Nadeem Qayyum was swept into Northampton County Council in November's election. He finished fifth in the race for five at-large seats, with 45,000 votes. It was a blue wave in which every Democrat running for county office won. Though Qayyum finished fifth, he still beat the highest Republican candidate (Sam Elias) by nearly 10,000 votes. It was an outcome that few expected. But as my father told a reporter when he lost a DA's race to Charlie Spaziani, "The people have spoken. ... Fuck 'em!"
To put it mildly, I am leery of Qayyum, a Pakistani immigrant whose understanding of English has been very limited in the conversations I've had with him. Over the past two years, he's been the subject of eight incident reports from Easton police. He was investigated for possible witness intimidation when his wife, the infamous Taiba Sultana, was facing assault charges for domestic violence against her adult son. During his county campaign, he was focused on state issues like the minimum wage, which have nothing to do with county government.
He missed County Council's first Personnel Committee meeting. That's when Matt Deschler was interviewed as County Council's successor to Chris Spadoni as County Council Solicitor. Deschler was peppered with numerous questions about whether his other roles as a Bethlehem assistant solicitor or as the East Bangor Solicitor presented a potential conflict. He explained that the likelihood of such an occurrence is remote.
The very next night, when County Council was poised to vote on Deschler's appointment, Qayyum suddenly had the same questions. Because his understanding of English is clearly limited (watch the video), he read a number of questions written in advance. They all related to potential conflicts, and I'm unclear whether he understood a word in each response because he kept asking the same questions. After wasting everyone's time with questions that had been asked and answered the day before, Qayyum voted to support Deschler.
Based on my limited observations, I'd conclude that Qayyum will be a poor member of County Council. But that is no justification for the smear campaign being orchestrated against him. For weeks, I have been receiving anonymous comments claiming that Qayyum wants to use his wife as his interpreter at Council meetings. Yesterday, I received a text from someone claiming that he had heard from a third party that Qayyum had actually approached a judge for permission to use his wife in that capacity.
This rumor is completely false and is a designed smear against Qayyum. County Council President Ken Kraft told me that Qayyum has never approached him to ask to use Taiba Sultana as his interpreter. County Executive Tara Zrinski said she has not been approached, but said there are earbud translators out there. I also asked former Exec Lamont McClure, and he doesn't think Qayyum approached him. Finally, President Judge Craig Dally affirms that no judge has been approached. He adds there are co court filings about this topic.
Basically, parties unknown are running a smear campaign against Qayyum to diminish him before he has even had a chance to get his feet wet. This could be because he's Muslim or Pakistani or Taiba Sultana's husband or a Democratic Socialist. Whatever the reason, it's an ugly falsehood designed to reduce his effectiveness.
Let him screw up on his own. He needs no help from anyone. He might even surprise us.
20 comments:
sounds like you Ds we're more concerned about national issues. Ashame really, Rs put up two candidates that were naturalized citizens who had some impressive resumes, but, trump, right?
NQ - proof positive that voters don't think. They just press the party button.
As the years go on, his ability to comprehend his responsibilities as a councilman will be exposed, unfortunately, it will be over a four year period.
People who vote for democrats must be suicidal because everything the democrats do fail and they are on the wrong side of every issue.
"He read a number of questions written in advance."
As I suspected, the wife is likely calling the shots.
A nightmare as predicted! Sad! This is what the Dems had to do for revenge. Hmm.
Go away, Tricia.
Democrats who are opposed to this council member should ask the county party leadership to explain how it sought candidates.
Take away the “smears,” as you call them and you have a man who was elected by irresponsible voters who cared more about party than quality of candidate. (This isn’t a Democrat-specific problem.) Simply, Mr. Nadeem is unable to represent the vast majority of his constituents due to his lack of language skills and I dare say he should be a lot better able to communicate in English considering his intelligence and the length of time he has been in America. I feel it important to add that there are times Mr. Nadeem is able to communicate quite well in English, which leads me to believe he is playing people.
Multiple members of the county democratic committee approached me about "adopting" one of the Republican nominees in favor of this guy. The overwhelming concern they raised was that this guy does not appear to be fluent in English. I don't blame them one bit, but their valid concerns didn't seem to make one bit of difference electorally. I hope Northampton County wants what they are going to get.
Truck drivers are required to speak and read English.
The same standard should apply to elected positions.
You have been ripping on the guy for over a year. Now you condemn the smears you helped perpetuate. You will continue to print the scrap that fits your narratives and hold back information that runs contrary to your current positions.
Exactly what needs to occur to remove a sitting councilman? I know there is a specific type of crime of some sort.
You've smeared him pretty good already. Ron Angle always struggled with his native tongue.
Actually, Ron Angle is perhaps the most effective communicator in the Lehigh Valley. Those who underestimate him, as you do, do so at their peril.
Um, what I have done is tell the truth about him. I've been accurate. The smear is disinformation.
Matt: it's definitely the Democrat Party behind these shenanigans. I was personally told by Lower Saucon Council Member Victoria Opthof-Cordaro during a petition signing meeting that the Democrat Party is supporting everyone but Nadeem. I signed his petition on purpose after she whispered that to me.
These Democrat Women are ruthless. Hell, when I ran for Lower Saucon Council years ago, Priscilla Deleon called Bernie to report that if I won it would be a "conflict of interest". Bernie wrote a hit piece about me. Then, I got a call from the Northampton County Democratic Chairwoman who said (as soon as I answered the phone), "What did you do to piss off Priscilla Deleon?!??!" "I told her to support all Democrats is this party and she told me, "He (me) is horrible. I'll never support him. I already contacted Bernie O'Hare about him."
I replied, "I have no idea what I did, I barely know her. I've only met her a few times..."
When I ran for Lower Saucon Township Council this past time. Victoria Opthof-Cordaro tried to get me and Priscilla to sit down and settle our differences. I showed up for the lunch. Victoria showed up. Priscilla was a no-show.
Victoria told me that Priscilla begrudges me because during my first campaign, I claimed her permanent disability was (is) a sham. That's completely untrue. I never made those claims publicly until 2020 during the pandemic and watching (from a distance) how she treats people.
Oh, then, Victoria Opthof-Cordaro "unilaterally" banned me from attending future Saucon Democrats meetings.
I even shared comments to L V-H to be careful around them because of the things I heard them say about her.
That's how they run things around here.
If you are Gary Gorman, I believe I pointed out that your wife was the Finance Director in the Township in which you were seeking election. I also have no recollection of ever discussing anything with DeLeon other than the landfill, the goofy Rs and her nails.
https://lehighvalleyramblings.blogspot.com/2015/10/landfill-dumos-another-28700-into-lower.html
I even had to get in touch with PSATS to get a answer. You were wrong. It would not have been a conflict of interest. You were wrong and so was Priscilla. She ran with Donna Louder. Now interview them about each other.
Who's Gary Gorman?
Those who voted for him, now suffer.
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