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| Pro-lifer waits for meeting |
BE IT RESOLVED the County of Northampton, Pennsylvania declares itself a Right-To-Choose Sanctuary County, recognizing that anyone should have a right to abortion, on-demand, and without question.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the County of Northampton affirms its support for codifying the right to an abortion into federal law and urges the Unites States Congress, the Pennsylvania State legislature and the President to enact such legislation.
Keegan's resolution attracted quite the crowd, most of whom opposed her resolution. Some were nice. Some were not. They easily outnumbered those who came to congratulate Linda Zembo on her retirement as Council Clerk. Or the purple T-shirted SEIU union members who want a better deal than the 13% offered. Or those who support or oppose a tax break to convert the vacant Wilson Borough Dixie Cup factory into luxury apartments. Ten pro-life and two pro-choice advocates dominated courtesy of the floor. Every minute spent discussing a topic over which the county has no authority was a minute away from county business during a four-hour long meeting.
Beverly Hernandez threatened County Council with the curses of Leviticus and the wrath of an Old Testament God. Mark Bogunovich, a "sidewalk counselor" at Allentown Women's Center, brought and circulated a model of a 10-week old fetus. Council President Lori Vargo Heffner refused to look at it. "You can't look at it because you're probably pro-abortion," concluded Bogunovich. "Sir, you get the right to speak, you don't get the right to judge," fired back Vargo-Heffner.
Council member Jeff Warren argued that public officials "should put forth messages to the public in supporting issues that face our communities and our neighborhoods, things that can trickle down from the federal and state government to our communities. No, we don't have to do it every time at every meeting. But when it comes to issues like freedom, when it comes to life, ... I want to make sure that women's lives are saved."
Council member Ron Heckman was a bit more realistic. 'The state and feds don't care what we do. If they did, we'd get a little more funding for mental health," He noted abortion is available in Pennsylvania for those who want it, and said he sees little sentiment in the state house for diving headfirst into that issue. He was uncomfortable with the language in the resolution calling for abortion "on demand." He said he would abstain because he is unable in good conscience to vote Yes or No.
Council member John Goffredo observed that Keegan's resolution "is one of the most divisive topics that we can bring up [and] for what? We're not going to change anything. We're not changing the state law, we're not changing the federal law, we're not changing anything. This is virtue signaling, a divisive piece of legislation that is going to do nothing but upset people ... ." Goffredo also responded the Braveheart Warren's "Freedom" battle cry, noting that claim went out the window when the government decided to shut everything down during Covid. "We don't get things accomplished because we keep spending time fighting about these things instead of worrying about things like the TIF in Wilson, which is actually going to affect people in our community. All this is going to do is create problems. It is going to create headlines; it's going to create fighting. I don't know why you'd want to bring it to this Council. I don't think it's productive and it's only going to hurt this body."
Council President Lori Vargo Heffner said she respected Keegan's right to introduce this resolution but wished she had done so on a less busy night. She said she was abstaining. "It feels like such a gotcha' move because you got to make a choice here." Vargo-Heffner said she disliked the way the resolution is worded and its focus solely on abortion She also resented having a rubber fetus shoved at her. "Give me a break! It's offensive. We're here to do government work, as Mr. Goffredo said, and I don't need that."
Council member Tom Giovanni was the most succinct. "This is not county business and I'm not going to vote for it."
Voting in favor of the resolution were Ken Kraft, Warren and Keagan. These are Lamont McClure's rubber stamps and I suspect the real motive here was to gain an issue with which to hammer Vargo-Heffner should she seek re-election or primary McClure. Voting to abstain were Vargo-Heffner, Heckman and Council member Jeff Corpora. Voting No were Goffredo, Giovanni and Council member John Brown.
The curses of Leviticus will have to wait for another day.
32 comments:
Lori is so lazy. The county is working for the citizens. She should stop obstructing ideas that will move Northampton County forward.
The resolution from CCrap rarely has all todo with county business, but Lori is always all for those republican pushed ideas.
Lori’s vote made any infringement on a woman’s right to choose harder. Shame on her. She is a disgrace to Democratic women everywhere.
Good. Her priorities are warped. She is not fit for public service.
You hit the nail on the head Bernie. This is all McClure/Kraft working to make council look dysfunctional under Hefner. To hurt Hefner and create chaos he can exploit. On social media Keegan put out the message damning to electoral hell those who opposed her virtue signal. McClure wholeheartedly agreed. She looked silly as did Warren. They want to appeal to a far-left base. They don't care about any consensus.
It is obvious McClure wants to muddy up those he claims are against him, but it is deeper than that. He is condemning the county to almost two years of inaction in order to elect his handpicked slate of rubber stamps in 2025.
You praise him yet he cannot build a consensus and can only govern with people he buys for county council. The problem is not the six people who ask questions but the one puppeteer pulling the strings.
Bernie didn't see you at the McClure show at the State Theater today. The movie starring Lamont was fantastic (who paid for it). The speech, though long winded laid out the Lamont vision for Northampton County. More people, more traffic and higher costs. His dream is a bedroom community for the New Jersey/ New York crowd. Yeaaa???
1:54, You did not see me bc I was not there. I opted to watch the video instead of riding down that early in the morning. I do intend to write it up but Thursday night's meeting has priority. I have yet to discuss the Dixie debate.
Lori Vargo Heffner was responsible for getting consensus on County Council to replace Tara Zrinski. She failed. It was her job. Not the job of her MAGA boyfriends. Not the job of the Rubber Stamps. Not Lamont’s job. Lori’s job. She’s lazy and the Court had to do her job for her. She can’t govern and she should resign.
Ha, ha, 12:29 a.m. You’re a hilarious gaslighter. It’s almost like you’ve spent 40 years studying aberrant behaviors and you’re applying them to politics. The behavior in this instance is gaslighting. Lori Vargo-Heffner has a deal with John Brown to be his Director of Human Services in his Second Administration as long as she agrees to obstruct the McClure Administration. (Heckman’s just a flying monkey at this point - Google it. He’s not part of any “6 just asking questions.”)
Jeff Warren knows pregnancy. He's a true champion for women, when he's not driving shit-plow hammered drunk and endangering women's innocent children who may simply be walking down a sidewalk.
Wow ! You’re right it was a “Gotcha Moment.” It was a moment to symbolically stand up for women’s rights and for the protection of the sanctity of the doctor/patient relationship regarding reproductive healthcare. And, Lori voted against the Right to Choose.
You can blame McClure , but don’t forget Munsey was behind getting Keegan in on council, like he was in on Warren and offering up thoughtless sophomoric individuals like Taiba to local government….
You can put activists into two categories: those who make noise and those who make change.
Taiba Sultana a is definitely in the noise category. Keegan is also moving in that direction.
I don't see how Keegan's Resolution accomplished anything besides setting off the religious zealots. Council has better things to do then listen to Biblical curses.
Lori took it upon herself to fill the Clerk’s job. She went out of her way to exclude the Rubber Stamps and to include the MAGAats. So, we can conclude that her failure to timely replace the former exorbitantly paid Clerk with another exorbitantly paid Clerk is due to her inability to gain consensus. Had she included the Rubber Stamps in the process Don Giovanni’s favored pick would already be the Overpaid Clerk.
Norco council and the administration are both a joke. A sad one. Never has so many accomplished so little. (Well, except making fools of themselves.)
Any elected official that doesn’t vote to do whatever it takes to protect women’s rights should be voted out. LVH, Heckman, and Corpora abstaining is essentially a NO vote. And isn’t it ridiculous that they claim the resolution bears no teeth but still couldn’t vote for it? I’m glad Keegan is forcing us to see where our elected officials stand. Now we know how to vote in a contested primary.
NorCo Council is rife with dullards and dopes. They have begun to challenge the Allentown School Board and Allentown City Council as having the lowest collective I.Q. of a local elected body.
I’m a very pro-choice Democrat, this issue is personal to me. However, Kelly Keegan has proven to be a huge disappointment on the Council. Her attempt to push this meaningless resolution that will not protect women’s rights in any way proves she’s all about her own self-promotion as a “champion for women” rather than focusing on the many council issues that could actually impact women. We’ve all seen this type of politician before. Shameless self-promoters who get the headlines but don’t actually make any real impact. My guess is that Keegan has her eye on a state office (just like Taiba Sultana and Tara Zrinski did). When she runs for a higher office she’ll use this resolution as an example of how she fought for women, but the reality is she’s just wasting everyone’s time. If she really wants to help women in the county she’d be spending her time working to address the issues with the county social services.
Giovanni got it right. Stick to County business instead of political stunts!
So if this passed what’s next? Cease fire resolution? Secure Border resolution? Climate change resolution? Knock off the meaningless political activism and do the damn job you were voted in to do!
Kelly is new and showing her lack of experience by bringing up the resolution. Time will tell if she matures in her role on council. John Goffredo was pretty green and shot from the hip often but has come a long way since he was first elected.
It's easy to attack the person but stick to attacking the issue. Tom was spot on in his take. The issue has nothing to do with county government. Enough said.
Most of the sane county taxpayers don’t care about toothless resolutions. Only the activists. Go protest somewhere else and let Council do its job which is running the County! I love that if anybody doesn’t see an issue your way they must be voted out lol. You must be a special snowflake.
Well said! She’s looking for higher office I bet.
@ 11:21 I would give Keegan the benefit of the doubt. But I don’t think she’s learning anything from this. She’s been on Facebook attacking the values of the other members of the council including Democrats for not supporting her nonsense resolution. Like the saying goes “when people show you who they are, believe them.” And Keegan is showing us she’s all about virtue signaling hot-button issues she thinks will advance her political career, rather than doing the job she was elected to do. She’s the new Zrinski. Another rubber stamp for McClure who will use her time on council promoting herself before she runs for something else.
Keegan, Zrinski, and Sultana should host their own talk show; The Lehigh Valley version of the View. They can all share their expertise in various topics. Keegan can talk about tampons. Zrinksi can talk about solar panels. Sultana can evaluate different brands of spray paint to see which brand works best when defacing yard signs.
Lol.
That’s funny! And Dead Reagan could’ve been the heckler.
Council members are paid about $10,000 per year to do COUNTY business, and discuss budgets and services for the county……anything outside that per view is outside the control of Council, even worthless resolutions are a waste of taxpayer time and dollars…..so Council members, you are far from commissioners, just do your job.
Maybe we made a mistake on term limits for council members? Perhaps it should have been two 4-year terms, not three. For those who voted for you and those of us who didn’t, do what you were elected to do and conduct county business on behalf of its residents.
American women condemn 900,000 of their own unborn children to death every year via abortion.
I don’t think they need a Northampton County governmental resolution to boost their numbers.
Keegan was a Munsey push, along with the now infamous Taiba, so maybe it’s time to dump Munsey and move toward better vetting processes that get qualified and smart candidates.
annon3:51, not true, keep drinking the McClure Kolade.
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