Angle & Browning: You Won't Have Us to Kick Around Anymore

If you're expecting bitterness and sour grapes, there was little evidence of it yesterday, when two losers - Ron Angle and Dean Browning - appeared as guests on Tony Iannelli's Business Matters. They were there to answer this question - What the Hell do voters want, anyway?

Apparently, not Angle or Browning.

Angle, a 12-year veteran of Northampton County Council, was its President in 2010. Browning has chaired the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners for the last two years. Both were defeated at the polls.

Dean's defeat comes from those who want less government and less spending. His conservative credentials were called into question. This is because he refused to go along with a kooky scheme to send a budget back to the Executive, after he had spent most of a year working with Cunningham on the finances with no help from other Commissioners. Dean then bucked his own party and voted for a 16% tax hike, never a popular thing to do in the best of circumstances.

Never mind that he voted his conscience.

Angle's defeat is a bit more complicated. There were many factors, some of which were his own doing. But a major factor in his loss is that he was the Poster Boy of the Sell Gracedale movement. His defeat comes at the hands of those who want more government and more spending.

Never mind that he voted his conscience.

They were both smiling yesterday, in pretty good spirits despite stinging defeats. "The Emperor has been dethroned," joked Angle. "I'm in consultation with the military and we seize control the 1st of the year. There will be hell to pay." Off the air, he told me I'm the only guy he's ever seen who has a head like a condom, and wondered whether I was there to do a Trojan commercial.

This is my friend.

A little more reflective, Dean Browning has a pretty good explanation for what happened. He noted most voters have very little interaction with County government. They have little need to dial 911, use Human Services or sit in a courtroom. Those things all cost money, yet there is little room to cut. "People want less taxes, less spending and they want all that without a reduction in services," he noted. "If they [the new Commissioners] can do that, we ought to send them to Washington." Angle calls this the "Gimmes."

Paraphrasing Henry Clay, Dean added, "I'd rather be right than be County Commissioner."

In his four years as a Commissioner, Dean made government more transparent and accountable. Thanks to him, campaign finance reports are now on Lehigh's web page. He also spearheaded the movement to videotape Commissioner meetings. He also pushed through legislation that required unions to make concessions. He will be missed.

Then Dean started asking me why my head looks like a condom, and ruined it all.

The show airs on December 12. I made a cameo, which will drive away half the audience.