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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

South Side Business Owner Joins Race for Bethlehem City Council

Blogger's Note: Usually, when a candidate runs for office, he sends me an announcement. I feel I owe it to whoever is running to publish it. i also owe it to you to keep you up to date on the myriad of local offices at play. Yesterday, Matt McKernan made his announcement in a personal email to me, betraying a self-deprecating sense of humor that all too often is missing from local pols. I liked Matt's personal note much more than some announcement drown up by a campaign consultant with yet another 5-point plan.

Dear Bernie,

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Matthew McKernan and I am running for Bethlehem City Council. While I am in no means a lifelong resident of Bethlehem, I do love this city and both my family and my business have dedicated ourselves to make Bethlehem our home, forever. Our family has been part of the Bethlehem community for the past 15 years, in both physical location, and in spirit. I currently live at 1969 Easton Avenue, right up the street from Liberty High school (I am sorry you don't trust their graduates, but my son Max will most likely attend Bechi after he finishes at St. Anne's. Yes, I read your blog...).

My wife is currently a teacher at Liberty High School (my apologies again...) and I am a business owner, with my business, Mosaic, located on the South Side, in the Flat Iron building, where I have had the opportunity to struggle and succeed for the last eight years. (notice I capitalized South Side and the Flat Iron building for no reason but for the love of the city and it's diverse and talented community. Yes, it's that important that it deserves to be capitalized).

At the moment, I have not formally announced my intention to run for council, but I have filled out the necessary paperwork, engaged my network and have started collecting signatures to be on the ballot. I plan to make an announcement in the next week.

With that said, I would love the opportunity to meet with you and discuss your vision for the future of Bethlehem, and the Lehigh Valley. Would you allow me to meet you for lunch or dinner (on me of course)?

Just to give you a little background about myself before you respond, please review my LinkedIn profile, as well as the website of my business.

Matt McKernan LinkedIn
http://www.mosaicwebsite.com/

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,
Matt
at

24 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 12:25 AM

    Well written and refreshing. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 1:27 AM

    I like the sound of the guy but he has major disadvantages. He didn't go to only Bethlehem schools and he is a real married adult with children.

    It will be an uphill battle. What does Willie think?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 4:11 AM

    Free eats!?
    Bernie, tell him that you will need numerous follow-ups throughout the campaign season.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 5:38 AM

    Recruited by Joe Kelly to be a pain in the ass to the Donchez administration. Aside from that, a good candidate.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 7:05 AM

    Hey 5:38 if you knew either of those people you would know that what you wrote is just not true. Why would you want to demean Matt by connecting him to Kelly?

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 8:19 AM

    Love seeing this and I hope others do too. This is the sort of person needed on Council, not the cookie cutter type that J. Willy, who thinks he is Frank Underwood, chooses. Excellent to see this.

    The question is Bernie, where you gonna choose to eat?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 8:22 AM

    sounds too good to be true. Good luck!!!!!!!!

    Anyone except wee willie or rabid recchiuti

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 9:14 AM

    "Recruited by Joe Kelly to be a pain in the ass to the Donchez administration. Aside from that, a good candidate."

    Just got an email from Joe denying that he recruited this gentleman or that he has animosity for the Mayor.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 9:25 AM

    "Bernie, where you gonna choose to eat?"

    I'm looking thru the list of the most expensive, now. Actually, I try to meet pols in coffee shops or other quiet places. I have a satellite office at the 512 Panera.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 9:49 AM

    9:14, and you believe him?

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 9:57 AM

    8:22 Why don't you run for council? That's right you like to hid behide your remarks. Just jealous because they are educated and your not!! Your probably just a fat old bastard they likes putting others down!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 9:57 AM

    Yes. And unlike you, he identifies himself.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 11:41 AM

    He better have an american express platinum card for those meals..LOL

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 11:48 AM

    At least.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 2:47 PM

    The better question is does Joe Kelly know the man. Once that is answered we can extrapolate from there.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 3:12 PM

    Of course Joe knows this gentleman, and said as much. Why is evvery v=cab=ndidate a plant for this or that faction? Don't you think some people are running because that's what they want to do???

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 5:46 PM

    I wonder why the Morning Call never reported on this Vaughn Spencer thing?

    http://www2.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=519817


    On another topic, I wonder if the Rob McCord extortion plea will allow him to avoid serving time?

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 6:05 PM

    9:57,

    still kissing that JC ass hoping it will get you some where

    ReplyDelete
  19. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 7:22 PM

    5:46, Neither of your observations is on topic.

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 8:21 PM

    Wife teaches in Bethlehem public school but kid goes to private school. Is your child too good for Bethlehem's public schools? Difficult to trust someone's view of the future of Bethlehem with such a glaring contradiction.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Bernie O'HareFebruary 18, 2015 at 8:50 PM

    Many people who teach in public school send their children to private schools. It is not a matter of thinking your kid is too god for public school. inmost cases, it is a big financial sacrifice because they are still paying taxes that send your children to school. There are numerous reasons to support Catholic schools. Some of us believe that it is important to have a child in an environment where religion matters and moral beliefs are discussed. This did not help me, but it has helped many people. If your child is exceptionally gifted or mentally disabled, he is better off in a public school bc they have advanced classes and many programs for the mentally challenged that Catholic schools lack. And kids in catholic schools are going to still have all the same problems that you'll see in a public school, except for one. They tend not to fight as much. If your child is college bound, he probably also has a bit of an edge after going through Catholic school.

    Some of it is also the kids themselves. My grandson, for example, loves Becahi and has wanted to go there since he was in the Fourth Grade.

    If one of the parents is a teacher, that might be another reason to send a child to the catholic school so as to avoid any appearance of favoritism.

    I know kids in both schools and they are mostly great kids. It is parents like you who are the assholes.

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2015 at 4:34 AM

    "Of course Joe knows this gentleman, and said as much"

    There is your answer. In Bethlehem there are now two clans. The Morganelli group with it members and the Callahan clan with its members.

    There are little circles within but that is it. People can and do run independently and usually go down in flames. The money and organization comes from one of those two camps.

    You don't have to tell someone to run when clearly recruiting someone to run from your camp.

    You just don't get Bethlehem.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Bernie O'HareFebruary 19, 2015 at 9:59 AM

    Excuse me, but Joe Kelly probably knows every person running for Council. You put two and two together and come up with five.

    ReplyDelete

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