A rumor about NorCo DA candidate Terry Houck is being whispered down the alley. I first heard it in the form of anonymous comments on this blog, almost immediately after the primary. The scuttlebutt is that Houck would drop out of the race and, once his term is up, work for either Steve Baratta or some other District Attorney. Because I know Terry and how strongly he believes that he needs to stay in office, I immediately rejected this hearsay as sheer nonsense. But then I heard the story again yesterday from two different people, one of whom claimed he heard it during the call of the list. So I called Terry, and he made clear to me that he's in it to win it.
Despite the money poured into Baratta's coffers by developers and Ray Lahoud, and in spite of the efforts that John Morganelli has made behind the scenes to unseat Houck, he still attracted a substantial number of Democratic votes and was the overwhelming choice of Republicans who wrote him in. He intends to win this race by appealing to the numerous Democrats, Republicans and independents who think that they, and not Allentown developers and lawyers, should decide this race. They think they, and not Democratic or Republican party bosses, should make the call,
Stay tuned.
49 comments:
Houck ran as a Democrat and was rejected by his party. If I were him I would start looking for a job on Indeed.com
Ray Lahoud is handsome and hot. I’d let him fund me any day of the week.
5:30, He lost a primary in which independents were unable to cast a vote. Despite an ugly campaign and all the $ poured in by Allentown lawyers and developers, he got a substantial number of Democratic voters and garnered the GOP write in. He was rejected by party bosses and the Morganelli machine, not the people.
He's an incumbent Bernie...he's supposed to get substantial votes you DINK! Haven't you been reading the other non-biased news sources that keep touting the DA primary upsets in your NorCo and Allegheny... you seem to be the only journalist unaware of how poorly he did and now looks. Ps. His newest hire just quit after a mere 4 months. Get ready buddy, Terry is going to need those fingers working over time all summer long
I voted for Terry. However I am not a fan of the symantec's of the Republican angle.
8:03, The fact that Houck is embraced by a large plurality of Democrats as well as a number of Republicans who took the time to write him in is a "semantic" that he is popular in both parties.
"He's an incumbent Bernie...he's supposed to get substantial votes you DINK! "
I'm a DINO, but Baratta's biggest financial supporters are registered Republicans. Right.
"Haven't you been reading the other non-biased news sources that keep touting the DA primary upsets in your NorCo and Allegheny."
This race has nothing to do with Allegheny, where there was actual evidence that the DA's office was playing politics with criminal cases. I'm very concerned that is precisely what will happen if Baratta is elected., He owes a lot of people, and has a vendetta against three sitting judges.
Hey Bernie. Didn’t your man crush Charlie Dent donate to Baratta’s campaign? I guess his puppet masters told him to. But God forbid you will never criticize him.
Bernie, you do understand that is exactly why Baratta is allegedly running, right? Since you seem to have the ability to march right in to Terry's office at will, have you ever come across a certain defense attorney asking for indefensible plea deals that are then effectuated in his favor? Or is that an outright lie Baratta has made up. I believe most of the defense Bae is equally as frustrated with the politics that are blamed in that office just like Baratta.
Give me Baratta! He will win. Integrity pays.
What isn't semantics is that Houck waged a campaign during the primary to gather republican votes. Baratta (who kept to his word, despite what you falsely accused him of and then had to retract that accusation) did not. Not only did Houck wage a Republican campaign during the primary, but he also had his poll workers pulling folks to the side and counseling them on how to "write-in" his name correctly to ensure a write-in victory. I'm sure Baratta also has Republican supporters, but I suppose we shall see once they are able to vote for him and he makes efforts to connect with them. I'm startled by how misleading all of your posts are about this race, but at least you have been upfront from the get-go about who's corner you have been coaxed into.
Which three?
"Hey Bernie. Didn’t your man crush Charlie Dent donate to Baratta’s campaign? I guess his puppet masters told him to. But God forbid you will never criticize him."
There is no contribution from Charlie Dent to Baratta listed in Baratta's Preprimary. If there was a contribution after that, it would be in the post primary report due tomorrow. If this is so, then you must be part of Baratta's campaign.
It's weird that Rs will decide this election in a decidedly blue county. As Baratta is as close to a Soros candidate as you can get without actually having a documented Soros candidate, Rs will get Terry re-elected. Lawlessness and cashless bail vs. a guy with FOP endorsements? Not a tough call for any R. Terry will get 90% of R votes, if not more.
9:07 am: I certainly hope you are being sarcastic because Baratta has shown a lack of integrity. His blatant lies are one thing because most politicians lie, but that HR stunt put the final nail in his coffin for me.
For clarification purposes and just for clarification.......how many members of the Northampton County Bar Association donated to Baratta's campaign? Do you know what the total of the donations were?
11:39, You're not interested in clarifying anything. You just want to o0bfuscate. Baratta's pre-primary is posted on this blog. You can look yourself and clarify whatever the hell you want. The fact remains that the big money financing Baratta comes from Allentown developers and lawyers as well as doctors with no ties to this area.
"It's weird that Rs will decide this election in a decidedly blue county"
This is a purple county that gets redder every day. It voted for Trump in 2016 and nearly repeated that mistake in 2020. Rs control county council. A flaming right-wing lunatic came within 9,000 votes of McClure in 2021.
BO, Why does everyone, like 1131, call Baratta the soros backed candidate? Did Soros really back him
Or give money to his campaign?If not then 1131 is just lying.
" ... came within 9,000 votes of McClure ..."
Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. The trend has been steady. The Rs edge on council is nominal and temporary, given Myers' soon-to-be-ended exploits. McClure won re-election after his coarse mismanagement and body count during CoViD. Biden and Wild prevailed. Braindead Fetty won. Lefty mayors in Easton and Bethlehem. I thought this blog was about politics in NorCo. You haven't been paying very close attention. Lol.
in some posts you say Baratta was funded by republicans then you say Republican s don’t like him.ur outta ur mind. Baratta got support from republicans then you say republicans won’t support him. im confused.
While I don’t like the Republican angle Houck is using, I like Baratta even less, so my vote goes for Houck. I just hope Baratta went through a lot of money in the primary and has to go hat-in-hand to his cronies again. I have misjudged (ha!) judges because I thought they were honorable people. Morganelli and Baratta prove otherwise.
You are an embarrassment to "real journalists". You are no journalist. You are a rabid partisan for people you love as opposed to those you hate. Try using reason instead of your raw emotions.
"in some posts you say Baratta was funded by republicans then you say Republican s don’t like him.ur outta ur mind. Baratta got support from republicans then you say republicans won’t support him. im confused."
Yeas, you are confused. I find it ironic that the Dem nominee owes his win to heavy GOP financial support and spurned any effort to reach out to Rs. I also find it ironic that the R nominee is a Democrat who will remain a Democrat no matter what happens. I don't recall ever saying that Rs won't support Baratta. I am sure he will get support and told him last time I spoke to him that he was crazy for not waging a write-in of his own. But on the issues, Houck is more likely to appeal to Rs than Baratta. Terry is tougher.
" You are no journalist. You are a rabid partisan "
Then why are you here? You need to get a grip on your hate. It just eats you up. Ta ta.
Bernie anyone whoever practiced criminal law knows it doesn’t take a year to investigate a Terroristic Threats charge… also it is normally the practice of allowing the arranged surrender for preliminary arraignments for such defendants. Can’t wait to hear you attempt to justify the arrest of Lance Wheeler as not being politically motivated ,after all, he is a featured Baratta campaign supporter. I am enjoying the pretzel logic of your Houckian propaganda.
I have received and rejected comments about Lance Wheeler and Abe Atiyeh. Atiyeh has no business with the DA. He does have business with the county. As far as Lance is concerned< I am aware of the delay between the alleged offense and his arrest and have spoken to Lance, who probably told me more than he should have, so I will keep some of what he told me to myself. I am well aware he is a Baratta backer but consider him my friend and feel bad for him. I think police could have waited a bit because he was collecting items for fire victims and there obviously is nu urgency. I know he thinks his arrest is politically inspired. Unlike you, I will wait for the preliminary hearing to see how this case developed and why it took so long. I know it went to a grand jury.
Bernie, as the critic calling you out for pretzel logic - your response is fair and that’s all anyone should expect from any individual , or entity, who directly, or indirectly, has the power of opinion to influence voters like you do... At least you’re covering this race. Perhaps now that prom season is over and before high school football heats up- the local press will do some heavy duty investigative reporting…Hope springs eternal.
Lance was investigated after he arrived at the Sikh Temple because colonial regional wouldn't do anything to protect the practitioners at Terry's directive. AFTER the school district and easton police both investigated the allegation and declined to do anything. But please, tell us again how Baratta is the one to watch out for in regards to weaponizing the office for retribution. What a joke. Also, will you be attending the Ferrante hearing on the defenses motion to dismiss for violating Rule 600? Do you know what rule 600 is anymore? Maybe if Pepper would spend less time in other counties' orphans court this matter would have gotten the attention it deserved. Shame on that office and shame on you for helping cover up the incompetence. I still have hope you will see the light in the end.
Well, the dailies broke Lance's arrest. I did not. I only saw it this morning. As Terry himself told me, "Delay is the chief enemy of any prosecutor." So I am curious about the delay between Wheeler's alleged offense and his arrest. I also think it's ridiculous that cops were unwilling to wait until his drive was over for the day. But I'll know more after the preliminary hearing on June 21 or whenever it is eventually held. Those who wish to jump to conclusions are free to do so.
I will post a story noting what Lance told me about his case, but I am reserving judgment for the preliminary.
Bernie, any idea as to why the Allentown developers, lawyers, doctors, etc back Baratta? Are they part of the Morganelli network?
9:57, No, the Morganelli machine is pretty much limited to Bethlehem. Those contributions were bundled by Ray Lahoud.
8:45, I note the rampant speculation on your part concerning why Wheeler was charged. I'll wait. I also note your desire that I attend the Ferrante hearing. Will Morganelli be issuing a news release, as he did when the Superior Court ruled? That is the first time a judge has ever issued a news release in NorCo, which he conveniently failed to send to me. I wonder why he did that. ... But not too much.
How are these headlines for rampant speculation... "Baratta sought GOP write-in, mislead Morning Call", "Baratta blowin oil over text that his own campaign could have sent"... Oh I get it, fair game when it's published by you in Houck's favor. My bad. I must have misunderstood your rules. HAH!
Rumor is lahoud is gonna spend 1/2 million on this election for baratta and is bringing in his buddy alexander soros for another million like they did in Allegheny cty. I’m wondering if Mr Houck can keep up.
There were so many commercials that ran for Steven B in the last election. Terry had a homemade commercial that looked like it was taped on an iphone by scissorhands Severson & was on tv like once. Lol. I don’t even think November will be close. Steven B is going to win big and this will be scissorhand’s last election.
10:53, Not rampant speculation at all. He filed paperwork indicating he was seeking the GOP nomination while he told The Morning Call he was not. I then spoke to him and he told me he only filed that paperwork after learning Rs were writing him in, and felt I should point that out to be fair and did so in a subsequent story, for which you also attacked me.
And yes, he was blowin' oil over a text that his own campaign could have sent. He was the one who flat out called Terry a liar and jumped to conclusions that were unwarranted by the evidence at had. I pointed out that the text could just have easily been the fabrication of someone in his camp.
That's been your problem all along. You've engaged in distortions and rampant speculation, and I worry like hell about a person like that as a prosecutor.
Baratta has already made it impossible for him to do anything in a number of active cases bc he has taken sides between warring factions. He's even doing the defense work in the Ferrante case, and is being assisted by Morganelli and his press releases.
Now you are speculating that Wheeler's arrest is political payback. That would be unethical and official oppression, and that is what you are suggesting, which is absolutely outrageous. You seem to gloss over the fact that Wilson believe three children were terrorized and assaulted. Like I said, I'll wait for the hearing. All I know is that Lance, who is a Baratta backer, has been criminally accused of child abuse. Are you sure you want to keep bringing this up? If this case has merit, then you're telling us Baratta saddles up with child abusers. I'd prefer to wait and not speculate or attack anyone as you have done.
You are one ugly person and are obsessed with this race in a very unhealthy way.
According to houck in the newspapers, the Ferrante appeal decision was a win. Why would a morganelli release be a bad thing for houck? Was it not a good decision for houck like he said it was to the media?
Didn’t the “plurality” of democrats go to baratta in the election? He won the democratic primary according to the official results.
11:26, Houck attracted a plurality of Dem votes. What's so hard to understand about that?
" Why would a morganelli release be a bad thing for houck?
No judge in NorCo has ever issued a news release. It was blatant politics for Morganelli to have done so. And he copnvenientl.yu skipped me.
John is bitter and dirty. His various unsuccessful schleps to Pittsburgh for fundraising made him and angry little fella. He's never recovered from state Dems' refusal to even fart in his campaign's general direction. He wants to be a power broker. I'd hate to have my case decided in front of such an desperately unethical screwball. Fair trial? Not when this is what inhabits our judiciary. Citizens should mount a recall and dispose of our garbage properly.
BO, just saw this about charges that Houck decided to bring 6 months after the Sikh incident and after he kept saying it was a civil matter. Guess it’s not a civil matter anymore?
<< https://www.lehighvalleynews.com/criminal-justice/3-charged-in-theft-from-nazareth-area-sikh-temple>>. You kept saying the dispute was a civil matter.
Per LVN, “Police and Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck have characterized it as a civil matter — a dispute between two groups, neither with clear ownership nor authority of the temple.”
Is it a civil matter or a criminal matter?
The dispute is largely a civil matter. I also pointed out that some matters were under criminal investigation. You conveniently failed to mention that.
What's convenient is this happens in the same week as Wheeler...
If Baratta has a “vendetta against three sitting judges” (I imagine Koury may be one since Baratta slammed him), then every CDDA/DDA/ADA should resign immediately if Baratta is elected. There is no way I would want to work for a boss who judges don’t like. Baratta sounds like he is a real piece of work.
Baratta is UNETHICAL and a disgrace …He made a judgement on my divorce, having never even heard the case, details, history, etc after walking into the Court Administrator’s office in plain clothes while on his way to vacation. My case was recused by the assigned Judge and that’s what I got. I was sitting on the bench outside of the office when he walked in and out. I was not even the afforded a fair hearing with the opportunity to speak on record. How is that LEGAL???
Baratta will clean house right after houck moves his thin blue flag out of the office. Houck is such a flip flopping opportunist. Send him back to bucks where he was rejected twice and fired.
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