Last night, I sent five questions to the 10 NorCo Council candidates seeking five seats. I asked for a reply within seven days because I'd like to get their answers out there before you cast your vote.
Northampton County is a home rule charter government. There are some who'd like to return to a Comm'r form of government, while there are others who think charter needs a major overhaul. Would you vote to authorize a referendum asking voters to approve and elect a home rule charter study commission?
Northampton County has had no salary study done for decades, leading to salary compression between newcomers and long-time county employees. Would you budget for and insist on a salary study?
Northampton County's role in the pandemic was limited, but it made federal funds available to small businesses, renters facing eviction, set up testing and vaccination sites and provided assistance to local municipalities and nonprofits. What is your assessment at how the county responded to this health crisis and what would you do differently?
Are you confident that elections in Northampton County are fair, accurate and legal? Explain.
Steve Lynch, the Republican candidate for Executive, attended an attempted coup of Congress on January 6. He has claimed, falsely, that Covid-19 vaccines alter DNA. Steve Lynch promised an angry crowd to get rid of them. At an August 29 Harrisburg rally, he vowed to physically remove Northampton Area School Directors over a mask mandate. "Forget going onto these school boards with freakin' data. You go into these school boards to remove them. I'm going in with 20 strong men and I'm gonna' give them an option - they can leave or they can be removed." Do you support Lynch?
30 comments:
I see on Steve Lynchs Facebook that McClure is refusing to debate him. Is there any truth to this and if it is, I will be disappointed that McClure doesn't use his history as not only county executive but as a council member and an attorney to silence Lynch.
Any Republican that states on the record that they oppose Lynch has my vote. I will be stunned if any of them have the backbone.
Nice. Looking forward to responses. Bernie, is the NorCo LWV still active? Their website is stale, and the phone # shown is disconnected. Hopefully the local press will do some interviewing of candidates too. We voters need more information, not less, in these hyper-partisan times.
of course they support Lynch their silence says it all
All Democrats have spoken out against Lynches reckless behavior and steroid rage.
All Republicans have been silent even the current Council Members, shame on them
Heckman condemned Lynch at a Council meeting. Have not seen any statements by the others. The response to the Lynch question is a deal breaker for me.
It is true McClure will not debate Lynch. It is also true Lynch will debate you anytime O'hare. P.S. Post my comment made this morning.
Lynch refused to meet with me and in fact blocked me from his personal Facebook page even though I never posted a comment there. So I know he'd refuse to debate me bc he has,
Sp far as a Lynch-McClure debate goes, all that does is legitimize fringe candidate Lynch, who is inimical to democracy. McClure rightly refuses to elevate this thug.
We have a right to hear both sides even if we do not agree with them. We the voters should be the arbiter of legitimacy, not this esteemed blogger.
NorCo's LWV is pretty much kaput.
The first amendment exists to protect unpopular speech, if it was there to protect "popular" speech we would not need it O'Hare.
I spoke with Lynch personally who said you ran the other way when he saw you outside the courthouse. He wanted to know what you thought he was going to do to you?
Sad to hear that LWV's is not functional as they did provide some basic info on candidates to the public.
The fact of the matter is that there still is going to be an election and Lynch isn't going anywhere. McClure might not want to "legitimize" him by "giving him a platform" but he still isn't above sending out flyers disparaging the guy all over the place. You and others complain that Lynch only focuses on national issues/topics but never addresses anything locally when it comes to County issues. Let McClure debate him on these issues and this will give the people who are on the fence- those who don't want McClure re-elected but that are unsure about Lynch- the opportunity to hear what Lynch has to say. Maybe he shoots himself in the foot and allows McClure to put the final nail into his coffin or maybe he manages to show competency and brings a fresh perspective that manages to sway those people.......which is what McClure is truly afraid of.
No, he has established convincingly that he is a fringe candidate, and the only concern McClure has is legitimizing him by giving him a soapbox. Lynch just wants a platform from which he can sell more "1 of 20" T-shirts.
I disagree. Lynch is a nut, yes, but he is the republican candidate. McClure will look weak in the eyes of voters if he refuses to accept a debate challenge. Remember, politics and pro wrestling are pretty much the same thing these days. McClure will suffer by trying to take the high road. Trump has proven that if you don't get down in the mud with the pigs. . . well, nobody gives two shits about the high road. It's all about the show.
@11:15 - this is basic politics, never give your opponent an opportunity to look good. Lynch has had the better part of a year to establish that he knows anything about Northampton County politics, administrations and citizen affairs.
Sadly, he has chosen to fully display himself as the small minded whiny white guy who rages at circle jerks with others about his lot in life with little to no clue about how he put himself where he is. He is a victim of too much talk radio and FOXNews Opinion-tainment.
"I spoke with Lynch personally who said you ran the other way when he saw you outside the courthouse. He wanted to know what you thought he was going to do to you?"
I only saw Lynch at the courthouse once, the day he announced. I was right there, just a few feet away and filmed him. The fact is it is Lynch who has run from me. After agreeing to an interview, he blocked me (even though I never once commented there) and refused to do an interview. He knows he will be exposed even more than he already does to himself.
Let me get this straight. A candidate who refuses to do an interview and open himself up to my readers, thinks McClure should open up to him?
Lynch, among many other things, is a hypocrite.
He should stick to hawking his stupid t-shirts.
I think the small business community would disagree with you. So would the Gracedale residents. Had Lynch been Exec they would all be dead by now. As it stands he is endangering the lives of schoolchildren. And by the way, Covid is still very much here.
I was responding to this: “ Lamont hid during CoVid. It's perfectly in character for him. Two rats are running and voters have already lost. The startling thing is their similarities; not their differences. ”
You're running a blog and you have shown a complete biased opinion on Lynch the entire time. He doesn't have to grant you an interview and open up to you if he doesn't trust for you to not spin it in a certain way. He's not trying to conduct an interview with McClure. He's trying to debate him on issues that affect the county and regardless of how you feel about the way he's ran his campaign so far McClure ducking him isn't a good look. It's flat out cowardly and, again, shows that he is afraid of actually going up against Lynch. He is not above throwing cheap shots at him on his flyers though. I, for, one look forward to those "McCounty Coward" T-Shirts..........
O'Hare if I can get you and lynch in the same room to have a cordial debate on facebook live would you agree to come? I think it would be great theater. I know Lynch and dont agree with his rhetoric. Do I think he cares yes, do I think his approach is off yes. It would definitely be better for the voters if McClure would debate him. As was previously said either he makes a total ass of himself or he shows hes a little smarter than he looks.
Bernie. You asked us for questions but it seems you asked your questions?
Imagine how deranged you have to be to insist children go back to classrooms without any form of protections in place? We are talking about about children that cannot get vaccinated even if they wanted to. And this is the person you want as county executive? C’mon Northampton County, this is the best Republican candidate you muster? It’s embarrassing.
My entire republican voting family is voting for Lamont McClure. He is the only man for the job. This nut case Lunch doesn't have a prayer.
Is Lynch married with children?
"Bernie. You asked us for questions but it seems you asked your questions?"
I took some questions posed by readers and made them a bit more open-ended. I did not use questions that could not be asked to all of the candidates. I did miss the question about re-assessment. In hindsight, that should have been one of the five.
"O'Hare if I can get you and lynch in the same room to have a cordial debate on facebook live would you agree to come? I think it would be great theater. I know Lynch and dont agree with his rhetoric. Do I think he cares yes, do I think his approach is off yes. It would definitely be better for the voters if McClure would debate him. As was previously said either he makes a total ass of himself or he shows hes a little smarter than he looks."
There will be very little cordial about a debate with Lynch, and I would insist it is in a neutral setting, not with his hangers on like yourself. He won't do it bc he would be destroyed, as I have done in the past to other demagogues.
Covid is still very much here??? Weren't you the guy back Lamont and chuck saying that the COs are greedy ppl because they wanted hazard pay reinstated. You were running around saying It vanished... check the numbers at the jail. NO!!! That doesn't look good for your buddies.. But blame that on the COs.
10:40, what I was saying is that COs who refuse a vaccine even when they are offered $500 are in no position to demand hazard pay, and that the dumbest thing they could have done is publicly demand it. I don’t think I called you greedy
Someone anonymous asks if they can get Bernie and Lynch into a room for a debate. That makes no sense. Identify yourself so we would know why you would be credible enough to make that happen.
Thanks for answering the LWV question Bernie. I am sad to hear the answer - they were able to get basic facts out there for the voters to see.
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