party-of-lehigh-county&catid=15:republican-party&Itemid=100
Wayne Woodman is a sneak and a liar.
ReplyDeleteWayne Woodman is a sneak and a liar.
ReplyDeletePips a Dem?
ReplyDeleteBest check Pip's campaign finance reports, Pip's funded by the county.
"The reason Woodman will never be effective is because he does not behave as someone who understood the art of politics would behave."
ReplyDeleteYes, from municipalities to the Feds, we have done oh so well at the hands of those who "understand the art".
Red ink rivers of debt overflowing like the Susquehanna during Agnes, class warfare at a fever pitch, more people dependent on big daddy government than ever and a cavernous gap between the haves and have nots.
But, hey, if they understand the art of politics, at least we've got that going for us.
Its not the Woodmans or the anti-Woodmans that are the problem. The cancer is the idiot class that believes the process more important than the result.
all the more reason to vote Brad Osborne....
ReplyDeleteAfter tonight's meeting in NC, Council Prez John Cusick spoke very highly of Osborne.
ReplyDeleteI'm still bothered that this county chair identities himself with the Libertarian Party, hits LIKE on the Facebook page, and no one seems to do want to do anything about it. In addition, I have seen Wayne in action attempt to be a dictator. Singlehandedly, a candidate in the Nov. election stood up to him and did not let Wayne bully the candidate when Wayne tried to put stimulations on money he raised. I think it's just short man syndrome!!! He's not credible at all, as you nicely pointed out, Bernie. He holds committee meetings that last no more than 20 min. all so he can stand up in front of everyone and babble on about God knows what. Who listens to a man like that....and then to adjourn the meeting......... why bother even going! This guy needs to take him wife and her business and move to California where he'd fit in with the bottom feeders!
ReplyDelete