In the state house races, only Democrat Bob Freeman and Republican Julie Harhart are running unopposed. The rest of them's got company.
Dave Molony is running against State Rep. Joe Brennan again. Molony, for those of you who do not know him, is a real prick. Actually, he's an acupuncture specialist, and a damn good one, too. But can the world of alternative medicine let him go?
State Rep. Marcia Hahn took over after her long-time boss, Craig Dally, became a Judge. Leslie Altieri, an active Democrat who has never sought public office before, is taking the plunge.
If I fall out of my estate in downtown Nazareth, I end up in State Rep. Joe Emrick's new digs. He's conveniently located on Main Street, probably out of some sordid desire to be close to me. Unfortunately, he's right next to the District Judge John "Cap" Capobianco.
Judge Cap wants to be close to me, too, especially when I forget about paying off a parking ticket. So far, I've been able to dive out a few windows and have eluded constables, but my day is coming.
Emrick is being challenged by Cap.
Not that Cap. Instead, it's former Bangor Mayor and Northampton County Council member Joe "Cap" Capozzolo, in what should prove to be an interesting race. Emrick has the incumbent advantage. Cap has the Slate Belt and his good looks.
Spero appears to be from New York, and so is Brooklyn transplant and Republican Ken Barreto. This Iraq War vet, who has a photograph of a Purple Heart Medal on his webpage, is taking on incumbent Steve Samuelson. I doubt that even the Congressional Medal of Honor would be enough to unseat Samuelson in his heavily Democratic district. Samuelson has long been a champion of legislative re-districting reform.
Like Craig Dally, Doug Reichley has ascended into the judicial heavens. Everyone left in his Lehigh County Emmaus-area district is running. Pat Slattery is the sacrifical lamb sent in by the Democrats. The real race is among Republicans Dennis Nemes, Arlene Dabrow, Ryan Mackenzie, Wanda Mercado-Arroyo and Rob Hamill.
in the hinterlands of western Lehigh County and Berks County, incumbent Gary Day will square off against Joe Haas, who was a forty or fifty year student at Kutztown last time I spoke to him. I first met him when he worked as an aide to then Congressional candidate Sam Bennett. He spent the entire time looking at his shoes. I'm sure he'll make a great impression on voters.
Where will I buy my weed if Deely goes to Harrisburg?
ReplyDeleteI think Justin Simmons needs to get a real job.
ReplyDeleteWow man... a politician for stoners !I'll consider voting for Kevin Deely if he can introduce a bill approving the sale of medicinal marijuana...sound cool man.
ReplyDeleteNice pic of Joe and his daughter although it was taken some time ago. You are correct..he is a good looking guy and still has his own hair! Emrick in real trouble in the Slate Belt..we don't forget ANYTHING!
ReplyDeleteBangor boro manager has estimated that we will lose around 8K in EIT revenue as of today. May not seem too bad but we are a long way from the NIZ. In time the other municipals closer to Atown will have a better idea of their impending losses under this theft of tax monies. Emrick's statement to me was..don't worry..it won't impact Bangor..so clam up.
ReplyDeleteThis guy Deely should call HIGH TIMES magazine. They can do an article on the new breed of politician whom fight for their constiuents with ALTERNATIVE life styles.
ReplyDeleteMr. Deely...Congratulations for being the first politician to admit that you smoke weed. That takes nerve to admit that.If you win the election I wonder what it would be like going into the legislature completely stoned? How funny would that be.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteCan we assume you will be kissing Joe Caps ass now? With Ron A gone, the Slate Belt needs the attention. But you spell Capozzolo different every time.
danthemann
Ron A is a R..Joe Cap is a D.. It's about the issues..not the letter behind a candidates name. Joe will garner support from the D party and that is unavoidable when you run at this level. The trick is to not be beholden to any one group once you win the seat. Imparting that to donors of large sums of money is not easy but it is the only way to do it ..if you want to remain true to your convictions and ideals. Emrick has proven he has no ideals or vision. At least we found out early his shortcomings.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with that stereotypical statement. There are good people in politics and usually the bad guys/gals garner the press. You never notice a good referee in a game but the bad ones stop the game in it's tracks and draw attention to themselves. The tyranny of the majority is a real and present danger and must be guarded against with vigilance.
ReplyDelete"But you spell Capozzolo different every time."
ReplyDeleteMust have been stoned.
Spero won't make the ballot. He doesn't have enough signatures and he hasn't lived in PA long enough to run for state office. I guess Woodman forgot to check those facts before getting some of his trolls to circulate petitions for the guy.
ReplyDeleteCap should make for an interesting run against Emrick if he can raise the money to be competitive. Emrick is gonna raise a ton of money as an incumbent. Still, the NIZ may be his undoing.
Who would have thunk it: Pat Browne becomes a weight on the neck of other GOP candidates. Any incumbent GOP candidate for state rep needs to be tagged as "a Pat Browne Harrisburg insider who mortgages our community for special interests in Allentown." None of them have done a thing to undo the situation and seem to be hoping they don't get swept up in it. On this, all politics is local might prove true.
"Crispus Attucks said...
ReplyDeletenice guys/gals or not - they all become whores after they are elected
9:06 AM"
Exactly. See: Justin Simmons.
-Clem
1) Spero is already on the ballot. Are you telling me there will be a challenge?
ReplyDelete2) The NIZ is a double-edged sword that can cut members of both parties. Although it might be well known in the blogosphere, people in the community don't really know or care much about it, and that won't change until their taxes go up bc of it.
The difference between making it an attack on the D's vs the R's is that the D's all have some stake in Allentown while the R's all largely draw their votes from outside of Allentown. Allentown voters have proven time and time again that they are more forgiving of their D elected officials than other voters are of their R officials. Of course, this all is predicated on the D's challenging R incumbents have the where withall to actually campaign. Cap should be good for that. Deeley, not so confident.
ReplyDeleteWhere's my Man MINDER!
ReplyDeleteMost of these races illustrates the lack of quality candidates holding or running for office. I'm no fan of Joe Emrick, but ask insiders at Bangor Borough when Joe Cap was Mayor. He never stepped foot in the Police dept. and he seldom showed up for a Council meeting- he was a joke. I guess he needs a real job.
ReplyDeleteLehigh Valley State Races should be a hoot ... But the primaries will be a bore.
ReplyDeletePoliticians guaranteed that the divided electorate of East Side would remain divided. Although earlier in the game we were teased that we would be less divided. But the suburban people woulld have none of that.
And politicians guaranteed that none of us would run by creating uncertainty.
P.S... The area of Allentown that produced Iacoca also has other talent. Why are the auschlanders wasting it
Where is Deely we have to vote! He's in the cafeteria eating nachos he had the munchies again!
ReplyDeleteJoe Cap was at every council meeting I was at as a member of council during his last term. His handling of police matters is up for debate but I did not see anything that set off alarms during my time with him in the Mayors seat. Throw something else to see if it sticks..
ReplyDeleteDeely's a serious candidate. His first ad has just gone online:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvGJvzwKqg0
Wow Sgt. Stedenko, that is a hard hitting ad! Thanks for bringing that to everyone's attention!
ReplyDeleteDeely where were you? You missed another vote.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9zcLAUp5E0&feature=related
Joe Cap spent a year on county council and was just a hand puppet of Ron Angle. The guy is connected to Angle and that is all Emrick needs tell the slate belt and he wins.
ReplyDeleteInstead of CHEECH&CHONG, It should be SIMMONS and DEELY.
ReplyDeletewow a third video already! The Deely campaign is really turning them out!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUsv4Lb7EQs
Wow those are some hard hitting videos. PSEA is spending a lot of money to prop up Deely early.
ReplyDeleteJoe Cap is no one's puppet, especially Ron Angle. All one has to do is check the votes of both councilmen in 2009 while on county council. If Emrick thinks linking the two will effect this race, he's dreaming.
ReplyDeleteEmrick should worry about that HUGE tax increase suffered by Upper Naz because of his "leadership".
The Cheech and Chong comparison is all wrong. Simmons doesn't belong in that crowd. It should be Deely and his narcissist sidekick Karen Beyer... Now there's a dynamic duo !
ReplyDeleteHe voted the way Angle wanted him to on the big votes Angle needed. check it out.
ReplyDeleteName just ONE big vote. Just one, and you win. And it can't be a vote where everyone agrees.
ReplyDeleteProve it!