Dolan, Reynolds Duck Citizen Group's Questions

Harmony Pavilion, along S. Bethlehem Greenway

An informal group calling itself the Bethlehem Citizens Association has posed a questionnaire to all City candidates. All candidates, save for Mayoral candidate Willie Reynolds and incumbent Council member Karen Dolan, have responded. That's too bad because these are nice "meat and potato" questions that run the gamut, from a fire engine at Dewberry to regionalizing 911 services with Northampton County. Just yesterday, a reader asked me to provide more information about the candidates. This is a start.

I've listed the questions and corresponding answers on my left sidebar.

Dolan provides no explanation for her refusal to participate. Willie Reynolds is clearly suspicious, thinking it's the same folks who gave him a lousy evaluation at City Council meetings. That became campaign fodder for Reynolds' opponent, Bob Donchez. Reynolds complains, "The mailer was based on the spurious report of another so-called citizens committee. Citizen involvement in government is the most basic and important function of our democracy. However, to claim that four or five disgruntled ex-employees and office seeking candidates qualify as a "committee" as Mr. Donchez did last week in a direct mail piece is ridiculous, disingenuous, and misleading." Reynolds was also suspicious that many of these questions were plants designed to make Bob Donchez look good.

Correspondent Bill Scheirer acknowledges that he did complete council evaluation forms a few times, but that his ratings had a minimal effect. He also admits that he and one other member are Donchez supporters, but are not "close" to the campaign and that there is no conspiracy.

First formed in 2006, Bethlehem Citizens Association has about 170 members. According to Scheirer, most meetings are online, i.e. virtual meetings. There are two requirements for membership: care about the city and agree to accept an average of one email or less per month. About 5% live outside the city.

If you are interested in joining, you can contact Scheirer at bethlehembill@yahoo.com