McClure Makes NorCo Dem Primary a Threesome?

Asbestos lawyer Lamont McClure will announce his candidacy for Northampton County Executive over the noon hour on Monday, from the courthouse. That's according to two unnamed and reliable sources. My invitation must be lost in the mail, but I will crash the party anyway.

Who is Lamont McClure and how did he get here?

A coal regions transplant, politics brought McClure to the Lehigh Valley. He and his wife both worked for DA John Morganelli in one of his state AG bids. McClure's wife Sandy was appointed an assistant DA. McClure himself found work as an asbestos lawyer with a satellite office of the Peter Angelos law firm.

After that, McClure became interested in County politics. Rather than joining any of the numerous service organizations, McClure instead became part of the ruling clique at the County Democratic organization. He launched, and failed, in two bids for County Council. Then he pulled some strings to get himself appointed to the job in a backroom deal. With an incumbent's advantage, he still just barely squeaked by in two subsequent elections against unknown candidates with no money. This is where he become known as Lamont McMud as a result of vicious, personal attacks during his campaigns.

I first met McClure in his first run for County office. He conducted a courthouse news conference, waxing on there about all the glories and wonders of Glenn Reibman and his $111 million bond, and the evil person who dared sue to stop it. I was likened to a terrorist, if memory serves. After it was over, I walked up and introduced myself.

We've been pals ever sine.

As a Council member, it is McClure who joined Charles Dertinger and others in voting against decent people like Marta Gabriel as Director of Administration, simply because he did not like the R after her name. Instead of looking at her political party, McClure should have been looking at the L following her name. Gabriel is part of Northampton County's very powerful Lebanese community, and the way she was treated got back to them. They have long memories, and they vote.

His attendance record is always the worst on Council. Last year, for example, he had a 47% combined attendance record at committee and Council meetings. The year before, it was just 41%. The Legal and Judicial Committee, which he chairs, has failed to meet at all in over three years, despite his promise to schedule one back in January.

He has over-stepped his authority, taking it upon himself to unilaterally fire a Council Solicitor at Christmas several years ago. He wanted Christian Perrucci in there, who is known for filling Democratic campaign coffers.

McClure, in 2009, opposed work release centers and even a child advocacy center. "Let's focus on our core functions of government as opposed to continually expanding what our obligations are, when we have no opportunity to fund them," he said at the time. I heard him state, at a debate, that he was untroubled by the problems being suffered by inmates. But he did a sudden about face last year, voting for Abe Atiyeh's West Easton treatment facility. Atiyeh rewarded McClure with a $5,000 campaign donation.

Though too lazy to convene a Legal and Judicial Committee, McClure supports creating little fiefdoms in Northampton County by making row offices elected once again. He want to return to a world in which unknown candidates are elected to political office simply because they belong to the ruling party. Instead of professionalism, they would bring their own cronies into office.  It is precisely this kind of cronyism and nepotism that led Northampton County voters to replace these elected offices. McClure wants to take a giant step backwards.

McClure also led a fight, with the assistance of Controller Steve Barron, against a tax exempt status for two ArtsQuest properties in Bethlehem. His effort failed. ArtsQuest has resulted in 78 direct and 64 indirect jobs on Bethlehem's South Side. Its economic impact over 8 months last year was $29 million. It has been a showcase for music, cinema, festivals and visual arts. It has been made available for other nonprofit organizations and businesses for fund raisers, meetings and special events.

If you visit Bethlehem's South Side, as I do about once every two weeks or so, you can see its ripple effect. There is a real and perceptible buzz. Most local businesses credit ArtsQuest.

But in the final analysis, this is not about what is right or good for the community. It's about votes. McClure and Barron will appeal to our dark sides, our petty jealousies.

They also want to get rid of the hotel tax. That would result in the elimination of over 40 programs, in addition to the County's million dollar commitments to Steel Stacks, PBS. In addition, it would eliminate $1,374,300 for Discover Lehigh Valley, which in turn funds a significant portion of LVEDC's budget. That's the Lehigh Valley's economic development arm.

McClure also opposes the notion of a centralized human services building. After all, most of the people who use those services are too poor to give him $5,000 campaign donations. He's also forgetting our veterans, some of them disabled, who are now forced to chug up a hill to the Governor Wolf Building. McClure never spent a day in the military.

But McClure is hoping that he can ride into office as the Savior of Gracedale. He can portray former Executive Glenn Reibman, who pushed a swaption that cost us $25 million, as corrupt. He will present Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan as a fiscal idiot, even though Callahan has actually righted the ship.

An email has been sent to union workers, asking them to come to tomorrow's news conference wearing their "Save Gracedale" T-shirts. This lynch mob might burn Ron Angle or John Stoffa in effigy while they're at it.