I've heard several rumors that Bangor Borough Council President Cathy Allen is coming to Northampton County. She served with Executive John Brown when he was Mayor. Some say she will be his "chief of staff," a position that does not exist and is usually performed by the Director of Administration. I have tried confirming this with Brown's public relations consultant, Kim Plyler, but she is apparently in Deutscheland.
According to her Facebook page, Allen attended Bangor and Belvidere High School, and sells ling term care insurance.
Allen is one of the Council members who voted to appoint Stephanie Merlo to a vacancy on Borough Council. Brown, who was then Bangor's mayor, voted for Merlo as well.
Soon after her appointment, Merlo was charged with inappropriate sexual contact with a Pius X student, where merlo was volunteering as some sort of coach. She resigned. A hearing on the criminal charges against Merlo is scheduled for Monday.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
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Thursday, March 06, 2014
20 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.
I realize this is probably a stupid observation but here goes. I would hope Ms. Allen has some experience managing staff, does she?
ReplyDeleteI know that the new regime in the county has new ways of thinking and doing things but this would seem to be a no brainer.
Since as of now, Mr. Brown really has no staff to manage, I am guessing at some point he will have all his positions filled. I must admit when Cunningham did this in Lehigh County it was to give his consultant a job and at the local level is does come off as a bullshit position.
Still if you are going to have it my guess is the person should have managed "staff" at some point in their history. It would be great if the chief of staff had many years of experience managing diverse positions and personalities. That is actually a skill and talent that could possibly be useful. However, if the COS has never really had all that much experience it may not be all that meaningful.
Just a though or two on the subject.
Still, have to give it to John Brown, he has everyone wondering, "what the Hell is going on?"
Hey, I don't even know if it's true, but I am running rumors since Brown has no transparency.
ReplyDeleteIt is true. Just go to the employee entrance where she can be seen loitering with a cigarette in hand and a string of foul words coming out of her mouth.
ReplyDeleteIt is true. Deputy Director of Admin. Should not be a secret. Public has a right to know.
ReplyDeleteAnother gem of a pick by JB. Who next Marino Saveri? This is a comedic farce. How low can you go? Just move the county seat to Bangor! I heard mayor Cappozzolo is going to be named head of Gracedale.
ReplyDeleteAllen may be leaving, but not before she quietly hired Friend, and Plainfield Township Board President Jane Mellert as the new Bangor Borough manager without conducting "real" interviews.....hmmmmmmmmm....
ReplyDelete"Since as of now, Mr. Brown really has no staff to manage," BS
ReplyDeleteTom Harp is still the Director of Administration and the old deputy director woman is back in that job. Doran Haman is still "Acting" finance director right? Why isn't that known?
Please. It's no secret Harp is on his way out as soon as the transfer to a centralized human services building is done. In his one and only news conference, Brown blasted Stoffa's leadership and fiscal insanity. So why would he keep his Director of Admin?
ReplyDeleteBernie do some research as to why the Bangor Police Chief was fired by Brown
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that politics rules everything today. If you're not connected, or kissed someones behind, you're out of luck. Doesn't matter who's qualified or experienced. Especially if you tell the truth. If they do to Northampton County what they pulled in Bangor we're screwed.
ReplyDeletewho is "the old deputy director woman"?
ReplyDeleteDidn't you support the child molester guy who trawled for high school trim while on borough council?
ReplyDeleteYou support this scum. You support a drunk who strangled his wife in front of the kids. You hate women. All the single life jacking off is making you despise the fairer sex to the point where you don't give a shit if drunks nearly kill them. Do you have a daughter? Do you give a shit?
Bernie likes kids, don't be a bigot!
ReplyDeleteThe comment at 7:06 comes from someone who has an issue with me. I believe it to be a person who has defamed me. I have no idea who the borough council member is that she refers to. As for the person who was drinking and got involved in domestic abuse in front of his children, I consider that man a friend. I was taught to hate the sin but love the sinner. That man was publicly disgraced, lost his family and did a stint in jail. But he is still my friend. That's the way friendship works. You are not friends with someone bc of his good qualities. You are friends with someone in spit of his or her problems.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that you don't know much about friendship, but are an expert on the subject of hate.
11:48 AM - How many times does someone have to inform this person that Brown could not fire anyone! Council is the only ones that can hire and fire full time employees. Public record - council voted 8-0 to dismiss that person. The sad thing for the Democratic Party in Northampton County is their leadership. With the County Exec. Election they took it for granted that Callihan was a "shoe in". They make very poor choices in candidates in other elections. Until the so called "Easton Bunch" gets out of the leadership, I'm afraid the Dems are in trouble in NC.
ReplyDeleteThe "Easton bunch" is not in charge of the NCDC. You obviously are not well informed. The EADC is a well-run organization, that puts the county group to shame!
ReplyDeleteAnd JB "brownpants" may not have voted to fire the police chief, but he conspired with others to frame Kerrigan. He used fraud and deceit. he gave the boro, the police force, and the council a black eye. No one wanted to be mayor after Brown screwed it up.
John Brown has broken many laws over the past few years. He eventually will pay for this.
I really love how nobody knows what they are talking about and you all are talking out of your ass. Everybody has something to say about a subject they really have no insight about. That makes you people look like morons. If you aren't behind the scene's seeing what's happening how do you know if somebody has or hasn't managed "staff" or if "real" interviews were conducted or not? I didn't know either that there was a questionnaire to take when coming onto borough council about if you are gay or not, do you do drugs, do you write shitty articles? If any of you people were fired for doing something at work you weren't supposed to would you want it in the public eye, would you want an article written about it and everybody scrutinize you? Have none of you people done something you are ashamed of? Why don't we tell everyone about it and rub it in your face so you cant get another job. Why is it so horrible that somebody was fired and a situation was taken care of that needed to be dealt with. So what you don't know why just because you don't know how does that make the decision that was made wrong? It doesn't. Suck it up people and get a life.
ReplyDeleteDon't blame Easton Dem's for the County Dem's problems.
ReplyDeleteYou have a Democratic chairman Walt Garvin who has loved to be in the limelight yet has lost more county races as chair than any other. The guy should resign.
That committee is just a bunch of wannabe's, kissing each others backsides.
Pointed at 09:59
ReplyDeleteYou have a point about if you were to be fired would you want it public. My answer to you is if you were to be fired, would you want the whole world to know about it BEFORE you did? The Mayor held a full press conference to announce the suspension of the police chief before the chief was informed of any action to be taken. The chief was then fired promptly within two days, this time by letter. No discussion, no appeal process. And the best part was the other self important loudmouth on here "SB Fan" was blogging about the action while he was in executive session. For those who do not know, Executive session in a council meeting is when the public is dismissed as well as the secretary and "allegedly" the recording system is turned off so the council can discuss how to handle its dirty laundry matters such as the suspension of an employee. The council then comes out of session and simply votes on the matter by saying "we discussed an issue in ES, can I get a motion for matter number 1 or matter number 2 (depending on how many people they are going to shaft that night). With the motion then comes the formal vote. So while Brown was having his press conference and while the other mouth piece was writing about it here, formal official action had still not been taken.
So I now circle back to the question at hand, if you were to be fired, wouldn't you want it at least to be done by the numbers?
As for Allen going to NorCo, please take her and SB Fan and any other great mind of narrow vision that makes decisions here so we can try and repair what was once a nice little bedroom community. Now we are a back alley in the forgotten past of NorCo.
What a load of crap Glenn. If you are so darn innocent..why didn't you ask for a hearing? You had a lawyer didn't you? Provided by the union? You slinked away because you knew you had really screwed up and there was no recourse. Get over it and move on with your life. Stop blaming others and take responsibility for your actions.
ReplyDelete