For the last 17 years, I’ve served in public office as a city councilman, a mayor, a state cabinet secretary and now the elected executive of Lehigh County. I’m a lucky guy. The voters and Gov. Ed Rendell gave me a chance to serve the people of my hometown of Bethlehem, Lehigh County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I never felt like I was going to work because I was doing what I loved.
Nothing has given me more satisfaction in those positions than my work in economic development, whether it was helping with the economic renaissance of Bethlehem following the loss of Bethlehem Steel, helping to locate Ocean Spray and Boston Beer in our county during an economic recession, or helping to bring 300 PennDOT workers to Hamilton St. to help revitalize Downtown Allentown when I was a cabinet secretary.
As we get older, we tend to figure out what motivates us and satisfies us and what we are good at doing. I love the Lehigh Valley. I love living here and helping to make our region better. I want us to always be the best region, with the most job opportunity and the best quality of life not only in Pennsylvania but the East Coast.
One of the challenges with the public sector work I always seem to pick is that the clock is ticking from the day you start. And, while I’m not at the final buzzer in my current position, I have entered the fourth quarter. My term as Lehigh County Executive ends next year. With two kids in college and another one heading there in two years, I don’t have the luxury to wait until the final day. Therefore, I will resign my position effective this July 8. I will start at LVEDC the next day.
I have loved my position with the county. The executive team we assembled is second to none. We are colleagues and friends. And, the work force and quality of operations in Lehigh County are as good as any I’ve seen. I will always remember my days here and I will miss working directly with the employees of the county.
My work, however, will remain here in the Lehigh Valley, where I was born and want to remain. I look forward to working with both of our counties, all 62 of our municipalities, our other regional organizations and our businesses to market our region and to grow the Lehigh Valley. My mission will be simple. Through partnerships at every level and in every sector, public and private, market our region, create jobs and opportunity and expand the economic base of the Lehigh Valley. I have dozens of ideas on how to do that even better. It’s with a mix of nostalgia and excitement that I close one chapter and open the next. The good news is that the story remains the same and together we have many more chapters to write.
25 comments:
Absolutely insane! Can't spell economic development.
Thank you for the 17 years of public service.Now its time to move on and be more involved in making the Lehigh Valley a place where business and family will be proud to live.
Don you are the best.
I wish Don the best.
The man who would be governor - until Scott Ott came along. Remarkable.
He'll do well as long as his first order is house-cleaning. Don is a great leader, but needs an effective staff. He won't have that at LVEDC unless he makes changes.
The Banker
Maybe LVEDC can be whipped into shape yet. If he can't do it, no one can.
i do not have the capacity to post right now, but when i do, my blog will not suit cunningham, as does this one. here's a taste: ocean spray moved from new jersey rather than upgrade it's factory there because of their notorious discharge, which polluted the sewage system there. their employees moved with them, bringing lehigh valley nothing but pollution and photo opts for politicians like cunningham
yeah and Hillary would have been prez had not Obama come along. Yada,Yada,Yada
The now famous Cunningham jump. Good job for him. They like old glad handing pols like Mitman and Cunningham.
Hopefully the appointed executive will clean out a few of the political patronage jobs still there.
Maybe he can hit the greens with Phil Mitman on Fridays. lol
"Through partnerships at every level and in every sector, public and private, market our region, create jobs and opportunity and expand the economic base of the Lehigh Valley."
This is a very important sentence. The remainder of his speech was useless drabble. What we he do differently than those in the past? Will his elected experience really help? How many documented partnerships did he "really" create? Where are the success stories other than things that would have happened regardless? ....Can he be directed? How does his resume compare to a real economic development professional? Too bad this job was not vetted properly. It smell of a good ole boy system beyond belief. The Lehigh Valley deserves way way better than this. While a nice likeable elected politician, there is certainly more talented help out there.
When did America start rewarding quitters?
Don has quit early every job he ever had. By quitting early he does not promote stability, only chaos.
You can see why he took the job. That's a big raise.
I don't see this stint at LVEDC ultimately being a successful one for Don. The board is a huge mess of self interests from the hospitals to the colleges to the consultants; the staff isn't terribly remarkable and budget is small; Harrisburg has a Republican governor who isn't going around like Don's friend Ed did with big cardboard checks.
I see more of the same meandering along until you see Don running for an open political seat.
A real economic development professional can't not last at LVEDC. Too much micro managing by the board. Don, at least has a chance to clean house without the board recriminations of the past. He has always, to his credit, assembled teams that made him look good while doing great work.
I hope he weeds out the deadwood and I'm not talking about golfers who work 60+ hours a week and are only a cell phone call away from clients.
Let's give Don a chance.
Look, don't be so defensive. I happen to like Pete, and think he should have had first choice at heading up LVEDC. But after what happened last year, even he would have to agree that it was incredibly dumb to send an email blast from his official account about Friday afternoon golf outings. And to compound it, he included the email addresses of a large number of public sector employees. It is just the wrong kind of message to send to the public. Now go back to your putting.
Isn't it called the LV ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Corp......and when they had the choice between an economic development professional with a strong resume of success.....they choose the gladhanding politician .....that has shown limited, if any,
commitment to any position he's held....to hold a NON-PARTISAN team building CEO position! Good Luck Lehigh Valley!
Well since Cunningham is married to a LV Chamber of Commerce official and received money form LV Chamber Head Tony Iannelli, his job is simple. He is to fine a way to merge the LVEDC into the Chamber so Iannelli gets all the money. It's a done deal. The feud has been going on for years. Each organization fighting to say they brought the same jobs and both want the same government money.
Don will probably dump Pete because he must find a job for Frank Kane. The so-called chief of staff position isn't all that important in the county. Still the Don may try to push it on the LVEDC so Frank can draw a check.
Many seem to be suggesting that major staff changes need to be made at LVEDC. So who needs to go? Don't say Reinke because he is a capable guy. His golfing transgressions, as regrettable as they may be, I think were done with an eye towards his role in business development.
Frank Kane would be more in line for the COO role and I think he would make a good fit. The current COO is invisible.
well at least bobby donchez is happy
Bethlehem needs a man like Donchez who has deep Bethlehem roots and the heart for the job, best teacher I ever had
WmAllen
He is a good man. Makes him hard to write about, damn it!
And Don tells it from the heart whether it's a salesman or a pay raise, I'd rather have it be someone who knows the game then an outsider
WmAllen
I'm concerned bc it is NOT what LVEDC said it would be doing and Don has no experience in the private sector. I'll have a post about it. You can let me have it there, although I admit I probably would have voted for him anyway.
Frank Kane COO?? Oh wow! Get me some of that stuff. When the guy is around you can't understand him through the mumbles. Without the Don he would be on the dole.
I guess someone at LVEDC is already targeted, so Donny can find a job for Frank. Thems the breaks.
that's donchez's problem - he was a teacher. can't make a decision, no leadership. If you think government is slow now wait till he gets to be mayor
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