Why Liberal Dems Should Support John Morganelli for Congress

No Labels is a political reform group that consists of members of all political parties. "As long as they are intellectually honest, we respect conservatives, liberals, and anyone in between who has a sincere desire to address the nation’s problems.” But as two members of that group recently wrote in The Wall Street Journal, they were vilified by the left for supporting conservative Democrat Dan Lipinski in Illinois, even though he votes with his party 88% of the time. He was under assault in a primary by first-time candidate Marie Newman. She initially refused to concede because she “would like Mr. Lipinski to have a very painful evening.”

Intolerance in politics has reached epidemic levels. As No Labels explains,

Legislators in both parties have to worry too much about primary challenges from ideologues on the far left or far right. That’s why Democrats and Republicans are so unwilling to work across the aisle. And that in turn is why Congress is failing to address the biggest problems facing America.

The Lehigh Valley was at one time represented by centrist Charlie Dent. He did a great job, and his views really did correspond closely to those held by most of the people who live here. We are basically centrists. But Charlie's refusal to swear fealty to Authoritarian Donald Trump earned him the wrath of some very intolerant people within his own party, including NorCo GOP Chair Lee Snover,who actually participated in a rally opposing him. Charlie eventually got tired of the nonsense and decided to step down at the end of his term.

I would say you can chalk one up for the extremists, but they inadvertently left the door open for another kind of centrist. A Democratic centrist. A tough law-and-order prosecutor. John Morganelli.

Unfortunately, intolerance is a two-way street. It is just as prevalent on the left as it is on the right. So just as Charlie was bashed on the right, Morganelli is getting bashed on the left. He refuses to strike back, saying only that he respects his opponents and will support the ultimate nominee.

Tamara Greenfield

If you're a Lehigh Valley Democrat, and you're wondering who you should vote for in this year's Congressional primary, it's very instructive to consider who the Republicans would like to see get the nod. According to an article in Salon, NorCo GOP Chair Lee Snover would just love to see "the most liberal, the most progressive [as the nominee], because that's a great contrast for us." The Democrat she'd like to see least is Morganelli. She told Salon that he has "that Joe Manchin thing [a reference to the centrist United States Senator from West Virginia]. He talks like us but votes like them."

So it's simple. Be as liberal as you want. But if you want to see a Democrat represent the Lehigh Valley in Congress, vote for the candidate who is in the best position to win the race in November. The Republicans have made clear that person is centrist John Morganelli.

He's ready, like Dent was ready or Matt Cartwright is ready, to roll up his sleeves and work with both sides to solve this nation's problems. We've tried ideologues. Let's try problem solvers. And is you want to know what kind of person John is, talk to Tamara Greenfield.  Here's what she says.

"I am proud to be part of the groundbreaking history of Northampton County in 1992 as the first African American ADA appointed by DA John Morganelli. Under John’s leadership, all people in the criminal justice system were treated with respect and fairly, and not based upon their gender, race or ethnicity."