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Friday, November 21, 2014

Angle Blasts Brown Over Budget, Employees

Angle with a member of the County's "most valuable asset"
Ron Angle is not just a Republican, but is a state committee member. But politics is one thing and government is another. The Northampton County Bulldog visited Northampton County council last night to deliver a scathing assessment of Executive John Brown's budget and his treatment of the employees. The fact that Brown is a Republican made no difference. He also called on Democrats and Republicans on Council to stop acting like the ones in Washington, D.C. It was a moving speech, perhaps the best I've ever heard him give. Excerpts are below. But you can see it here.

Budget: "I've never heard of anybody fielding a Budget with a Line of Credit. ... That was a little bit mind-boggling. I've seen some interesting trickery under the Reibman administration, but even they wouldn't have done that one.

"So now the Executive's answer is to deplete the budgetary reserve. ... You understand you can't do that. You wouldn't do that in your business and I don't believe Mr. Brown would do it in his business. You can't do it in the people's business.

"You are the Council. Your number one most important job in a year's time - probably your only job other than ribbon cuttings - is the Budget. The Budget is his (Brown's) to submit, but it's your baby to pick apart and approve.

"I'll gladly sit down with any of you and help you draw up a Budget to offset that [the Executive's] Budget, which is, frankly, insane. You can't carry $1 million in your budgetary reserve and you're a 300 and some million business.

A millionaire's hat
Employees: "Employees are retiring right and left. When I see people like Mr. Flisser and Doris Lombardo down in the Prothonotary's office retiring, I say to myself, 'Wow! What a loss! These people - I worked with these people are just outstanding individuals doing an outstanding job.'

"I've had a lot of employees call me. It's kind of comical because people still think I'm on County Council. ... Employees' morale is at an all-time low. Nobody stopped to think. OK, you want to chop into their health care. I understand. That's nationwide. People are paying more for their health care. But you also need to look into the big picture. Why did County employees work for the County all these years? Because the pay wasn't always all that great, but you did have good benefits and you had job security. ... Now all at once you're messing with that, and people are retiring because they can do better financially [by] retiring than they can do by continuing to stay here and work because of that proposal on the health care coverage.

"So is anybody starting to say when an employee retires, we can no longer get any work out of them ..., but we now have to pay them a pension for the rest of their life? Better to have those good employees still working here and happy versus the morale you got right now in this building. And it's not good. In all my years, I never had so many calls from employees about their morale.

A millionaire's hat right behind the Executive
Northampton County Gov't Like Washington, D.C. - "We got a man at the top who, frankly, doesn't seem to know what he's doing. And Mr. Brown, that's kinda' what I believe about you, to be honest.

"He's surrounded himself with people who weren't sharp. I was here through several administrations. Nobody was more critical of the Reibman administration than I. It was a passion. But I would give him credit. He was surrounded by good people who kept it running. ... He didn't make it run. Jim Hickey made it run. All of us who were here knew that.

"In the case of you, Mr. Brown, so far, in the one year you're in office, you hire a public relations person so you look good. I can tell you from many years in public service, if you're doing good work, you don't need a public relations firm. Voters will figure out you're doing a good job. You don't need a public relations firm.

"I don't know who you talked to about a $20 million line of credit to balance the budget, but it's insane.

"I looked at your cabinet. You needed to surround yourself, not with old friends from Bangor and people that you figure will help you politically. You need to surround yourself with people who add to your ability to make this a functioning county. And it's not happening.

"And for you Democrats on Council, Mr. McClure, you're number one. You don't need to spend your time making him look bad. He's doing a pretty good job of it on his own. You need to spend your time coming up with other ways to make things happen that are good here,  Not making him look bad. He'll make himself look bad. ... Most of you Democrats have become obstructionists and somehow you Republicans, who hold a majority, aren't united. It shouldn't be that way. I understand why the Democrats want him to look bad. It's the game in Washington and it's the game here. It's sad, though, because we are the people who suffer when that happens.

Tax Increases. "Nobody likes to see tax increases. We all know that. If you're a conservative Republican like I and several of you are, we're for less taxes and less government. In the case of the Democrats - I used to be one -  they're not going to vote for a tax increase because it looks bad to vote for a tax increase. That's not the real issue here, though.

"A leader is a person who makes the tough decisions that need to be made. Sometimes, it's a tax increase.

"You have to have a balanced budget that is doable, and right now, you don't have that. You do not have the budgetary reserve, and it requires a tax increase. Sure, it's going to be unpopular. If Mr. parsons, who replaced me, says we need a one mill tax increase, well, people are going to say he voted for the tax increase. That's not really what it's about. It's about the responsibility of the management of this County. If he [Brown] doesn't know how to do it, you are the checks and balances at budget time. It is your job, then, to do it. It is your job to pick his budget apart,"

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since the guy is running for Controller we will have to endure many of his self-servi8ng rants.

Anonymous said...

"I understand why the Democrats want him to look bad. It's the game in Washington and it's the game here. It's sad, though, because we are the people who suffer when that happens."

Said the bullshitter who practically shut down government when Reibman was in office so he could get his name in the paper. What a self-serving hypocritical ego maniac.

Where was he for years as his buddy Stoffa kept spending the surplus.

Anonymous said...

He was excellent tonight.......

Anonymous said...

Give the guy credit, he is one of the best bullshitters around!

Anonymous said...

He was excellent. He said somethings that so many people wish they could have said to the entire group of clowns in charge.

Anonymous said...

kudos to ron ! finally the voice of reason , say what you want he does know what he's talking about and he can back up what he said...unlike these nit wits running the county into the ground!

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Angle thrown out by voters? Isn't he always being sued? Who would listen to this attention starved antisemite? Go away and live amid your shit, Ron.

Anonymous said...

Angle should sit down and shut up. His antics and incompetence are part of the reason the county is in the current fiscal mess. His arrogance and nastiness were large contributors in the failure to sell Gracedale which is now running deficits $9 million annually.

Bored said...

only 2 people care about what the senior blowhard has to say.bo because ra is his man crush and ra because he loves to hear himself.

so a few people are retiring. big deal - time to get rid of the deadwood and hire someone else at lower wages and benefits. no one is irreplaceable

Anonymous said...

Bored, you are an idiot.

Anonymous said...

Well done Ron. Every nail..almost...Guiness book record for being sued more times in the shortest amount of time in county history. Scomillio's legal advice or lack thereof is behind this trainwreck.

Fatal combination...Brown's arrogance, Scomillio's ignorance and their combined indifference to every employee and taxpayer, squanders the cash so badly needed.

Anonymous said...

Ron announces his intention to run for county controller by taking JB to the wood shed on this swiss cheese budget scheme. What a way to kick off his run at Stevie Barron's job. It all makes sense as both of them will bash JB relentlessly until election time. This will sell a ton of news papers..at least in the Slate Belt where they still buy it.

Anonymous said...

How courageous of Angle to call for a tax increase AFTER he leaves office. He made decent points - too bad he'd never have said it when he was on council. And like he gave a rats ass about any of those employees. He was tax cutter #1.

Bernie O'Hare said...

", say what you want he does know what he's talking about and he can back up what he said..."

And he says it right to people's faces, unlike the anonymous hacks here.

The Sons of Liberty said...

7:41 AKA Bored.......Its hard to explain things to a moron but i'll give it a shot.

A) Its way more than a few people

B) They arent replacing the people that are leaving which creates overtime and work backlogs

C) Retirees are still paid by the county so if he does decide to hire someone at a lesser wage he's paying the wage of the retiree as well as the wage of the new hire

Now you can go back to watching Honey Boo Boo and leave us adults alone to discuss the issues at hand.

Anonymous said...

angle probably pays more in county property taxes in one year than other people pay in 20. that gives him the right to speak.

Bernie O'Hare said...

He has the same right to speak as the lowest of the low, which would be me. And yes, he is considering making a run at Controller. But he might not. Brown has managed to make himself look bad, but he's also made Lamont McClure and Steve Barron look good. He has awakened the County worker. Right now the best friend Democrats have is John Brown. I frankly think this is going to have major repercussions. When Vic Scomillio runs for judge, all of Brown's miscues are going to be laid at the doorstop of is legal adviser. Any R who challenges Werner, McClure, Parsons or Kraft, is going to be tied to all of Brown's bungles.

Anonymous said...

Angle's address was excellent. A lot of people don't like him, for various reasons. But if you just listen to what he said, it's hard not to say "yup, you're right." He hit all the high (or more accurately low) points of Brown's ugly first year in office, and admonished Council to get in gear and make crumbled apple pie out of the load of crap Brown has created.

Anonymous said...

@3:45 "Since the guy is running for Controller we will have to endure many of his self-servi8ng rants."

Self serving may or may not be true, but this was no rant. It was a very focused critical commentary on the current morass, and he was trying to kick Council in the butt to make up for Brown's glaring shortcomings.

Yes, he slipped off here and there, but overall it was not a rant for the sake of a rant. What he said was 95% true.

Anonymous said...

@4:26 "Give the guy credit, he is one of the best bullshitters around!"

Please enlighten us all with your knowledge. What was "bullshit" in this address?

Anonymous said...

I'm not a Ron fan but he is completely right. Nice speech Ron

Bernie O'Hare said...

I don;'t think it will make John Brown's bi-weekly newspaper to the employees, but I hope they take heart that some people get it and are willing to do the right thing, even if it means a tax hike.

Anonymous said...

You may not like the way Ron Angle gets his point across but he is usally correct and is for the employees of the County.

Anonymous said...

Ron and council shot down Stoffa's request for a half-mil tax hike on two occasions. Not the chickens are coming home to roost.

Bernie O'Hare said...

1:58, let's be honest and quit tagging Angle. When he left office, the fund balance was still hovering around $60 million and there was no need. But in the last two years, it was necessary. The main reason for this is the swaption. That was over $27 million when you add all the extraneous costs. Angle, incidentally, voted against that gimmick, as did Peg Ferraro.

Lamont McClure, to his credit,did try to stave off the payment so that it would not hit so hard. But in the end, a majority of Council felt they had no choice. Angle was not on that Council.

The following year, the Council engaged in some major deficit spending. Angle was not on that Council.

We needed a tax hike two years ago.

Anonymous said...

So Ron is the public employee's best friend? Is he the same Ron who used a crow bar to rifle through the confidential personnel files of Bangor School District employees? Maybe at the next council meeting he will sing "Solidarity Forever".

Anonymous said...

So Ron is the public employee's best friend? Is he the same Ron who used a crow bar to rifle through the confidential personnel files of Bangor School District employees? Maybe at the next council meeting he will sing "Solidarity Forever".

Bernie O'Hare said...

Believing that public employees should be fairly compensated is consistent with demanding that they be held accountable. A teacher who gets lousy evaluations should be fired.

Anonymous said...

So an allegedly bad teacher justifies breaking into confidential records of multiple employees?

I guess the police should be able to enter homes at random with out warrants to hunt down evil doers?

Anonymous said...

So anon 9:17 by your own logic. That means renters like Bernie O'Hare have no right to speak. Teabagger logic at work.

Anonymous said...

"Lamont McClure, to his credit,did try to stave off the payment so that it would not hit so hard. But in the end, a majority of Council felt they had no choice. Angle was not on that Council."

That is kooky. When you get all emotional you get your mancrush goofy logic going. Every fiscal person with a brain said refincae or buy out the swaptoion as it was going southing. Angle was there with Mazziotti when it ballooned to nine million and still Stoffa lived in his Wonderland reality. So in the end Angle didn't help anything and by ignoring a tough decision it cost the taxpayers thirty-two million dollars due to zero spine leadership.

Anonymous said...

Ron Angle is long on talk and short on action. It is his forte. He is a talking bully and will sue your if you fight back. Always been his MO.

Funny thing is he is the one Republican Stevie Barron can beat. The employees may like what he is saying now but they remember how he hated on their pay and benefits when he wanted to dump Gracedale.

Anonymous said...

"We needed a tax hike two years ago."

Agreed, but it was Barron and McClure who told us at that time that no tax hike was necessary during the Gracedale debate. In fact McClure ran for Executive on a no tax hike platform. Now these are the guys you hold up as role models for fiscal sanity? Please.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The hacks are busy. But they still look and read like hacks.

Anonymous said...

The point is this is not two years ago. We need to do something now. Why bicker about what happened years ago? Each year, you have whatever group of people you have, on council and the administration, to work together to create a budget. Werner sounds like he is ready to get down and dirty, based on the brief speech he made last night. It must be nerve racking that all the work will be left until the very last minute. Seems like it would make more sense to slug this stuff out in the meetings leading up to the last one.

Bernie O'Hare said...

4:15 well said, but these hacks want to play the blame game.

Anonymous said...

No way around it JB is a poor excuse for a leader.

Anonymous said...

I love Ron Angle and it was good to hear that he paid a visit to his old stomping ground.
Hereford John

Peter J.Cochran said...

He is not bullshitting . See that hat DREW ESTATES-that's serious cigars . Now Mr.Angle could have blown smoke but he is really interested in this county.

Peter J.Cochran said...

AND if I may add ;The CEO of SPRINT communications said this week that he disagrees with the line 'Employees are the most valuable asset." He say's 'The right employees are the most valuable asset" -- I not going on here. I think the CEO of Sprint should have shut up.

Anonymous said...

If the county had sold Gracedale, like Angle and Stoffa wanted there would still be 60 million in cash reserves

Anonymous said...

Somebody should be telling them and what he said made sence

Anonymous said...

"but these hacks want to play the blame game."

Which is what the Northampton County Bullshitter Chihuahua was doing at the podium. He has always been good at dishing out shit. He has never accepted any responsibly for his crap. Stop telling other people what to do Ronnie boy and look in the mirror.

Anonymous said...

4:09 AM - up late drinking again with your senseless comments? You are a fine one to speak of dishing out shit.

This is not about Angle. It is about a plan for Northampton County in 2015. Most everything he said made good fiscal sense.

You are always complaining about the past - what a bottom feeding blogger did in 1926, what Stoffa did in 2009, what Angle did in 2011 etc etc. Who gives a shit, when the topic is the county budget for 2015?

Anonymous said...

Like Ron said: your advisors should not be chosen because they are "friends and those who can help you politically".

Frank and Doris retire in disgust; employees are miserable; the illegal contracts cost taxpayers tons; tragic that taxpayers won't know how much.

Scomillio wants to run for judge? As Solicitor his "legal counsel"--none to bad. Latest illegal contract holds employees hostage. When did bullying become good lawyering?

Gov't can count on Lauer. Not so litigants. Ugly thought.