The Man Who Couldn't Lose ... Lost

In his quest for the 17th Congressional District, Glen Geissinger has painted himself as a winner who would defeat Matt Cartwright where others have failed. He certainly would do better than Matt Connolly, who is 0-3 in runs for elective office. Well, Geissinger the winner is now Geissinger the loser.  Matt Connolly has beat him convincingly, and is now on his way to getting his ass kicked up and down the northern tier by Matt Cartwright.

Maybe Geissinger will now start doing the job he was elected to do.

Geissinger, Connolly Both Claim They Can Beat Cartwright

Matt Connolly

If asked who represents the Lehigh Valley in Congress, most will answer Charlie Dent. And he does, at least in Lehigh County. But at least half of the Northampton County portion of his District was taken away as a result of the state re-apportionment done every ten years. He lost a small part of Bethlehem, Easton, and the northern portion of Northampton County. Dent even lost Nazareth, which he made a point of visiting every July 4 when he represented the entire Lehigh Valley.

Half of Northampton County is now represented by Matt Cartwright, a prominent attorney from the Scranton area. A Democrat, he can rely on heavy support from urban centers like Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Easton and the one Bethlehem precinct that he now represents.

Cartwright was successful two years ago in a re-election bid in which he was challenged by David "Doc" Moylan, a physician and Schuylkill County coroner who billed himself as "the cure for Congress." In Northampton County, Cartwright walked away with 52% of the vote.

Can a Republican beat him? Matt Connolly and Glenn Geissinger think so. Both are running for the Republican nomination. They were the headline event at a debate hosted by the Lehigh Valley Tea Party at a packed Se-Wy-Co Banquet Hall in Lower Saucon Township on April 7. .

Connolly, a retired race car driver who is now in the auto repair business, is no stranger to politics. Since 2010, he's run unsuccessfully for the state senate and Northampton County Council. He also ran for this seat two years ago, but was defeated in the primary by Doc Moylan. He lives in Bethlehem Township with his daughter and is on the Bethlehem Township Athletic Association's board.

Connolly claimed he's been involved in the tea party since 2009, and "it's been wonderful." He said this country is "under the thumb or boot of this Obama guy." He charged that President Obama was able to get Obamacare through Congress because he had a big SuperPAC behind him - "the mainstream media."

Geissinger was elected to Northampton County Council two years in a Republican sweep of all at-large seats  Though he grew up in Whitehall, he now lives in Plainfield Township with his wife and two children. He
runs his own advertising business and served as a captain in a combat unit with the 82nd Airborne. He is also a Republican State Committee member.

According to Geissinger, government's primary role is to provide security. "People need to know they are safe," he said. He advocates rolling back government regulation that he claims is "absolutely killing us." He portrayed himself as a Congressman who will be "accountable to you."

Glenn Geissinger

Can a Republican Beat Cartwright? - Both candidates dismissed concerns over the $2 million or so needed to run a competitive Congressional race. "We already have twice as much money as Doc Moylan had," said Geissinger, referring to Cartwright's last Republican opponent. Noting that he won a Council seat in a County that is only 33% Republican, he said he could win in a Congressional district that is only 31% Republican "with Democrats and Independents voting for me because of the things I stand on and believe in. Those are conservative principles, and they will be able to work in the 17th District."

Connolly referred to several fundraisers and said he will have the money needed because he will "inspire voters."  He slammed Cartwirght. "He is not pro life. He is not pro Second Amendment. He claims to be pro family and pro worker, yet he is for Obama's amnesty. This is not a guy who inspires anyone."

Term Limits. Geissinger vowed he would serve no more than five terms. Connolly signed a pledge to "cosponsor and vote" for a U.S. Term Limits Amendment limiting a Congressman to three terms and Senator to two. But he is "not going to term limit myself," and until something that applies to everyone is adopted, refuses to bind himself individually.

Repeal 17th Amendment. - The 17th Amendment was adopted to ensure that U.S. Senators are elected by popular vote instead of by state legislatures. This proposal to repeal it has the support of  Presidential candidate Ted Cruz and the Utah State Senate.

According to Connolly, one of the reasons this Amendment was adopted is because "the wannabe senators were bribing the state legislators in order to elect them." But he said Senators today "bribe every voter out there. And they do it with promises they can't keep, and they know they can't keep, and they buy votes by spending our grandchildren's money." He said that having state legislators pick U.S. Senators would bring back "another level of accountability to the people."

Geissinger agreed, saying that the 17th Amendment "destroyed the balance."

Joanne Jackson (former Allentown School Board) and her husband

Unaccountable Congressman? - Connolly claimed that Cartwright "wants the power and title of being a Congressman, but "doesn't want to do the work to address the issues." He "has a wonderful set of form letters for virtually every question you could ask, and they're all very general, and they all tell you how much he cares." Charging that Cartwright ducks issues, Connolly claims, "The guy doesn't have a spine, and it's getting real obvious."

Geissinger noted that elected local officials like himself "cannot escape your constituents. You go to the store with them. You go to soccer with them. You are everywhere with them because they are the people who voted for you, they are the people who are with you 24 hours a day." Geissinger said he'd be responsive because "I'm going to be in the district." He said he'd be "looking people in the eye and answering the hard questions."

Getting rid of Obamacare. - Geissinger noted that the repeal of Obamacare has already passed in the House, and that conservative Republicans are now fashioning a replacement bill. "I would be behind that in a heartbeat," said Geissinger. House Speaker Paul Ryan has yet to release the details of his alternative plan.

"You don't replace it with anything," complained Connolly. "You replace it with the free market principles that allow competition to eliminate the government overreach." He condemned any law "from the same federal government that was part of the problem in the first place."

The only thing that works is the government out of our health care, we need the government out of the relationship between the patient and the doctor. We need tort reform to lower the cost of health care, to lower the cost of drugs ... Healthcare, education and marriage are three words never mentioned in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights and we need to keep it that way."

According to Connolly, the genesis of our health care problem is wage caps imposed during WWII, to which employers responded by offering benefits to make jobs more attractive. "That became the norm," he claimed, and the health insurance resulted in lawsuits by lawyers looking for insurance money.

Pro life stances. - Both candidates are solidly pro-life.

"I believe the child is innocent, regardless of the sins of the father or the irresponsibility of the mother," said Connolly  His position with Project VoteSmart is that abortion should only be considered "when the women did not consent or if the mother's life is in danger." At the debate, he said that "I have yet to see a true medical situation where the baby must be aborted to save the life of the mother. If it exists, that's not going to be part of the legal system. That's going to be part of the medical system. That life issue will soon become the lifestyle of the mother."

Connolly added he won't allow his personal philosophy to be swayed. He claimed the true test for him will come when

"my party's leadership puts their arm around me and says, 'Matt, I know you probably don't want to vote for this because you're one of those conservative tea party guys, but this is how we get things done. You gotta' go along to get along.' No. I'm not going to work as hard as I've worked to get elected to become one of those guys who goes along to get along. I'm not going to be comfortable. I'm not even going to be popular. I don't even want to be popular with those people. I want my country and I want to get my country back."

Geissinger said he spent five years of his life as an unpaid member of the clergy for his church. Both of his children were adopted as a result of teen pregnancies. "I-get-the-issue," he announced. But unlike Connolly, he does make exceptions because 64,000 women annually suffer from ectopic pregnancy  "There are issues in which the life of the mother is in danger" He also pointed to pregnancies that result from rape. "Are you going to ask a 13 year-old girl who's been raped by her uncle to take the child to full term? Are you gonna' do that? I can't do that responsibly as a legislator."

Geissinger Defends NorCo Tax Hike

Prior to the debate, the audience was cautioned to ask only questions that both candidates could answer and avoid questions that single out any one candidate. But that's precisely what one person, festooned in a Donald Trump sweatshirt and a very tiny pistol, did.  She disguised her question as a concern over the federal deficit, but then slammed Geissinger "for voting for a tax hike in your first year as a County councilman to beef up the surplus." She wondered whether there would be "more of the same" in Washington.

Geissinger had an answer.

"Here's what happened. We came in with a $19 million structural deficit. We only had $20 million in the bank. We had a choice. Violate an ordinance and not vote for the tax increase and get in the back with the Democrats and say, 'We hope it works out.' Or, get together with other good tea party members like Hayden Phillips and come up with a bill that put that money in a lock box. We asked each family in Northampton County to contribute, on the average, $1 per week to solidify our financial position, to save our credit rating and to give us time that we needed to turn things around. We did it. We turned things around. Thirty-seven million dollars returned to the general fund in two years, and the second year, I voted against the tax increase. We needed to find a way to cut expenses, and that's what I did here and that's what I'll do there."

Balancing the Budget. - Connolly said he'd start by nixing the automatic increases in programs that go on year after year. Geissinger added that a family is unable to last long if it spends $50,000 every year but only takes in $40,000, and must look to cut expenses He pointed to Lou Barletta, who in Congress has pressured the General Services Administration to negotiate leases that potentially could save billions over the long term. For example, people with 1500 sq ft would see that space reduced to 150 sq ft.

Cutting Federal Agencies - Geissinger said he'd reform the Veterans Administration, which employs 270,000 people.Connolly would eliminate the Department of Education and slammed the EPA as a collection of "unelected bureaucrats with no accountability."

Landside Lamont's "Victory" In Question

I first saw Lamont McClure the day he announced his County Council candidacy at a Courthouse news conference, way back in 2001. I was a bit surprised to hear him repeatedly bash me, of all people, over my opposition to a $111 million bond. I wasn't running for anything. After he had finished braying, I walked over and introduced myself.

Lamont never made it past the primary.

He did a little better when he tried again in 2005, but still finished 9th out of 10 candidates in the general election.

Something about him turns voters off.

After two losses, McClure was one of two Democrats appointed to Council vacancies in a back-room deal. Those were created when Executive John Stoffa named Republican Mary Ensslin and Democrat Michael Corriere to his cabinet. Instead of appointing one Democrat and one Republican, a partisan power play stacked the deck.

In 2007, McClure had to face the voters again. He raised and spent all kinds of money, most of which came from other asbestos lawyers and unions, to smear Democratic challenger Will Power. In one mailer, McMud claimed that Power had assaulted his own disabled brother. Dead, Will's brother was in no position to refute these accusations. But in a sad news conference, Will re-played a years-old video in which his brother denied there had ever been an assault.

Will had no power and went down in flames, but McMud obviously left a bad taste in voters' mouths. They don't like incessant smears and robo calls. So in the general election against little-known Mark Schwartz, McClure won by just 91 votes against a person who ran no campaign and spent no money.

Landslide Lamont.

In this election, Lamont repeated the same mistakes he made in 2007. He flooded telephone lines with incessant robocalls, painting himself as the Savior of Gracedale. He also smeared Connolly over real estate taxes owed by two businesses in which he is a partner.

Right before the election, Lamont also circulated a last-minute flyer that smears Connolly again, and with a picture that makes Matt look more like Satan than a race car driver. Democrats were so turned off that they started giving these mailers to Connolly, telling him that McClure had lost their vote.

Once again, McClure has spent a lot of money to barely defeat a candidate with practically no money to spend or time to campaign, although Connolly tells me he did knock on 1,200 doors. According to the unofficial results on the County web page, McClure has defeated Matt by a scant 114 votes out of 8,052 votes cast. A 0.014% victory.

Landslide Lamont.

That victory is anything but certain at this point. When the official count takes place, that number could go up. Or down. On top of that, there are reports of problems with a voting machine in one of the precincts, which refused to light up for voters who wanted to vote for Connolly.

According to one voter (I do not have his permission to identify him at this point),

"[M]ost voters trying to vote for Matt would push his button more than once when his light didn’t light trying to get his light to come on. And the same machine worked perfectly if you voted for his opponent and the marker next to his name lit up. And according to the poll worker I reported the problem to that is exactly how you cancel a candidate selection when you change your mind or make a mistake. You can be almost sure he lost some votes because of this problem.

"And when I reported the problem they were skeptical that there was a problem. I offered to show them but he said anytime they reset the machine it will count as a vote if we test pushed buttons. Another poll worker overheard the conversation and offered to vote in the same booth. We then verified the problem was happening and they said they were taking that machine out of service, but I left the polls and can’t be certain they did. And at no time did he mention to me that it would count the vote whether the light was lit or not."

Obviously, this problem is being investigated. If the machine was failing to record Connolly votes, probably all votes cast on that machine should be invalidated.

A look at the results in that District reveals that McClure's position as Defender of Gracedale meant little to voters. He lost in the Townships and won in the boroughs.

Allen Township: Connolly, 297 to 253. (Voters here killed an open space referendum, and this issue likely increased turnout.)

Bath: Connolly, 101 to 91.

Bethlehem Township: Connolly, 1462 to 1410. (Three disputed Commissioner seats, especially the Atiyeh-Nolan race, probably increased Republican turnout).

East Allen: Connolly, 350 to 270

Freemansburg: McClure, 106 to 42.

Lower Nazareth: Connolly, 320 to 271. (Why did the Champion of Gracedale lose in the Township right next to it?)

Lower Saucon: Connolly, 703 to 622. (Another open space referendum here probably increased turnout).

Nazareth: McClure, 380 to 276. (McClure got 1.3 votes to every vote garnered by Connolly in a community where many Gracedale workers live. Shouldn't the Savior of Gracedale do better?)

Northampton: McClure, 510 to 307. (Heavy Democratic edge).

North Catty: McClure 259 to 116. (That's right next to Catty in Lehigh County, where McClure convinced Council members to give $10,000 to its YMCA. With your money).

I'm not certain Landside Lamont has even won this race. But I am certain that, in contrast to the claims made by earnest Express Times' columnist Tony Rhodin, this race had nothing to do with Gracedale.

Perhaps Landside Lamont should think twice or even three times before bombarding people with robocalls and sending out vicious smears.

Following the Money in the McClure, Connolly Race

Pre-election campaign finance reports were due on Friday. Here's how the money looks in the County Council Nazareth-area race between Lamont McClure and Matt Connolly.

McClure raised $10,050 during this reporting period, giving him a total of $23,485. Nearly half of his money - $7,900 - came from unions, including the Asbestos Workers. He also picked up $1,000 from Nazareth's Rodney Applegate. He also accepted a $1,245 in-kind contribution from former Council member Charles Dertinger, for one of his three or more robocalls.

So far, McClure has spent $23,485 for at least two mailers, one of which is a hit piece on his opponent, Matt Connolly.

McClure still has $7,259.50 in the till.

That's about ten times as much as his opponent, Matt Connolly. Starting with nothing, Connolly raised $1,740, and $500 of that money came from auto dealer Andy Daub. Connolly has spent $1,083.60, mostly for campaign signs.

Norco Council (Nazareth): Matt Connolly v. Lamont McClure

"County government requires active representation by those elected to serve. My opponent has an indefensible attendance record. One Committee meeting in four years. Being Chairman of the Legal and Judicial Committee, but not ever holding a meeting. You have to be there to make a difference.

"I will be there, and with great enthusiasm. I may not know all of the inner workings of the County now, but I will learn and bring my best experience and objective judgment. I want to be a legislator, not a politician.

"Government has to be reeled in and limited. We spend the tax money taken from the residents. We must do it responsibly. Debacles like the swaption, which will end up throwing away $24 million of taxpayers' money, will never get my vote.

"If I was a Committee Chairman, I would hold meetings and I would attend those of others.

"I will always work to allow private citizens and businesses to thrive, making Northampton County an attractive place for residents and a sound place to start a business or as a place for business to relocate.

"There's a reason why the LV Association of Realtors did something they have never done before to an incumbent that they helped elect. For the first time ever, they have pulled their support from Lamont McClure and switched it to me, the challenger. They, like me, realize that home values are directly tied to the solvency of families and the County as a whole. I support keeping homes affordable, with low taxes and efficient government. Obviously, they don't believe that Mr. McClure feels the same way. Then again, maybe they just wanted to help elect someone who cares enough to show up."



"I'm glad Mr. Connolly spent so much time talking about me. I like hearing stuff about myself. With that being said, the fact of the matter is I have only ever wanted to be on County Council. It's the only thing I've ever run for. I actually started striving towards serving on County Council in 2001, and throughout the years, I'm very, very pleased to let you hear tonight about some of my accomplishments.

"I was the author of the Gaming Board Ordinance that created the Northampton County Gaming Authority. This Authority is allowed to contiguous municipalities for the casino in Bethlehem, to receive monies to ameliorate any of the negative effects that they've experienced from the casino.

"I was the author of the referendum language to make the Controller of Northampton County full time. I was pleased that that language passed, and starting in 2012, we will have a full time County Controller for the first time under home rule. I'm very pleased to have done that.

"Going forward, my primary mission will be to fight to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Gracedale. It is of paramount importance that Gracedale stay in County hands, and that will be my overriding ambtion."

Matt Connolly: More With Less

Matt Connolly is running against incumbent Lamont McClure for the Northampton County Council seat that includes Allen Tp, Bath, Bethlehem Tp, East Allen Tp, Freemansburg, Lower Nazareth Tp, Lower Saucon Tp, Nazareth, North Catasauqua and Northampton.

GOP County Council Candidate Matt Connolly Behind on Real Estate Taxes ... Again

When Matt Connolly ran against Lisa Boscola for the state senate last year, she blasted him for failing to pay taxes on three Lower Saucon Township properties owned by his business, Matt Connolly Motor Sports, LLC. "Who are you gonna' vote for, somebody who doesn't pay his taxes?" she asked. Connolly did delay payments on those business parcels in 2008 and 2009. He explained, "I chose to cover other expenses, like paying my employees, instead of paying the taxes on the due date. Of course I did pay them, but they were late." Connolly was never late with his tax bill for the real estate he owns personally.

Now Connolly is the GOP's choice for the Northampton County Council seat currently held by Lamont McClure. And once again, Connolly is late on real estate taxes owed by his business. In fact, at the September 22 annual upset tax sale, one of them was exposed to sale. Nobody bid because of a lien, and it will now be scheduled for a judicial sale in January.

At the last minute, Connolly was able to pay $9,000 to keep the other two properties from going to sale.

How did this happen?

According to Connolly, he and a silent partner were each responsible for $5,500 of the bill. When his associate was unable to come up with his share, Connolly began scrambling for the rest, but it was not enough.

Connolly explained that the real estate market has been very tough for him. He lost a $100,000 loan when Easton's Mount Vernon Ale house was sold at tax sale, as well as another $48,000 when the Magic Wok lost its magic and filed for bankruptcy.

Connolly states he expects to have the funds for the third property in a matter of weeks.

Will this hurt Connolly? It won't help.

The seat that Connolly and McClure are fighting for includes Allen Tp, Bath, Bethlehem Tp, East Allen Tp, Freemansburg, Lower Nazareth Tp, Lower Saucon Tp, Nazareth, North Catasauqua, and Northampton.

Matt Connolly To Take On Lamont McClure

His name is Matt Connolly, and up 'till last year, his races were with GTOs and Porsches at Matt Connolly Motorsports. Then he tried politics, racing against Lisa Boscola for the state senate. Matt finished in second place. That's good at the Indy 500, but it's a loss in politics.

After licking his wounds, Matt has decided to take on Lamont McClure in District 3, which includes Allen Tp, Bath, Bethlehem Tp, East Allen Tp, Freemansburg, Lower Nazareth Tp, Lower Saucon Tp, Nazareth, North Catasauqua, and Northampton.

McClure is the only Council member last year to have attended no committee meetings in 2010. His combined attendance record is just 60%.

Connolly v. Boscola, Tax Cheat v. Marijuana Dreamer

Northampton County Council's Star Chamber is always a great place for a fight. In fact, Executive John Stoffa is considering renting it out to the Wild Samoans on weekends. But last night, instead of sparring Council members, the Northampton County League of Women Voters sponsored an exhibition match between Pa. State Senatorial candidates Matt "Tax Cheat" Connolly and Lisa "Marijuana Dreamer" Boscola. Although they both took their shots, it was a surprisingly good and congenial debate. In the picture on the left, the candidates are joking as they wag their fingers at each other. ... I think. Lafayette Professor John Kincaid, who acted as moderator, posed excellent questions. The only disappointment was the small crowd, which consisted almost exclusively of the inner circle of each candidate.

Acting as cutman, Glenn "Commissioner No" Eckhart squirted water into Connolly's mouth between questions. In Lisa's corner sat the Imperious Ann McHale, who kept murmuring, "I should be County Executive."

Below are the fight highlights, with a few explanatory comments.

Is Matt Connolly a Tax Cheat?

Boscola: "I want to continue my fight for property tax relief, even though he [Connolly] has a tendency not to pay his. I took a shot because you took a shot at me."

Connolly: "I was late on a tax bill twice on real estate. That's not a crime.

Boscola: "Three years in a row."

Blogger's Note: Connolly owns two real estate parcels with his wife and has never been delinquent with his taxes. His business, Matt Connolly Motor Sports, LLC, owns another three parcels, and the real estate taxes owed on those parcels are delinquent. No judgment or lien has ever been filed against Connolly or his business, so he's no tax cheat, as Boscola alleged in a radio interview.

Boscola Dreams About Medical Marijuana?

Boscola: "I was thinking about it the other day. I was dreaming about it. I do that a lot."

Has Boscola Ever Voted For a Tax Hike?

In her opening, Boscola stated she has never voted for a tax hike. Connolly produced a bill in which she voted for an extension and increase of a corporate tax. "That's just a spin," answered Boscola.

Connolly Challenges Boscola on Pledge to Eliminate Property Taxes

Connolly: "In business, if you had been on the job for 12 years, and had not accomplished what you said you were going to do, you'd be fired. in politics, you tend to lose your position."

Boscola: "Anybody with common sense knows that one individual, one senator alone, can't eliminate property taxes."

Pledge to Eliminate Property Taxes an Election Ploy

Connolly: "I appreciate the fight for eliminating property taxes, but I prefer you win the fight for elimination of property taxes instead of using it as ---. It's been your election ploy for the past 12 years."

Blogger's Note: The Morning Call article Connolly refers to is located here.

Should legislators Be Banned From Consulting Gigs?

Boscola: "Absolutely. This is a full-time job. I work at it 24/7, and I have no respect for those that are doing outside consulting work."

Connolly: "There's too much potential for a conflict of interest."

Blogger's Note: State Rep. Jennifer Mann is a consultant for Vitetta.

Should we reduce the size of our state legislature?

Connolly: "Pennsylvania, per capita, is one of the most over-represented states in the Union. We have 50 senators, 203 representatives; they each have a staff that averages about 11 people, they get state cars, all of this I think is quite excessive." He'd reduce the state legislature to 25 senators and 2 representatives from each senatorial district or shrink the pay and staff to equal that budget.

Boscola: "One of the very fist bills I introduced was to reduce the size of the state legislature. ... It wasn't sexy twenty, fifteen years ago to talk about it. But I was on bard way back then and I continue to be on board."

Marcellus Shale: Should there be a moratorium on the extraction of natural gas?

Boscola: "I am very much in favr of a moratorium right now because this extraction of natural gas - we have one chance to do this right. One chance. We have to learn the lessons of coal, when we were mining coal, and the acid mine drains that we are still dealing with environmentally. ... But the debate in Harrisburg is not directed that way. It's directed towards a tax on the drilling of Marcellus Shale. ... If they're going to tax it, I believe all that money should be going towards environmental protection and the local communities who are going to have to suffer through it. ... If that Little Lehigh River is polluted because of Marcellus Shale, yu know I'll be out there, fighting constantly, to make sure the drillers pay."

Connolly: "I do not support a moratorium on Marcellus gas production. I'm very interested in this. i was in the heating business for many years and knew quite a bit about it. I interviewed a driller and an executive who does fracking. It can be done very safely. Marcellus Shale ... is 9,000 feet under ground. It can be done very safely. It can be done with an absolutely minimal impact. We cannot blame the gas and our need for the gas for some of the problems that have been caused by irresponsible drillers. I am all for, as part of the permit fees, having the gas companies and the gas producers, pay for independent, third party monitoring, have very stiff fines for any breaches in any environmental regulations or any pollution. We need to become a net energy exporter in this state. We cannot keep taking our oil from people who don't like us."

Severence Tax, Anyone?

Boscola claims we can impose this tax because "they [gas producers] are going nowhere." Connolly worries that is exactly what will happen.

The Looming Pension Crisis

Connolly: "We are staring down the barrel of a debt gun that's gonna' kill us."

Boscola: "We are making changes that matter to people." [She describes some changes for new hires].

Health Care Costs

Boscola: "We have to go after the insurance companies. That's how you drive down costs, and that's how you cover more people."

Job Creation

Connolly: "The only place in the world more hostile to job creation is Japan."

Gun Control: Both candidates oppose gun control.

Abortion: Boscola opposes after first trimester. Connolly opposes except in case of rape or incest.

Gay Marriage: Both oppose but support civil unions.

Illegal Immigration: Connolly support deportation. Boscola supports cracking down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

Unfunded Mandates: Both support ending practice. Neither supports a Constitutional amendment to that effect.

Boscola v. Connolly Tomorrow

Northampton County's LWV will host a tête-à-tête tomorrow night between incumbent State Senator Lisa Boscola and challenger Matt Connolly. In a recent radio interview (you can hear it here), Boscola called Connolly a "tax cheat." "I'm going to win this election, and I'm going to win it soundly because people get it, Bobby. They're not gonna' pay for a tax beat and somebody that puts out rhetoric out there and can't even back it up."

The forum will take place at 6:45 PM at the Northampton County Courthouse, 3rd floor meeting room.

I'll be selling popcorn.

Boscola: Connolly a "Tax Cheat"

State Senator Lisa Boscola's recent appearance on WAEB with Bobby Gunther Walsh got pretty heated. He probed her about the legislature's inability to enact eaningful property tax reform, h eventually suggesting,"At what point should you step aside because you're no longer effective?You haven't got it done."

Lisa exploded with a slam at her opponent, Matt Connolly. "He's talking to me about property taxes? He didn't pay his. Who are you gonna' vote for, somebody who doesn't pay his taxes? That's not personal responsibility or accountability for your actions? That's what drives me crazy, when these people come and attack you for things you're trying to do, but his version of property tax is not to pay his. Is that what somebody wants in the Senate? I don't think so."

Of all people, it is Connolly who sent me Boscola's audio, along with this explanation. "I would like to proactively address this with you and anyone who cares to listen. I bought a property in 2006 that is now my shop. It needed a lot of work and money has always been tight. in 2008 and 2009 I chose to cover other expenses, like paying my employees, instead of paying the taxes on the due date. Of course I did pay them, but they were late. The state made out since I had to pay interest and penalties. I felt it was better to not disrupt the lives and families of the guys who help me make a living instead of paying the property taxes at the time. I would probably make the same choice in the future, although I would prefer to make more money and not have the choice at all!"

Orloski & Connolly: Two Underdogs Who Deserve a Second Look

Somebody call the exterminators!

You ever notice that when it starts raining hard, beetles and all kinds of other creepy crawlers start coming out of the pipes? Well during yesterday's downpour, Northampton Community College was infested by a plague much more serious than bedbugs.

Politicians were all over the place, and refused to leave until everyone listened to them for an hour. Bottom-feeding blogger that I am, I dropped in on them as they pontificated before a large crowd of mostly college students, with a few plants here and there.

Even Ron Shegda, aka "Jesus in Disguise," was there. When it was all over at lunchtime, I told him people were hungry and I had five loaves of bread and two fish in my car. He just scowled and walked across 3' deep puddles to his car, which ascended into the heavens.

I'm going to give you highlights from this well-run forum over the next few days. For now, I want to introduce you to two underdogs who deserve a second look. Democrat Rick Orloski is waging an uphill battle against Republican State Senator Pat Browne, while Republican Matt Connolly is hoping to upset Democrat State Senator Lisa Boscola. It's highly unlikely that either of them has a chance. But both of them gave terrific presentations, which I want to share with you.


Rick Orloski: How many of you here know people who smoke cigars? [Hands go up]. How many of you know people who chew tobacco? [Hey, that's me!]

Pennsylvania is the only state in he entire nation that doesn't tax chewing tobacco. In other words, we're subsidizing a health problem by not taxing it.

Only two states don't tax cigars, Pennsylvania and Florida. Again, we're subsidizing a health problem.

There was an opportunity to create a $100 million revenue stream by taxing chewing tobacco and cigars. Guess who led the fight in the State Senate against that? My opponent, Pat Browne. In other words, he's helping young folks smoke cigars and chew tobacco.

At a time when $100 million could have been used to create jobs by giving grants to small businesses, he decided to support a health problem, or to foster a health problem.

That's not the kind of Senator I'm gonna' be, and that's why I'm asking for your support.


Matt Connolly: I'm running for a very simle reason. I'm simply tired of complaining about things as they are; I'm tired of hearing about budgets that are late; hearing about a Governor who wants to fill a budget gap by a sales tax of "just one per cent for three years, and then we'll repeal it." We're still paying a [inaudible] Tax that was started in the Korean War, that has never been repealed.

Government has a real simple problem. They spend too much. If you look at the budget of Pennsylvania in 1980, it was $4 billion. Adjusted to today's money, that's a little more than $10 billion. The last budget passed was $28 billion. In fact, since 2002 when Ed Rendell took over, our budget has increased by forty per cent.

The problem with our $28 billion budget is that our revenues are only $25 billion.

So we should have an adjusted budget of about $10 billion when instead we have one of 28, yet our revenues are 25; it really proves we don't have an income problem, we have a spending problem. And they're spending your money.

Government is not an industry. Government does not produce anything. Government simply moves things around.

I'm running because if you don't [at this point, my cell phone goes off. Sorry.] get in the process and say - wait a minute, we need to stop this, we need to end some of these programs that are so unsustainable and serve nothing. We're going to be going down that road. You look at the riots in Greece.

We have a pension problem in Pennsylvania. It was a well-intentioned pension deal. The only problem is with a fixed benefit program. In other words, they're going to get a certain amount no matter if the market says they should get it or not. In 2012, we're going to be facing a $4 billion budget hole caused by a balloon payment for that pension program.

We're already $3 billion behind now, another $4 billion, and no one wants to address that.

If you're in business like I've been - I've been in business all my life, I've been in business in the LV for over 20 years - if you don't address things that you know are coming down the road in years like the pension payment like that, you can't kick them down the road, you can't ask taxpayers to just come up with it somehow.

We need to be fiscally responsible. That's why I'm running. I hope you can support me.

Connolly Slams Boscola Mailers

Yesterday, I told you about Matt Connolly and his state senate campaign against Lisa Boscola. He's made an issue out of the mailers that all incumbents, including LV Congressman Charlie Dent, routinely send at taxpayer expense.

Legislators justify this as a way of communicating with and informing constituents. But they are often criticized, especially by challengers, as blatant self-promotion. During his news conference yesterday, Connolly released this statement:

"Pennsylvania right now is undergoing yet another budget shortfall. Our elected officials look high and low to find waste in programs and departments, but never seem to look at themselves. One such area of spending that serves no one other than the official in question is taxpayer funded newsletters and self-promotion pieces. My opponent, Sen. Lisa Boscola (D), has been printing and sending multi page, 4 color mailers since she entered the senate 11 years ago. Add to that the many birthday cards and other items sent on the taxpayer dime and it all adds up to a greater deficit. Our officials must use their own money for things that promote themselves and are of little or no value to their constituents. As your senator, I will introduce legislation that will limit the total budget for communication mailings within a district. Simple black ink on white newsprint will suffice. The glossy mailers may be printed on recycled paper, but are not recyclable, like magazines. They just add to the landfill. Many of them are quite extravagant – not done by some in house staffer but a real professional. What does that cost us? In her last 6-page mailer, there were 8 pictures of Mrs. Boscola yet less than one third of it had any real information that would help taxpayers. Our officials need to remember that they work for us and have to spend our money in a way that we approve, not that makes them look the best.

"I respectfully ask Sen. Boscola to refund to the taxpayers from her large re-election fund the cost of the entire amount of last term's mailing and other non-citizen communication to the general fund. The commonwealth needs it and with $177,000 in her campaign war chest she can certainly afford it. The taxpayers must come first."

Race Car Driver Matt Connolly Taking on Boscola

His name is Matt Connolly, and up 'till now, he's used to racing with GTOs and Porsches at Matt Connolly Motorsports.

Now he's in a completely different kind of race against the Porsche of Lehigh Valley politicians, state senator Lisa Boscola. Today, he's hosting a news conference at The Bethlehem Rose Garden to complain about Boscola's frequent constituent mailers, paid for at taxpayer expense. He'll be introducing legislation to ban them.

Connolly claims he was inspired to run while volunteering for Charlie Dent's 2008 re-election.

Matt might be surprised to learn that Congressman Dent sends out informational mailers, too. Here's what he said when I asked him about it in 2008:

"Well, if I could have the media publish this information, that would be great. but they don't. A lot of my press releases are ignored, so this is one of the few ways left that I can communicate. By the way, we keep limitations on how much franked mail we send out. I have returned $200,000 in federal funds from my MRA. I run a frugal office. We don't spend a lot of money on a lot of frills. But we do feel that, from time to time, it is necessary to send out an informational mailer."

Boscola could easily make the same argument. Unfortunately, I will miss his news conference and am unable to ask him whether he ever raised this issue with Dent.

Connolly's campaign is being managed by Lehigh County Comm'r Glenn Eckhart.