It would be hard to blame Ray O'Connell or any of he other disappointed Mayoral candidates from feeling that way. But we live in a nation in which a scant plurality, as opposed to a real majority, can decide who leads them. So despite a federal investigation into Allentown Mayor Edwin "Fed Ed" Pawlowski for political corruption, Democrats have chosen him as the party's nominee for a fourth term as Mayor.
Fed Ed cited his victory as proof that no dark cloud hangs over Allentown. But the reality is that he was chosen by just 1,734 of approximately 42,000 registered Democrats. Four percent of the City's Democrats decided for the other 96%.
Some blame the crowded field of seven candidates as making Fed Ed's nomination inevitable. But it's really a flaw in our winner-take-all system, which fails to provide for Instant-runoff voting (IRV). That's a voting method used in single-seat elections when there are more than two candidates. If voters ranked candidates in order of preference. Though this method is used in several counties and even in our Oscar selections, Maine is the sole state to provides for instant run-offs.
A more simple solution would be a second round of voting, limited to the top two candidates.
The Republican Mayoral primary was much more of a mandate for Nat Hyman. He garnered 1,422 voter to Luiz Garcia's 667.
So unless he's dragged out of office, kicking and screaming, Fed Ed will face Hyman in November. It is the worst possible result
Other disasters. Amy Zanelli, aka the Chicken Lady, cruised to victory in the Lehigh County Commissioner's race for We these constant attacks tiresome andcounterproductiveandwill be ignoring him from this point. st Bathlehem and Allentown's East Side over Dennis Pearson and Basilio Bonilla. Far few voters know her history. She will face Bob Smith, a man who suffered nearly fatal injuries when he broke the fallofa troubled teen who tried to commit suicide and hurled herself off a roof.
Easton voters went with incumbents Sandra Vulcano and Jim Edinger over Taiba Sultana and Terrence Miller
Silver linings. Alicia Zito and Vivian Zumas, both of whom captured the nomination of both parties for Magisterial District Judge slots in the slate belt and east Bethlehem.
Tracy Magnotta,who won in the Saucon Valley School Board race.
Bob Cartwright, who fought off an attempt to remove him from the Bangor School Board, has survived on the Republican ballot.
Matt Dees survived an ugly attempt by Tricia Mezzacappa to knock him off the Democratic ballot in West Easton. She will be on the Republican ballot, but only captured 24 votes, about half as many as four years ago.
I'll have more to say tomorrow. I spent a long day yesterday as an election judge and need a little time to recharge my batteries.
72 comments:
Dems outnumber Republicans 4-1 in Allentown Hyman is praying for indictments.
God save Allentown.
This result (i.e. the turnout and Pawlowski's victory) should surprise nobody. Baaaaaaaaa.
Good job Allentown Dummycrats! And then to blame the winner take all system.... pfftt
I'm quite pleased that Bennett went down in flames early. She didn't fool anyone.
Face it, Pawlowski is a dem and he is being protected by the corrupt democratic political machine. Forget the facts, his problems will just fade away.
72% of Dem primary voters rejected Fed Ed, but he wins anyway!
Bernie do you agree that if O'Connell, Thiel, or Bennett had withdrawn and endorsed another, Fed Ed would have lost?
It's the GOP presidential primary all over again, also with disastrous result.
Hardly a mandate with a 209 vote win. Everybody knew there were problems when "Fed Ed" raised $93,000, mostly from outside unions and two disgraceful benefactors, Rob Bennett $10,000 and Murat Guzel $15,000. Money talks and BS walks! This is "Fed Ed's" 1st part of the gauntlet. He'll now have to face cross-over democrats in the fall and of course, the Justice Department hopefully this summer. Since the lowly democrats can't support a candidate that is not corrupt, arrogant or deceitful, I guess the rest of the populace has to stand up against this Chicago thug.
If Ed wins in November, he will be the first four consecutive term mayor in Allentown's history.
It is a shame that Thiel and O'Connor did not unite early. One could have been Mayor and the other Managing Director. They would be well qualified for those positions since they each had extensive management experience. Together they would have easily won.
Thank you for serving yesterday, Bernie! I agree completely...for so many reasons, IRV is the way to go. Would love to see a push for this reform across the state.
Allentown is dying.
It's not like we didn't know this already.
When the indictment comes down, who gets to replace him on the ballot?
Despite my feelings , Amy Zanelli won the primary and I congratulate her for her victory ... But I am not joining her campaign in the fall...It is now up to Robert Smith Jr. the Republican to take on Zanelli in the Fall ... Battle well ... And if you are lucky you will have the distinction of being an appointed City Councilman, an elected Allentown School Board Member and an elected Lehigh County Commissioner ...And I give David Jones the defeated Mayoral candidate this message ....If you have a continued desire to remain a government official in January run as an Independent to claim your Commissioner seat this fall ... This is not a slight to Mr. Smith but an acknowledgement that you are and will remain a better Democratic Commissioner then Zanelli.
Despite my feelings , Amy Zanelli won the primary and I congratulate her for her victory ... But I am not joining her campaign in the fall...It is now up to Robert Smith Jr. the Republican to take on Zanelli in the Fall ... Battle well ... And if you are lucky you will have the distinction of being an appointed City Councilman, an elected Allentown School Board Member and an elected Lehigh County Commissioner ...And I give David Jones the defeated Mayoral candidate this message ....If you have a continued desire to remain a government official in January run as an Independent to claim your Commissioner seat this fall ... This is not a slight to Mr. Smith but an acknowledgement that you are and will remain a better Democratic Commissioner then Zanelli.
Appears that the candidates you've attacked, Pawlowski and Zanelli, did rather well. Maybe in the fall you should endorse those you don't like, thus giving their opponents a better chance to win.
6:43 am said "...do you agree that if O'Connell, Thiel, or Bennett had withdrawn and endorsed another, Fed Ed would have lost?"
The reality is that any one of the Democrat candidates (or Siegel and Woodring together) dropping out could have resulted in someone other than Pawlowski winning yesterday. Even if they all truly wanted the best for the city, each of them failed to put Allentown first by diluting the field. That's disappointing.
So do they now fall in line behind Pawlowski or continue to speak out and stand against him? I guess that's when we really find out who was running for a better Allentown and who was running for themselves.
Allentown lost in this election! Under Fed Ed it will continue down the road of being a poverty magnet and soon will replace Reading as the crime capital of PA. Our only hope now is that the DOJ finally gets off it's dead ass and indict the phony Fed Ed. His disdain for public safety and the building codes has endangered every Allentown resident.
City Council will rightfully stand up to him, but unfortunately they are limited by the Home Rule Charter. However they can start a Charter Commission to revise/replace the Home Rule Charter. They are taking the first step by introducing a referendum of Mayor term limit. Egocentric, Fed Ed, has promised to veto any such legislation.
Re: silver linings. How is any election that is decided in the primary a silver lining? Voters will have no choice in the general. That's not a silver lining. That's a shame.
Looking back on the campaign, all the Democrat Mayor candidates failed city residents.
Somehow while an FBI probe of City Hall is still active; and where 5 or six members of Pawlowski's City Hall have plead guilty and are awaiting sentencing, this election somehow became the normal "vote for me, I'm a good guy", or "we need more fire trucks" type of election we always have.
That's not good enough.
It should have been targeted on removing Pawlowski from office, no matter who ends up getting in. That's the mailer that should have been sent out by every Democrat candidate. If any of the six mailed it, I sure missed it.
Pathfinder said: "They are taking the first step by introducing a referendum of Mayor term limit. Egocentric, Fed Ed, has promised to veto any such legislation."
That's great and long overdue. But even if it would pass, it surely wouldn't be retroactive or be effective for this election, so Ed could likely run for two more terms beyond the one he's running for now.
That's not enough.
For those Allentown residents who were thinking of moving, realtors, and the like.
HERE'S YOUR SIGN!
4% better than 3%.Some times 4% is all you need
Whiners Get over it. Pawlowski won and he's mayor for four more years.
You liked him last time. Why not now?
"When the indictment comes down, who gets to replace him on the ballot?"
He can continue to run. He can remain in office until convicted and can continue to run until convicted and sentenced.
Bennett is the political version of herpes. She will never go away.
"Appears that the candidates you've attacked, Pawlowski and Zanelli, did rather well. "
I would not say 4% is doing well. I was never under any illusion that both of these bad candidates were going to finish dead last. I thought Zanelli would win and that Fed Ed would be in the top three. Zanelli will lose in the general, and Fed Ed will have hopefully resigned by then.
"Bernie do you agree that if O'Connell, Thiel, or Bennett had withdrawn and endorsed another, Fed Ed would have lost? "
Yes, but that'snot the way democracy works. Each person who thinks he should be Mayor should be able to run. I think IRV is the answer to this dilemma.
go ED go
Surely, Sam Bennett will disappear for a while after this election. All the time, money, endorsements etc. and she got 600 some votes!! Wow. I wonder if she can win Inspector of a District Election at this point. Another observation, Hendricks aside, I think Fed Ed actually carried a couple of Council candidates (i.e. Mota, Ortiz) on his coat tails. While turnout was low, he won in impressive fashion.
Ms.Kelton's factoid about pawloski is the most disturbing result of Allentown's Democratic Primary. Fortunatley Joe Daddona, who must be rolling over in his grave, and Malcolm Gross will be the only Mayors to have had 4 COMPLETED TERMS albeit only 3 consecutive. Fortunately for atown, Ed will not complete his term. Who is Nat Hyman? any chance? Once upon a time, elections in allentown were quite competitive--69 Bartholemew beats Daddona; 77 Fischl upsets Daddona'; 93 Heydt wins a three way race.
If Hyman is not a complete criminal and can raise money would he have a chance?
"go ED go"
Indeed. And the sooner the better.
Unfortunately most of Ray O'Connellls supporters live outside of the city or are Republicans
O'Connell and Thiel split the West End vote....FedEd won. Am I shocked? A bit. Am I surprised that government and politics are corrupt? Not for a second.
It appears FedEd went out and got the middle eastern vote.
We are watching s city die.
The entire Valley should be concerned.
I'm glad you mentioned Bob Smith's story.
He's show heroism and suffered injuries rarely seen in civilian life.
He's too modest to bring it up, so it was good of you to do it for him.
Bernie, I love your statistical numbers and you and Lou should get together for allentowns forensic dysection accounting calculated miscalculations inTENTionally ofcourse?
The faces will soon be digitalized immortalized through out the city's signage!
Bernie, what happened to Ron Angle? From first to last? Have the republicans abandoned him?
Nothing happened to Ron. Being in first place is the same as being in last place if you are all chosen. The question is what will happen with five Dems in the mix.
Bullshit! Nice rationalization though.
Knock yourself out
We'll see about the general election.
Unfortunately, regarding Hyman, there's something that smells a bit.
I'd like to see a full accounting of who paid to have his opponents' signatures challenged. The Morning Call does a good job of pointing out that he was the only Republican whose signatures weren't challenged, and pointing out that some student at Muhlenberg led the challenges, but it stops there.
Who paid the legal fees?
Larry Otter doesn't strike me as a guy who works pro bono a lot.
The only people who see Angle as a lock are Bernie, Stoffa and Jerry Seyfried.
Anon@12:35 A year ago I would have agreed with your statement that Fed Ed carried Cynthia Mota to re-election. But after the events this past November, she is definitely not in his camp of followers. Jessica Ortiz on the other hand is & I am glad she did not make it. We have a City Council that is against the mayor as it has been for the past 16 months.
"Unfortunately most of Ray O'Connellls supporters live outside of the city or are Republicans"
Really? How did they end up voting for him yesterday?
As much as I hate the result, IRV isn't the answer.
I doubt we'd even be reading about it if Ray O'Connell or one of the other candidates had won.
16 months out of 140. Congratu-effin-lations. It took federal investigations and indictments for you to stop rubber stamping. Allentown council members, with the exception of Eichenwald, are co-conspirators in Allentown's mess. Pawlowski is Daniel Flood with a lesser mustache. He'll have to be dragged from office in shackles. He knows he'll never find honest work. He has no choice but to cling to this job. The pay is OK and who ever his boss (council, voters) is doesn't give a shit about anything. It's an awesome gig.
O'Connell was too old for the job. He's older than my dad actually, and was in the ASD for years. Then went into politics as a second career where he was a rubber-stamp for Pawlowski, he's part of the baggage that Allentown needs to replace.
Thiel was in the private sector then went to serve on the school board. I don't know if he had the executive experience to run Allentown, which is a $100 million dollar company really. I do think he was the best Democrat running.
In the end I was glad that Thiel was ahead at first, but in the end both him and O'Connell faded to Pawlowski who knew where his support was and ran a campaign better than any of them. He also acted and sounded like a Mayor and I'm not really surprised he won, despite the cloud which hangs over the city. If he wasn't under suspicion of criminality, he would have handily won by a lot more.
Jamie Kelton, Since Trump is several years older than O'Connell, you should have been opposed to him under your own logic. But you weren't. That's bc you are being disingenuous. You supported Trump bc you supported his hateful agenda of authoritarianism. It didn't matter how old he was. And you oppose O'Connell bc he is a Democrat. It does not matter hos old he is. You claim to oppose third, even though he is a businessman, bc he has noexecutive experience in government. Neither does Trump. Yet you supported him. So once again, you are being disengenuous. This is not Molovinsky's blog, where you can spout nonsensical arguments without being challenged.
I liked Garcia Nice guy, liked what he wanted to say. However he had big problems with his campaign organizationally, and did probably as good as he could. He is an up and comer in the GOP you'll see him again. He was the one I hoped to win, but he had little of a chance at least this first go-around. He did well though.
Hyman is where the traditional GOP was. Country club type, Reminds me of the George Bush kind of Republican. There is something about him that I don't like and can't really put my finger on it, just intuition I suppose. He's kind of sleazy with his low-end developments, kind of reminds me of a landlord for section-eight housing. He had a lot of money and the big money Republicans were behind him. Not surprised he won handily.
Hyman's biggest problem is that in order for him to win the general election, he's praying for indictments against Pawlowski. He has a big hill to climb with 75% of Allentown voters being Democrat. Although if he runs against Pawlowski by running a negative campaign against him, he may attract many of the disaffected Democrats who supported O'Connell and Thiel. But that just may not be enough, although he's probably the Republican who has the best chance of winning since Heydt.
Bernie, I supported President Trump because I couldn't stand Hillary Clinton.
I know you're a Democrat Mr O'Hare and I respect you for standing on your views. If I wanted to spout nonsensical arguments, I could be a Democrat as well and be part of the "resistance" and talk about Impeaching President Trump. However, I haven't gone off the deep end as most of your party on the national level seems to have done.
I stayed out of this while the campaign was ongoing, and just preferred to read the viewpoints of your contributors, as well as yours. My parents voted yesterday, I suppose they were two of the few that did
Sorry that was me, I don't post as anonymous.
Jamie, it is quite clear that your argument against O'Connell and Thiel are red herrings. If you truly believed what you said, you would never have supported Trump. You claim you supported Trump bc he is not Clinton. Now that I believe. O'Connell and Thiehl are not Fed Ed.
One need no more explanation than the mention of said college and it circus carnival collaboration! You can try to change the cover of a cambells soup can but, the conTENTz and it make are the same!
"However, I haven't gone off the deep end as most of your party on the national level seems to have done."
I would say the republican backed tea party signs with pictures of a bone through the nose and loin clothed Obama, is pretty far off the deep end. You guys are what inspired the new democratic resistance. So congratulations.
What new democratic resistance? The one that carried crooked Hillary Rodham Clinton to victory this past November? The new democratic resistance that just re-elected Ed Pawlowski? New democratic resistance? Okay, sure.
Mr O'Hare. Mayor Pawlowski is under suspicion of criminal activity and we'll see what happens with regards to that. I know you don't give him the presumption of innocence and that's your choice. Many people don't either and that's why Misters O'Connell and Thiehl and the other Democrats ran against him. The Mayor knows how to campaign and he knows where his constituents live. He ran a generally positive campaign and that's why he won with a very slim margin. If it wasn't for the criminal investigation, he'd have won re-nomination in a walk.
"The Resistance".
LOL!!!!!!
Thiel I thought was the best Democrat, he seems like a nice man and wants to do well, but the school board is not city council. Every time I saw O'Connell though I thought since he was basically Mayor Pawlowski's guy on City Council and why now? He supported the Mayor for years without question.
But I really hoped Garcia could get it together but he didn't. Next time he runs, and I hope he does, he'll have the experience he gained in this campaign. If he had won, I think he would have done better with the various ethnic groups also that dominate more and more of Allentown. Especially if he has the GOP's organization behind him. Hyman has that but he won't do well with Mayor Pawlowski's base and the vast majority of Democrats in Allentown which is most of the city. IF the mayor is not indicted. If he is then all bets are off.
Cognitive Dissonance - When you realize that too many folks in your Country and Hometown are all stuck in this state of mind and being...
- Alfonso Todd III
Trump is a Disaster. I get the change thing and not liking Hillary, however,Trump is the Swamp. Lets hope his power is marginalized before he creates an international crisis. How can our distress cities recover when the nation is focused on this Bafoon?
Jamie Kelton, As I've already explained, you disliked the Dems running because they are Dems. You're a partisan who made up reasons to dislike them, and when it was pointed out that these are the same qualities that exist in Trump, you changed your reasons. You should at least be honest.
Trump is a great Christian, that is all you need to know. Have you heard the one about a couple of Corinthians. walking into a bar.
The hole of the human race is in trouble with the double talking words put to print as factual, with out no investigation that makes a fact a fact. I remember doing book reports and having to put the book name and pages that made onez philosophy or theory concluded and it allwayz had to be two sided?
Damm that was hard useing my left and right hand, Bernie
Bernie, would you prefer Nat Hyman or Ed Pawlowski winning the election in November? If neither, who is the least bad/lesser of two evils?
Fed Ed is a criminal. The only place I'd like to see him is behind bars. I have raised questions about Hyman as well, but am willing to give him an opportunity to prove that he has Allentown's best interests at heart.
I never thought I'd agree with Dennis Pearson, but the best case for Democrats in District 3 would be if David Jones ran as an independent. Once the rest of the bones fall out of Zanelli's closet Robert Smith will have an easy win.
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