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| Exec John Brown |
After it was all over, I saw Bethlehem Attorney Lamont McClure, who was in a recess while trying a case. He has a completely different view of Brown's first two years in office.
Below is Brown's statement and McClure's response. Feel free to add your own assessment.
John Brown: "When I came into office two years ago, the naysayers were very vocal that it is impossible to change County Government so why bother. They were espedcially vocal that Gracedale and the Jail could not be improved.
"My asministration has been committed to improving County government. I am happy to report that in the last two years my administration has been able to generate the following results:
"1. We are on track for the second year in a row that our performance is revenue neutral.
"2. We are on track to have eliminated deficit spending for the second year in a row.
"3. We have tripled the County's general fund balance, returning over $37 million to the general fund.
"4. Our 2016 approved budget is flat relative to 2015 despite absorbing many cost increases.
"5. Gracedale has had an operating loss of over $6 million per year, but is on track to see a reduction in operation loss of $4 million or come in under $2 million."
Lamont McClure: "I'm uncertain as to why the County Executive found it necessary to discuss his overall record at a press conference announcing improvements to central booking, surrounded by uniformed police officers.Clearly to my mind, this was a staged photo opportunity meant to paper over and whitewash Brown's thus far disastrous tenure in office. He's consistently misled the public, both as a candidate and as Executive, about the County's finances. Further, he;s wasted and attempted to waste tax dollars on unnecessary consultants. Finally, he has made war unnecessarily on the hard-working civil servants emplyed by the County."
On the left sidebar, I have a poll asking you to grade John Brown on his fiorst two years in office.
23 comments:
I didn't see "sucks straws" as an option of grade.
County Executive McClure may wan tto talk to County Ex3cuitve Callahan before he seeks the O'Hare bump. Your track record precedes you.
McClure could not even win his own District and he knew it.
Brown looks unbeatable in comparison to "no-show" McClure.
Pay the judgment, Mezzacappa.
You don't have to be Mezzacracra to know that McClure is as much a disaster and phony as Brown. Your Brown hatred blinds you to facts you have shared for years.
Disaster
You should do a review of the accomplishments donchez's first two years. It would be a very short article.
Simply stated, Brown's first two years were a disaster! No second term for him!
How about a poll for his 4 years as Bangor mayor?
D-
Poor leadership skills, poor financial skills,
lowered morale
He's now running for another political office and needs all the good PR he can muster. He will soon hit the campaign trail across the state in search of voter support for Auditor General. McLure is right and this was just a scripted fluff piece. Brown is and has been a disaster for the people of this county. Patting himself on the back will not get it done statewide but then again he has a safety net waiting here as executive after he gets his butt handed to him in November.
"4. Our 2016 approved budget is flat relative to 2015 despite absorbing many cost increases.
Didn't I say that the Republicans (Hayden Phillips) raised the taxes for me by 10% in my speech? so i can now make my statements about how great i am!
"3. We have tripled the County's general fund balance, returning over $37 million to the general fund.
I thought McClure and Barron have been saying this for years. Am i wrong?
"Naysayers"? Who is he talking about? Gracedale was already turning around when he took office. Improvements were either underway, or planned. And exactly how has the county jail improved? This was the wrong opportunity for Brown to brag about his first two years, which overall have been mediocre at best.
Who will hold the reins when Brown goes in search of votes? Cathy Allen..that's who!
What case is McClueless working on? The one where he attempts to try & fight his way out of a wet paper bag?
10:30 McClure is a very capable attorney and you should go back on your Meds and pay the settlement to Bernie
"You don't have to be Mezzacracra to know ..."
Pay the judgment, Tricia.
It was the Stoffa administration that made the very wise decision to hire Premier to run Gracedale. D. Freeman was a Godsend and was universally admired for his innovations. If Brown was in charge of the RFP that hired Premier, he probably would have selected some crony of his personally, or through association with one of his minions. Premier started the turnaround at Gracedale, along with support from the Stoffa administration, the newly-formed Gracedale Advisory Committee and County Council. It was a real TEAMWORK approach, and yet Brownie is trying to spin it as his administrations exclusive achievement. What a fraud!
Stoffa had no desire to see Grace3dale succeed after the referendum. He is a vindictive old man. Brown is at least honest about wanting the Home to succeed.
McClueless is Brown's dream for an opponent.
County Ex3cuitve. Grace3dale, Mezzzacappa, one of your many gioveaways are these "3s" littering your comments. Pay the judgment you owe me.
Don't think Brown is running again. He is getting tired of it. He thought he could run the county like his personal business, throwing money around on consultants and unqualified cronies. Doesn't like oversight. If Mezzacrappa is Anon 1:53 she is full of crap as usual. Just look at the record. Even after losing the referendum, John Stoffa made every effort to try to help Gracedale succeed. To claim otherwise is the warped thinking process of a bitter loser.
Brown is certainly not benefiting from early polling regarding his re-election plans. So far, the LVR poll of readers give him a 70% disapproval rating. Half of the voters have given him an "F". It is early, but doubtful that those miserable numbers will be trending upward. His popularity will be worse than Reibman's when Stoffa knocked him off in the 2005 primary.
The prison is in worst shape than ever before, there is no leadership. Mr keen needs to pack his bags and leave. What a waste of tax dollars . Mr keen should work as a toll collector, he doesn't need to make decisions there.
I can't wait to contribute to his opponents campaign. If he's running for another office he needs to leave his current office right?
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