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Friday, November 01, 2013
Crosslis' Deal With Wizard of Ott?
I am informed that Matt Croslis, who was appointed Lehigh County Exec by the Scott Ott block of Commissioners, has made a deal. In return for his endorsement, he's been promised the job of Solicitor, a $71,085 part-time gig. I have not confirmed this with the Wizard of Ott, who is hiding behind the curtains and demonstrating his transparency by refusing to speak with either Morning Call or Patch. This is a great example of open government for one and all!
36 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
bernie, you say that you have been "informed" but unless this was "confirmed" by ott or croslis, you are really printing a rumor, not unlike the halloween email blast muller and fleck sent yesterday.
ReplyDeleteBack-room deals do not lend themselves to being publicly confirmed, MM. You know this, and in your history as a blogger, you have published more than a few rumors yourself. Let's put it this way. Croslis has disclosed this to several prominent Democrats, and I have no desire to name them at this point without first getting their permission.
ReplyDeleteBernie couldn't be more wrong, but like Muller, facts, evidence and real confirmation mean nothing.
ReplyDeleteThis post is all about smearing a person that Bernie doesn't like, and a person who is supporting that person that Bernie doesn't like.
Print the obituary, the Muller campaign is officially dead. All that's left is the stench from the carcass.
Maybe Mr. Croslis can hold a press conference stating he absolutely would not serve as solicitor under an Ott administration. I know he won't do this because he made the deal! Croslis is interested in one thing...Croslis!
ReplyDeleteHis business is about failed. Brennan is no longer his partner. He is depending on Woodman and Ott for his livelihood at this point.
ReplyDeleteThose that see the Croslis endorsement as the death knell for the Muller campaign have it backwards. Croslis was fired from his previous job at Lehigh County and has a DUI record. The only reason Ott and Woodman have reached out to someone like him and make a deal this late in the game is that the internals they have for their campaign show that Ott is in deep trouble with a sizable portion of the R's who plan to vote next Tuesday. Don't believe that? Just look at Muller's campaign finance report and drive around and see who has Muller signs in their yard.
ReplyDeleteThe endorsement is an attempt to show that Ott has "bipartisan" appeal. Most R's I've talked to see it for what it is - a payoff.
Its payback dummies! There is a plan to have Croslis be the new solicitor if Ott wins..... Plus the comments are right, he doesn't come to work half the time because he is doing his own business on the side! Hence, he is stealing taxpayer money.....I'd be curious how many other elected officials and upper managment get paid, but aren't there.....how does one report someone stealing from taxpayers or request someone do some investigating to see if Crolis and other county managers are being paid for time they aren't serving the taxpayers?
ReplyDeleteFountain Hill Resident
Mike:
ReplyDeleteI get that your are an Ott supporter. I used to be one asw ell but not any more. I have seen him change over the years from someone with rock solid integrity to someone who obfuscates, shades the truth and regularly throws colleagues under the bus. Since I don't have the rose colored glasses that you do, I see the Croslis endorsement for the back room deal that it is.
My question to you is what will your reaction be in January if Ott is the new County Executive and moves to appoint Croslis as the Solicitor? Will you come out and publicly oppose that?
I was in the gallery the night Croslis was appointed.
ReplyDeleteListened to the discussion about the potential candidates for the position. When the vote went down and the reform team voted as a block locking in Croslis (after providing ZERO rationale in support of him).... I whispered to the person next to me that Croslis is going to be solicitor if Ott wins.
It was so painfully obvious. How could you not see this coming.
@1:18, i'm not the overboard advocate like bernie is for muller. my interaction with the commissioners was mostly over the reading road bridge. it's a historical bridge, bordered by two others, one half block in either direction. although it has withstood almost 200 years, i heard the gung ho project manager say that the bridge could be renovated, but then last only a storm or two. i saw muller blindly back this nonsense. worst, after the state declared that 3 ton bridges would be closed, (a political move by corbett to push his transportation bill) i saw muller run to bridge, and say that ott compromised public safety. keep in mind that ott approved all the other bridge replacements. in short, i found ott to be receptive to analysis, while muller was a bureaucratic robot. he actually said that the bridge was not historic, only because it was never submitted to the historical register. take that lack of imagination, and approving those smear flyers by fleck, ott gets my vote. after receiving no less than four smear flyers from muller, i don't believe anything his camp says at this point, including about this "deal"
ReplyDeletesomeone who obfuscates, shades the truth"
ReplyDeleteYou should have been at the Northampton County Council debate and heard the Republican answers.
OMG! Say it ain't so! A political deal was made! This has never happened in the history of our democracy! God save The Republic! Bernie blog favorite John Callahan is a model of transparency!
ReplyDeletePlease. Ott seems like one sharp guy for a school bus driver living in mom's house.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYou still didn't answer a very good question that deserves to be answered: If Ott wins and then appoints Crolis solicitor, are you going to come out and oppose it for what it really is - Pay to Play? Or are you going to justify this to as a guy just trying to get ahead in the world and trying to bring home the bacon?
If ignorance is bliss this blog is heaven. I have watched this slime campaign move from the twisting and distorting of facts to this--the invention of facts. BO is now in the world of delusion.
ReplyDeleteIt's more a political quid pro quo than pay to play. At least solicitors do a modicum of work. How do do-nothing tipstaffs get hired? Does hiring Tony Koury help a judge secure votes from Easton's large and politically active Lebanese community? You bet it does. I think Websters uses John Callahan's Bethlehem as the working definition of pay to play. SSDD.
ReplyDeleteIf it hasn't been denied at this point it is probably true.
ReplyDeleteI hope it becomes a sore enough point that Ott has to publicly say he isn't appointing Croslis, and thus the check Scott wrote can't be cashed.
@2:57, it's not a good question. croslis endorsed ott and gave his reasons why. your question, and any subsequent answer, only casts doubts on both ott and croslis. you will have to find someone else to play your game with.
ReplyDeleteMM incorrectly refers to me as an overboard advocate for Muller, while it's beneath his dignity to discuss political contest. What i advocate is open government and transparency. You get neither with Ott. He has repeatedly lied when he claimed he cut spending. He lied when he said he cut taxes. He ignores not just me, but The Morning Call and Patch. he did make a back-room deal with Croslis, as you shall eventually learn. They've said nice words about MM's bridge, so he carries their water, but they will drop him, too, when the time comes. I think good government matters a little more than your frickin' bridge.
ReplyDeleteMM won't play your game bc if he does, he loses.
ReplyDeletebernie, let me borrow one of your past techniques
ReplyDeletecroslis said he endorsed ott because of his forward looking vision, you say it's because of a secret deal, so are you calling croslis a liar?
Yeah, the part of that forward looking vision Croslis likes is where he gets hired as Solicitor. Ask Croslis yourself. he should not be too hard to find on a Friday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that Ott is in trouble. His campaign is pressuring party people to put up ott signs and not having any success. He has maybe 4 people that will go out to knock doors with him. Ann Marie Slovak is one and i would bet she will have a nice job in the Ott administration too. I know a lot of republicans that Aren't voting for him because of his shady financials and everyone thinks he is a woodman puppet. The only reason he almost beat Cunningham is nobody really knew him and voted for anyone but Cunningham. Now we still don't know him other then he was President of an Elementary School PTA! Really 50 years old and that's the best you can do for credentials?
bernie, recently you said that ott was probably going to win, so now you have changed your prediction?
ReplyDeleteso you're calling croslis a liar, and implying i could find him in bar?
It's not a good question. You'll have to find someone else to play your games with. ...
ReplyDeleteAt least for a few hours, MM. I need a break for a few hours.
The floor is yours.
Point of order ... I too was an official in a PTA organization as a non parent ... The President of the Ritter PTA wanted me to serve as 3rd Vice President ... And I did ... But that was not a factor in my County Commissioner campaign which I had to face the surviving trio of the quartet reform candidates and a more moderate conservative who had vanquished one member of the quartet ... I never mentioned it. Should I ... But I definitely can confirm that quart oft times in the primaries proceeding the general election followed the lead of some commissioners in Northampton County whom expressed concerns about the health and continuation about Gracedale and made similar expressed concerns about the health and continuation of Cedar Brook in the Lehigh Valley ... But backed off on these vies in the General election when they had to deal with a more diverse political base in the General election.
ReplyDeleteDennis Pearson
Ott is a nutcase. Joking about the old folks who rely on Meals on Wheels? Really funny.
ReplyDeleteDennis, the best things that come out of your mouth is when you don't speak at all. You are the absolutely worse when trying to explain your thoughts. I suggest you you stick with your thoughts of turning lvia into a spaceport, because that is the most sane thing you have ever said.... Sarcasm is implied.
ReplyDeleteWhy not ID yourself when you take shots like these?
ReplyDeleteSo you throw out there that he won't speak to the Morning Call. The article said that he would answer questions provided to him in writing and that his answers had to be printed verbatim. The Morning Call said that that was unacceptable to them. I turned to the next page of the newspaper and there was a re- print of questions posed to Northampton County Council candidates and Allentown Mayoral candidates verbatim. WTF
ReplyDeleteI would not agree to that either, if I were seeking answers for a newspaper. They have limited hard copy and have to be able to cut bullshit. Patch had no conditions, and he refused to talk to them, too.
ReplyDeleteMM I am back and somewhat refreshed. Momentum is in the Muller camp, and Ott's September lead has dwindled. I can't predict the winner.
ReplyDeleteAs for Croslis, I do not care for him. I will not elaborate.
Anonymous 6:27 PM --- Nobody tells me to be quiet ... With two typo errors quart should be quartet and vies should be views ... I am not the best typist ... Admittedly when I hurry up my comment with out checking it with typos ...I spoke the truth ... What I described did happen ... But you may be in denial ...Perhaps for political reasons ... And I boldly gave my name so you could give your well wishing which would be offered to me even if I said nothing... Obviously you must support an individual you feel I may not be in alliance with ... You may not have access to something I wrote about the transformation Of the Lehigh Valley from its traditional roots - over 500 pages ... I entitled it --- I present the truth but you still don't comprehend ... Do you get the message.
ReplyDeleteDennis Pearson
Dennis, you have no obligation to justify yourself to a person too cowardly to identify himself.
ReplyDeleteFunny how when there was possible miss information about Matts DUI he was on this blog defending himself. Now just silence.
ReplyDeleteMM made you his bitch. Nice work, Mike. You should be a reputable lawyer.
ReplyDeleteas usual MM's blog of this morn makes much more sense and has much more credibility then the fabricated lies from this hate blog
ReplyDeleteTo Dennis Pearson,
ReplyDeleteYou are a wonderful caring resident and attend more civic meetings than tons of big mouths like me. Don't allow some jerk to
get you off your game. I've known you 20 years and continue to respect your sincere community involvement.