About Me

My photo
Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Tom Hahn Challenges Allentown City Council's Ethics

Jeanette Eichenwald and Vic Mazziotti
Democrat Jeanette Eichenwald and Republican Vic Mazziotti came together last week to urge the adoption of pay-to-play rules in Allentown and Lehigh County. I was encouraged to see that Vic's colleague, Mike Schware, as well as and Lower Macungie Commissioner Ron Beitler, were also present. But despite an invitation from Eichenwald, no other Allentown City Council member came. This was an insult, not just to Eichenwald, but to the people of Allentown. City Council is required to represent their interests, not those of Mayor Ed "Fed Ed" Pawlowski, political and business consultant Miked Fleck or entrepreneur Abe Atiyeh.  Instead of serving the people, these elected officials rubber stamped a deal to pay Abe Atiyeh almost three times what its own appraiser recommended to buy property it never needed.

It was a pay-off, to put it bluntly. City Council never bothered to ask for the appraisals or even seek the identity of the seller. Clearly, they deprived the citizens they represent of their right to honest services. The only person who had the integrity to say No was Eichenwald

Tom Hahn is an Allentown City Council critic who castigated them two weeks ago. They said nothing. Maybe he should sing to them, like Tom Ochse. What hes done instead is send them a "communication" to be noted during the meeting, challenging their ethics.

The time is now at the next meeting to start the change. All members of council must face the public on Moral ground with an ethical challenge to protect the public from future actions that have jobs, deals, charter rule changes, and no oversight on issues. As was admitted by Julio in his last press release, "I did not research the issue" is what was reported. The public did and the information was not used or believed? Again the misleading information that was giving to council was flawed coming from the administration consultants and never compared to the public's information. Never a debate in a public meeting, only the 3 minute rule. Sit down, your time is up. The questions became a moot item. We know how proud the council is of this fact, because the no answer was the only answer.

The first issue is the vote to correct the pay to play issue . If you and the other members are not ready to change, and restore the charter rules back to their original intent, then Ccouncil is the reason we have this issue in the first place .

The letter to council will not change one thing I was told, but I had to try to find Moral ground and end this issue on a positive note. That honesty and good government still resides in Allentown by the way council will change the rules, charter and preserve the city from complete ruin . Protect all the citizens - rich, poor, any color, religion, and even the ones who disagree with Council - without reprisal from the Mayor or Council's vote. We all know that pay to play is not dead yet, but could be if the vote is right.

History will be the judge. Which Council was the worst to bring shame to Allentown and cost the tax payers the highest amount of money in fees and water rates. The list is growing.

The responsibility is on Council's shoulders to correct the situation ASAP to give hope to all residents of our city that a new beginning has started.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

The loudest voice of the public's opinion is not those who write letters to city council or the 40 people who show up at a city council meeting. The loudest voice are the ones who walk into a voting booth. Time after time the loudest voice is the voters, not the protesters, activists or out of town bloggers. We will see how the public feels and believes in the elected officials currently in office come November.

Anonymous said...

I doubt that Musty Muller made an appearance either.

Anonymous said...

We shall see for sure how the voters feel, at least one of the City Council lap dogs of Fed Ed, Councilman Glaser, is up for re-election; I think his campaign received $15000 from Fed Ed and related associates......

Have to bounce the controller also, she sat by and certified the funds for the AA property pay-off, what has she had to say...ZERO. Has she published an audit of anything in 3 /12 years.... NO NO NO

I cant wait to see the Morning Call endorsements....we know the Morning Call does not like Louie Hershman, the only chance we have on the ballot for some noise coming out of the next council.

Same with GOP candidate for controller, young, but will make some noise.

Anonymous said...

Council has and will say nothing at the next or any future meeting; they are all embarrassed, all ate from the Fed Ed's feeding trough, everyone knows it, now they have to look friends and neighbors in the eye at the grocery store, church, etc. if they have any morals or conscience, they should all resign minus Mrs E. But they want.

Anonymous said...

I saw one of the current crop of council members couple days ago, he had difficulty looking me in the eyes during our brief and casual exchange.
Naturally I can understand why.

Anonymous said...

Resignations would certainly help get Allentown back on course. There is a natural tendency to 'wait until everything just blows over.' It usually does, especially when big news breaks somewhere else and takes the spotlight away.

There might be an employee concern over achieving a city pension first. I could be very wrong, but remember reading City Council persons can lock-in a City pension after 5-6 years, or some other duration. Don't know if the amount of the pension grows over time. Just a thought, maybe some on City Council aren't 'READY' to pass it all up.

I just know, Allentown government is in need of a re-build. That can't begin until the old stuff is carted out.

Fred Windish

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see the City Council members associated with Citizens for A Better Allentown step down immediately. Because of them our City's governing has been turned into a corrupt mess ruled over by a political boss. Regular citizens with unique experiences and abilities who have a legitimate desire to serve, may not run because they can't fill voters mail boxes with shiny color ads with Fed Ed's smiling face on the back. I'd love to see a citizen like Mr. Fegley on City Council, however because of Citizens for a Better Allentown, he might not get past the primary. I never met the guy, but I trust him and I bet if he was elected his family members wouldn't get City jobs and I'll bet a an appraisal from a most independent, competent and trusted appraiser (Ray Geiger) would get accepted over some questionable appraisal from a real estate agent. Citizens for A Better Allentown is even trying to take over the school board. Lets publish the funded members of this outfit and demand they step down and bow out of the Fall elections.

Anonymous said...

8:09 -

Don't forget the candidates running for county commissioner, none of whom are incumbents, known as "Citizens for a Better Lehigh County".

Much like the race for the Allentown School Board, this was another Pawlowski/Fleck/Muller creation with the goal of delivering a group of rubber stampers at the county level, and bringing Allentown-style governance to the county level.

They need to be defeated in November.

Anonymous said...

Tonight is a chance to show up at Council and let them know how you feel, particularly about Jeanette's proposal for "Anti-Pay-to-Play" legislation.

Council needs to hear the people on this issue, and they need to know that concerned citizens aren't just showing up for a few meetings and then going away. We need to make it clear that we're committed for the long haul, and plan to hold them accountable.

Rise up, Allentown! Tonight's another opportunity.

Bernie O'Hare said...

3:26 troll, Muller specifically stated he supported this reform.

Anonymous said...

Everyone that's on City Council won't be there. I'm not worried about that. They are all tainted - and it will affect the City's ability to get money, attract donations, etc. You can't have an indicted mayor the City Council skate. Just isn't going to happen. They are part and parcel. He goes down and they go with him.

Should things go the way it looks, they will all be "strongly advised" to resign from the first term governor who despises public corruption, state Democrats, county Democrats on down. And they will do it. Considering what's happening in Harrisburg, the state isn't going to tolerate yet another city plunging into three decades of chaos because of corruption. The bud will be nipped promptly.

They'd rather have them resign and get a shot at replacing them with Democrats of their choosing versus taking their chances in a primary against a wild card or worst case scenario - losing the seat altogether to a gasp! Republican.

Anonymous said...

On the Democratic ticket there are two people still in the race completely associated with the Mayor's ... 1 person was not on the Mayor's ticket but neither was Darryl either in the primary he ran. So as it will happen unless there is a serious write-in at least one of the Mayor's people -- incumbent or non-incumbent will make it .... And if the former police chief is running at a distance just to appear at a distance we will know soon after he is elected,

Anonymous said...

i worry that the new council has the potential to be even worse, than our current cast of characters. candida affa, and the rest of the slate are not running to protect the public's interest. h street strategies has re-opened under a new name, and they have picked up where fleck left off. the slate will have lost potency, thanks to the probe, but that doesn't mean that they have all done an about-face. hopefully voters will do their research (something that rarely happens in allentown) and help bring in sweeping change.

hope for another good turn out a city council tonight. perhaps our current council will surprise us with some positive action?

Anonymous said...

Bernie -

Did the City make the deadline to give all the documents to the FBI? I think the (extended) deadline was yesterday.

Anonymous said...

The sad thing for me is that two of the most culpable individuals in this whole mess don't have to face the anger of Allentown citizens: Schlossberg and Schweyer, Fed Ed's biggest lapdogs out there.

Anonymous said...

A tiny minority of council care about this. The majority was elected by significant margins. The wailing and gnashing of teeth will soon subside and it'll be back to ignoring Mrs. Eichenwald and business as usual. Allentown is The City Without Term Limits. Get used to it and enjoy the paradise you've created.

Anonymous said...

Schlossberg may well be going to the Federal Penitentiary.

Anonymous said...

@ 2:55
Ed's been overheard saying if he goes down
he's taking young Mr. Sclossberg with him.
This isn't the first time I have heard this.

Anonymous said...

BREAKING NEWS: Schlossberg to offer online class on federal penitentiary catering.

Anonymous said...

Breaking News : Allentown will STILL be a one-party town when the dust from all this Pawlowski unpleasantness settles.

We'll be singing The Who's classic "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" soon enough, then.

Because only Democrats care, you must understand. Please make a note promptly. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

..,,,,and the GOP cares so much they abandoned the place.