How Lushis Law Firm Got Paid

On Monday, I told you that NorCo General Purpose Authority (GPA) Chair Shawn Langen has billed Northampton County $11,950 for his review of a third party engineer who is already reviewing work being done on 33 county bridges through a public private partnership agreement with Kriger Construction. Because Langen waited until the end of last year to submit his invoices all at once, they ended on Executive Lamont McClure's desk. He's weighing his options. On Tuesday, I told you that GPA Solicitor John Lushis and his law firm, Norris McLaughlin and Morris, have already earned $813,000 for their legal work over the past two years. It is highly unusual to pay any board member, except for the Revenue Appeals Board. But the real problem is the excessive fees being charged by Lushis, which have been paid. How did this happen?

Gambling. Executive John Brown took $500,000 in table games revenue and slid it over to the Corrections Budget. From there, he created a "special legal services" line item, and that's what he was using to write checks to the GPA  From there, they went to Lushis. That's how he was able to do this without Council or the Controller catching on.

Lushis Law Firm Made $813,000 With NorCo GPA in 2016 and 2017

Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. Attorney John Lushis and his law firm, Norris, McLaughlin and Marcus should take note. One of his former partners, Scott Allinson, is on trial in Allentown right now for being too much of a pig. The crimes charged are conspiracy and bribery, but the real sin is greed. Allinson was one of the Norris McLaughlin rainmakers, a schmoozer who knew that solicitorships on local government boards helped clients like Charles Chrin make real money. It is Allinson who pushed for Norris McLaughlin on the General Purpose Authority (GPA) as well as the Gaming Board. But instead of just being pigs, the firm is a hog. Although I still am waiting for a complete answer to my request for legal bills from that firm over the past two years, I can tell you now that Lushis and his firm billed Northampton County $783,039.30 over the past two years. In addition, that firm is allowed to collect fees when outfits like St. Luke's or Lehigh University float a bond. In December 2017, Lushis charged $30,000 for a St. Luke's bond. Overall, Lushis and his firm have made at least $813,039.30 from their affiliation with the GPA in 2016 and 2017.

In addition to his regular work for the GPA, Lushis was working on the side for former Executive John Brown as some sort of secret Solicitor. Though he was still sending in bills through the GPA, these were for "special legal services." When I confronted Lushis about this at February's GPA meeting, he denied it. But GPA Chair Shawn Langen had previously told me that's exactly what happened. And I now have the bills.

Under the county's administrative code, an Executive who wants to engage someone for professional services is required to follow certain procedures. Those were completely ignored. He is required to notify Council and the Controller. That never happened, either. His use of Lushis was an end-run around Council.

Section 13.21 of the Administrative Code provides,

"No elected or appointed official or employee of the County shall intentionally or knowingly circumvent the provisions of this Article. Further, that any such elected or appointed official or employee of the County of Northampton who shall intentionally and/or knowingly violate this Article shall be subject to surcharge to the extent of the damage shown to be thereby sustained by the County of Northampton,shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon a conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than one year or pay a fine of not more than $1,000, or both. Any contract entered into in violation of the within article shall not be binding upon the County of Northampton."

This was a serious transgression.

What are these "special legal services?"

Lushis was helping lay the groundwork for a jail at Gracedale in Upper Nazareth. You know, the one Brown eventually pledged never to build.

His bills tell quite the story.

On February 8, Lushis charged for participation in a two-hour meeting with Brown and Upper Nazareth Solicitor Gary Asteak. He and his firm also spent that month researching the application of zoning laws and also drafted legislation to enable the jail to be built as a P3 (public-private partnership) project.

In March, Lushis met with Senator Pat Browne to discuss legislation that would enable the jail to be built as a P3 project, and started lining up banks like American, First Northern, PNC and Embassy Bank as possible lenders. His firm drafted a zoning ordinance amendment for Upper Nazareth Tp. They researched whether the Upper Nazareth Zoning Ordinance is exclusionary. They also studied whether "essential government services" like a jail trumps local zoning.

Finally, March 27 arrived, the day of Brown's backroom meeting with Upper Nazareth Supervisors.

Lushis billed the county for ten hours that day. Other members of the Norris, McLaughlin  billed for another 13 hours

And the County paid for this meeting about which no one in the community knew anything.

In April and May, Senator Pat Browne was lobbied to enact legislation in which local zoning laws could be trumped for projects like a jail .

In July, Lushis was still preparing talking points about a jail at Gracedale. He and his firm also billed $2,730.00 for a 3.9 hour long "strategy telephone conference" based on a review of a 2008 entry in this very blog, in which different jail options were presented. That's the meeting in which Ron Angle, then Finance Chair, asked, "The reality here is, who the hell wants a new prison?"

John Lushis and John Brown.

Around late July, as public word of a jail at Gracedale began to spread, Lushis began looking at West Easton and Bethlehem (Applebutter Rd), too.

As summer wound to an end, Gracedale as a jail was beginning to blow up in Brown's face. The jail research began to wane. But in October, the County was charged $$3,390 to register six copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office for P3 licenses and agreements. These were registered in the name of the Norris, McLaughlin law firm, but we paid for it.

After Brown lost the election, that was the end of the "special legal services."

But there was fear that incoming Executive Lamont McClure might attempt to torpedo the P3 project under which 33 bridges are being repaired or replaced. McClure has no such intention, but they had no idea what he might do. He might end the gravy train for Lushis and Langen. So just as Lushis provided "special legal services" for John Brown, Northampton County Solicitor Ryan Durkin provided special legal services for the GPA. I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

GPA Chair Billed NorCo $11,950 to Check Work Done By Third Party Engineer

John Brown and Shawn Langen (right)
pose by "Bridge Closed" sign. Great
optics for the P3 Bridge repair project.   

Is the Northampton County General Purpose Authority (GPA) a runaway train, a shadow government operating behind the scenes to enable an Executive to do an end-run around Council? Though Chair Shawn Langen adamantly denies this is what is going on, it now appears that former Executive John Brown was using this authority to promote projects he knew that Council, the County's elected governing body, would question. Like a new jail at Gracedale. Or his own re-election.

The GPA has stonewalled several right-to-know requests, but has begun providing partial responses. The layers of this onion have begun to peel away. It is now clear that Brown was using the GPA as a conduit for capital projects, and without regard to the wishes of Council or the best interests of the County.

Through the GPA, he hired the same controversial PR firm that had been challenged in two lawsuits. At the suggestion of Solicitor John Lushic, the GPA authorized Chair Shawn Langen to begin billing the County, even though this highly unusual arrangement was never authorized by Council. Brown used GPA solicitor John Lushis to provide legal advice on matters having nothing to do with the GPA, like how to skirt Upper Nazareth's zoning ordinance. Through the GPA, Brown paid Lushis an obscene amount of money.

While using GPA Solicitor to advise him on matters having nothing to do with the GPA, Brown had then County Solicitor Ryan Durkin advise the GPA on the myriad of suits it could file against the County should the incoming administration decide to back out of a public-private partnership agreement for the repair or replacement of 33 bridges.

What is the GPA anyway?

It was first established by Northampton County Council on May 6, 1999, pursuant to the Municipality Authorities Act. It initially served as a conduit for former Executive Glenn Reibman's controversial $111 million multi-purpose bond. Over the years, it has been a conduit for the issuance of both taxable and tax exempt bonds to help finance public and private projects, mostly with hospitals and universities. It also administers the NorCo Loan and Development Fund and the Community Investment Partnership Program Revolving Loan Fund. But it may exercise any powers authorized by the Municipality Authorities Act. In 2016, became the lead agency involved in a plan to refurbish or replace 33 county-owned bridges at a cost of $38 million, with the work being done by Kriger Construction. The lack of transparency surrounding this project, which might actually be very beneficial to the County, is when the problems began.

Two people largely responsible. The first is Executive John Brown, who never understood that county government is much different than a corporate boardroom. The second person at fault is GPA Solicitor John Lushis, who has been funneling large bills to the county through the GPA. He is a member of the Norris McLaughlin law firm. Another member of that firm, Scott Allinson, is currently on trial in Allentown for political corruption. He was also billing the GPA through that firm.

Brown is gone, but Lushis is still giving legal advice to the GPA.

In his report to County Council on February 15, Executive Lamont McClure summed things up.

"It's my view that GPA historically was an authority that provided a wonderful service for St. Luke's, Lafayette, Lehigh, whoever needed to run large bond issues, and the GPA did that for them. I think they got a little bit away from their mission. But with that said, we've isolated what the problem is. I think we're going to over time deal with that problem. I think it's one problem, and I think it will be taken care of in the near term.

"I'll give you an example. In the P3 process [this refers to a deal to rehab or replace 33 county bridges], the Solicitor prepared documents for the contracts that were executed, and then copyrighted them. So all this stuff is paid for by public money, and the Solicitor's law firm has the copyrights.

"So I think we've gotten a little bit beyond the GPA's mission. It's a thing that will not be corrected overnight, but it will get corrected."

He started by appointing Paul Anthony and Frank Pintabone to the GPA. Peg Ferraro, herself a member of that Board, voted No to Pintabone

Today, I'm going to share the bills that Shawn Langen has  provided to the County. From what I'm told, they remain unpaid. Langen made the mistake of submitting his bills at the end of the year, as John Brown was going out the door.

When he was designated in January 2017 as the GPA person who would be checking the work done by a third party engineer that is already checking the work done on the bridge project, Langen said "It's our project," said Langen. "My fear is that if somebody is not watching the third party engineer, I don't want anything to slip through the cracks." Langen added that his costs "would be fully reimbursed by the County," and Lushis said there would be a letter agreement with the County authorizing the payment of $200 per hour.

Whether that agreement actually exists is unknown.

Northampton County Council approved no such agreement. Council member Peg Ferraro, who sits on GPA, was MIA when this appointment was made.

Though Langen has told me that the enabling legislation requires review by someone from outside the county, no one gave that as a reason for hiring him. 

This came at a fortuitous time for Langen, whose employment with Arcadia Development had ended.

Between February and December, Langen charged the County $11,950 for "P3 oversight." This oversight consisted of lengthy meeting with Lushis, review of Lushis bills and even for time spent delivering papers. He charged for letters to Lower Mount Bethel residents, something that really should come from their elected representatives or county workers.

Langen told me he's willing to donate this money to the Third Street Alliance, but only made this pledge after it was learned that he was charging the County.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you how much Lushis has charged the County over the past two years. It makes the Langen bill look like a pittance and is not even complete.

Below are links to each invoice submitted by Langen. I'm a great believer in participatory journalism, and am laying it all out there 

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807636/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Feb-March-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807796/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-April-May-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807898/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-June-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371807963/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Jul-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808047/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Aug-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808154/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Sep-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808269/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Oct-2017

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808619/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Nov-2017-part-1

https://www.scribd.com/document/371808721/Langen-Invoices-to-NorCo-GPA-Dec-2017

McClure Nominates Pintabone, Anthony to Embattled GPA

Executive Lamont McClure has nominated two people to serve on Northampton County's embattled General Purpose Authority (GPA).

Paul Anthony, a Bethlehem resident and business manager at IBEW Local 375, has been nominated as a successor to Helene Whitaker, who served on the board for five years. Whitaker asked McClure to remove her from consideration. If conformed, Anthony will serve until 12/31/22.

Frank Pintabone, an Easton landscaper who served as President on Easton's often contentious school board, will fill the vacancy created by the sudden resignation of Neal Koplin and serve until the end of 2019.

GPA Solicitor John Lushis has huffed that the GPA, and only the GPA, can appoint someone to a mid-term vacancy. He relies on a provision in the Municipal Authorities Act under which the authority, and not the municipal governing body, "shall" name someone to the unexpired term.

So they shall. McClure wants them to name Pintabone. Although the imperative "shall" is used in the statute, that is usually construed as permissive and not mandatory unless a contrary intention is manifest. No such contrary intention is manifest. Under the Lushis interpretation, the entire board could resign mid-term, and no one would have the authority to appoint replacements. It's an absurd interpretation. In this case, the best resolution is that the GPA "shall" appoint the choice recommended by Norco Council.

I don't know whether Lushis copyrighted his legal advice.

The other five members of the GPA are Shawn Langen, Mike Dowd, Peg Ferraro, Mark Schiavone and Shawn Donahue.

Fearraro's term expires 12/31/20, but she may be there illegally. She was a member of the governing body that appointed her. Though the law may have changed,the courts at one time frowned on Council members appointing themselves to authorities. The state Supreme Court once said that "there is ‘a virtual unanimity of opinion’ among all reasonable men that it is against public policy for a public official to appoint himself to another public office within his gift ... ."

John Cusick has usually opposed the appointment of Council members and Executives to these boards.

Updated: NorCo GPA Boss Wants $200/Hr to Check Work That's Been Checked

Former Exec John Brown and friends
share a good laugh.

Early this month, I told you that the Northampton County's General Purpose Authority (GPA) kicked off the new year with a Sunshine Act violation. Its board members took one look at NorCo Exec Lamont McClure and Council Prez Ken Kraft, who were sitting in the audience, and bolted for the back room. They never bothered to explain why they felt it was necessary to meet in secret. I think I now know at least some of the things going on with this shadow government. Basically, it was an instrument that former Executive John Brown used to do end-runs around County Council. A very willing instrument, too, especially since Chairman Shawn Langen thinks he's going to be paid.

I've filed two Right-to-Know requests with the GPA, seeking information that could be produced in 30 seconds. But Solicitor John Lushis, the designated Right-to-Know officer, is delaying his response for 30 days, hoping that we all lose interest.

In my correspondence with Lushis, he denies that a Sunshine Act violation occurred, stating that an executive session was "discussed well prior to the meeting and was not intended to slight anyone." If true, I'd owe Lushis and the entire GPA an apology. It's not. I reviewed the GPA minutes for well over a year. I saw no mention made anywhere of the need for an executive session. What I did see is a shadow government that appears to have lost sight of its role.

Stan Rugis wants peace ... and coffee

Over the years, the GPA has acted as a conduit for the issuance of both taxable and tax exempt bonds to help finance public and private projects, mostly with hospitals and universities. It also administers the NorCo Loan and Development Fund and the Community Investment Partnership Program Revolving Loan Fund. In 2016, it became the lead agency involved in a plan to refurbish or replace 33 county-owned bridges at a cost of $38 million, with the work being done by Kriger Construction. This is a public-private partnership, and is called a P3.

This P3 project, the brainchild of Lushis, is where the problem has started and mushroomed. This is what the minutes tell me.

First, from the February minutes, I learned from Lushis himself that then Executive John Brown had tapped him and the GPA to do the prison project, and that it would be a P3 project. This way Brown could avoid annoying questions from the people's elected representatives on Council. This also explains why Lushis was present last March when Brown gave a power point presentation to Upper Nazareth Supervisors in a private little get together.

How much is Lushis being paid? How much of his work was related to GPA and how much was an effort to avoid Council inquiries about the new jail?

Stay tuned.

Pick a good one, Joe!

Second, I learned that Sahl Communications and Kim Plyler are back, just like a bad penny. In case you've forgotten, this is the public relations firm that Brown hired and paid with taxpayer money to make him look good. The result was two lawsuits and shitty news releases full of spelling and grammatical errors. Based on her writing skills, I thought she was  promoting the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. But as it happens, she's now the spinmaster for the GPA.

According to the June minutes, Sahl was creating a package to market P3 to other counties and municipalities, which is way beyond the scope of the GPA. It is getting paid monthly. From the October 3 meeting. I know Sahl was also building a website with a link to a Facebook page.

I checked, and sure enough, a Facebook page does exist. Its opening picture, in typical Sahl fashion, includes the wrong Executive, wrong Public Works Director and wrong Solicitor. It is replete with pictures that look like they could have been taken by a fourth grader. They include a shot of former Public Works Director Stan Rugis giving a peace sign and one in which Senator Lisa Boscola aide Joe Kelly looks like he's picking his nose.

Very artistic.

This amazing Facebook page also contains what is supposed to be a link to the GPA website, but if you click on it, it tells you that there is no webpage. That's because Sahl installed the link incorrectly and never bothered to check its own damn work. The website is here, and probably has been seen by three people.

Remember, the Brown team are the rocket scientists that bought an $800 popcorn machine.

How much is Sahl being paid for its incompetence? Looks like I'll be filing another Right-to-Know request.

Third, at least one GPA board member is attempting to profit personally from his involvement. According to the January minutes, Chairman Shawn Langen will be getting paid $200 per hour to review the work that is already being reviewed by a third party engineer.

I doubt very much that Council knows what the hell is going on, but they will now.

As luck would have it, one of the Right-to-Know requests I filed asked about these kinds of arrangements.

Updated 3:20pm: Kim Plyler has contacted me to say that her contract with the GPA ended in December.