Local Government TV

Friday, May 16, 2014

ET Reporter Wants to Suppress Bethlehem Whistle Blowers?

Lynn Olanoff is a reporter who covers Bethlehem for The Express Times. She's apparently had enough of my bottom-feeding. She has yet to tell her readers that Bethlehem City Council member Karen Dolan failed to file her nonprofit tax returns for three years in a row. She doesn't think you need to know that Dolan's nonprofit status at Illick's Mill was revoked for at least a year. She'd rather not discuss the $128,000 bill that Dolan ran up with the City, or her conflicts of interest in using her public office to get preferential treatment at a nonprofit where she was the paid Executive Director. She's downplayed that Investigating Grand Jury. She'll decide what you need to know. She's the gatekeeper, damn it! Time to put me in my place.

My report about Dolan's removal from the Parks Committee seems to have been the final straw. I got that out there before the dailies. This is not a knock on them. I have no editor and 5,000 editors. You are my editors. It's a blessing and a curse.

Earlier this week, Olanoff chilled rank-and-file City workers from whispering into the ears of bottom-feeders like me. No deep throats in Bethlehem. She did this by filing a Right-to-Know request with the City, demanding copies of all emails sent by City workers to me. She also wants to know what they're telling District Attorney John Morganelli. As I understand it, the Right-to-Know was sent to somewhere between 50-150 City workers.

Interestingly, this Right-to-Know also comes at a time when Karen Dolan is trying to find out who is leaking all that negative information about her to me.

Now I know I'm just a bottom-feeder, but what possible reason could a real reporter have in discouraging City employees from talking to news sources, even if it's not her?  She actually wants to scare people away from revealing information instead of encouraging it. She is also interfering with another reporter, although I suppose that I don't count.

I called and emailed her. I did not get the courtesy of an answer. It must be beneath her. I did get a reply from her editor, who told me he still loves me and that I am way off base.

Really? What possible reason could Olanoff have for this request other than to find out who is leaking information about Dolan? What possible impact can it have other than to scare City workers, who have enough problems?

How would she feel if I filed a Right-to-Know request, seeking emails sent by City workers to her and Karen Dolan?

Incidentally, what this reporter and Dolan will discover with this Right-to-Know is that I get lots of emails. They're called news releases, along with notices of zoning and planning meetings.

A real smoking gun there.

But I want to thank her. She has unwittingly identified me as the go-to guy for information about government corruption. My email address is BOHare5948@aol.com. Send all dirt my way. Just don't email me from a government account.

45 comments:

  1. You are beneath her. You are a bottom feeding blogger who has admitted he is not fair but has his own prejudices and reports what he wants, while ignoring what he wants hidden.

    You are known to have vendetta's against some people while ignoring major stories and problems with others.

    She has every right, as you do, to file Right to know requests. Good for her.

    Someone is actually doing a story on you and how you systematically go after some and why. You claim it is for the "right of the people to know". Yet somehow that "right" is often ignored in other situations.

    You also hold yourself out as a "reporter" for a local newspaper. If your credibility is in question or your sources, then you are not reporting in good faith and people have a right to know what is going on. You have made yourself a story.

    I obviously read you blog, and I enjoy it but accept nothing in it as gospel. I am no fan of Dolan but then I am no fan of Callahan or some of the Donchez people. Most of the people in Bethlehem politics are their to feather their own nests at the expense of the citizens. Your pick and choose style of reporting is fair game and I say good for her.

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  2. Lynn's a hack whose grammar and construction would get her fired from a middle school newspaper. The E-T has several fine reporters. She's not one of them. She's clearly grown tired of being scooped by you on stories she's missed out of sheer incompetence and/or laziness. She further embarrassed herself with a poorly written novel a couple of years ago. Its writing style makes the E-T's fourth grade style book look like a dissertation from Voltaire. She's a protector of politicians with who she agrees and puts being popular above anything remotely journalistic. Again, the E-T has several fine reporters. She's not one of them; not even close.

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  3. ** with whom she agrees ...

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  4. if city so called employees are sending u dirt from their city computers then they are not even semi intelligent but I would bet that there are several who are a little nervous right now.


    is there no way you can block the mad woman's ravings from your blog?

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  5. I'm curious as to what she intends to do with the information. Let's assume she comes in possession of an email to you that exposed something going on. Is she going to get that person fired? Blackmail them into sending her tidbits of info? Pass the person's name on to Dolan, Bethlehem officials, or County Council?
    Good lesson for public employees... Use your phones for whistleblowing - unless you work for the government on the National level.

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  6. It about time . Anyone who socializes with O'Hare needs to be fully exposed for swimming happily with donkey dung in nazareth. i'm sure its not the actual people who do this that have something to worrry about.

    its more about ohare creating mountains of lies out of nowhere and making things up as he goes along with one part fact and 50 parts fiction. sounds like someone is building a terrific case of libel against mr o"Hare, that he so genuinely deserves

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  7. Stay the course, Bernie. You are more relevant than you know.

    Alfonso Todd

    www.epicenterus.com

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    Replies
    1. Bernie, sounds like you are agreeing with the Tea Partiers and NorCo member Matt Benol that the media can't be trusted because they filter and determine what should be news and what shouldn't be news

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  8. having dealt with both reporters and O'hare, I can say without qualification that EVERY writer is biased.

    Unlike a reporter, at least O'Hare has the honesty and the balls (albeit, evidently, blueberry balls...) to admit his subjectivity.

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  9. Keep going Bernie.

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  10. @7:59 second that. Use phones. Not even personal emails. They can also be requested in a RTK.

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  11. She (Olanoff) is on a last ditch effort to align herself with politicians in hope of securing employment when old time rags like the Express Times / Lehigh Valley Live close up shop and cease to exist!

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  12. America is in decline in many ways. There is MUCH to be questioned.

    Now, more than ever, our elected officials must be challenged. If the traditional media sources are not willing, there is plenty of need for aggressive blogs like this one to ask those questions.

    Fred Windish

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  13. take it all with a grain of salt. Nothing more than the LV version of TMZ

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  14. Ohare, if you contact blogspot admin, I'm sure they can block her from this sma messages.

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  15. AOL? Really, man?

    All that time you spent kissing the asses of the dailies after they take and run your stories without attribution was all for naught.

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  16. "is there no way you can block the mad woman's ravings from your blog?"

    I have been unable to find a way to block it without hurting everyone or changing to a wordpress format. I may do that.

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  17. anyone who associates with ohares ugly fucking face needs to be canned from employment. great going lynn olanoff


    Waiting with baited breath for the sheriff to come and padlock your house and see O'Hare standing in your yard with a straw hat and pitchfork, you fucking raving, rightwing lunatic.

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  18. "if city so called employees are sending u dirt from their city computers then they are not even semi intelligent but I would bet that there are several who are a little nervous right now."

    Given that I have no emails from City workers other than notices of meetings and news releases, they have no cause for concern. But Olanoff has certainly damaged herself in their eyes.

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  19. "She further embarrassed herself with a poorly written novel a couple of years ago"

    Actually, it is a nonfiction piece she wrote with her husband, and I bought a copy.

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  20. FYI - In Tricia Mezzacappa's recently filed lawsuit against O'Hare, a copy of which she published on her blog, she said she "has suffered panic, anxiety, stress and depression, and has had family problems with her relatives in New Jersey."

    She also filed a legal pleading a few years ago in response to O'Hare's original defamation lawsuit in which she told the court she was being treated with potent medications for anxiety and other mental issues. She said she would be unfit to defend herself at a trial.

    So, according to her own sworn statements to the courts, Mezzacappa has mental and family problems.

    Is anyone surprised?

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  21. Knock it off Mezza!

    As to the employees, the reporter is doing nothing wrong. All of you who are flocking to Bernie's defense are showing the same type of crazy as this mezza loon.

    The ET has every right to pursue a story about an ongoing attack on a public official by a blog and why some employees want him to pursue it. Some concerns were raised about a new cabinet person and Bernie pretends that is not true or erases the remarks. So how is the reporter doing anything wrong??

    Bernie she has not said she would reveal who the people are. She may want to interview them herself as part of a larger story.

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  22. That's a pretty pathetic excuse for doing Dolan's dirty work. It is a naked attempt at intimidation, designed to scare people off. My guess is it will have the opposite effect. In addition,she has pretty much destroyed any shot at having people open up to her.

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  23. 4:54, my criticism is very specific. It is directed at Olanoff.

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  24. Why doesn't this surprise me. wonder what the cost of this RTKL request will cost

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  25. My guess is that each of the city workers who must go through their email to respond will waste an hour. I am told it went to between 50-150 workers, along with IT. I figure IT will spend a 10 hours on this. The Solicitor's office will spend another hour. So my educated guess is this will cost between $1,800 and $4,300 in time that workers could have spent doing something else.

    If I were a bastard, I'd file a RTK asking for emails to Olanoff and Dolan. But I have more respect for myself than that.

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  26. Mezzacappa, I have warned you. These repeated comments are criminal harassment. You were warned the last time you appeared in front of judge Yetter. You have proven that a civil remedy is inadequate for your misconduct. Prepare to face the consequences.

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  27. Looks like it's time for someone to pull on her big girl panties and GROW UP. Now where have I heard that before?

    If you want a real chuckle, go to the PFA office and ask to see Mezzaluna's complaint against Bernie, in which she claims she had sex with Bernie. The patently obvious reason is there are criteria to file a PFA - you can't just go and get a PFA against a bottom feeding blogger or ET reporter who stands next to you (in your "space") and asks you questions you don't like.

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  28. I find Olanoff's reporting to be lousy, regardless of the topic. Also, as noted above, her articles are hard to read due to the poor writing style and her use of grammar. She isn't even up to the standards of a bottom feeding blogger.

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  29. "FYI - In Tricia Mezzacappa's recently filed lawsuit against O'Hare,..."

    She also just filed an amended complaint to her lawsuit against the ET and Shortell on May 7, making all the same well-worn claims about dead pigs, a useless $200K education, having her reputation ruin her chances for employment, carrying a gun around town, Jim Deegan wouldn't remove her name from the headlines and told her he didn't care, yada yada. Doesn't she realize she ruined her own reputation?


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  30. 781Bernie ,talk about censoring, My wife say's Easton TIMES cuts me off completely because I'm OBNOXIOUS!If they ask for opinions then filter out what is said, they don't like, Is that a violation of free speech? My other half say's I'ts my fault,they don't like when I advocate hanging drug dealers and dis-honest politicians from lamp posts . People get upset . WellI say they damn well should."THEY should mad as hell over the Easton School Contract, and the road issues we drive on and the tax's that wasted on crap.People who work for a living need to raise hell. This reporter probably makes nearly nothing. I feel sorry for her but she like so many others fail to seek out the folks that are circles of influence, that can tell her in advance to an issue. Like the drug raid on say, Northampton Street soon , or the civic leader that is not paying his taxes . How about an article about a 4% school tax will effect SR> CITIZENS with fixed incomes and how most of the teachers don't live here.What will this mean to many as a sacrifice.

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  31. LYNN, is an employee, she is an indian in the tribe, She can't excel because of the present management. Otherwise se is propable a fine person, EVEN you Bernie should give here some slack. I do not know her at all but I would bet she is a descent young young lady. OLD PETER

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  32. SO now I?m a Jackass!You are a troll nameless and a coward in personna ,I eat my breakfast 100 yards from people who would like to kill me and You tell me that I, Peter J.Cochran a J/Ass,Show you face or shut up.You could never hang, I'm entitled to what i say as have done for your free speech, you have done nothing.

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  33. I'm thinking that Anon 4;30-4;40 is an employee of the school district using a tax payer owned buttonbox.State your name and I will rebuttal otherwise stand clear.

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  34. Anon 4;40 .where are you ,you are now afraid that your buttonbox can be tracked? Not be me but I know a guy that can take your machine down -or cell phone contract and find you just like when I was in the bail business! Where are you ? Lets go . How about if we come over to see who owns that machine your on?Old OLD Peter

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  35. "Actually, it is a nonfiction piece she wrote with her husband, and I bought a copy."

    So you're the one who bought it?

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  36. I'm without a good buttonbox. You got my theory and that is all you need from me. I don't work for NoCar but a SIMPLE TAXPAYER. If you knew me you would say that I am some other than a common man, but adverse ,to go with the program and only follow real leaders that have proven skill and academic,moral and hands on structures above that of common people.OTHERWISE my thoughts are that you may be a rat.

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  37. My sense of humor runs thin whit gross incompetence when big salaries are payed in the public sector.IE, School teachers ,fire chiefs, mayors bridge commission ,help me help you too.Now I would never deny a leader that made progressive changes that followed out past his career,did the public good and set a standard that was policy. Now that is worth long term management fee's. Otherwise they takers are for themselves and at no public benefit. I lose my sense of humor at this point and want to think about bridges. .

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  38. Only in the perverse world of biosolid bernie is a RTK request filed by anyone other than himself an act of intimidation.

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  39. Peter J.Cochran - The senior citizens on a "fixed income" is so worn out. Look, Social Security legislation was called "Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance". Insurance. It wasn't designed to be a sole income that the entire economy has to cater to because the recipient didn't realize they had to plan for retirement. If you cannot afford JUST the property taxes on your home, it's probably time to find more affordable housing and stop complaining about what is needed to fund schools in the 21st century.

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  40. "Only in the perverse world of biosolid bernie is a RTK request filed by anyone other than himself an act of intimidation."

    When RTKs are filed to chill cirty workers into being willing to talk, that is intimidation. Lynn should be ashamed of herself, and so should her editors. That is not journalism. That is letting karen Dolan use you.

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  41. IT's the era of public employee intimidation. Publish salaries, obtain their email, monitor their computers and fire them for personal emails...the list goes on.

    I "get" the idea of transparency, but these are regular people doing regular jobs. They are not the enemy as much as the local newspapers and squeaky wheels would have you believe.

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  42. What kills me is publication of the salaries of people making $20k or less. What is that if it is not intimidation?

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  43. Anon; 8;25 You are not wrong, however SOME GUYS went to the clubs and spent, leaving widows holding a bag. I'm not going to be that guy.You probably will not also. Thank you for your comment, justified and prudent.

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