Amy Trapp Looks Out For The Ruling Class

When Amy Trapp was confirmed as NorCo's Human Resources Director in late 2015, I was favorably impressed. She had been the HR Director in Allentown, where she claimed she was friends with one and all. She vowed that would continue at Northampton County, where she would visit offices regularly and get to know people. She had the support of John Stribula, who at that time was President of Allentown Firefighters (IAFF, Local 302). Allentown employee Mike Twining, a crime analyst who represented nonunion employees, also spoke on her behalf. By a 7-2 vote, she was confirmed with a starting salary of $104,328. I would have voted for her myself. I told Scott Parsons and Bob Werner that, by opposing her, they were just playing politics. She would be an employee advocate.

I was wrong.

What I failed to realize is that Trapp has a modus operandi. It's something I learned about later, from Allentown employees and with my own eyes. Basically, her gimmick is to befriend certain people and play them off against each other. She did that to me, and I fell for it. She was more than willing to trash other cabinet level officials behind their backs while befriending others. It was only after the time clock issue, when either she or her husband posted that "entitled spoiled brat government employee" remark on my blog, that I finally got wise to her. What I have since learned is that if she wants to find an "entitled spoiled brat government employee," all she needs to do is look in a mirror.

As she made clear to DA John Morganelli with respect to the time clocks, she very much believes in a different set of rules for different classes of people. The ruling class can pretty much do what it wants, while the underclass better punch in.

At one time, she was Director of Human Resources in Allentown. I have checked her out with employees there. People besides Mike Twining, whom she rewarded with a job here and trips to Vegas and New Orleans for supporting her.

When she was hired in Allentown, the first thing she did was force everyone out in the HR department and recreate it in her own image. She brought Courtney Kendzejeski into Allentown, and now she brought Courtney from Allentown to NorCo. Mike Twining, a 911 supervisor who caught her eye and became a "crime analyst," was also imported here.

In Allentown, she befriended Allentown cops and building maintenance workers, telling them all about certain surgically induced physical enhancements she had done to herself. This should be private, but she proclaimed it to them. According to one Allentown worker, "I went into HR one day and she was in an ultra tight short skirt and she was leaning against a desk regaling the guys with her 'body'."

Seeking to be the center of attention, she would wear provocative outfits in Allentown and had to be told to tone it down.

As for the Allentown cops she befriended, most of them now have Facebook profiles under assumed names or not at all. She would Facebook friend them and then use information obtained to hurt those who could be sacrificed.

In just one year in Allentown, she fired or forced 23 people to retire.

Some employee advocate.

In Allentown, she also started the practice of forcing office managers to attend weekly "training" sessions.

In Northampton County, Trapp has followed the same pattern. She cleaned out the HR department and remade it in her own image. She brought a hoverboard to the courthouse and actually used it to make copies.

She admonishes employees if she catches them in sneakers or casual garb, while she dresses however she wants. Several months ago, an employee in the Juvenile Justice Center passed away unexpectedly, and Trapp went down to console employees ... in flip flops.

Perhaps the biggest illustration of her belief in a different set of rules for the ruling class is her penchant for bringing her dog to work.

She hides it in her purse.

Any county employee who did that would be disciplined if not fired. But just as she drives without a license, she does what she wants at the courthouse.