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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Friday, March 03, 2017

Reactions to Brown's "State of the County"

Steve Barron and Lamont McClure
What did people think of Executive John Brown's "State of the County?" Depends on who you ask.

Ron Angle and Hayden Phillips, both of whom are Republicans, were generally impressed."It was the right kind of a speech for a business crowd," said Angle. "I think it was a good speech," added Phillips. "It is a positive story."

Lamont McClure and Steve Barron, both of whom are Democrats, were unenthusiastic.

Barron claims Brown failed "to address the positions in several areas of the county that have not been filled and are needed to provide services to the taxpayers of the county. The shuffling of accounting staff and excessive spending on new office furniture amount to nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Lamont McClure, a Bethlehem attorney and former NorCo Council member, is running for Brown's job. I think it only fair that I publish his critique in its entirety.

"This morning I had the opportunity to attend Mr. Brown's State of the County. My hope was that Mr. Brown would put forth an agenda that would improve the lives of the citizens of Northampton County. Unfortunately, what we saw and heard was a sleep inducing PowerPoint presentation that was so full of misinformation and falsehoods that it's almost impossible to unpack. However, what he did do is repackage his callous war on county employees as synergies and efficiencies that save taxpayers money. A deeper dive into the numbers reveal the so-called savings to have been minimal - while the damage to the lives of employees has been real.

"When you practice Tea Party politics, as Mr. Brown does, the stated purpose of these so-called savings measures is to return the money to the people. Instead, fueled by a corrupt and crony-filled administration he not only failed to cut taxes, he increased taxes on our people by 10%. The Brown Administration is corrupt, crony-filled and callous. It's time to protect Seniors, preserve green space and create the conditions for prosperity."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo Lamont!! Never in the history of county executives has there been such a blatant display of overpaying unqualified and untalented cronies. Brown pays his minions undeserved high salaries while spitting in the eyes of the rest of the county workforce. Let's hope that Lamont or some other candidate can end the nightmare of the Clown administration.

Anonymous said...

Great point. The darlings of the Taxed Enough Already Party raised taxes 10% in their first year in office. Their darling and King of the tea partiers Hayden Phillips pushed for a 20% tax increase.
The hypocrisy of this crowd is appalling. Of course we know the tea partiers will push the Rep buttons like the alternative facts crowd they are.

Anonymous said...

12:46 ..... So The hated Tea Partiers acted like Democrats? Can they expect your vote?

Anonymous said...

Thank you Lamont. Let's hope we get the vote out and get rid of the Brown wrecking team. I love the comment Mr. Clown said about making the work force accountable. LOL Don't remember anything he did to improve accountability. I only remember health care cuts that affected non union members. Do health care cuts = accountability?

Anonymous said...

Cronyism, hypocrisy, non-transparency and vengeance is the mantle of the Brown/Allen team. As stated by Lamont, efficiencies is Brown's buzz-word to cut the labor force at NC and produce less efficient services. He has taken a page from "Fed Ed's" playbook, do not fill positions until it is absolutely necessary and show a surplus for the taxpayers. All smoke and mirrors and just like him! In the meantime services are reduced, morale is below low and government stagnates.

X said...

Bernie,
The quote,"REaranging the chairs on the titanic" is hilarious and truth be told thats what the hostel tactiks employeed and the dynamics of services failure consists of in the triboro. The also was one other important factor of the dislocated worker being juggled around in this three ringed circus?
Intresting article to say the least in this reel news worthy outlet were breaking news is the main venue here on your blog!
Hopping to see opinions return and with all your investigative reporting work, I am wondering if that is able to be worked into your allready overload schedule at all anymore?
REpublican redd
humanist by design

Anonymous said...

And the county's premier time thief and premier meeting no-show are heard from ...........

I guess they want to make stealing from county taxpayers great again.

Anonymous said...

Brown the Clown always the bringer of good news amid the doom and gloom his minions spread on a daily basis among staff and the public at large. Business as usual for government by consultant. The Brown propaganda machine already gearing up to blatantly lie to the electorate yet again in the futile hopes of being reelected..God forbid!

Anonymous said...

12:29AM, As much as I like what you have stated, the Reibman administration was a bunch of idiots , backdoor dealing scumbags also. remember, they are the ones that got the county into the ongoing mess that the county still has 12 years later ( that little thing called the 100 million bond for most of his political buddies). He is a close second to Brown Stain in our eyes.

Anonymous said...

anon 1:45, to whomever "our eyes" are, nice try. The bond built the courthouse and fixed many county issues. A small part was for community development. What you have is 27 years to go on a crazy lease for an unneeded building.
Since you are obviously a plant in what will be a wild political year in the county your faux fixation with 29years ago will fail this year. This election is about Brown and his tax happy republicans. Reibman is not running. Sorry!!