If you don't think Democrat Bar Johnston is an indefatigable campaign worker, talk to republican State Representative Justin Simmons. Though he's managed to win against weak candidates, the races have been much closer than they should have been because of her. She is a combination campaign consultant, cheerleader and has a deadly ground game. If you want to run for office, and have very little money to spend, you want her in your camp. But Lehigh County Democrats don't. She just might be too good. She was defeated last night in a race against affable Walt Felton, an 18' tall Northampton County Deputy Sheriff who also is running for state senate.
Here's what happened. Jude Denis, who likes to make a few bucks by acting as a political consultant for local Democrats, got up and nominated another paid political consultant whose name escapes me at the moment. She, in turn, nominated Jude. They both declined the nominations in favor of Walt, but not before completely trashing Bar as divisive, too willing to work with Republicans, etc.
What really bothered them, and Mike Fleck, is that Bar is a true believer. Instead of charging people like Susan Wild and Joyce Moore money that they can't pay, she organizes volunteers and real grass roots efforts.
We'll have none of that.
66 comments:
Fleck ran Barney Rubbles campaign.
If you think requiring honesty and integrity from a potential candidate for chair is not being a real Democrat then I will just have to own it. I am not now and have never been connected to Mike Fleck. I am not a paid political consultant and haven't been so in quite a while. I have always found you to be someone who listens to both sides before making a call. Guess that wasn't so tonight.
New Democratic Chairman Walt Felton said very little in his remarks. It was left to associates of Felton to serve as attack dogs to the dismay of some. One of these attack dogs called for all committee members to follow party line no matter what. To me I interpreted that as the interests of the party must be above people. Perhaps I am too undisciplined to believe in a party both right and wrong.
This was a sad night for anybody who was counting on the Lehigh County Dems. to make a difference. It's funny that Walt's ticket decided to be so nasty since they easily had the votes to win. The word is the Lehigh County Dems have managed to become even more dysfunctional. Many of the new committee folks will never return for another meeting. or ever get involved.
There was a preposterous abuse of process at the meeting. Two unabashedly fake candidates were allowed to trash a real candidate without the real candidate having any chance to answer the laundry list of baseless allegations launched by two[emotionally][financially]compromised surrogates. Bar was an amazing asset to the LCo Dems, who worked tirelessly to build a more inclusive party and recruit candidates who might actually have a chance to win outside urban areas.
A profoundly self-destructive night for LCo Dems...sort of like a suicide bombing that blows up donors, moderate volunteers, and the technocrats needed to win modern races. Well done indeed.
Hokie Joe says.....
So Walt Felton is the new Democratic Chair in Lehigh County while serving as a Deputy Sheriff in Northampton County.
That's all fine and Dandy but for one little problem. He is in violation of Northampton county's Home Rule Charter which reads...
SECTION 809. Political Activity (a)Career Service. Each member of the career service may participate or refrain from participating in political activity but no member of the career service shall engage in political activity while performing the duties of his position with the County or serve as the county chairman or county leader of a political party.
When is he going to resign as "deputy Sheriff". Better yet, when is Brown going to fire him for violating the "Home Rule Charter". Then again, Brown doesn't care much about the Home Rule Charter as he has proven by his past actions so he may ignore it. However, I can't believe the Republicans on County Council will let his get away with this major violation of the Charter.
Wlat Felton is a member of a union-- whatever union the sheriffs are in. He is, therefore, not Career Service which the union supplants.
If WordsJunky is Jude Denis (which I think it is b/c the twitter profile listed in the blogger link is titled "Jude-Laure"), then she is a bold face liar. Check the 2013 campaign finance filings in Lehigh County. She accepted payment for services in 2013 for managing Steve Walter's failed election. The same year she was also paid by Susan Wild. The difference is that Susan fired her at the end of June. I also know that she first approached Wes Barrett about being his campaign manager. He declined. Stephen Walter was dumb enough to pay. So, if last year was a long time ago, perhaps Jude is telling the truth. But it's not a long time ago... so what's the other side Jude? Couldn't get a gig in 2014? Tatiana Tooley not able to pay you? Doing hatchet jobs for Walt gratis?
No Union Agreement cannot usurp the authority of the Home Rule Charter. The Home Rule Charter is the law of Northampton county. The Unionsn don't even enter into this one when it comes to protection. Career Service Regulations apply when the Union Agreements are silent on these issues. Sorry. Felton loses this one.
The other person involved in the hatchet job was Fran Eddings. Her name has been listed as Walt's point of contact in a couple of invitations for his senate race. This certainly looks like an ugly piece of work by Walt. You call him affable. Last night there was another side on display. I hope he enjoys getting his butt kicked by Pat Browne b/c there aren't many D's where were in the room last night excited to help him knock doors or make phone calls. He's going to be as effective as Rick Daugherty was... not at all.
Fleck was the real winner last night. Felton will be an ineffective chairman, and will let the party decline. That is good for Fleck's business. A weak party means less people doing free work for candidates.
"If you think requiring honesty and integrity from a potential candidate for chair is not being a real Democrat"
You lack that or you would post under your actual name. Duh. I understand Jude and her ally made this attack. I know Jude, and i know how vicious she has been to other consultants. That is what is going on here. It is not about the party or honesty, just business.
" It's funny that Walt's ticket decided to be so nasty since they easily had the votes to win."
I question why Walt ran for Chair since he is running against Browne for State Senate. The way this was handled reflects very poorly on him.
Hokie, Unfortunately, Walt is not bond by career service. He is a union guy, and is in fact the president of the union. 8:47 is correct.
"Career Service Regulations apply when the Union Agreements are silent on these issues. Sorry. Felton loses this one."
I will look into this,
"Fleck was the real winner last night. Felton will be an ineffective chairman, and will let the party decline. That is good for Fleck's business. A weak party means less people doing free work for candidates."
Yes,Fleck, Deni and Fran Eddings all get paid for their work, unlike bar,and should do nicely.
Why use real grass rootes when you can just comb a few homeless shelters?
I smell Pawlowski's fingers in this as well.
"Fleck was the real winner last night. Felton will be an ineffective chairman, and will let the party decline. That is good for Fleck's business. A weak party means less people doing free work for candidates."
Yes,Fleck, Deni and Fran Eddings all get paid for their work, unlike bar,and should do nicely.
Why use real grass rootes when you can just comb a few homeless shelters?
I smell Pawlowski's fingers in this as well.
"I smell Pawlowski's fingers in this as well."
Pawlowski supported Walt but didn't lift a finger. None of the elected officials went deep into this matter. Given the party weakness, they have no incentive to do so. Fractured parties actually give them more power than unified parties.
Just want to thank everyone for the supportive emails, phone calls & porch time with a few folks last night and today. I feel shockingly free.
Whatever that was last night at the Re-Org meeting was ugly. There are a lot of good and talented people that were new to the LCDems, and this was not a good first date. That was the worst part of it all – I can take my hits as long as they are fair and true. I am also capable of defending myself if given opportunity to do so, but the sulfur in the room was toxic and it was neither fair or truth.
Politics is like that – I suffer no illusions – It is just what the Dems don’t need.
I will always stand by the work I have done for the Democratic Party – work I would be glad to continue. Your right Bernie, I am a “true believer” and anyone that knows me knows I will always be fighting for candidates and causes I believe in, that’s what I do.
The LCDems will be fine, there is a lot of work that has been done in the last years to set the structure for success – and as I mentioned, there are a lot of people that are hungry for a democratic community in their neighborhood. The D’s will continue to grow going into 15 & 16 and hopefully the people are going to participate because we have better ideas & candidates.
In Alaska they say, leave it better than you found it. I did, and I stand by that solidly with both feet.
Bernie, I know we don’t always agree and you know how I feel about anonymous posters (aka cowards) because it allows the inside baseball people with axes to grind a place to dump crazy trash that furthers their agendas… I try not to frequent this site because sadly I often think I know who they are (a casualty of being too close to too many of them for too long) and it just sucks.
But Happy Birthday Bernie – hope you give yourself the gift of removing the anonymous feature to your blog – I would make you a cake if ya did.
Respectfully,
Bar Johnston
Damn Good Democrat
Bar, Thanks for the birthday wishes. I would remove the anonymous feature in a heartbeat except for one reason - people have used it to drop tips that turn out to be true. You can't take anything posted anonymously at face value, but it has led me to look into things. For example, when the Sheriff in NC was fired, i knew about it in 5 minutes bc of an anonymous comment here. One phine call and I knew it as true.
The anonymity also leads to all kinds of scurrilous attacks, but i am the chief victim. So Bar, wen you're pissed at me, just read them.
I am sorry you lost. I think you represent everything that is right with Democrats. I know Justin Simmons will be happy to hear you lost. That should make Democrats scratch their heads.
"Fractured parties actually give them more power than unified parties."
That is kinda' my point and is why i suspect Pawlowski. Fleck would not unleash his hounds here without Pawlowski's blessing. I believe Pawloski, a moneycrat, fears real Democrats.
1277Classy response, Bar. Good for you, and I do hope you will continue to support and lead the Dems in your own way. Whatever you do is a huge help to local Democrats, and your response encourages me to think that perhaps we can all pull through this, be cohesive, and go win some elections.
I don't know why the "1277" was appended to the beginning of that last message. Ignore it. The rest of it is my message.
Susan, she is classy. Last night, after losing, she told me how hard she plans to work for Wolf. She also told me she was glad she did not bring her son to her the vitriol being poured on her by a woman who used to be a frequent house guest.
Some of this is simply dissatisfaction with the party machine. This is true from a local level to the national level with people going independent or giving up in disgust.
With local Dems looking like Suburban Republicans supporting
privatization and every type development scam good D's feel sick in their gut.
Mayor Ed did stick it to her tho. He hates Cunningham and associates Bar with him.
Mayor Ed bad mouths Walt too.
The fact that for all practical purposes the mayor is in Browns camp is the bigger story.
Poor Bar doesn't seem to understand how disenchanted rank and file Dems have become.
John Calligan gets it ----- now anyway.
Ed backed Walt???
Who do you think believes that???????
LOL
At 2:29 WordsJunky, who is, in fact, Jude Laure Denis, said she isn't a paid political consultant and hasn't been so "in quite a while". This isn't true, as I paid her (too much) to "manage" my campaign a little more than 12 months ago.
I regret hiring her, and I regret ever having friendly feelings towards her, as she behaved like a viper last night, and I'm ashamed for her.
Joyce, thanks for your comment and for saying who you are.
3:53, just about everyone.
The party is a snakepit. Who is surprised? This is what it has become.
Bernie,
I may be the only one but I do not think this was Mike. I take Jude at her semi-anonymous word that she and Ms. Eddings ( I did not catch her first name) did this on thier own.
I will be writing the new Chairman Felton privately with my feelings and ideas about all this tomorrow so I'm not going to say anything specific here now.
But I will say last night was the first time Id served in an official party capacity since I was Acting Director of the New Jersey State Committee during the Clinton inaugural in January of 1993. After last night I am likely to take another 20 year hiatus as soon as my term is up, unless I decide to resign after thinking it over this weekend.
I also want to applaud Bar for handling this with such class. Bar, you already know this but I'm on board with whatever you want to do (except for Sestak--we'd need to talk about that one).
John, I believe Fleck is involved in this, too, for reasons I won't divulge at this time. Maybe next week.
Allow me to put my two cents in. What a mess this is and the truth will come out.My experience with Bar was that I totally respected her integrity and dedication to all things Dem. She did not deserve what happened last night.I was never a big fan of Pawlowski or Fleck because of there two faced behind the scenes shenanigans.Recently I heard of Ed being called out at a state Dem committee meeting by another committee member for his behind the scenes support of Pat Brown.That and wonder if rumors were true of his glee at his Rep developer friends donation to browns campaign in Norco. No secret of his paranoia of John C and Don C. Just maybe he feels by them being off the stage he will remain as King of the LV. Walt on the other hand is a great guy a great advocate and role model for kids. He has many friends and supporters but the action of his too allies last night was dead wrong. Maybe caused by the exuberance for Walt to win something.He better do a better job of leading his supporters if he wants to win in Nov. With the loss of Bar I am now experiencing deja vue like when Hillary lost in 2008. Life goes on and hope for the best for the future.
Agreed that Walt is a good guy. Just sorry that his election has been tainted by this airing of dirty laundry.
I have worked with Bar Johnston in many campaigns for the past six years. I've been impressed by her tireless enthusiasm for all things Democratic, and for her knowledge of the most effective ways to present our candidate in a positive light. She's a real Democrat, and works to include ALL the volunteers in Lehigh County, not just those in the city of Allentown. She's positive, cheerful, ethical and works like the dickens for the candidates she supports.
Last night Jude-Laure Denis' tirade broke my political heart. She was vicious, dishonest, and unrelenting. I am so disappointed in her behavior and I keep thinking about the famous line: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" spoken by Joseph Welch to Senator Joe McCarthy when he was trying label congresspeople and the military as communists.
And so I say to Jude: At long last, have you no sense of decency?
And I say to Walt Felton: I hope you knew nothing about this debacle prior to its occurrence, and will give you the benefit of the doubt. I will work to try to mend this rift in the Lehigh County Democratic party, because I believe we are BETTER than what happened last night.
I know I am, and I know Bar Johnston is as well.
The political scene in the Valley is a vicious joke
I appreciate the people who came on here and identified themselves to speak up for Bar. That is a great testament to her. She tells me she does not like reading all the hate in so many of the anonymous comments, but it appears that people like Susan Wild, Joyce Moore and John Blankstein gave her a lot of respect. It is something i almost never see, and you can take consolation, Bar.
Let me add that I spoke to a Lehigh County GOP heavyweight tonight, and he called bar's defeat "great news" for the Republicans. Her defeat is a great loss to Democrats.
The first thing that Walt should do if he indeed knew nothing about this, is come out and say that he is no way supportive of what Jude's team did last night. If he wants to go a step further, he should be critical of what was said. If he remains silent he is at least guilty after the fact of poor leadership. Jude and Fran should either apologize to Bar Johnston or step down from the committee and never again attempt to manage or lead a campaign in Lehigh County again.
Hi Bernie. Chris Casey here. I was at the meeting. Jede denis' revealed herself as a money grubbing WHORE. i a;ways suspected it. but her actions last night with Fran Eddings Removed all doubt.
i supported walter Felton and even signed his petition for Senate. I believe every candidate deserves an opportunity.
But I strongly believe you cannnot serve two masters, and be party chair while running for office. by Walt using agents to attack BAR he has undermined his own authority. I WILL NEVER TRUST HIM. For those poor first time attendees, I cry for for the opportunity lost. Jude and Fran will suffer the consequences of their duplicity. bar showed such graciousness in her humiliation. Jude spoke such blatant lies and distortion, and the lies she spoke betrayed who was behind them. I am glad she was defeated for first chair. It was the only redeeming moment of the evening.
I am surprised the Republicans did not recruit her. Repeating lies as truth is the forte of many of their congressional representatives in the South. She should move there. They would pay her.
And yes I sign my name. Chris Casey. Bar nad Blankstein signed their name. Too bad COWARDS LIKE JUDE and FRAN Cannot.
Good for you, Chris.
Also Bernie: The person nominating Walter George Maniatty, lost his precinct by a vote of 19 to 17. Yet somehow he was accredited as the Committeeperson in Allentown Precing 8 ward # 5. I triple checked this, and tomorrow I will visit voter reg to check again. I do not believe he had authority to even nominate Walter Felton. I was surprised he was there, having previously checked the results. It makes little diff at this point, but it points blatantly to a FIX being in. I don't like FIXES
George Maniatty? Quelle surprise. He is one of the trolls on this blog, and is the first one I exposed. He belongs in a nuthouse, not a party committee.
I love you Bernie but with all due respect....Simmona beat Beyer by 10 points in 2010 primary and Horton by 14 in 2010 general. Yes the Deely race was close but an ape could've run against Simmons in 2012 with Obama on the ballot and made it close with Allentown in his district. Don't let Bar flatter herself. With Bar's loss to Felton and her aligning with Beyer, she has officially jumped the shark.
I'd like to publicly request that Walter Felton inform the members of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee that he had NO advance knowledge of Jude and Fran's inappropriate "speeches" and that he did not encourage such behavior. If he is not able to do so, I'd be worried that he was complicit. I'd hate to think that.
@ Chris C, even if this person lost 19 to 17, that is still 16 more votes than those committee people who did not bother to circulate petitions and may have been a voting committeeperson because of their own "single" write-in vote.
Who decides which single voter gets added to the qualified voter list?
How many qualified voters were actully on the primary ballot?
i AM TIRED OF TRYING TO BE NICE, iT IS ALL ABOUT ALLENTOWN, sCREW THE BURBS. lET5S BE REAL. THE Costco will get built under a LIE. It is BS, but it is POLITICS. YEAH, I remenber the war a decade ago to stop Walmart, but a COSTCO is OK. HYPOCRISY> ANYONe?!
They are Moneycrats, not Democrats. That is why they are willing to lie in bed with J.B. Reilly and will secretly support NIZ overlord pat browne.
Last night was my first meeting as a committee member and after the disgusting performance by those two idiots during the chair vote it will probably be my last for a while. It was a disgrace.
Chris, I reconsidered somewhat. We need more first timers who were self-motivated to explore the process and who were compelled to get invovled because they want to have a favorable impact on elections.
I don`t think Felton works for Northampton County anymore. I think he was part of the group Randy Miller cleaned up.
This is disinformation. Walter still works for the county, and is highly respected as a Deputy Sheriff.
Thanks, Nathan.
at 11:46 Nathan Husser said...
"Last night was my first meeting as a committee member and after the disgusting performance by those two idiots during the chair vote it will probably be my last for a while. It was a disgrace."
I apologize to you. I am so sorry you saw this inappropriate behavior. I hope you will reconsider your participation. We need you. Please do NOT assume we are all idiots because one or two people appeared to be.
The Committee needs your help getting Democrats elected. Please help!
Sorry about my caps lock comments. I am still getting the hang of posting and reading by phone.
I double checked the committeeperson election results for Allentown's 8th ward, fifth District.
Daniel Blount Sr defeated Maniatty. So unless Party bylaws were rewritten, Maniatty should not have been eligible to nominate anyone for anything at the party meeting. Ed Hozza read the rules at the beginning, and clearly stated you had to be an accredited committee person to participate.
How did Maniatty get accredited? He clearly lost, and unless he is a women, he should not have been accredited.
This makes me question even more what was going down behind the scenes.
If this kind of dirty dealing was sanctioned by Walter Felton and his minions, they should accept responsibility. At the very least they should explain how maniatty got seated, and WHY.
Grow up Chris.
Chris, I looked into the matter re Maniatty. Each ward is entitled to two committee people, and it does not have to be one man and one woman. So if George finished second, he is legit.
Anonymous for obvious reasons: Maniatty showed up with Daugherty at a Felton house party so Rick could state his endorsement of Walt for Lehigh County Chairman. Walt knew exactly what was going on last night.
well Chris you helped create this mess. Now we are all suffering thru it.
Has anyone checked to see if what was said about Barb was true or not? If true shouldn't the people voting have been told before they selected a chair. Has Barb defended any of the assertions. Bernie can you find out what she was accused of exactly.
She was accused in a pack of lies. What possible service could be performed by repeating them?
Whoever you are, sign your name.
In her post at 2:29am, Jude-Laure Denis claimed, " I am not a paid political consultant and haven't been so in quite a while."
I just took a look at her LinkedIn profile. Here are her words from her LinkedIn profile:
"Co-Founder
DC Consulting
April 2012 – Present (2 years 3 months)Allentown, Pennsylvania Area
Political consulting firm. Clients include: Friends of John Reynard, Friends of Joseph Haas. Campaign management, messaging, fundraising call time, endorsements and events production."
It appears quite clear that Ms. Denis has trouble indentifying what is true and what is fantasy.
Bar, your response above on what happened to you was classy, just like you are. While no one is perfect, the attacks against you were unmerited.
In my opinion, the nomination process for LCDC chair was abused at the reorganizational meeting. As customary in other groups or organizations, each candidate should have been asked if they accepted or declined the nomination first before they gave a speech. They then should have spoken on why they should have been elected chair and ruled out of order if they attacked another candidate, since no rebuttals were allowed by any candidate nor did the attackers have to verify the 'facts' they presented. I await the results of the investigation the LCDC will conduct on the charges made against Bar.
What makes the charges against Bar even more outrageous is that she is slated to receive the LCDC Volunteer of the Year (she is more like the Volunteer of the Past Decade) at its annual Rhapsody in Blue dinner, which coincidentally has been postponed twice now.
I suspect Walter Felton will not get as much help as he expected in his campaign for state senator against Pat Browne unless he apologizes for what his two supporters did. Some Dems will not lift a finger to help him until he does. He was already going to have a problem getting endorsements from some labor unions anyway. I think Tom Wolf, Mike Stack, Pete Schweyer, Terri Powell and Mike Beyer will get even more help than they expected in their campaigns.
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