GPA Solicitor & Former Exec Talk P3 for Hotel Bethlehem Expansion

Last month, I told you that former NorCo Exec John Brown has started a new biz he calls John Brown Leadership Solutions LLC. His corporate address is 515 West Hamilton Street, Suite 502, Allentown, PA 18101. This also happens to be the address of Norris, McLaughlin and Marcus. That law firm has billed the County over $810,000 for its services on the General Purpose Authority (GPA) in 2016 and 2017. Brown had a special arrangement with Solicitor John Lushis for "special legal services" that basically made Lushis a stealth county lawyer. It was a conflict of interest for Lushis, and a violation of the procurement Code for Brown. I had joked at the time that Brown and Lushis might team up to market P3 projects throughout the state. It turns out that this is no joke. That's exactly what they've been doing.

Bruce Haines, a principal at Historic Hotel Bethlehem, recently received a coveted CRIZ designation for an expansion that includes a convention center. Earlier this year, he was approached by Brown. The former Exec suggested he might be able to help in some unspecified way. Haines heard nothing beyond that one conversation, but others have.

Brown, along with Lushis, recently met with a financier to try to arrange financing for the expansion. Get this. They suggest it be done as a P3 project, using the GPA.

As I've said before, the GPA needs to dump its Solicitor. I am also offended that Brown is attempting to benefit personally from things he set in motion as Executive.