Local Government TV

▼

Monday, April 09, 2018

McClure Seeks Council Review of GPA

Northampton County's embattled General Purpose Authority (GPA) has a meeting set for Tuesday. Hopefully, it will go on as scheduled instead of being canceled. It has lots of explaining to do.

1) It started the year with a Sunshine Act violation.

2) It approved an obscene $813,000 in payments during 2016 and 2017 to John Lushis' law firm, Norris, McLaughlin and Marcus (NMM) That firm figured prominently in an investigation into political corruption in Allentown. NMM Partner Scott Allinson was convicted of bribery. He is the attorney who initially lobbied for the GPA Solicitor position. Assistant US Attorney Michelle Morgan called founding partner Matt Sorrentino a liar.

3) Former Executive John Brown was using this authority to promote projects he knew that Council, the County's elected governing body, would question. Like a new jail at Gracedale. Or his own re-election. Or hiring Brown's political propaganda machine after Council made clear this was unacceptable.

4) Chair Shawn Langen was amazingly "hired" as a GPA contact to check the work being done by a third party engineer who is already checking bridge contractor. Langen billed $11,950 last year. As of about a month ago, Executive Lamont McClure was reviewing the invoices.

5) Anyone who does bridge work will tell you that one of the biggest impediments is the acquisition of easements. Let's say UGI or Met Ed has a line going over, under, or through the bridge. Those must usually be altered, and can hold up work for years. Then there are the temporary easements needed during construction itself. Former Executive John Brown failed to budget for the permanent easements.

6) It is unclear whether Kriger is complying with a county ordinance requiring the use of local labor.

At their Thursday night meeting, McClure has asked Council to set aside a committee meeting to review these problems in detail.   . 
at

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 9, 2018 at 12:22 AM

    Isn't that the same law firm the Gaming Board uses?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bernie O'HareApril 9, 2018 at 12:31 AM

    Yes, and the relation needs to end. The fees charged, however, are far lower.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 9, 2018 at 6:53 AM

    NMM must go. In part this law firm is just as dirty as the slimeball Allinson. Some of these political attorney's give the good attorney's at the firm a bad reputation. Sorrentino, Foucek, Somach and Lushis are liars, crooks and con-men. They target public money and they will covet the same at the public's expense.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 9, 2018 at 9:33 AM

    This bunch and the bunch that " specializes" is screwing the school tax payer

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 9, 2018 at 5:49 PM

    What is with the bridges?

    ReplyDelete

You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.