About Me

My photo
Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

88% of Deely's Money Comes Wrapped in a Union Label

Deely at Labor Day Parade in Bethlehem
State House candidate Kevin Deely, an Easton High School teacher and union activist, clearly derailed at the DeSales debate. After that, I wrote him off as a serious candidate. He is seriously uninformed on most state issues, and that became apparent very quickly. But I forgot that few people in the Lehigh Valley watch televised debates. Fewer still read the blogs. So quite a few Democrats in the 131st District, who had already decided to vote for Obama, voted straight party. As a result, incumbent Justin Simmons is hanging by a one-vote lead in Lehigh County, although he's still up by 430 votes in Northampton County.

In addition to the lever pullers, Deely's campaign was heavily funded by the unions. 88% of his $130,000 warchest is wearing that union label. His biggest union contributor is PSEA. After all, he was President of the teachers' union in Easton, where he's known for rejecting federal funding when tied to teacher performance. He also organized a rally when school administrators balked at an average 12.57% average raise for teachers in the height of the Great Recession.

That union label is apparent among his individual contributors, too. They include union activist James Schlener, who lost his job as a Bethlehem firefighter after being picked up for DUI while supposedly on sick leave. Schlener and other contributing union activists, like Jim Gregory and former LV Labor Council President John Werkheiser, live outside the 131st legislative district.

Simmons raised about the same amount of money as Deely. His largest contributor, by far, is $30,000 from the House Republican Campaign Committee.

But Deely does not list the $98,000 that state Democrats paid for TV ads. Maybe he forgot.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Deely did not list the $98,000
he received for ads, is that illegal?

Anonymous said...

Bernie
When will this election decision be official? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

union slut

Bernie O'Hare said...

6:44, It might be. It might not be. It might be considered an "independent expenditure," in which case there would be no need for Deely to report it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Bernie for posting this.
This speaks volumes on what Deely's real intentions are. He will answer to the Unions.I wonder if the good people of the Lehigh Valley knew this before they went to the polls if the outscome of the elcetion might have swayed more toward Simmons. I say yes.
Doesnt matter ...Deely loses anyway.Simmons beats the Unions!

Anonymous said...

Can you also publish the campaign contributions of the other local candidates?

Bernie O'Hare said...

I will get around to it, but wanted this out there since this is the closest race.

Anonymous said...

It comes wrapped in the union label and goes wrapped in Zig Zags.

Anonymous said...

Talk about a major conflict of interest on Deeley's part. May be the push for recount is widely based on the constiuency who paid for all his advertising ! Who actually pays for this recount ? Is it the tax payer? Talk about a disregard for use of time and resources. When will the nail finally be placed in this coffin ? It is time to move on !

Anonymous said...

How convenient his financials come out the day after the election. Don't know if it would have mattered the people paying attention to this race voted against Deely 60/40. The sheeple in Allentown were just voting to keep their lifestyle of handouts from the Obama administration and Deely caught the straight D voter wave. Wonder if Kathleen Kane will go after him for campaign finance fraud?

Anonymous said...



Win or lose, Deeley has diminished Simmons and his Grand-standing tactics.

50% of the present voters disagree with Simmons.

zoid said...

Deeley is a bottom feeding maggot! Gad my kids did not go to Easton schools!!

zoid said...

Deeley is a bottom feeding maggot! Gad my kids did not go to Easton schools!!

Anonymous said...

So, Simmons recieved the bulk of his funding from Harrisburg insiders, but Deely recieved his from union members...and this is a positive for Simmons how?

Anonymous said...

So, Simmons recieved the bulk of his funding from Harrisburg insiders, but Deely recieved his from union members...and this is a positive for Simmons how?

Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter who wins. The People, The individual will get screwed yet again.

Anonymous said...

Based on the recent Presidential election, this country supports both private and public unions. Nothing to see here. Move on.

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:36--you are so right.

Problem is, Bernie can't find any faults with Simmons. I'm beginning to think Simmons feeds him his posts directly.

Anonymous said...

Hey! I always vote straight party. Who in their right mind would vote for any Republican? Democrats are for the working man.

Allentown Democrat Voter

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

America is becoming Allentown.

Scott Armstrong

Bernie O'Hare said...

Just another swing of the pendulum, Scott. It will go your way again.

Anonymous said...

I went through both candidates financials today and was amazed at what I discovered. Mr. Deely received $25,000 from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers, $25,000 from the Teachers Union, $15,500 from SEIU. Only 4 individuals from the district he hopes to serve gave him a donation. On the other hand, Mr. Simmons had over 90 individual donations within the district. I couldn't tell how many either received in the under $50 category since that is just a cumulative number with no individual donor listed. The amount of union money Mr. Deely received makes this voter believe that he would not be representing our community, but would be obligated to one particular group. With the pension funding problems affecting everyone who pays taxes in Pennsylvania, I'm afraid Mr. Deely would only be concerned with protecting his own interests.

Anonymous said...




Simmons should get married.

Anonymous said...

Bernie,

sadly it's not that simple.

Scott Armstrong

Anonymous said...

Deely is a pot smoking dirt ball. Surprised there aren't large expenses for Doritos and twinkes. He wasted his donors money like he would have wasted taxpayers. Glad he lost. Now go away pot head you had your 10 minutes of fame.

Anonymous said...




Either one was an idiot.

Anonymous said...

The incumbants in the state house win over99% of the time (this year only 2 incumbants lost out of 203), no matter how much money these clowns throw at it. People , like the express/slimes, call for change every year then vote these vultures back in!

jus sayin

Anonymous said...

They dont have to do a good job, and few do. It takes a major screwup to lose. Drunks? Got them. Druggies? check. Wife beaters? yup.
Tax-cheats? of course. We could do much better, but its about the MONEY!

Anonymous said...

To Anon 6:29

You are one uninformed voter!
Democrats lure working class people like yourself to THINK they are for the working man when in fact they raise taxes on all then give it away to lower income people to bolster their voting base. This guy Deely you voted for negotiated a teacher contract that forced property taxes to go up 16%
in Easton. DID YOU KNOW THAT ! Probably not because your one of thousand who did the same thing..You pulled the D ticket voting for Obama not knowing that Deely is a Union Thug who's best interest is raising your taxes to get better teacher contracts and protect their pensions AT YOUR EXPENSE.I hope I taught you something today you fool.

Anonymous said...



Both Deely and Simmons should share the seat, they both had the same amount of VOTES.

Both could wear Military type suits similar to an Argentine General.