NorCo Exec Brown Fired Twice, Laid Off, in Business Career

John Brown

When John Brown ran for office four years ago, all we knew about his past employment was that he came from the private sector and called himself a "consultant." When asked, he either dodged the question or gave cryptic replies. I now know why. In his business career, John Brown has been fired twice. He was also laid off in 2008. Right after that is when he became a "consultant." He was able to campaign door-to-door in Bethlehem because, for all practical purposes, he was jobless.

How do I know all this?  From John Brown himself. No, he didn't call me up and say, "Bernie, your readers are going to love this!" I know this from reading his deposition, under oath, on October 24, 2014. That was taken after he was sued for violating the due process rights of Jill Mancini, an Assistant Solicitor

He lost the case, both in front of a jury and then on appeal to the Third Circuit.

Brown graduated in 1979 from Bangor High School, and then from Notre Dame University in 1983 with a B.S.degree in microbiology. Not business.Not economics. Later, he did take courses at Moravian, Lehigh and Lafayette with an eye to obtaining an M.BA.. But he never competed his coursework.

His first job after graduation, amazingly, was not in the sciences. He went to work for municipal bond broker J.J. Kenny in NYC. After five years, he was canned. His explanation?" "Basically I wasn't able to -- the time required for the job I couldn't do while I was commuting."

From bond trader, he sunk to the customer service department at Majestic Athletic, then located in the Slate Belt, where he stayed a year.

My grandson's mother worked in customer service at Majestic Athletic for two years.

Maybe she should be Northampton County Executive.

Brown left Majestic Athletic voluntarily in 1989, and went to work for  Columbia Chemical Co., which basically provides the surface finishing for your dining room table. He lasted at this job for eight years, the longest period at any job he'd had. This time, he was in sales and even became a regional sales manager. But in 1997, he was fired again. His explanation? "Essentially I disagreed -- looking for movement within the company that couldn't be done, so they felt it was best if I moved on."

After being fired a second time, Brown found work at Chr. Hansen Co, a Danish bioscience company that develops natural solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. He became a sales manager and a VP in pharmaceuticals. He worked out of worked in Mahwah, NJ. He lasted five years and quit in 2003. Explanation? "They were changing -- I left them."

From Chr. Hansen, Brown went to work for International Specialty Products, which manufactures specialty chemicals and is now owned by Ashland. He worked out of Wayne, NJ. He was let go in 2008, perhaps a victim of the Great Recession. They "downsized the department and I was laid off."

So of necessity, Brown became a consultant known as "John Brown and Associates," working out of his house. He never incorporated. He was unable to explain or identify any of the so-called associates in John Brown and Associates.

Brown claims he made a living, but I doubt it, especially during the Great Recession. So my guess is that a man who had been apolitical his entire life and who rarely voted,  suddenly turned to government for a livelihood.

After two years as Executive, Brown set his sites on higher office - state auditor general.

On his campaign website, he claimed to have "spent most of his career working in the private sector turning around unprofitable businesses by making them more effective, efficient and successful."  He told the GOP faithful that his background was in the private sector, flipping businesses that were failing financially.

As you now know, these statements are untrue. Brown's portrayal of himself as a savior of troubled businesses is simply false. He was a salesman, a bond trader and worked for a rag mill in customer service, a job that any high school grad can do. .

After misrepresenting himself to the entire state of Pennsylvania, Brown thinks you're stupid enough to re-elect him. And he may be right. After all, Northampton County voters went for Trump, and he's a serial liar.

But I'm hoping he's wrong, and gets fired for the third time. This time by the voters.