MDJ Zanelli Accused of Keeping "Book of Grudges," Hostile Work Environment, Numerous Absences

Amy Zanelli is the Magisterial District Judge in West Bethlehem and Fountain Hill. But her days as a jurist may soon be over. The Judicial Conduct Board has finally taken action against her for numerous infractions of the Code of Judicial Conduct.  Before I get into that, I have to tell you that I have been warning you about her since 2015. Her are links to numerous stories about her.

Finnigan Henpecked Over Hanover Fowl Ban (She appeared before Hanover's Board of Supervisors, seeking a change in a ban on backyard chickens. There's nothing unusual about that, but what was totally bizarre to me was that she insisted on flashing her badge as a NorCo Human Services caseworker..)

Why You Need to Vote For Dennis Pearson For LC Comm'r (In this story about her primary campaign for LC Comm're, I tell you that she was once employed in NJ's Child Protective Services, but was fired in 2012 because she refused to return to work after receiving a number of leaves of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Though she refused to work, she dropped in on her office one day to deliver Avon products to co-workers. Zanelli appealed her termination and lost. She told me she was a victim of discrimination.)

LC Comm'r Race: Candidate Chicken Lady Cries Fowl (In an email to me, before blocking me, Zanelli claimed she had been "exonerated" In Jersey. That is pure horse shit).

Judicial Candidate Amy Zanelli Supports Looting, Lies About Being Fired (When running for MDJ, Zanelli actually stated that looting was an appropriate response to slavery. Say what? And she also took me to task for pointing out her termination in Jersey and later, in NorCo.  She called them "false accusations and fake news. With that said, this would not be the first time in history that an intelligent, well-spoken, beautiful woman has intimidated a man who then feels the need to spread rumors and lies in an attempt to tear her down."  The problem with her denial is that her own lawyer actually admitted that she was terminated in Jersey, appealed, and lost her appeal. She was also terminated in NorCo, as per her own lawyer in a custody dispute.)

Zanelli Embellished Her Social Work in Jersey (When running for MDJ, she told a fawning Josh Popichak that her "ability to see things others didn't led me to go into investigative work on a state level for the State of New Jersey. ,,, I specialized in sex crimes and homicides and abuse and neglect for children ... ." She was a caseworker, not Phillip Marlowe. She also claimed she had to move her because she had been targeted by the bad guys).

Amy Zanelli's Nonjudicial Behavior in Custody Trial (While running for MDJ, Zanelli was in the middle of a custody battle. This is how then President Judge Michael J Koury, Jr., characterized her demeanor: "Mother's demeanor varied from happy to openly hostile. ... Mother repeatedly referred to the custody trial as a 'circus.' ... Mother accused opposing counsel of  'play[ing] semantics and stated that her questioning was 'crap.'")

MDJ Candidate Amy Zanelli Kicked Out of Fountain Hill Pool (While running for MDJ, she was ejected from Fountain Hill's Pool for interjecting herself when a manager admonished some unruly teens).

Zanelli Neglected Children in Jersey, But Wants to Be a Judge (Here I append a New Jersey rejection of her appeal from her termination as a caseworker. Incidentally, The Morning Call had this information as well, but refused to publish it. I guess the paper lacked the desire to do its job, which is to cast a glaring spotlight on public officials)

Amy "Karen" Zanelli Detests Three-on-Three Hoops (In August 2019, she summoned police over a group of minors playing three-on-three hoops, with Latin music playing. Police took no action).

Why was Amy Zanelli Fired in Northampton County (She was a probationary caseworker who did not want to work.)

Magisterial District Judge Amy Zanelli Under Investigation By Judicial Conduct Board (This is when I told you, in September '24, that she was under investigation.)

Despite clear evidence that she's a wackadoodle, she was pushed by LC Exec Tom Muller when she ran for County Comm'r. And that board actually made her their Chair. Then, when she ran for MDJ, she was pushed by outfits like LV4ALL (who agree with us) because she checked the right boxes as a gay woman who supports progressive causes. The dying news media either ignored information handed to them (Morning Call) or drooled over her (Saucon Source). 

Her backyard chickens have come home to roost. In the Complaint filed by the Judicial Conduct Board, she is accused of the following: 

(1) Maintaining a "Book of Grudges" about individuals who appeared before her, including a lawyer she referred to as "Just a Dick." 

(2) Maintaining a desk calendar with explicit sexual messages like "Bedroom Pants He'll Have to Slide Through If He Wants That Pussy."

(3) Denying a Defendant his Constitutional right to hear the evidence against him or to cross-examine the victim.

(4) Rude behavior to a county employee: "I am the judge, and you are just the fucking secretary." She also used profanity such as "cuntrageous" in courtroom settings.

(5) Numerous late arrivals and absences, which obviously denies litigants the right to a prompt disposition.

(6) Conducting Zoom hearings without authorization. 

Here's the Complaint.

 

Complaint Against Magisterial District Judge Amy L. Zanelli, 1 JD 2026 by BernieOHare

Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minnea...

This is pure evil! A physician was denied the ability to render aid, and the Ice cowboy who shot and killed this woman just left the scene.

Holland Cautions That Gracedale Might Need County Contribution This Year

Dave Holland is a newly elected member of Northampton County Council. We're lucky to have him because he was once a Gracedale Administrator when Premier managed the home and turned it around. He attended a meeting at Gracedale this week and cautioned fellow members of Council last night that a county contribution to the home might be needed this year. 

The home is budgeted to require no county contribution, but that's based on the assumption that census will be 520 or greater. As of yesterday, census was only 500.

Holland went on to explain that Gracedale relies on what he calls "supplemental non-operating revenue" as opposed to the revenue received from the residents. This includes the IGT and has in the past included COVID funding. "Those funds are probably not gonna be as available moving forward. ... it's important for you to know that, and I think it's important for the public to know that that may be coming down the road based on some of the unknowns of that non-operating supplemental income."

Zrinski To Name Cabinet Officials ... Tentatively ... On Tuesday, January 13

In her first report as NorCo Executive, Tara Zrinski told County Council last night that she will be announcing ... tentatively ... her new cabinet on January 13. She wants the suspense to build. Any new cabinet official will need to be confirmed by Council.

At least one of those appointments might be known. Mark Aurand, who served as Zrinski's Deputy Controller, is her interim Administrator. He explained the county's liability policy to members last night. 

Interestingly, Council never even mentioned that they need to appoint a Controller to replace Zrinski. 

Lisa Boscola To Seek Re-Election as State Senator

State Senator Lisa Boscola has been serving in that capacity since 1998. Prior to that, she was a State Rep. for four years. I've received a news release indicating she plans to seek yet another term in the State Senate. 

BETHLEHEM, PA — January 7, 2026— Pennsylvania State Senator Lisa Boscola today announced her bid for re-election to represent the 18th Senatorial District.

Recently, identified as one of Pennsylvania’s most active and effective Senators, she is a champion of efforts to expand voter access, promote economic growth, and deliver commonsense results for families, seniors, and communities in every corner of the district.

“During my time in Harrisburg, I’ve worked tirelessly to put people over politics and to keep our taxes low – all while helping those in need,” said Boscola. “Growing our economy, investing in our neighborhoods, and expanding opportunity for everyone is how you build a better tomorrow,” continued Senator Boscola. “I’m running for re-election because there is more work to do — to strengthen our schools without crushing our homeowners, address energy affordability with an all of the above approach to generation and make government more efficient.”

Throughout her legislative career, Senator Boscola has been a leader with proven results:

• Recent legislative success. She was the prime sponsor of the bill that brought no-excuse mail-in voting to Pennsylvania. She led the charge to move Pennsylvania into several medical compacts to make it easier for health professionals to practice here. Her persistence on pushing for harsher penalties on individuals who fail to remove snow and ice from their cars and trucks is the only reason the law was changed.

• Supporting meaningful reforms to government and the legislative process, including championing constitutional amendments to create an independent redistricting commission, allow for direct ballot initiative, shrink the size of the legislature and eliminate school property taxes, among others.

• Fighting for our school’s fair share of funding, along with common-sense Cyber Charter reforms that save school districts and taxpayers money.

• Securing $140,336,770 million in critical resources for local projects that support infrastructure, job creation, public safety, affordable housing projects and community development throughout the Lehigh Valley.

• Legislation addressing energy affordability and data centers. Incentivizing solar on warehouses, reforming ACT 129 to help homeowners with energy efficiency projects, updating Chapter 14 to help individuals struggling with high electric bills and making sure data centers pay for needed upgrades, not residential consumers.

Senator Boscola’s commitment to bipartisan solutions — delivering practical results for her constituents — underscores her reputation as a representative who puts her community’s needs first.

“I will continue to work across the aisle to find common-sense solutions that improve the lives of those I represent,” Boscola added. “We may not always agree on everything, but we can always agree that our government should respond to the needs of the people.”

Senator Boscola resides in Bethlehem Township with her husband and remains deeply engaged with community leaders, local businesses, and families throughout the district.

How Much Are Pa. 7's Congressional Candidates Worth?

As I told you yesterday, six Democrats want to be their party's candidate to take on Ryan Mackenzie in November's Pa.7 Congressional election. Candidates who intend to raise or spend more than $5,000 must file a financial disclosure with the Clerk of the US House within 30 days of raising or spending that amount. These disclosures are unrelated to the funds raised or spent on a campaign. They instead identify the assets and income. 

At this point, the "qualified" candidates on the Dem side are Robert Brooks, Ryan Crosswell, Lamont McClure, Carol Obando-Derstine and Mark Pinsley. All of these candidates have filed financial disclosure reports, although Pinsley was late with his required report and will be fined. 

What the reports reveal is that all of the candidates, with the exception of Crosswell, participate in mutual funds.

Robert Brooks. -  reports assets and unearned income of at least $963,000. This includes a residential rental property valued at between $250,000 and $500,000 and the stocks in multiple mutual funds.  He reports salaries of $20,000 from Bethlehem and $50,000 from the Pa Professional Firefighter's Ass'n, as well as business income of $15,000 from his lawn care business. 

He reports debt of between $380,000 and $850,000 based on a residential mortgage, an investment property mortgage, and outstanding debt to Darrell and Linda Crook. He failed to list a $130,000 judgment owed to Carol Wiley, his former mother-in-law, since 2022. 

A title search of Northampton County records reveal that Brooks owns no real estate under his own name, nor is there any recorded mortgage in which he is listed. 

Something is very fishy about Brooks' disclosure.

Ryan Croswell. - reports having no assets or unearned income. He apparently participates in no mutual funds or the stock market. He reports a salary of $47,104.62 before he resigned from the Department of Justice. He also has received $13,542.12 from the Department of Defense and has received 1099s from the Singleton Schreiber law firm for $4,394.50. That law firm has no offices in this part of the country. He also lists the Antonin Scalia School of Law as a potential source of wages.  

Crosswell owes between $10,000-50,000 for a car loan. 

Lamont McClure. - reports assets and unearned income of at least $343,000 through his participation in various mutual funds. His income was his $85,000 salary as NorCo Exec. He also lists his wife's salary and pension. 

McClure's debt is between $90,000 and $215,000 for his mortgage, a loan to replace his roof, a third loan to fix his fireplace so Santa could come down and an auto loan. 

Carol Obando-Derstine. - reports assets and unearned income of at least $500,000 through her participation in mutual funds. Her income was a $44,410 salary from PPL. Like McClure, she also lists her spouse's salary. She lists no debts to anyone. 

Mark Pinsley. - His report was just filed on January 5, and though he lists his participation in numerous mutual funds and stocks, I have been unable to do the math at this point. He lists a salary of $79,000 as Lehigh County's Controller. He also lists his wife's salary. 

His debt is between $325,000 and $665,000 for a business loan and lines of credit from three credit card companies. 

What about incumbent Republican Ryan Mackenzie? I have a report from him for 2025 and am looking to see if there is something more recent. 

Pa 07 Congressional Race Attracts Two New Candidates

Two new candidates - Aiden Alexander Gonzales and Michael Ramon Granados, Jr., - have filed Statements of Candidacy in the crowded race for Pa. 7's Congressional seat. That district includes Lehigh, Northampton and a portion of Carbon County. 

Gonzales is a Democrat while Granados is an independent. 

Incumbent Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican, has no primary challengers. But the number of Democrats who want to go to Washington now stands at six. Other Democrats are Ryan Croswell, Lamont McClure, Carol Obando-Derstine, Robert Brooks and Mark Pinsley. 

Gonzalez already has a website that sticks to bread-and-butter issues like jobs, the economy, housing and healthcare. He supports the American Health Act, which places all US citizens in a single-payer system. He also wants to incentivize real estate development (can you say tax breaks) and make it more difficult for foreign buyers to purchase real estate. 

According to their Statements of Candidacy, Gonzales lives in Bethlehem's Woodmont Mews Apartment complex while Granados lives in the Stata West apartments in downtown Allentown. 

Kraft Elected NorCo Council President; Jeff Warren Elected VP

At a brief reorganizational meeting of Northampton County Council late yesterday afternoon, Ken Kraft was elected County Council President and Jeff Warren is the VP. Both votes were 6-3. Kraft, Warren, Kelly Keegan, Dave Holland, Nadeem Qayyum and Jason Boulette voted for the winners. Lori Vargo Heffner and Tom Giovanni were nominated President and VP, but only attracted votes from themselves and Theresa Fadem. 

Chris Spadoni will stay on as Solicitor until County Council can find someone who actually can read the Home Rule Charter. Kelly Keegan nominated former Exec Lamont McClure, who knows the Charter inside out, but that motion failed because McClure has already been tapped to become a part-time Assistant County Solicitor. 

Earlier that day, it was standing room only in historic Courtroom 1 during the swearing-in ceremony for numerous elected officials. I apologize but I generally avoid these events. I understand that Exec Tara Zrinski gave a pretty good speech and that Qayyum raised his left hand when he was sworn in, lol. He had no interpreter, which was something of a concern over the past week.

Trump's Desire to "Run" Venezuela is Rank Imperialism

Other than Chavistas, I doubt anyone is shedding a tear over the rendition of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro on Saturday. I have heard that the War Powers Act and UN Charter were violated. That's a hard sell. Under the War Powers Act, the President must notify Congress within 48 hours of being engaged in hostilities, and he has done so. And the Charter does allow one nation to attack another if it is doing so to defend itself, as the US could claim after being inundated with illegal drugs. So I have no problem with grabbing Maduro, who is under indictment. His real crime is what he has done to his own people, who suffer from malnutrition, widespread violent crime and brutal repression. He should answer for that as well.  

But that's not why Trump has taken such action. It's not about illegal drugs flooding into this country. It's not about Maduro's refusal to honor an election in which he lost. It's not about his brutal regime. Those are mere pretext for what Trump really wants. He was pretty open about it and mentioned it at least 20 times in a rambling news conference in which he announced what happened. It's about the oil. In his own words, he wants to "run" the country, just like he wants to "run" Canada and Greenland. He wants the natural resources. 

I believe that Bernie Sanders put it best:

"Trump's attack on Venezuela will not make the United States and the world safer. Quite the contrary. This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments.

"This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine.

"Trump and his administration have made it clear that they want to revive the Monroe Doctrine, the belief that the United States has the right to dominate the affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. Let’s not hesitate to call this policy out for what it is. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world." 

Under Trump's logic, Putin's attack on Ukraine is entirely justified, and China would have every right to grab Taiwan. 

Aside from the blatant resource grab, we should all know by now that occupying forces are never welcome in another country. 

Tara Zrinski To Be Sworn In as NorCo Exec Today

It will be official at 3 pm. Tara Zrinski will be sworn in as NorCo's new Executive today. In addition, incoming County Council members Dave Holland, Jason Boulette, Theresa Fadem and Nadeem Qayyum will also take the oath. Judge Jeremy Clark and Magisterial District Judge Robert Kemmerer will also be installed.

After the ceremony, NorCo Council will convene for its annual reorganization meeting, during which a President, VP and Council Solicitor will be elected.