NorCo Council Prez Kerry Myers Switches Sides and Seeks GOP Write-In Nomination

Northampton County Council President Kerry Myers was a Democrat until 3 pm yesterday afternoon. That's when he switched sides to become a Republican. About 15 minutes later, at a news conference conducted inside the courthouse rotunda, GOP Chair Glenn Geissinger welcomed Myers into the fold and asked fellow Republicans to write Myers in as the Republican candidate for Easton District (Easton, West Easton, Glendon, Stockertown, Tatamy, Forks and Palmer). Also present at this news conference were Republican Council members John Brown, Tom Giovanni and John Goffredo as well as judicial candidate Nancy Aaroe, who seems to have forgotten that she is seeking the nomination of both Republicans and Democrats. You can see a Facebook Live of this presser, thanks to Margie Mandell. 

Unfortunately, the acoustics inside the courthouse rotunda are terrible. It is hard to decipher exactly what people are saying. 

Standing in front of Northampton County's Liberty Bell, Geissinger kicked things off  by stating that when the Republican party was founded 170 years ago, its party platform complained "[t]hat the present Democratic Administration has far exceeded our worst apprehensions." He then went on to say this is true of the current Democratic administration in Northampton County. He complained about Executive Lamont McClure's refusal to order a performance audit at Gracedale or a pay study for the workforce, and argued that the only way to get these things done is with a "strong governing body."

Myers' Fatally Defective Nomination Petition

Geissinger glossed over Myers' fatally defective nomination petition, "The voters need to have a choice and Mr. McClure needs to know that his political maneuvering will stop and are stopped by the people of this county."

I'd have sympathy for Myers if he actually had the support of 250 registered Democrats who live in his district.  But Myers was too lazy to go out and get the support he needed. That's nobody's fault but his. 

Myers, a lifelong Democrat, had filed a nomination petition seeking ballot access in the primary election. It was challenged by Forks Tp Democrats Ed Keegan, husband of Myers' primary opponent Kelly Keegan, as well as Laurie Jackson. They were represented by Bucks County election lawyer Larry Otter. At a hearing before Senior Judge Ed Reibman, Otter established that many of those who had signed Myers's petition lived outside the district, were registered to other parties or weren't registered at all. 

Myers was simply forced to concede his signatures were invalid. He explained at one point that he was circulating in [Shiloh Baptist] church on a Sunday morning and "had five petitions going at one time." By his own admission, Myers was using a church for political purposes. God probably took a dim view of this tactic. 

Myers admitted his nomination petition was fatally defective, but apparently thinks we all should have looked the other way. "If this is the game they want to play, I'm all in," he groused. 

Myers Blames McClure For His Failure

Myers had the same opportunity as all other Council candidates to get the requisite 250 signatures at numerous events aside from dropping off six nomination petitions at Shiloh Church and hoping for the best. There were numerous signing parties being hosted by Democrats at which he failed to appear. But  Myers chose to blame McClure for his troubles. "It seems like I was not playing well in the sandbox," he said. He was pushed out for refusing to be a rubber stamp. 

What Makes Myers Think 250 Republicans Will Support Him? 

Republican Council members John Brown, Tom Giovanni and John Goffredo voted No to Kerry Myers in January, when he ran for County Council President.  They preferred Council member John Cusick, who abstained from voting at all after he was nominated.  It took the votes of all five Democratic Council members, including Myers, for him to get the presidency. Republican Council members know what Myers is like. 

On Council, he has been a bully with a penchant for foul language. He slammed fellow Council members who tabled  the nomination of an elections commissioner when it was discovered that she works for a candidate seeking re-election. That's an obvious conflict, but Myers was incensed and wanted her appointed anyway because she is black. "If you want to go down that road, be my guest," he barked at Council members.  "But be prepared to take the heat for it."  

Council later appointed a black elections commissioner who had no conflict. 

During a meeting last year, Myers betrayed his overbearing style when he went into full bully mode on Sheriff Rich Johnston. Myers actually stated that, if he were a Deputy Sheriff, he'd refuse to take orders from Johnston.  

Myers: "I may be the only one here, but - Whooo! - I have a hard time saying I wanna take orders from this guy because I think my life would be in danger. But you hired him. 

McClure: "That's an outrageous statement. No one's life is in danger. None of the management decisions that were questioned tonight put anyone's life in danger. That's an outrageous statement. 

Myers: "Stop. This is my meeting. You can walk away frustrated and mad as hell. I'm running this meeting."

Myers never apologized for his disgusting remarks about the Sheriff, who has more personal integrity than most people I know. He is precisely where he needs to be. 

Myers likes to brag that he was elected with 72% of the vote. He fails to realize that he was elected in a statewide blue wave, He seems to have forgotten that he failed to make it out of the primary in a previous try for County Council ... and in a previous school board race. He forgets that when he left Easton's School Board, it was running at a deficit and he was threatening layoffs unless unions made concessions. He is a polarizing figure who makes McClure look like Mr. Rogers. 

Late last year, he brought his braggadocio to a meeting at Easton Area School District. 

"I don't need a microphone. You can turn that damn thing off. I am Kerry Myers. Most of you know me, some of you don't. I am the current President of the Varsity E. I'm also the Vice President of Northampton County Council. I'm a former school board member, past President and VP of this organization. I vowed I never come back in this building when I left in 2011. That didn't work." He later added, "I am a 1972 alum. I was the Captain of the basketball team that only finished third in the state. I have my connections. ... ."

He's rather full of himself. 

As if all this were  not enough, we learned in February that he was using his Twitter account to engage in racy dialogue with bots he thought were MILFS. This demonstrates both creepiness and stupidity.  He claimed he was hacked, using the Sal Panto defense, even though there were numerous tweets on that account that only could have come from him. 

Republicans know all this about Myers. He is a self-serving politician who is using them to get what he wants. If he was unable to get 250 signatures from Democrats, what makes him think Republicans will want to write him in? 

Other Sources:

Morning Call

Lehigh Valley News