Scheller Campaign Dismisses GOP Rivals

Lisa Scheller is a former Lehigh County Commissioner, Silberline's CEO and a philanthropist. She'dliketobe the Lehigh Valley's next Representative in the U.S. Congress. But before she can square off against incumbent Susan Wild, she faces Republican opposition from perennial candidates Dean Browning and Matt Connolly.

Her campaign spokesperson, Dennis Roddy, disposes of Matt and Dean in three short sentences:

"Neither Matt Connolly nor Dean Browning display Republican values when it comes to taxes. Connolly failed to pay his taxes. Browning voted to raise taxes. As a result of these failings, voters in this region have grown accustomed to rejecting both Matt and Dean."

"My Name is Lisa Scheller, and I'm Running fro Congress!"

Lisa Scheller 

Last year, at the Hope and Coffee House she founded in Hazelton, Lisa Scheller began her story with, "My name is Lisa, and I'm a recovering addict and alcoholic." This is the standard introduction used by alcoholics and addicts in smoke-filled meeting rooms, where nicotine and caffeine are acceptable drugs for those of us hanging onto a shred or two of sobriety. Yesterday's meeting room was Allentown Renaissance Hotel. It was no AA meeting. Though coffee flowed in abundance, none of the 25 or so well-dressed guests was smoking. Except for me. I had a pinch of Skoal hidden between my cheek and upper gum for that pure tobacco satisfaction. Instead of a boring suit and tie, I was dressed in SWAT-team pants I picked up for a song at the local Thrift store. This is the perfect ensemble for a room full of Republicans, especially if one of them wants to go skeet shooting or something. Lisa Scheller, who called this meeting for an important announcement, had something else on her mind. "My name is Lisa Scheller and I'm running for Congress," she declared.

I never heard that at an AA meeting. President? Yes. Congress? Never.

Scheller, an Allentown resident, is seeking the Republican nomination to Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. That seat is currently held by Democrat Susan Wild. It includes Lehigh, Northampton and a portion of Monroe County.

Unlike many in recovery from substance abuse, Scheller embraces it. She understands how "the politics of smear works," but wants her struggle known. "I'm not ashamed of my addiction and I empathize with people who struggle, and their families," she noted. She overcame her addiction and went on to earn degrees in both mathematics and engineering.

In 1988, after her brother passed away unexpectedly, she took over the reins of Silberline Manufacturing, a company started by her immigrant grandparents. She transformed it into a leading international manufacturer of aluminum-based pigments for the automotive and other industries. Her company employs 600 people in economically ravaged Tamaqua. Her sister-in-law, Jill Scwartz, referred to Scheller as a "force of nature."

In addition to her education and business skills, Scheller also served a term as a Lehigh County Commissioner. In her final two years, she chaired the nine-person board.

In a stirring speech, Scheller said she's running for Congress because the people of the Seventh District have been poorly served. "They've lost faith in government because government has constantly acted in bad faith," she argued. "It's tearing us apart. Nobody's really speaking on the issues that matter to people here." She identifies these issues as jobs, education, health care and secure borders. She derided "a permanent political class that feeds on division" instead of addressing these problems.

Jobs - Scheller observed "Government cannot create jobs. Businesses do." But she slammed excessive regulation.  She claimed this just leads to income for the governing class and bigger government."Yes, we need some regulations to protect our safety, environment and equality. But over-regulation destroys employment."

Education. - Scheller, who has established and expanded a scholarship program at Lehigh County Community College, said student debt is "out of control" and a "crushing burden" on our youth. "Becoming a nation of educational haves and have-nots is a danger to our democracy and prosperity," she warned. She said it's time government focuses on education instead of perpetuating conflict.

Medical care. - "Here's the message: it's not really the Affordable Care Act if you can't afford it and end up with no health care. I'm committed to ensuring that pre-existing conditions remain covered for all people and I'm equally committed to making sure that we end the spiral of costs that was triggered by another well-intentioned government disaster. It's time tofree people who are held hostage to this system."

Secure Borders - Scheller's grandparents and great-parents immigrated here from countries where they were unsafe. She argues they were safe in America for two reasons. First, they had the freedom guaranteed by the Constitution. Second, they had borders to protect that freedom.

"Why are people in this district concerned about our borders? Because we're the ones who have to live with the consequences of a nation without them. People here understand something: you can't have a nation without borders."

After her speech, Scheller spoke individually with the guests who had come to see her, thanking them. Then she met us, The Fake News. We had questions about the Trump impeachment inquiry, the betrayal of Kurds in Syria and homeless veterans. For someone who disdains the political class, she did a pretty good job of ducking questions that might shed light on where she stands on Trump.

She did say he's entitled to due process, and of course, he is. But due process provides for notice and an opportunity to be heard before being removed from the Office of President. Prosecutors have no obligation to disclose details of a pending investigation to a target. In this case, the prosecution is the House of Representatives. Their hearings can be likened to grand jury proceedings. If they do vote to impeach, the President would be entitled to full due process during his trial in the Senate.

Her webpage is www.schellerforcongress.com. She is also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Scheller has one declared GOP opponent, Dean Browning. He is a Trumpeteer.

Lisa Scheller Poised For Congressional Bid

Earlier this month, former Lehigh County Comm'r Lisa Scheller attracted attention when she expanded an innovative scholarship program at Lehigh County Community College, enabling high school students to obtain both an associate's' degree and high school diploma simultaneously. At that time, I speculated about her possible interest in Congress. Scheller told me she expected to make a decision soon. It appears she's taking the plunge. She's scheduled an announcement for this morning, 10:30 am, at Renaissance Allentown Hotel.

If she's running, it will be for the LV Congressional seat currently held by Susan Wild.

Lisa Scheller Expands LCCC Scholarship Program

I got to know Lisa Scheller during her days as a Lehigh County Comm'r. I was pretty rough on her because that's the way I roll, and after all, she is an evil Republican. She never seemed bothered by my diatribes. She always answered my emails. I was actually sorry to see her leave Lehigh County's Board.

In the real world, she's President and Chairman of Silberline Manufacturing Co., Inc. In case you don't know, this Tamaqua - yes, I said Tamaqua - corporation is a world leader and global supplier of high-quality special effect and performance pigments. She has both math (University of Colorado) and engineering (Lehigh University) degrees. Just a few months ago, she was honored by Schuykill County's Chamber of Commerce as their Entrepreneur of the Year.

But her story goes beyond her government service and business acumen. She is a recovering heroin addict who lived on the streets. Unlike many others, she has gone public. In fact, she established the Hope and Coffee shop in Tamaqua, her hometown, for fellow addicts.

When I received word that Lisa would be making an announcement at Lehigh County Community College yesterday, a 36 minute drive from Nazareth, I felt I owed it to my fellow addict.

She announced a scholarship program for Lehigh County and Tamaqua high school students enabling them to take college-level courses in the junior and senior years and receive both a high school diploma and associate's degree. This scholarship is available to students eligible for free or reduced lunches.

Currently, 56 students from Allentown School District alone are enrolled in a scholarship Scheller made available to technical school students. She's expanded the program so that it applies to all high school students.

In her remarks, Scheller said education "opens so many doors" for people who were "not put here to be something, but to be someone."  She stressed a country of "educational haves and have nots is a threat to democracy." 

Scheller is mulling a run for the Congressional seat held by Susan Wild in the Pa. 7th District. It's rated by Cook Political Report as "likely Democratic," but 2020 is far off.

Lehigh GOP Boss Woodman Wants to Purge Latina Committee Woman

Back in 2011, Lehigh County GOP Chair Wayne Woodman told me he is all about "free market politics", under which local party machinery shies away from endorsements and in favor of making races more exciting by attracting numerous candidates. That sounded exciting, to be honest.but in practice, Woodman has been more like exactly what he condemned - a closed club in which the "game is rigged" in favor of party boss favorites. Nowhere has this been more clear than with his treatment of Wanda Mercado-Arroyo, one of two Hispanic state committeewomen. He's running his wife against her, not in some egalitarian expression of democracy, but for revenge.

Mercado-Arroyo committed an unpardonable sin. She disobeyed Woodman. In 2011, she dared to run for State Rep Doug Reichley's seat after he was anointed a judge and was carried away by angels. In addition to telling Wanda she had no name recognition, the California transplant also told her the area just isn't ready for a Latina. Woodman would rather see Harvard man Ryan Mackenzie run than a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico.

Mackenzie went on to win. Maybe Woodman was right. But it was "free market politics", which we Democrats refer to as democracy.

For defying Woodman, he is running his wife, Lisa Scheller, against Wanda.

So much for reaching out to Hispanics.

I don't mean to suggest Woodman is a bigot, just that he plays favorites.

Through his wife, Woodman has funneled money to the following candidates:

Scott Aquila raised $8,510 in the primary against Percy Dougherty. $5,000, or 59% of that, came form Lisa.

Mike Schware raised $10,600 in the primary against Norma Cusick, Nate Brown and Kevin Ryan. $5,000, or 47% of that, came form Lisa.

Scott Ott raised $86,760 in the primary against Dean Browning. $30,000, or 35% of that, came from Lisa.

So in the free market primary of 2013, Wayne and Lisa contributed $40,000 to their preferred candidates while their Republican opponents received zero. This sounds an awful lot like a party boss rigging the game in favor of his candidates.

Silberline County

Of course her main feller is her husband, Lehigh County GOP boss Wayne Woodman. If I were her, I'd be trying to trade up, but love is blind. "I love the way you say 'free market politics,'" she whispers in his ear.

But Lisa has some other fellers, too. One of them is Exec candidate Scott Ott. In addition to being the Chairman at aluminum industry pioneer Silberline, Lisa has been an outspoken voice on Lehigh County's Board of Commissioners. She's part of what she and Ott would call a "reform" movement. I think a more appropriate word is "deform." One brick at a time, this group is intent on ripping government apart, because it's evil.

Let me give you an example of this "deform" movement from Monday night's economic development forum for Executive candidates. Scott Ott, a fellow "deform" movement member, was a participant. At the end of a question about what he'd do to promote the economy and jobs, he said he's all for outsourcing government jobs, even to the point of opening up individual jobs to "managed competition."

Of course, something like that is simply unworkable, not only in government, but in business, too. But he said it with a smile, but nobody minded.

You can't open jobs like corrections officers or nursing home nurses to competitive bidding. You don't run a business that way, either.

But Lisa has giver her feller, Scott Ott, $20,000 for his Exec race, nearly 1/3 of the total amount he's raised.

She has other fellers, too.

Mike Schware is another deform movement member, an appointed Commissioner. Lisa has given him $5,000 of the $8,950 he raised, over half of his support. She's also given another feller, Commissioner candidate Scott Aquila, $2,500 of the $5,985 he's raised, nearly half of his warchest.

Scheller has so far spent $27,500 to deform Lehigh County.

Once they're done, they're secret plan is to build everything out of aluminum. Silberline County.

Hansell Vetoes $5 Million Jobs Cut in Lehigh County

LC Exec Bill Hansell

Despite the lack of power, Lehigh County Executive Bill Hansell convened a news conference on November 1 to announce his veto of a budget amendment approved by a divided, 5-4, Board of Commissioners late last month. Their amendment slashed $5 million from the budget by reducing compensation to the County's workforce. Hansell blasted this jobs cut as "an unnecessary threat made against a work force that is already well under the number of employees that Lehigh County had twenty years ago." He added this cut "serves only to demoralize our staff with threats of furloughs, layoffs and terminations."

In addition to the veto, Hansell reduced non-personnel expenses by $3.5 million from what was contained in his original budget, which he called a compromise to a budget amendment that proposed $5 million.

Supporting Hansell at this news conference were Lehigh County Commissioners Percy Dougherty, David Jones, Dan McCarthy and Brad Osborne. With this support, it appears unlikely that Commissioners will be able to muster the six votes needed to override Hansell.

Also joining Hansell were numerous County officials, from Republican DA Jim Martin to Democratic Sheriff Ron Rossi.

Commissioner Lisa Scheller, part of the five-member coalition who supported a $5 million reduction in employee compensation, filmed part of the news conference and walked out, shaking her head.

District Attorney Jim Martin noted that last month's budget amendment instilled fear of layoffs or pay cuts in the approximately 45 employees under his supervision. "I can tell you that none of them deserve that," he remarked. "They work very diligently and hard on behalf of all of the citizens. He called the $5 million jobs cut, which translates to 100 employees, as unnecessary. "It was not a thoughtful approach," he argued. "If we can't prosecute cases, we can't fulfill our obligations." He commended the "political courage" of the four Commissioners who stood with Hansell

One of these, Dr. Percy Dougherty, a Republican, stated he is now a "marked man," referring to next year's election. A geologist by education, Dr. Dougherty described the budget process in lyrical terms. "The dark clouds that we saw on the horizon weren't the hurricane coming. It was budget season, and it hit us with a flurry, probably more so than the hurricane," he waxed.

Daugherty explained that he supported Hansell's veto because it includes $3.5 million in cuts to non-personnel expenditures. This will still guarantee a $44 reduction to each taxpayer, as was contained in the budget amendment approved by five Commissioners as well as the original budget proposed by Hansell.

Fellow Republican Brad Osborne, who chairs the Board, agreed that the $3.5 million in non-personnel cuts "begins the process of closing the structural imbalance between revenue and expenses in a sustainable way."

Democrat Dan McCarthy, like Dr. Dougherty, also referred to the recent storm. "When you have catastrophes like this, people want government," he stated. "It does have a valid role to play in our society." He complained that the $5 million jobs cut would rob Lehigh County residents of the very people needed to react to crises like Hurricane Sandy. Fellow Democrat David Jones called the indiscriminate jobs cut too much of a "blunt approach."

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on overriding the veto at their November 14 meeting.

The Commissioners who support the $5 million jobs cut are Vic Mazziotti, Scott Ott, Michael Schware, Tom Creighton and Lisa Scheller. Executive Hansell claimed that only Creighton honored his multiple requests for a meeting, although this was disputed by other Commissioners who complained they were not invited to the news conference.