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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Anti-Development Plank Wins on Both Sides in Upper Mount Bethel

It's very rare to see a write-in candidate beat someone who's already on the ballot. But that's exactly what has happened in the Upper Mount Bethel Tp, where two Supervisor seats were up for grabs. 

There were two candidate on the Republican ballot, Cori Eckman and James E Potter. Eckman won 723 votes and Potter snagged 420. Unfortunately for Potter, he was eliminated by 439 write-in votes cast for Jason Albert. So the two Republican candidates are Eckman and Albert. 

On the Democratic side of the ledger, Ed Nelson was the sole candidate. Jason Albert was kicked off the ballot as a result of problems with his nomination petition, which were pointed out by Nelson in a challenge. 

Nelson, who incidentally is Township Manager until the end of the year, did pick up 126 votes. But he faced a write-in campaign from Albert and Eckman, and they beat him. Albert won 267 write-ins and Heckman garnered 250.  

So unofficially, Eckman and Albert are the only two candidates on either side of the aisle. They can only be beaten if someone can top them with a write-in during November's election.

Eckman and Albert are part of Take Back UMBT, a group upset about the River Pointe development and the traffic it will bring. Northampton County voted to give developer Lou Pektor a tax break called a LERTA at this project, where increased real estate taxes will be phased in slowly over 10 years. Advocated of this tax break said it would bring badly needed jobs. Opponents said it would bring warehouses and truck traffic.

Based on these election results, it appears that a majority of Upper Mount Bethel Tp voters oppose this development.

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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 24, 2023 at 6:49 AM

    1) Democracy wins.
    2) Ed Nelson is an unqualified goofball who should never have been placed in his position.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 24, 2023 at 3:03 PM

    The residents might not like development, but if it's zoned for that use, tough titties.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 24, 2023 at 7:13 PM

    Soon the RATS WILL EAT EACH OTHER IN UMBT!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 28, 2023 at 9:17 AM

    Act 47 coming to a municipality near you 😂😂

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJune 15, 2023 at 11:56 AM

    These 2 bozos will be a disaster for UMBT. Eckman has been accused of sexual harassment numerous times and can't hold down a steady regular job. She was fired from a bartending job a few years ago - how can we expect her to be able to handle a Supervisors role? Having her as an elected official is laughable.
    Albert is a dope and is barely able to spell his first name - even if you spot him the J-A-S-and O. Lord help us when they team up with Friedman and the ever useless "voice of the People", Tool Bermingham. Let the stupidity reign in UMBT.

    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.