As most of you know, Allentown Mayor Edwin "Fed Ed" Pawlowski submitted a budget that raises the earned income tax, provides raises to his cronies and shoves an employee down Council's throat that they previously rejected. Council flexed its muscles at the one time during the year when they have any real power. They reduced the tax hike, the wage hikes to Fed Ed's pets and funded a few slots with $1.
Someone better throw Fed Ed on a lift because he's blowin' oil. According to The Morning Call, he announced his own budget revisions yesterday, claimed Council will never be able to conduct hearings in time and has threatened to take them all to court if they continue to defy him.
Council will conduct a hearing and adopt the budget tonight instead of on December 13, as was originally planned. This is because Wild gave them some very good advice.
Under the City's Home Rule Charter, Council must adopt their budget by December 15 or the one proposed by Fed Ed becomes law.
If Council had waited to adopt the Budget until December 13, as they had planned, it is entirely possible that the Budget presented by Fed Ed would become law.
Under the Charter, he has five days to exercise his veto power. He could do so on December 16, and then claim that his original Budget is law because Council would have failed to have adopted their Budget by December 15, as required under the Charter.
By alerting Council to this possibility, Wild has given Council time to act now. They can adopt their budget tonight, giving Fed Ed five days to veto. Yes, they can even conduct a public hearing on his latest amendments. If he vetoes, they can override him on December 13 and their budget becomes law.
If Wild was in league with Fed Ed, as Trotner and Molovinsky have unfairly suggested, the last thing she would do is advise Council that they need to act now. She would simply keep her mouth shut. Then, on December 16, she would sadly tell Council that Fed Ed's original budget is law because they failed to act in time. Molovinsky and Trotner would be screaming at her then, too, for failing to warn of the dangers ahead.
Thanks to her sage advice, Fed Ed can go to the courthouse if he wants and he will fall flat on his face.
But I hear some people are waiting for him there.
Michael, you may now return to your gloating. Robert, you may now return to building a new Allentown.
The kooks that comment over on Molovinsky's blog make your commenters look sane and intelligent.
ReplyDeleteShe has to maintain the charade that she represents both the Mayor and Council, and her last-minute opinion is an attempt at that.
ReplyDeleteA competent solicitor would have given Council this information at the start of the budget process, not days before a deadline.
First, Susan Ellis-Wild was a recipient of campaign funds from the "friends of Ed Pawlwoski" when she was running for a county office in Lehigh County. Second, she was proposed for her present job by Pawlowski. This in itself is very troubling! But in the instant case, she did her job and the time issues she reported can be handled by council. Whether this was a slip up or a good attorney by-product we don't know. All I know, is by reducing the salaries to $1.oo in the three positions,[Managing Director, DECD Director and DCED Operations Manager], they did not close any programs; thus giving Fed Ed no basis for a civil remedy. However, this slimeball, will find funds in other departmental budgets, mostly through non-hiring antics he is noted for, and will at least fund the Operations Manager and Managing Director positions for at least one more year. When he is in jail, or defeated at the polls, Allentown can start a new path to political recovery.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny that Pawlowski has once again proposed a budget with no property tax hike - sparing his non-resident, property-owning, downtown cronies from having to pay more on their taxpayer-funded properties?
ReplyDeleteInstead, he's once again raising the earned income tax. Aside from being illegal according to the charter, it ends up causing high-earning current residents to look to leave and keeps other high-earners from moving in.
And so, the "death spiral" continues.
How much have those digital billboards generated each year and have they lived up to FedEd stroke of pen to supercede City ordinance? How muchbwas generated? Where does that money go? Is there a budget line item we can point to?
ReplyDeleteI want a digital billboard advertising all the modern social illZ incubated by administration heads can be bought and sold, and street names corresponding with allowable illZ!
DeleteREpublican redd
no party favor of anytype
Is that YOU there at 6:07 AM, God? Wow! Lehigh Valley Ramblings must feel so honored.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bernie, for setting me straight. I'm very happy to have faith in Wild again and I'm sorry I unfairly maligned her.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Molovinsky was gloating and the overwhelming majority of Democrats were not acting like sore losers over Trumpf's election victory. This is why I read this blog, so I can be told what the facts of the matter are. Very grateful for the quality journalism found here as is, apparently, God, himself.
ReplyDelete"The kooks that comment over on Molovinsky's blog make your commenters look sane and intelligent."
ReplyDeleteActually, MM wins that one. His readers must ID themselves so they tend to be a lot more careful.
"I had no idea that Molovinsky was gloating and the overwhelming majority of Democrats were not acting like sore losers over Trumpf's election victory. "
Most Democrats recognize that Trump is our President. Like him or not, we should all want him to succeed because that is in the interest of all of us.
7:37, Agreed. Frankly, I never even considered the possibility that Council would have to override a veto by 12/15 for the budget to succeed. Her recognition of this possibility and her advice to Council on this point is good lawyering. She is walking a fine line. She represents the City, and thus has duties to Fed Ed and Council. Under Section 701, she has the unenviable task of advising both branches of government. This is a flaw and puts her in an unfair position. If she was just representing Fed Ed, she would have sat quietly and let Council adopt its budget on 12/13.
ReplyDelete"A competent solicitor would have given Council this information at the start of the budget process, not days before a deadline."
ReplyDeleteThat's ridiculous. There is no way, at the beginning of the process, that she could foresee what Council and Fed Ed were going to do.
"First, Susan Ellis-Wild was a recipient of campaign funds from the "friends of Ed Pawlwoski" when she was running for a county office in Lehigh County."
ReplyDeleteThat is incorrect. Wild may have contributed to Fed Ed in the past since he pressured everyone for money. But he never gave her a dime.
The more and more I see, Allentown was much better off with the former mayor-council form of government, in which the people on city council ran the departments of the city, and the mayor was one of the council members.
ReplyDeleteWe've now reached a point that the government in Allentown is divided by a mayor who is under the shadow of an FBI investigation and a City Council that has no confidence in the mayor.
We might as well go back to Roy Afflerbach. At least he was from Allentown and as incompetent and as difficult as he was, he didn't infest the city with the corruption of Chicago as Pawlowski has.
As good as it might be to consider a new form of government, now is the time to pass a budget with the government you have.
ReplyDeleteThe citizens of Allentown need to attend the City Council meeting tonight and show their support for the City Council amended budget. This should send Fed-Ed a message that he no longer has the support of the people. His arrogance is driving these charges because some one he can not control, City Council, has stood up to him. When city employees did he had them fired, but he can not do that with City Council.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if no city budget is passed ?
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember Solicitor Wild persuaded City Council to contract outside council to represent City Council in the F.B.I. probe of Mr. Pawloski. Who is representing Ms. Wild in these matters
ReplyDelete11:06, If City Council fails to adopt a budget by 12/15, the one proposed by Fed Ed becomes law. Council could actually vote his budget down and it would still become law. This prevents the sort of nonsense that occurs on a state and federal level.
ReplyDeleteCouncil has adopted amendments to Fed Ed's budget. They were poised to adopt it on 12/13, two days before the 12/15 deadline.
But Fed Ed has come back at them with a series of amendments and comments that essentially reinstates his budget. They must conduct a public hearing on that, and can do so tonight. I don't consider it a new ordinance, but an amendment. Six members can waive the 14-day requirement between introduction and passage of an ordinance. If it is intended as a new ordinance, it is illegal bc it is submitted improperly after the time for submission of a budget has passed.
Wild has told Council to adopt the budget now. That way, Council can override fed Ed's veto by 12/15 and their budget becomes law. If they wait,and Fed Ed vetoes their budget after they adopt it on 12/13, he can claim that his budget trumps theirs bc they failed to override his veto before 12/15.
11:07, She has no reason to seek counsel. The outside counsel was hired, not to represent Council, but to assist the City in preparing documents responsive to an FBI subpoena. Any council member under scrutiny is on their own, as Wild would be, too.
ReplyDeleteWho pays for the law suit . Against council
ReplyDeleteCan Walker be a part of that action
He is a lawyer . And help put others in jail .
Will he be a help to get Fed Ed out of town
Simple yes or no is he that good
Could this be the real reason he was hired ?
Ok so if I understand all this, Allentown has to have a budget in place by 15 December and if not, it is mandatory that the budget that the Mayor has proposed is adopted, period. Whether or not City Council likes it.
ReplyDeleteThat means the ball is in City Council's court, and they need to do something to stop the process.
So first of all, they would have to veto Ed's budget. Consider that a given.
Then one has to be produced by City Council. Ed will likely veto that. Then City Council will have to override Ed's veto by 12/15.
However, Ed can throw monkey wrenches into the entire process by proposing amendments to city council's budget. Council won't like that and will first have to vote down all of the amendments. Ed can keep doing this and we go into this loop of amendments then turn-downs, then more amendments then turn downs.
All the time, of course, the clock is running. So Ed can just run out the clock and on midnight of 12/15 he gets what he wants in the first place.
Ok I get it.
What a country .....
Walker has no authority to represent the Mayor. Only Wild can do that.
ReplyDelete12:43, You don't get it, but you're close. The ball is definitely in Council's court, but they don't "veto" Fed Ed's budget. They can simply reject his amendments, after a public hearing tonight, and adopt their own budget. If Fed Ed gives the promised veto, it has to come in 5 days from tonight. My guess is he will release his veto at the last possible moment and look for an excuse to veto after the 13th.
ReplyDeleteDo you suppose there were backroom conversations on the part of Council prior to the adoption of their proposed budget? It's such an aggressive attack on the mayor - I find it impossible to believe nobody on council discussed all this prior to introducing the budget.
ReplyDeleteMonkey Mamma-- "I find it impossible to believe nobody on council discussed all this prior"
ReplyDeleteYou think the mayor didn't before he delivered his in the 11th hour?
Monkey, I understand neither your question nor your statement. Of course Council members talk to each other. They have every right to no consult without violating the Sunshine Act. An aggressive attack on the Mayor? They rejected his DCED director and some massive wage hikes and he attempted to jam it up their ass. That's an aggressive attack by the Mayor.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the mayor's response was aggressive. There was indeed massive ass jamming involved. And, don't get me wrong - I'm "siding" with council - I was just curious how they pulled off such a stunt without any prior public discussion. If you're saying they can discuss strategic maneuvering like this outside of public view/hearing, then that's all I wanted to know. It seemed to a casual observer like myself very well planned, and I just wondered if that was OK. Clearly, there were many many discussions leading up to this vote. If it's all legal, then I'd say it's all good! I'll be watching Twitter tonight - hopefully Opilo will be live tweeting.
ReplyDeleteBernie, why does George Schaller do the Republican red thing on your blog and not Molovinsky's?
ReplyDeleteI doubt anyone other than you cares.In fact, i doubt you care, either. You just want to intimidate him by naming him, as you do to most readers, You could go to a meeting and ask him, except last time you were there you were tossed by a few cops.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeletethere is no need for you to try to explain what they should come and ask me except there sack is not intact and just maybe there feminine diaper is not filled with natures cleansing of someone that is not a dried up prune in this situation in which case there is a cheZZy substance on the panty liner!
First case in point this evening, county has abused children in the abusers hands and the FEDS has the children both standing on a judges desk with me! than there is the political panderance that is at three levels I am sure of before FEDS that would be city county and last but far not least, and we have miss wild that has used a direct quote from the presiding president county judge in city counsil court jesters and that is very few theZe days?
This evening I had shoke the fire cheifs hand and said itZ all in a days work and nothing personal his hand felt as soft a a real womens outer parts of a vigina?!)$ Speaking of which wednesday was spent with the law clerk conflict lawyer as my mouthpiece and I have given a little tid bit for them to try to twist the tale with, similar to the mancave REmodel originally done by Cityline fire retoration and of late the permits were pulled by the other hound from hell as I call them Stallar. Just in that little statment we can all understand the political panderance and how high and low it goes!
AS the current counsil preZ has said take that for what it is no more no less and third party documentaion is in REciept of law clerk lawyer lady but just a taste of things that FED is in REciept of? Thanx for the nightcap Bernie, Because ofwho and what I am and who and what I am pointing the finger at they are after my child?!)$
This is my OWN form of therapy and I thank you dearly for allowing me to sare that I am a living breathing human that is still standing in the face of injustice and his personal vandetta that is beoned REproach and REprehencible criminal act commited wile acting in his official capcity to dismantal and destroy naysayers of his corrupt antics with the carnival circus sideshow NON-PROFIT for PROFIT and the biggest land owner within the city limitZ?!)$
The fear of risk of life at the hands of local authorities as local ordinances allready disciminated against me and also athorities destoryed waht these ordanances enacted made me do to the family home I inherited for a dollar I didn't pay and isn't even worth that dollar today because of designs administrationally implimented that is pure evil and hell surrounding me on all side?!)$
REpublican reddrabbit
no party favor whatsoever
I will allow this comment but this is not the place for your therapy. I will be deleting off topic comments from this point.
ReplyDeleteLast night I asked a council member about solicitor Susan Wild, who replied that she has provided them with excellent counsel. My erroneous post yesterday implied otherwise.
ReplyDelete