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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Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Pawlowski to NBC 10: I Have No Intention of Resigning
After a groundbreaking for the new Butz Corporate Center at 9th and Hamilton yesterday, Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski told NBC-10's Doug Shimell that he has "no intention of resigning," and that "we got great things going on in the City of Allentown. Like a deepening FBI investigation in which his right-hand man, political and business consultant Miked Fleck, wore a wire for 90 days.
An FBI search warrant and subpoena, published in The Morning Call, makes one wonder exactly what these "great things" are. It's pretty clear that a federal grand jury is looking at NIZ contractors who have ties to Pawlowski and other elected officials. The revelation that Mike Fleck was Miked Fleck for 90 days is bound to dampen enthusiasm as long as Mayor Pawlowski remains at the helm. If he really had the regard for the City that he claims to have, he should step aside.
Another reason why Pawlowski and others should be concerned can be summed up in two words - Scott Curtis. He is the FBI agent whose name appears on the federal documents, and that's a bad sign for anyone who thinks this is just a passing shower.
Curtis is a hard-charging mob buster who is reported to have virtually destroyed the Colombo crime family in NYC. Over a decade, he participated in the arrest of over 100 mobsters. Even more interestingly, he flipped about a dozen of them, just as Fleck was obviously flipped.
The FBI has brought their A game.
47 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.
Your well known hatred of Ed Pawlowski knows no bounds but even by your standards this is funny.
ReplyDeleteThe entire NIZ reeks from day one. Rotten law, straw buying of properties, no bids. What is even worse is if Fleck gets a slap on the hands. I saw him on Jesus TV (WFMZ) on that show with Tony Ianelli (Empty suit and empty head). Fleck acted like a big bully. I was surprised he had any job but a corrupt one after his throwing his weight around on that show. Stay in Georgia Fleck. King Edwin should be kept in a nice Chicago prison. Too bad the real residents of Allentown are not willing to take back their city, we need a second American Revolution.
ReplyDelete1244 - aka Tricia Whatever - for the love of God/Moses/Allah - GET A LIFE! It is a crying shame Allentown Sanitorium is closed. You need a good Dr and some better medications!
ReplyDeleteLike I said a few days ago...you're gonna need a crowbar to pry his ass out of that chair.
ReplyDeleteEither thay or another $100,000 landing pad.
ReplyDelete@12:44AM Your hatred of Bernie is well known. You really are obsessed.
ReplyDeleteFleck really is a regular Henry Hill.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for the new area where Fleck will open shop again, and do it all over--again, and again, and again.
Like I said--he is a regular Henry Hill.Who always went back to his old ways after he helped the feds bring down his friends in the Lucchese family.
A lot of smoke but no real fire yet. No one really knows anything other than O'Hare is venting his hate. Why would the mayor resign?
ReplyDeleteNo matter what comes of this, I will be enjoying a beer while at the Arena watching my LV Phantoms this Fall.
Sorry haters.
We do appear to be repeating ourselves. Nothing new to see here. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI am not a crook...
ReplyDeleteWell that was a real love fest --- I mean you could just feel the love.
ReplyDeleteBernie
ReplyDeleteThis you should absolutely enter in a word contest!
Fab.
Mike Fleck was Miked Fleck for 90 days
What a guy, this Pawlowski! Knowing his full time job for the coming year will be working on his own legal troubles, rather than usual mayoral things, he has no intention of resigning. He'll keep enjoying the office space, business products, secretarial staff, etc. on the taxpayer dime. Being paid a regular salary and benefits package for personal business work ain't bad either.
ReplyDeleteHe has no shame. But, that's always been his M.O.
Sounds as corrupt as Gotham City
ReplyDelete@7:04,
ReplyDeleteIt's the Chicago way of doing things.
The fbi should look in to McNeil and paligonia they got donations from Ed too for there campaign and look into them thieves in allentown running that so call syrian American club run by Mr pawlowski friend that always gave donations to pawlowski so in return he could save them money on city permits and tax they all should go down fbi needs to get them and by the way allentown ex chief in part of the crew there the one that so call he says he's going to a good sherrif what a joke
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good perception of the Brown Hole matter, hence begins the matter at a Hole new level for Mr.Klean and Joe to claim ignorance of there ommisions to there complicit knowledge of theft of services to the public as a Hole on a county level¿
Deleteredd
patent pending
Liars Hall of Fame:
ReplyDelete"I am not a crook." Nixon
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Clinton
"Read my lips: no new taxes." Bush
"We still seek no wider war." LBJ
"The fundamental business of the country, that is, production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis." Hoover
And Now:
"I have no intention of resigning. I'm continuing to be mayor and we have a great thing going here in the City of Allentown . . .”
It's a shame how all these politics use the people to get there votes and then they turn on the people good job for the FBI get all them scum bags
ReplyDeleteI see he transferred to the Allentown office in 2013. The grand jury has a 2013 identifier in it. Could this investigation have been ongoing since then? Or is it all coincidence? Thanks for staying on top of this Bernie. It's a shame WFMZ and the communist rag on 6th street continue to half ass their reporting.
ReplyDeletePawlowski is so courageous.
ReplyDeleteBecause he is just a victim of those FBI bullies.
Every minute he stays in office is another victory for the all-caring Democrat Party.
Remember, the Morning Call is no longer a local paper. It takes its direction from the good folks at Tribune Chicago. It's more concerned with the 'national' message. Enjoy reading about Musikfest food. It's a little token for those who live here. Pitiful news operation going on at the Call these days. Circulation dropping like a rock.
ReplyDeleteMiked Fleck... that is friggin priceless. Thanks Bernie.
ReplyDeleteCity council needs to start their own public investigation. Tonight.
ReplyDeletePlease ! Allentown City Council could not find a blueberry pie in a phone booth during a blizzard.
ReplyDeleteThe part of this saga that still blows me away is how Fleck turned on Pawlowski. These two have been so close going all the way back to 2003 or so when Pawlowski was trying to expand his Alliance for Building Communities efforts in Easton and Fleck was just beginning to get involved in politics (during the Tom Goldsmith administration). Over the last decade plus they've been like best friends. Pawlowski must have been devastated to learn that Fleck sold him out and saved himself.
ReplyDeleteNo Honor among thieves. Why so surprised ?
ReplyDeleteEd won't resign as he hopes he can bargain resignation for a better deal.
ReplyDeleteThe comment in the video about Pawlowski being "tired of being asked about the Federal investigation" was entertaining to say the least. He's not at all used to media that doesn't take their direction from him and stop asking questions when he says to stop asking questions.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Bernie!
The Banker
A lot of tea party vitriol with no relevance to the topic. Get a life nut jobs.
ReplyDeleteBanker, I would imagine that Pawlowski was in a bit of a quandary. He could not blow off NBC 10 as he seemed to do last week to reporters. He did try to get away at first.
ReplyDelete"Miked Fleck... that is friggin priceless. Thanks Bernie."
ReplyDeleteI stole that from a friend. He knows who he is.
He won't resign until he has a job with the Democratic State Committee guaranteed.
ReplyDelete"The grand jury has a 2013 identifier in it. Could this investigation have been ongoing since then? Or is it all coincidence? "
ReplyDeleteI doubt it has been that long. The Grand Jury investigates other things, too.
Fleck is a low-life Judas. But Uncle Ed trusted him, which is a reflection of his own poor judgement.
ReplyDelete@12:16
ReplyDeleteEd knew exactly what he was paying for.
Let's wait and see who he rats out.
This is just the beginning of the treachery.
There will be more than just a few "businessmen" seeing jail time when Pawlowski cuts a deal to testify about their complicity in his schemes.
ReplyDeleteI think 2:18 might be right. Reports are, there were never real accountability controls on labor and materials receipts. Another likely place to abuse taxpayer dollars. All that matters is how aggressive the FBI and IRS want to be. Whoever was in charge of dispersing NIZ funds to developers and contractors should be hauled in for a good grilling.
ReplyDeleteSadly, businessmen and campaign advisers are private citizens and rarely see jail time in public corruption cases. They'll get deals for cooperation that leads to convictions of those lawyers and elected officials who violated public trust. That's how the system usually works.
ReplyDeletePawlowski's the bullseye, not the dirty developers. Fran D.'s going to take a plea bargain and shouldn't do more than 18 months.
ReplyDeleteThe NIZ was created under the banner of economic development. After all this hoopla and money spent, how many new jobs have been created? Anyone know?
ReplyDelete7:27 <<<< apparently it will be creating some prison guard jobs.
ReplyDeleteanon 7:27, thousands.
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:29- thousands on net new jobs??? Or thousands of jobs that moved from other locations in the LV. Would be surprised if even 100 new jobs that didn't exist before have been created.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that Mayor Ed recently promoted a reduction in crime in Allentown during a period where he and his people may have been engaged in criminal activity.
ReplyDeleteBernie you are a breath of fresh air. For the longest time we only had interesting news about elected officials like LisaB and Pat "born to be wild" Brown who become really newsworthy when they drink. But now we have Mayor Ed, Miked Fleck, and a whole host of really interesting characters who are pimping it large for our entertainment. Miked has come a long way from a twenty-something Easton paperboy to a thirty-something full on informant for the EF-BEE-EYE. Why it seems like only yesterday that Miked was working the phone in his Easton apartment setting up "mixers" and ordering cheese trays. He's made it to the "show".
If Mayor Ed does get indicted, he will still win the next election for mayor. He will truly be a man of the people representing a constituency that sympathizes with those who have brushes with the law.
Keep up the excellent reporting Bernie, you are running circles around the mcallwfmzexpresstimes news goat rodeo. Also to Rich Fegley, love your beer and really appreciate your hard hitting advocacy for your beliefs. While I love the beer more, you are a role model for citizens speaking up and should be proud of yourself. Kudos to you both for standing up to the NIZ sham and the folks who lack the moral compass to simply behave within the law.
I've had two recent experiences outside of this little "Bernie's Blog Bubble" we all live in, that demonstrate how we got in to this mess and why Pawlowski would probably win again tomorrow if he ran.
ReplyDeleteStopped by the Farmer's Market where two women who are long time Dem neighborhood volunteers...distribute yard signs, hold coffees, work the polls...ran up and hugged me saying, "Isn't it awful. They're trying to frame Ed. He'll get out of this".
Tonight I attended a networking happy hour for a tech group based downtown and was stunned that a group of educated professionals seemed to be rooting for the mayor and were down on the media for hyping the story. One person actually said to me, and this is close to a direct quote, "Sometimes you need to bend the rules to make things happen".
God help us.
Need more confirmation?
ReplyDeleteThis slime pond is fucked up.