As the NorCo GOP Turns

Most candidates have long realized realized that a county political party has very little impact on an election. Now that patronage jobs have largely been eliminated, local parties have devolved into little more than social clubs. Candidates who win rely on their own organizations and money to get their message out. While local parties do little to help candidates, they still can hurt them. Failed NorCo Exec and GOP Chair candidate Steve Lynch demonstrated that with a Facebook Live on Sunday night. Instead of unleashing his vitriol on Democratic candidates, he attacks fellow Republicans. His soap opera does nothing to help Republican candidates, but it does make party regulars less willing to work for them. 

Lynch has gone after former party chair Lee Snover numerous times, referring to her in some of his videos as a Nazi. He's managed to alienate most of the goon squad who accompanied him when he ran for Exec. He's at odds with current tea party Chair Tom Carroll, who like Lynch is yet another drama queen. He's angry with the host (female, of course) of a conservative Facebook page for blocking him, something he has done routinely to others and without cause. Nazareth police had to be called when Lynch disrupted a Labor Day meeting. And on Sunday night, he attacked local conservative blogger Margie Mandell (yet another woman) because she dared to link to this page on her own personal blog. She must be a super secret Democrat,  he brays. As ridiculous as that is, he and his cult followers lashed out with hundreds of extremely vulgar comments about Mandell, coupled with claims about her personal life that are demonstrably false. 

Let me explain how I know Mandell, whom I've actually met in person once for about five minutes. She is a far-right conservative. Ideologically, I have nothing in common with her. I heard from her and Beverly Hernandez when they were running for GOP County Chair and Vice Chair. I published their letters seeking support.  

Mandell was a Lynch supporter. She helped him in his Exec race. In fact, she manned (or is it womanned?) one of the polls for him on election day. But soon after that race was over, she noticed she was unable to access his Facebook page. He had blocked her. Not for anything she said. She had decided to support Kevin Dellicker instead of Lisa Scheller in the Congressional primary. He is more conservative than Scheller, and unlike her, does not have three factories in China. 

Instead of realizing that people of good will can and do reach different conclusions, Lynch denied her access to his page. She dared confront Lynch after a local county meeting, and the Lynch mob went after her. 

Nazareth resident Benjamin "Bengy" Jacques was at that meeting with Lynch and was present when Lynch exploded at Mandell.  After the meeting and altercation with Mandell, he posted this on Facebook: "Watch your back when you create enemies out of those you once called friends."

Then the intimidation, blasting, obliterating and bullying started. 

"Who we taking out?" asked Wally Oswald. "And who's [sic] car we taking?" Oswald is from Northampton and was part of the Lynch mob. 

Melanie Heilman, a rabid Lynch supporter from Bethlehem Tp, refers to Mandell, not by her name, but as a "b...." "That's the one problem."

Then Jamie M Lichner joins in. He may not even have been at the meeting, but was offering a final solution. "[A]re they little problems or big problems, meaning are the 5.56 problems or .308 problems or,…. Do we have .50BMG to problems, You got problems, I’ll solve it, check out the beat while my DJ revolves it."

"What do you recommend for unicorns?" asks Matthew Walter. Mandell has purple hair, and Walker was joking about it.  

Todd Wallach (from Nazareth) writes, "Be kind to everyone, but be ready to kill anyone."  I'm sure James Mattis would be disgusted to see his quote perverted to terrorize someone.

Most of these myrmidons have since drifted out of the Lynch orbit. They are no longer of use to him.

This incident wounded Lynch, both politically and personally. Last week, he sought his revenge by labeling Mandell as some kind of Democratic operative for linking to my page.  Let me explain how that works. I link to numerous blogs. Whether I agree with them is irrelevant. You should have multiple points of view before reaching a conclusion. Not in the Lynch echo chamber. Only his views may be expressed. 

Mandell has responded to Lynch and his goons with the essay Steve Lynch - The Great Divider. In this story, she notes that she linked to me on her personal blog, not some official county GOP blog. She did so because "I like the idea of allowing American citizens to read every angle of politics and to practice a little thing I value very dearly- our 1st Amendment right to free speech." She removed the link as the Lynch mob went apoplectic over a link to me. 

I do admit I have a particular set of skills. I can really piss people off, often without trying. 

Mandell goes on to explain that she first reached out to me at the suggestion of former party chair Lee Snover, who now is strangely allied with the very same Lynch she knows is nuts. Unlike Lynch , Lee Snover is honest. But she is sneaky that way. 

Mandell also responds to some of the vicious attacks coming from other women. Some of it is actually defamatory. Hence, I refuse to re-publish these sordid lies, although Lynch has.  

So once again, Mandell has been victimized by a crew of cyber-bullies. This is what the local Republican party has become.