Updated: Tom Muller Sez No to Second Term

A thorn between two roses. Muller is flanked by his
beautiful wife and daughter, MJ (left) and Joy (right).
MJ is a volunteer with St. Thomas More, while
Joy is a standout field hockey player. 

Lehigh County Exec Tom Muller surprised and disappointed a group of over 50 supporters at Brookside Country Club last night when he announced he's decided against seeking re-election this year. This included three state representatives, a former state representative, two Lehigh County Commissioners and DA Jim Martin. Also on hand were most of Muller's cabinet. "I did not order them to be here, it's the free drinks that got them," he quipped.

He also introduced several Commissioner candidates running for District seats this year. In District One, it's Robert Elbich. He's a LU grad, after which he worked for Air Products and a cryogenics firm, and then launched two companies of his own based on patents that he secured. .He lives in Weisenberg Tp, where he serves on the Zoning Hearing Board. In District Two Three, he introduced Amy Zanelli. She is a Rutgers grad and lives in West Bethlehem. If elected, she will be Bethlehem's first second Commissioner in Lehigh County (Nick Englesson also served a term). She worked in child protective services in New Jersey and is now a realtor. She is also a former rollerblade announcer. In District Five, it's Coopersburg resident Mary Ann Nord, a James Madison and San Diego University grad who works in  intellectual property and national security for Leidos.

Noting that Democrats have a 31,000 voter edge in Lehigh, Muller said they gave both presidential and statewide candidates a clean sweep in the 2016 election. "It's time to bring that same broom to the Board of Commissioners," said Muller, referring to the nine persons who make up the county's legislative branch.

Muller said he's fortunate to have had his wife at his side for the past 30 years. After 40 years in the private sector, he never expected to serve as Director of Administration for another eight years for Don Cunningham and two interim county executives. He also had no idea he'd become a "full-fledged politician" and serve for four years as Executive. "The politics of the other side opened this door for me," he said. He enjoyed those four years "despite the political battling, the 30% pay cut, the frequent nights out, and the part I love, the endless chicken dinners."

In his four years as Executive, Muller tried to be accessible and get as much first hand knowledge from citizens as he could. He attended 20 municipal meetings a year, travelling to as many different communities as he could.

"Public safety is our top priority. Hamilton Crossings with a Costco is a reality. The County is significantly recommitted to farmland preservation. Good Shepherd is finally managing our Cedarbrook Nursing Home.Most of these accomplishments required overcoming the objections of a substantial block on the Board of Commissioners.

"We've also balanced the budget without tax increases despite the veto-proof Republican majority on the Board insisting on providing those "Happy Meal" tax cuts on the taxpayer's credit card. They did it just to adhere to what they thought was a campaign promise they made, but it was on the taxpayer's credit card because we had a budget deficit each time.

"As great as this chapter of my life has been and continues to be, it will come to an end this year, and I know this will come as a surprise to most of you."

Muller explained why he's decided to bow out. He has three sons in the Carolinas. He has two grandsons there "who I see too infrequently." When his daughter Joy graduates from Emmaus High School in 2019, he knows she will want to attend college outside of this area. "MJ and I then intend to close the Lehigh Valley section of our book and head south into retirement."

He's been encouraged to run anyway and then resign when he's ready to retire."I cannot in good conscience do that.What that would mean is going out and collecting contributions and collecting votes from people who think I'm running for four years, and I cannot serve for four years. I personally cannot do that."

Muller said he was unwilling to leave without finding someone who will represent the people as opposed to the "whims of a few wealthy contributors."

That someone is Phillips Armstrong, who was chairing a Whitehall Township meeting as Muller spoke, attempting to persuade his colleagues to adopt a resolution in support of gerrymander reform. Armstrong is a retired teacher and coach who ran unsuccessfully against Zach Mako for the state house. I thought then he was the best Democrat running in the Lehigh Valley.

Armstrong was also working on a proposal to impose campaign contribution limits on township candidates  Muller said that Commissioner Geoff Brace is working on a similar resolution in Lehigh,"which will probably be blocked by our Republican majority for painfully obvious reasons."

Muller said by not running, he can focus on Cedarbrook, which he claimed Commissioners have been kicking down the road for about three years. he said JB Reilly started digging a hole for the arena around the same time he started pushing Commissioners to do something about the Cedarbrook building.

Muller never strayed from the Way. He is giving up his public life but is keeping his honor. His absence will be keenly felt.  

Blogger's Note: Originally published 2/13/17 at 8:36 pm

Updated 10:30 am: A reader points out that Nick Englesson, who at that time was a resident of West Bethlehem, served as a Lehigh County Commissioner. 

Updated 4:12: I incorrectly stated one candidate is running in District Two when she is actually running in District Three.

LC Exec Tom Muller's 2016 State of the County Address

Blogger's Note: Lehigh County Executive Tom Muller delivered his address this morning at DeSales University. Of all the local leaders I've heard, I believe Muller is the only one currently in office who truly understands that the Lehigh Valley's problem stems from single-mother households in which kids never have a chance.

Good morning. I'd like to share with you the perfect introduction into the state of Lehigh County. This wonderful 4-minute film is thanks to Ted Rosenberger--a recent appointee to the Airport Authority. Ted shot the footage from his "Vertivue" helicopter and did all of the editing and production.

[do not have video}

Obviously, we have a beautiful and diverse county, complete with numerous higher education options, extensive health care resources, terrific social, sports, cultural and recreational venues, the State's third highest number of preserved farmland acres, abundant natural resources, ideal distribution logistics, great workers and relatively low taxes. It's no wonder Lehigh County has been the fastest growing county in the State for a number of years and has had population growth of 1% per year for the past 25 years!
Economically, things are on an upswing. Unemployment continues to drop, the real estate market has strengthened, companies and developers continue to focus on our county and government support for development has contributed to that interest. One project that drew a lot of attention and controversy, along with support from both the East Penn School District and Lower Macungie Township, is the Hamilton Crossings shopping center. The latest update on that project is that the three anchor stores--Costco, Target and Whole Foods--are on schedule to open this summer and the other tenants will open by early Fall. That’s a lot of new jobs and this center being built on blighted land has already generated almost $1 million in tax revenue and paid contractors $23 million for their work.

But, obviously, the biggest beneficiary of government support has been Center City Allentown and that support has had its critics but Allentown’s transformation is important to the entire county. Several years ago, Mayor Pawlowski and I had a brief debate regarding the importance of Allentown to the County. He took the understandable position that Allentown is one-third of the County. My counter was that Allentown represented one-third of the County’s population but only 19% of the County’s tax revenue and over 70% of the County's spending. Those statistics are shifting as the development is generating increased revenue and crime has dropped for 8 consecutive years. I'd like to share with you another video--this one by students at Allen High School--that very effectively captures Allentown's transformation.

Many people tend to forget that a sizeable portion of Bethlehem is part of Lehigh County and there has been a lot of controversy lately regarding the Martin Tower site—over 50 acres of prime urban land that has been standing vacant for over a decade. Mayor Donchez and the City Council have moved in favor of a plan that will probably result in the razing of Martin Tower itself and include some retail development considered threatening by downtown merchants. Those concerns are understandable but, in my opinion, underestimate the strength of the businesses they’ve created and I support what those elected officials are trying to do.

Dialing down to the state of our Lehigh County government, the picture is quite good. Starting with what many focus on exclusively—taxes—our tax rate is less than 1% above where it was 25 years ago and the taxes on the median home are more than 40% less than in either Berks or Northampton counties!

We entered both 2014 and 2015 with budgeted deficits and eliminated them by finding ways to improve efficiencies, refinance debt and carefully shrink County government. As a result, our personnel count has dropped in each of the last 7 years and is now down to below where it was in 1988. Meanwhile we’ve added staff to critical public safety initiatives including the Central Booking Unit, the Regional Crime Center, a Digital Forensics Lab, the Coroner’s Medicolegal Center and a Ballistics Lab.

We also have a "rainy day" fund that exceeds the minimum recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association and enjoy ratings from both Moody's and SandP that have enabled us to profitably refinance borrowings. A point that most impresses the ratings agencies is the fact that, with the exception of the Coca Cola Park bonds, our debt goes out only 6 years and our overall debt is far below guidelines for a county of this size.

All of this good news doesn't mean we don't have some challenges. Cost reduction efforts at our Cedarbrook nursing homes has brought the financials well under control while retaining our 4-star rating. Better yet, two actions moving through the State legislature could move us to a breakeven point or better if passed. But, we desperately need to reach agreement on the management of Cedarbrook, which I hope we will accomplish yet this month. And our big open issue is determining if we are going to renovate the South Whitehall building or build a replacement home. We should lock that decision down by mid-year and will then take advantage of our strong ratings to fund that plan via a bond.

Other issues on our plate include working to eliminate a budgeted 2016 deficit of $6.5 million, meeting our pension obligations after a down-market year, bringing open union negotiations to positive closure and maintaining our provision of services while the State continues to bumble with its 2015-2016 budget. To put that last issue into perspective, you should be aware that, even excluding Cedarbrook, over 50% of the County's budget is provided by the State. I don't care what side of the political aisle you favor, there is simply no excuse for the State's failure to enact a budget.

My brother-in-law's response when someone tells him he's looking good is often "better than my x-rays" and the same might be said for Lehigh County. Despite all of the positives, there are issues of concern.
On the political front, we need campaign finance reform and I applaud Commissioner Brace’s willingness to take on the challenge. The "pay-to-play" legislation passed last year was good media fodder but focused on the area where there were already significant "checks and balances". The loop needs to be completed--as it has been in Philadelphia--to address influence-buying by both individuals and special interest groups.

Leaving politics behind, the great growth we've seen over the past 25 years and particularly the past 10 has put tremendous pressure on our infrastructure and I think we all can attest to the fact that traffic--particularly truck traffic--is an issue. The truck traffic is a natural fallout from our prime location for product distribution and distribution centers result in heavy usage of our roadways while generating a relatively small number of local jobs….unless the trucks are built by Mack!

But trucks aren't the only traffic issue. We live in a county of commuters; 47% of Lehigh County workers commute to jobs out of the county and 54% of those who work in Lehigh County come from outside the County. More important, most of those workers--over 80%--travel alone and only 2% use mass transportation. The burden all this traffic puts on our highways and bridges is clear.

We have spent millions of County tax dollars on bridge repairs and replacements in recent years and PADot has projects lined up for the next decade. The good news is that we are better off than most counties in the State. The bad news is that the need to invest in our infrastructure and the need for greater usage of public transportation will not subside. That's why we need to seriously consider enacting the $5 fee for vehicle registrations that was authorized by the State legislature last year to fund transportation-related needs and has already been enacted in some counties.

I believe another challenge facing us is linked to both Allentown's transformation and general business forces. The strong job and leasing growth in Allentown has come at the expense of our suburbs and we need to successfully draw businesses from outside the County and work with the businesses we have to help them grow if we want to end up at a true "win-win" end point.

We also can't afford to lose any big businesses and should be wary when the PPL spin-off--Talon--hasn't announced a final site selection and the company officers have been granted "golden parachutes" in the case of an acquisition. Similarly, I won't be comfortable until the Air Products spin-off commits to a home in the County. I've spent too many years in the corporate world in acquisitions, divestitures and closures to feel comfortable until final decisions are made.

And, of course, as Alan Jennings frequently reminds us, Allentown’s transformation has to extend beyond the borders of the NIZ!

But, Lehigh County's biggest challenge, in my opinion, is far more basic. With all due respect to the Declaration of Independence, the fact is that all men are not created equal....or at least not born equal. Every child represents tremendous potential but the odds of achieving that potential for a child born into a single-parent, low income home, are not equal to those of a child born into an affluent two-parent home. That single parent can be at wit's end faced with the challenge of being the bread winner and trying to raise that child. If you are thinking “Not here. Not in my area.”, consider these facts:

• Over 40% of children born in Lehigh County each year are born into a single-parent household.
• 45% of Lehigh County families with children below 5 years of age and only a female head of household live below the poverty level.
• Even affluent school districts such as East Penn and Parkland are dealing with homeless students numbering in the triple digits. It’s not just an Allentown School District problem.
• An education--starting with pre-school--is critical. If a child isn't reading at the 3rd grade level by 3rd grade, his or her odds of earning a high school degree are severely diminished.
• If an "at-risk" child can be saved and earn a high school diploma, the savings to taxpayers over that individual's lifetime is over $2 million on average.

These are sobering facts facing us right here in our county. We simply can't afford to ignore them and I believe there are three key steps we need to take:
1. We need to recognize the problem and be willing to make solving it a high priority.
2. We need a bi-partisan commitment and effort. The partisan politics in play 75 miles to our west should make this need clear.
3. We need to focus and consolidate efforts as much as possible. One thing I've observed over my first two years as County Executive is that there are many individuals and entities trying desperately to make a difference, but far too many are lacking the resources to make a long-term impact. There is great truth in the phrase "United we stand; Divided we fall." and we need to set aside parochialism to achieve the greater good. We have a good example of such an effort. This past year we pulled together a number of individuals and groups with interest in eliminating homelessness among veterans and that team is approaching its goal.

Unfortunately, there is no single answer to the problem and the Lehigh Valley has lost many of the individuals who never shied away from funding a worthy cause. But we all can find time to spare if we believe in the cause and we need organizations to seriously assess if combining efforts could drive better results. I plan to continue to meet with the concerned groups to explore more effective ways to ensure that every Lehigh County child has the opportunity to achieve his or her potential.

In closing, I'd simply say that we have a financially strong county, rich in resources and opportunities but those opportunities can only be realized for all of our citizens if we work together. We can be better together.

Pearson Reports: Tom Muller's State of The County Address

Tom Muller with his wife MJ, on the day he announced his candidacy

Blogger's Note: Because I was still writing after midnight on Wednesday, I was unable to attend Tom Muller's State of the County Address on Thursday morning. I was unaware that Tom Muller's wife would be there, and had I known that, I would have gone. MJ and Cheryl Browning always give me hugs and kisses, so I always enjoy myself. That's a stark contrast from Northampton County, where the women know me better. Dennis Pearson, who was inducted into Bill White's not-so-prestigious Hall of Fame at the same time as me, offered to go in my place as a member of what Lehigh county Exec refers to as the pseudo press. I asked him to send me a pseudo report, never expecting to get one. Not only did Dennis send me one, but he even gave me a pseudo update.

Dennis is a regular at Lehigh County and Allentown City Council meetings, so he knows what is going on.  I enjoyed his report thoroughly. This is an edited version of what he sent me.

No Tax Hike

There will be no tax increase in Lehigh County in 2016. Lehich County Exec Tom Muller made that pledge during his State of the County address, delivered during a breakfast gathering at Olympus Corporation in Center Valley.  He credits both the expertise of his administrative team and the local economy as the reasons for his commitment to hold taxes to 3.75 mills.

Cedarbrook 

The executive opposes the creation of the Cedarbrook Nursing Homes Advisory Team created by Commissioners during a meeting in which they shot down two out of four Lehigh County Authority appointments. Commissioners argue they have that right under the Home Rule Charter.

Muller and Commissioners have sounded a battle alert on another, more recent, matter. Cedarbrook's long-time private manager, LW Consulting Inc. is pulling the plug when its contract ends on June 30.

Most commissioners have been publicly critical of LW since October 2013, when the county had to come up with $3.6 million to keep the nursing homes operating through the end of that year.

Communication

Muller is a blunt, in-your-face kind of guy. He said Commissioners could be misinterpreting his direct way in speaking on issues. To quote Muller: "Directness is often confused with defiance; it doesn't necessarily sit well with everybody," ..,"An olive branch can come back at you as sharp stick in the eye."

Muller stated that since January 2012 the Board has had seven Republicans and two Democrats. Since the inception of Home Rule, the Board has generally has a majority of Republicans. This had no impact on relations between the County Executive and the Commissioners until Republicans sought and got a veto proof majority. That changed the equation.

Muller said that County Executive Don Cunningham had regular meetings with the leadership of the Board, but this arrangement ended in 2012 because it had become unproductive. This arrangement was not revived by Executives Hansell or Croslis. Muller said he tried to revive the pre 2012 meetings, but ended them two months later because there was always an impasse.

But he denies he has refused to meet or communicate with commissioners. He stressed that any commissioner who asserted that ... Well that is not so... If someone wants to speak to him, Muller says the door is open.

Economy Better, But People Aren't

Muller says the economic outlook of the Lehigh Valley is very good and gave plenty of examples. But  there are plenty of families still struggling with unemployment and uncomfortable levels of family income, There is too much homelessness of children and veterans who fought for us in war; Schools must stick to austere budgets with certain mandates that force schools to sustain certain non-classroom programs. And much of the County's finances depend heavily upon dwindling pass through money from the state and federal government. The County struggles to keep up with pension payments as more and more County employees retirees

Comm'r Takeover of Labor Negotiations

Muller briefly addressed the Comm'r takeover of labor negotiation role. He believes this will lead to more arbitration hearings. .

What has Muller learned?

1) When he goes out to public or municipal meetings, he is not always greeted warmly.

2) With Northampton County Executive John Brown in the room, Muller said that the best way to get noticed is to get a consultant's contract from John Brown.

3) On the local level people seek to have problems solved period ... They are not very ideological.

4) When you hold an open house to receive citizen input the phrase "if you build it" doesn't always apply ... You have to go out to the people.and listen to what they are saying ... If you are talking you can't listen.

5) 92% is a important number ...This adds up to amount of people who may not be in your camp

Tom Muller's SOTC: Where Do I Cut?

I usually photograph the back of Muller's head. 

The moment he called me a member of the pseudo press, I liked Tom Muller. That was several years ago> He's got a good sense of humor, including the ability to laugh at himself. He is also very blunt.

Both of these characteristics were manifest in his inaugural State of the County address. Commissioners want him to eliminate the deficit and increase reserves without a tax hike, which would require $14 million in spending cuts when there is only $111 million in real estate tax dollars as a starting point. His response is to ask Commissioners what County services they want to cut.

Here's his speech:

I think I’ll start with what many of you would like to think of as the conclusion and disappoint you. As in my campaign, I am not going to make any promises or conjectures about the County’s tax rate moving forward. To do so would be both premature and disingenuous. The average Lehigh County residential tax bill for 2014 is $676, which is lower than it was ten years ago. The challenge is to get to a consensus with our citizens on the proper balance of taxes and services.

Certainly, my first few weeks in this position have had more than their fair share of discord with our Board of Commissioners, some of whom are only focused on tax rates and the political safety in promises, whether they can be kept or not. So far, we’ve disagreed on everything from a critical Cabinet appointment to a town meeting.

So, you might ask, what are the County’s prospects and how will we make progress?

Fortunately, our Lehigh County is recovering steadily from the recession, our County government is financially sound and all we need to come to grips with collectively is determining the balance our citizens want between taxes and services.

Let’s take a look at some of the basic economic indicators:

•      By all measures, the housing market is recovering, with both sales and prices up except for the past few weeks where the weather has played a heavy hand.
•      Employment is improved, although there is still substantial progress to be made.
•      Companies are back to giving pay increases.
•      Even during the recession, companies such as Ocean Spray chose to commit to the area and Fedex seems poised to deliver a major distribution hub.
*      Downtown Allentown’s transformation due to the NIZ has been a boon to the construction market and will soon be adding significantly to the tax rolls.

Meanwhile, at the same time the federal government was being downgraded by S&P, Lehigh County’s bond ratings were increased to Aa1. That enabled us to realize a debt service reduction of $5 million, which was returned to the taxpayers via a one-time tax credit. Bond rating improvements are not accomplished easily and you may be surprised to know that the Administration’s willingness to raise taxes that year contributed significantly to the deliberations of both Moody’s and S and P.

The best news in borrowing is that I don’t foresee the need to seek new financing in the next four years, although we will continue to look for re-financing opportunities. In fact, we just took a $500K opportunity for 2014 to the Board of Commissioners last night.

Our infrastructure is sound, probably more so than any other county in the State, and our only pending needs are to address the Old Courthouse and replace our legacy IT system, which will be unsupported by 2020.

We have been ahead of the curve on efforts to keep our 44 bridges fully functional and recent legislation enabling counties to add $5 to auto registration fees for such efforts could ensure that no real estate tax dollars will ever be needed again for County bridges or roads.

The financial issue that seems to keep some folks up at night is our continuing budget gap. The 2014 Adopted Budget was balanced by just over $8 million in reserves; when the Cunningham Administration, took office in 2006, we were handed both a tax cut and a budget gap of $6.6 million.

You see, politicians find it much easier to run for office committing to cut taxes. That was the case in 2005 and in 2009 and it was the case again in 2013 when a proposed one-time tax credit was converted to a permanent tax cut, instantly adding to the 2014 budget gap. The tax cut was political nonsense akin to asking your boss for a permanent cut in pay when you’re having difficulty making ends meet.

Fortunately, as part of the welcome to me in my new role, our Board of Commissioners has offered me “guidance” for the 2015 budget by setting out three simple desires: No tax increase, eliminate the deficit and build the reserves. Someone must be running for re-election in 2015!

The fact is that their “guidance” equates to coming up with roughly $14 million in spending cuts from tax spending of $111 million and they are unwilling to identify what they would cut because citizen support could be lacking and there could be repercussions at the polls next year.

Another way to look at the “guidance” I’ve gotten is to recognize that the $14 million spending cut would be 12.6 cents of every tax dollar spent. Consider the fact that almost 72 cents of every tax dollar goes to our public safety areas (Courts, Corrections, District Attorney, Crime Center, Sheriff, Public Defender, 911 Center and so on) and another 14 cents is debt service. That leaves only 14 cents for everything else the County does and they are suggesting a 12.6 cent reduction.

Also consider the fact that, while the County’s population has grown approximately 1% per year since 1990, the County’s workforce is now 8% below where it was in 1990 and County government is a people-intensive service business; we can’t easily automate or ship our jobs overseas.

Let’s just leave that budget “guidance” as direction that must be countered with a simple statement: “Tell me what you no longer want the County to do.”

Our nursing homes got a fair share of negative press late last year due to the increase in the required County support to over $6 million. The driver for that bad news was the combination of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements not keeping pace with healthcare costs and an increase in empty beds as more seniors choose to stay at home. That latter trend is expected to shift in the medium term but we have some experts in nursing home operations evaluating all that we do at the two Cedarbrook homes and look forward to some good ideas we can implement now to cut costs or increase revenues.

On a parallel path, we are in conversations with other healthcare providers to determine if collaboration on services can help the situation or if there is a demand from the private sector for some complementary use of available space. I have made it clear that my position is that the County should retain Cedarbrook, but I also believe we need to tweak the business model to some degree to recognize today’s issues.

Now, I’d like to talk a little bit about how I plan to move forward in this somewhat hostile environment and with financial challenges. Broadly, the answer is simple; I plan to connect with the citizens as no other County Executive has done to determine what is important to them and use that knowledge to develop plans and budgets. During my campaign I said I planned to get to every municipality’s council meeting at least once per year; although the weather got in the way in February, I’ve managed to attend 7 of the 25 and one school district meeting so far, had some great conversations and learned a lot.

Next month I will hold my first “town hall” meeting at the Government Center and we are working on a system to engage citizens online to weigh in on issues and priorities. I also held a “town meeting” on the controversial Hamilton Crossings TIF because I heard from many citizens that they were interested and there was a lot of confusion on the subject. I happen to support that project personally because it generates over $20 million in wages every year and only requires the taxing bodies to forego taxes they don’t even collect now. Even if I didn’t support it, the citizens have a right to get answers to their questions. That’s true transparency and that’s how I plan to operate.

I also want to try to identify both public-private partnerships as we did with the combined Coroner’s Center and Cetronia Ambulance headquarters, which saved each partner millions and should open in late July. And I want to pursue regional partnerships which would provide the coveted “win-win” end result. I’m optimistic that John Brown and I will find ways to collaborate for the good of our counties and look forward to the day we aren’t making process-related headlines and can put our heads together for the good of our counties.

I also plan to continue working to take costs out of our systems, sharpen the focus on outcomes or results and eliminate any function that isn’t needed. Along that line, we have just notified our employees that we are closing our juvenile detention center and have agreements with Northampton County and others to meet our housing needs. There has been a significant reduction in incarcerated juveniles in the wake of the Luzerne County scandal and with the adoption of more sophisticated methods of evaluating troubled juveniles. Some experts suggest the pendulum may swing back a few years from now so we will simply mothball our excellent center and reduce our overall costs by an estimated $750K annually. What has been terrific about this effort is that there has been collaboration among all involved parties to ensure that the savings are realized without an impact on services.

I remain a firm believer that, first and foremost, our citizens want to be safe and public safety efforts such as our regional crime center will remain as top priorities. In fact, I hope we’ll be able to count Northampton County as a full partner in the crime center in the near future. Criminals don’t recognize county borders so we have to effectively work across those borders.

I’ve also gotten strong reinforcement from our business leaders and citizens that what makes Lehigh County a great place to live and work is the broad range of quality of life options available to everyone. While County investments in such destinations could be among the first on the chopping block for ultra conservatives, I plan to continue those commitments and “double down” with the Planning Commission in determining how we can best bring the inventory of athletic playing fields in line with the boom we’ve seen in youth sports as the County’s population has soared. I am a firm believer that sports involvement helps bind families and keep kids on the right track.

Will all of these plans sync with the $676 average residential tax bill? Time will tell, but my commitment is to have citizen inputs weigh heavily on budget issues. I’ve observed that, as politicians move up the ladder and get further away from those who elected them, they rely more on the inputs from major campaign contributors and their own political agenda and less on those who put them in office. I am extremely humbled at having been chosen to run this outstanding county of ours and pledge not to lose focus on those who are most important—the citizens of Lehigh County. Thank you.

Tom Muller's Wife Addicted To Blogger!!!

As is often the case this time of year, I was unable to get up in time to hear Tom Muller's State of the County address yesterday. Free breakfast, Coca Cola Park and political intrigue were unable to rouse me. We bottom feeders do our best work at night. We come out with the rats, zombies and vampires. So when the alarm went off this morning, I slept right through it. I missed the speech.

But I wish I had been there. Muller started out by mentioning his wife MJ's addiction "to a certain blogger." Tom even mentioned one of my readers, Clem, and his "perverted interest in my mustache and my car."

I was thrilled. Somebody actually likes to read me! I called MJ right away.

"MJ, it's me. Can we get together and discuss your addiction?"

- Who the hell is this?

"It's me, Bernie. You know, the blogger. maybe I can read a few posts to you."

- That's Michael Molovinsky. I love his railroad stories. Do you have his number?

I gave her Ron Angle's number.

Muller Names Kim Makoul His Lehigh County Public Defender

Lehigh County Executive Tom Muller has nominated Kim Makoul, one of the County's Conflict Attorneys, for the new full-time Public Defender position.

Muller explains his decision in a memo to Commissioners:

"This selection follows a two-month search and screening effort, which I felt was in order since this is a new position. We ran ads and got the word out across the legal community and ended up with a number of candidates. Judy Johnston and I screened out any who were clearly unqualified and I had asked President Judge McGinley if she and the Judges handling criminal cases would determine which of the remaining candidates were fully qualified in their collective opinion to perform effectively in the position. That lead to my interviews with three finalists and I was most comfortable with Kim, who, as you may hear when you meet her, truly has criminal justice “in her blood”.

"Besides serving as one of our Conflict Attorneys, for the past 20 years Kim has been a managing partner with her husband in a law firm where she handles criminal defense and juvenile cases. Kim has also served as a Court-appointed counsel for juvenile cases in 1996 and 1997 and from 2006 to 2010 and spent seven years as an Assistant Public Defender for the County.

"In addition to a solid background, I believe Kim brings a strong level of enthusiasm to the position and a commitment to make our Public Defender’s office a standout in the Commonwealth. I am certain you will share my support for her."

Makoul graduated from Widener University School of Law in 1990, and practices law with her husband, Glenn Goodge.

This is a no-brainer.

Ott blames Loss on Himself

Failed Executive candidate Scott Ott has taken the blame for his loss. "[T]here is one person who I know is responsible for my loss in Tuesday's election. His name is Scott Ott." I agree completely.

Scott Ott, along with Wayne Woodman, cost his party and its supporters about $300,000 in his primary and general election contests. If his party had gone with Main Street Republican Dean Browning instead of a tea party nut, it would have prevailed in the general election.

Just as Callahan never really reached out to his primary foes, Ott never reached out to Browning and continued to treat him as the enemy. This continued even after Browning contributed to Ott's campaign and financially supported the man who beat him.

Lehigh County Voters Say No to Extremism

Tom Muller's wife, MJ, can finally sleep. 

Though I was off the mark in Northampton County, I hit a bull's eye in Lehigh. That's good, not for me, not even for Executive-elect Tom Muller, but for the people of Lehigh County. Their vote was a vote against the extremism represented by Scott Ott and his so-called reform team. In fact, one of them, Mike Schware, went down in flames, too. How did this happen?

1) Turnout. - In contrast to Northampton County, Muller campaign manager Mike Fleck took no chances on turnout. He knew that he had to do what he could to drive out turnout in heavily Democrat West Bethlehem and Allentown, and concentrated resources on getting out the vote. It worked. It's too bad that effort was not made in the rest of Bethlehem. Ott's team made no effort to drive the turnout among tea party voters in Lowhill, Lynn and North Whitehall Townships.

2) Real Differences. - Scott Ott's divisive approach to governance includes spurning federal grants to benefit low-income communities. He actually argued against accepting a grant for Meals on Wheels. He promised voters he would cut spending, then increased it. He claimed that a 16% tax hike two years ago was irresponsible, but slipped in a 3.4% tax hike in next year's budget. Some voters are angry at Ott over the reassessment. He refused to speak to the media. He alienated voters at a NAACP debate.  Muller, who has never run for office and was himself a Republican, was so appalled by Ott's brinksmanship that he switched parties and ran himself.

Though 100% of the votes are in, and Muller has a 1,500 vote lead, Ott  only conceded just a few minutes ago. This is the kind of pig-headedness that makes Ott look silly.

Kinda' like Scrappleface.

3) The Wes Barrett Factor. - Emmaus Council member Wes Barrett was so upset by proposed CDBG cuts that he decided to take on Mike Schware, an appointed Commissioner who never actually won an election. Barrett nearly defeated Schware in an area that should have gone to Ott.

4) County Party GOTV. - In addition to Mike Fleck managing Muller's campaign, he could also county on the partyto put on the best ground game they've ever had in a county race. That's thanks to people like Bar Johnston, who was everywhere on the southern end of the County. GOP party boss Wayne Woodman did a radio interview ... in Pittsburgh.

5) Republican Dissatisfaction with Ott.- In Lower Milford today, Republicans in line at the polls began arguing with each other. The tea party types may like Ott, but more mainstream Republicans are turned off by his approach. Their voices were finally heard.

Though Lehigh is much more conservative than Northampton County, they've elected a Democrat while Northampton picked a Republican.

Congrats to Tom Muller, who refers to me as the pseudo press. I'm not sure what Ott calls me, and don't really care.

Ott's "Reform" Plan For Hungry Seniors

"Have they no family? Have they no church connections, no neighbors that love them?" - Scott Ott, Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Meeting, 7/11/12.

His reform must be Soylent Green.

Muller Has the Momentum to Win

Tom Muller

Tuesday's race between Scott Ott and Tom Muller in Lehigh County is perhaps the most important local race I've ever seen. I believe it's a battle between those who think government can help and those who think it only hurts. Some of us have forgotten what happens when government is infested with people who want the free market to decide everything. I'd hate to see history repeat itself. We've already tried Herbert Hoover's brand of government. But let me tell you about this race.

As most of you know, I'm a bottom-feeding blogger. I have spies everywhere, hiding in closets and going through garbage. Sometimes they eat it.

As a result of my illicit activity, I know that Lehigh County Republicans did a poll in early September. At that time, Exec candidate Scott Ott had an 8-point lead. But that was before the government shutdown, which was caused by people who think exactly like him. That was before Tom Muller, who is not a politician, started making his own voice heard. That was before Ott began lying in campaign literature about cutting spending that actually increased, something that both I and The Morning Call have noted. This was before Ott refused to respond to Morning Call or Patch questions, although he had time to appear with right wing radio host Bobby Gunther Walsh. This was before many Allentonians felt that Ott insulted them at a NAACP debate.

Net result?

According to an unscientific sampling, it's now a dead heat. The real poll is tomorrow. My prediction is that Muller will win, but only if he is able to nudge the Democrats to come out and vote.

Party boss Wayne Woodman and Ott have tried to portray Muller as the "business as usual" candidate, whatever that means. The Wizard of Ott, in contrast, has a "reform" team. It would more appropriately be called a counter-reform team. It's one we've seen during the Great Depression. At that time Herbert Hoover was QB, and refused to lift a finger for starving Americans. "Have they no family? Have they no church connections, no neighbors that love them?" President Hoover might have asked. But it is actually Scott Ott who said those words, when he advocated against a grant to feed our needy seniors.

This is reform?

This thinking has awoken a sleeping giant. Though Democrats outnumber Republicans in Lehigh County, they rarely turn out to vote in municipal races. But that has changed as Lehigh County Commissioners have threatened to stop block grants to help low-income communities.

In Emmaus, Commissioners threatened to send $209,000 in CDBG pass thru funds back to the federal government rather than use the money to make much-needed repairs to the borough triangle. That was enough to prompt Emmaus Council member Wes Barret to run. He'll win, too.

Lehigh County Democratic volunteer Bar Johnston tells me that, for the first time ever, the Democrats actually have their act together.

Pawlowski has his big knockers out, too. This weekend, over 200 of them knocked on doors, reminding Allentown residents to vote for King Edwin and Tom Muller on Tuesday.

Michael Donovan, who opposes Pawlowski, is making his last-minute push as well with a motivated volunteer base.

Will this increase turnout in Allentown? If it does, just a little, Muller wins.

In the meantime, GOP party boss Wayne Woodman is playing the very "business as usual" that he claims to despise. He is doing his best to suppress turnout. There are no Republicans running for City Council or Mayor. Two primarily Allentown Districts in the Commissioner races have been ceded to the Democrats. Woodman did discuss the Lehigh County races in a radio interview this weekend.

In Pittsburgh.

One Republican campaign manager, the smartest guy I know next to Shawn Millan, tells me Ott is in trouble. His campaign is pressuring party people to put up Ott signs without success. Instead of hundreds, he has about four people who will actually knock on doors for him. Many solid Republicans are turned off by Ott's shady financials, which funnels Woodman and Scheller money through a PAC in Harrisburg.

They've already had to have Charlie Dent endorse Ott twice.

Ott nearly beat Don Cunningham four years ago, but nobody really knew Scrappleface and were voting Republican to register disdain for Obamacare. Now, all they know about Ott is that he was once president of an elementary school PTA, and that he pushed hard for reassessment.

Don Cunningham warned that older people in older homes in the boroughs could be hurt by moving so quickly, but was ignored by those who know better. And guess what? These older people on fixed incomes were hurt. This issue has come up in some of the school board races.

Ott sponsored this reassessment.

At every opportunity, Ott and his so-called reform team have voted against seniors, low-income residents and county workers in an attempt to restore Herbert Hoover's vision.. I believe Lehigh County voters have finally seen through the nonsense. Barret will win over Mike Schware. Muller will win with just a small spike in Democratic turnout. Tom Creighton may survive, although Bill Leiner is running hard.

Donchez, Reynolds Both Support Muller

Though the Bethlehem Mayoral race between Bob Donchez and J. Willie Reynolds grew contentious, they both agreed to appear on a Tom Muller mailer in support of his candidacy for lehigh County Executive. "It was an easy decision for me," said Reynolds, who teaches in Allentown. "Lets hope people show up for Tom on Tuesday!"

Other Than Solicitor Wannabe Croslis, Dems Support Muller

The Muller camp has released statements from some of the Democrats who support Tom Muller for Lehigh County Exec

United States Senator Robert P. Casey: “I endorse Tom Muller's campaign for Lehigh County Executive,” said Casey. “Tom will work hard to create jobs and strengthen Lehigh County's middle class. Tom's strong management and leadership experience, both in the public and private sectors, give him the background to serve the residents of Lehigh County with honor and distinction.”

Former Governor Ed Rendell: "Tom's success in both the public and private sectors provides a clear contrast for the voters of Lehigh County. As a former District Attorney, Mayor and Governor, I fully understand the challenges of successfully running a government. Tom Muller's experience and record of job creation, superior fiscal management and public safety as Director of Administration for Lehigh County speaks for itself. He is the most qualified candidate for the job and I am proud to support him in this vital election."

Retired Admiral and former Congressman Joe Sestak: "As a retired Admiral and former Congressman, I understand what it takes to be successful in public office. Tom's accomplishments in both the public and private sectors are a testament to his intelligence, character and ability to lead. I believe he will be an extraordinary County Executive and it is my honor to offer him my full support and endorsement.”

State Rep. Dan McNeill: “He’s the most qualified candidate, by far. With his years in the corporate business world, Tom is the right person to run Lehigh County. He’s been helping to run it efficiently for the past seven years as Director of Administration. I’ve known Tom a long time, and he’s an honest, proven leader, and he will do what’s right for the families in Lehigh County.”

State Rep. Mike Schlossberg: "I wholeheartedly support Tom Muller for County Executive. Tom's qualifications for the job are beyond reproach. His accomplishments in both the public and private sector -- job creation, economic development and strong fiscal management -- are exactly what Lehigh County needs. Tom is a people-first, results-oriented leader who will make Lehigh County a better place to live, work and raise a family. I am proud to call Tom my friend and honored to offer him my full support and endorsement."

Crosslis' Deal With Wizard of Ott?

I am informed that Matt Croslis, who was appointed Lehigh County Exec by the Scott Ott block of Commissioners, has made a deal. In return for his endorsement, he's been promised the job of Solicitor, a $71,085 part-time gig. I have not confirmed this with the Wizard of Ott, who is hiding behind the curtains and demonstrating his transparency by refusing to speak with either Morning Call or Patch. This is a great example of open government for one and all!

Beware of the Ott!

Republican Dollars Say Ott Otter Quit

I meant to get to this a few days ago, but suggest you take a look at Tom Muller's campaign finance reports. Sure, you're going to find a lot of money coming in from the usual cast of lawyers, engineers and businesses who obviously want something. But you're going to find something else, too. A lot of Republican support.

Scott Ott's pre-election report includes 59 individual donors, every man jack of them a Republican, too. Muller's report is much different. There are nearly twice as many individual contributors. And Muller's supporters are much more bipartisan than those in the Cult of Ott. Form conservative Elmer Gates to liberal Dan McCarthy, they choose Muller over the politics of division.

According to The Morning Call, 60 of Muller's individual contributors are Republicans, a sign that many are disgusted by the governing they've seen from Team Ott, which seems very much like the very brinksmanship we condemn in Washington.  

Is Ott Muller Race in Dead Heat?

One of my many spies, and they're everywhere, sent me this report from the Lehigh County campaign trail.

The last few weeks I am feeling a swing happening in Lehigh county. The feel is that Wes Barrett is really strong and has the resources, Muller came into his own and is actually a good campaigner and Creighton is wounded. The Rs got lazy this summer and didn't expect the Ds to try too hard. We do have a history of poor fundraising and field efforts. Aside from Woodman, the Rs did a terrible job fundraising. They have knocked on doors but their pool of resources is not deep enough to run a campaign where the Ds have raised money.

I am told that Fleck has this really non scientific polling methodology that is actually decent in predicting outcomes. He has a credible volunteer call likely voters (voted in last two municipal elections) and simply asks how they will vote. Last week, it was a 49-49 tie. Fleck did the same thing for NorCo in the Exec primary and it was spot on.

From what I understand, about 1,800 people were called, including 15% more Republicans than Democrats. This is because Democrats have a poor turn out in these off year elections. So if Fleck can increase turnout just one or two points, Muller wins.

Party boss Wayne Woodman figured this out months ago. It's why no Republican is running for Allentown City Council or Mayor. It's why nobody challenged Geoff Brace or Dave Jones in Allentown. He is willing to sacrifice Allentown on the altar of Ott.

But then Michael Donovan decided to run for Mayor as an Independent. And Pawlowski decided to run for Governor. In order to be a viable candidate for Governor, he needs a convincing victory in Allentown, and has to work hard to get out the vote against Donovan.

And, of course, most people are disgusted by extremist Republicans in the U.S. House and have a habit of taking that out on Republicans in local races. Ott happens to be one of those extremists himself.

Ott Betrays Judge McGinley For 30 Pieces of Silver

Ott with NC right-winger Hayden Phillips

Just as Judas betrayed Jesus, Commissioner Scott Ott betrayed President Judge Carol McGinley earlier this month for 30 pieces of silver. At least he didn't kiss her first. This betrayal not only hurt Judge McGinley, but could end up costing Lehigh County quite a bit of money. It might even get someone hurt. Or worse. But Ott is willing to risk someone else getting hurt to keep his campaign war chest filled. Let me fill you in.

Lehigh County Comm'r Lisa Scheller proposed slashing the judicial budget by about $146,000. "It's not directed at employees," she disingenuously explained, but it certainly was. It eliminated the funding for four tipstaffs.

Let me start by telling you about tipstaffs. Charlie Dent's mom was one, incidentally. Juries loved her. As one judge recently explained to me, it takes a special person. So the best tipstaffs are full-timers who are paid low wages but have to be there when the judge is there. Part-timers don't work because most jury trials are settled at the last minute, leading a person to schedule himself at the courthouse for nothing.

Why are they needed? According to what President Judge Carol McGinley told Commissioners, they make judges more productive. "My attention needs to be focused entirely on the litigants and the case in front of me," she explained. "Every time I'm interrupted by a crying baby, somebody who looks lost, somebody who can't speak English and needs interpretation services, these things all slow my productivity and actually interrupt the rights of the litigants in front of me to give them my full attention."

The persons who prevent mistrials, which can cost a County between $100,000 and $500,000, are the tipstaffs. Judge McGinley noted that if a Protection from Abuse (PFA) case is dismissed because some battered woman is unknowingly sitting in the wrong courtroom and there's no tipstaff to direct her where to go, that woman is at risk and could be hurt.

Several years ago, the judges made a commitment to work with less, but Judge McGinley told Commissioners that experiment is failing. Thy are needed most urgently during jury trials and when there are long lists.

By their nature, jury trials are terribly inefficient. Ask any juror. You can't get around it. But that inefficient process, which consists of long periods of time in which judges, litigants and tipstaffs sit on their hands, is the cornerstone to our American system of justice. It's embedded in the Constitution that tea partiers claim to embrace. And these older men and women, just like the older men and woman at polling precincts, preserve our democracy.

Before there's a jury trial, there are long lists in which 50 to 100 people can be jammed into a courtroom and adjoining hallways at the same time. A battered woman and the man who beat her. Witnesses and the gang members who would like them to shut up. Most of the courtrooms are simply too small to hold everyone. Tipstaffs identify parties and lawyers in a case. They separate people. They prioritize cases and get them before a judge. They smell out trouble and alert deputies. This requires two people at a minimum. One deals with the public while the other manages the actual courtroom proceedings for the judge.

As society has changed, things have become worse for the courts. Where do you think the dregs of society end up? Did you know most of them have no lawyers? They are also the first recourse for many people who really need help from our judicial system.

Judge McGinley explained all this, and more, to Commissioners. DA Jim Martin, who has practiced law for 40 years, had her back.

Commissioner Scott Ott seemed to not only buy into the argument, but suggested that it might be necessary to increase staffing.

"That scenario you just painted is a frightful one. People could get hurt. The County could get hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional expenses. Perfectly good cases could get thrown out. ... If that's the situation and that's a legitimate and clear and present danger, wouldn't it be irresponsible to not fully staff those other courtrooms?

He told Judge McGinley,  "What you said was pretty scary stuff. Yet we don't seem to be taking the action. I know we're pinching every penny twice and there's no more money available everywhere. But it would seem to me that the costs by what you said would be far outweighed by the benefits of staffing these other courtrooms, so I guess I'm wondering how is it tolerable for us to allow that low staffing level, but it's intolerable for us to do it in another courtroom?

McGinley: "Comm'r Ott, if you're suggesting that because we haven't asked for those three back, that my objections to removing four more are not legitimate, I disagree with the proposition.

Ott: "No, that's not what I'm suggesting. I'm seriously concerned. What you just described sounds like another penny wise, pound foolish thing where we're going to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, have court cases thrown out, and have people potentially be injured because we don't staff appropriately. If that's legitimate, and you say it is, then we've got a different situation on our hands here than I was previously aware. By the way, not until tonight had I heard that this experiment is failing.

But when it was time to vote on Scheller's motion to cut funding, Ott went along with his so-called reform team and against his own arguments.

Why?

30 pieces of silver. His most recent campaign finance report reveals that GOP party boss Wayne Woodman and his wife Lisa Scheller, just contributed $30,000 to Ott's campaign. This is the same Lisa Scheller who proposed eliminating this funding for the judges. Though Ott claimed that it was "irresponsible" not to have those tipstaffs, he had to listen to his paymaster instead of doing what was right.

Ott actually got more than 30 pieces of silver. He reports $46,480 from the My Lehigh County PAC that GOP party boss Wayne Woodman and Lisa Scheller control. That's her money.

That night, Comm'r Brad Osborne said, "I'd hate to make a decision that is not based out of knowledge, and have something bad come out of it."

But Ott is willing to take that risk for the right amount of money.

Following Scott Ott's Money Train

One advantage Lehigh County has over Northampton is that campaign finance reports appear online almost immediately, making it easy to follow the money. This attempt at transparency was Dean Browning's idea. Republican voters rewarded his good government by booting him from office. But thanks to that transparency, we can all see the finance report just filed by the person primarily responsible for Browning's ouster - Scott Ott. It's not a pretty picture.

Ott wants voters to give him control over Lehigh County's $360 million budget. But a review of Ott's finances reveals four disturbing things about the $177,238 total he's raised.

1) Lack of Transparency. - Ott reports $46,480 from the My Lehigh County PAC that he and GOP party boss Wayne Woodman control. This PAC, located in Harrisburg, has only one 2013 report on file. That report shows less than $18,000 in donations available to flip to Ott. So clearly, there have been donations to the PAC since the last report. But they aren't online. The reason for this is that, in spite of all of Ott's preaching about transparency, he does not use the online feature to file the reports for this PAC. Instead, he sends in a paper version knowing that the election will be over before it is processed and posted.

2) Is it Scott Ott or Wayne Woodman? - $30,000 of Ott's money comes from party boss Wayne Woodman and his wife, Commissioner Lisa Scheller. Another $15,000 comes from Bob Asher's PA Future Fund. This is the quid pro quo to get Woodman to grit his teeth and support Corbett next year. Scheller's money is funneled to Ott through the PAC to make it difficult to follow. Basically, just two people are responsible for Ott's warchest, making me question who really will be calling the shots in Lehigh County.

3) Ott violates state campaign finance laws. -  The Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors have reported two in-kind donations for Ott. One is for a $3,050 poll conducted on October 16. The other is a October 24 mailer for $4,225.

Ott failed to include the October 16 contribution in his report, even though it is supposed to include all contributions through October 21. He also failed to make a 24-hour report for the $4,225 contribution made on October 24.

If Ott is unable to account properly for campaign finance, how can he account for a $360 million budget?

4) The Abe Atiyeh Connection. - Controversial developer Abe Atiyeh is backing Ott, and gave him $1,000 on October 22. Atiyeh has alienated people in West Bethlehem, located in Lehigh County, over his propensity to build rehabs like 7-11s.  I doubt West Bethlehem voters will be pleased to learn that Ott has Atiyeh's support.

Ott Becomes Forgetful in Radio Interview

Ott on the campaign trail

When Lehigh County Comm'r Scott Ott and his so-called Reform Team ran Dean Browning out of town on a rail, two years ago, Ott promised that he and his minions would (1) eliminate an "unnecessary" 16% tax increase; (2) cut spending, not just slow the growth; (3) balance the budget; and (4) stop drawing down the county's reserves. Local tea party members, who were swarming over Commissioners at the time, just loved the message. After all, who likes anyone who says he must raise taxes? But do voters like liars? It is now apparent that Ott not only misled the electorate, but continues to do so.

Though in control of a five-person majority of like-minded people on a Board with seven Republicans, Ott has broken every one of the promises he made when he ran for office two years ago. But this is one Sunday School teacher who still thinks you're stupid enough to believe him, and is campaigning on the very promises he already has broken.

In robo-calls and campaign ads, he still perpetuates the myth that he's a fiscal conservative who really has reduced spending and cut taxes

His record is quite the opposite. He knows this. I've been telling you this from my perch atop the Indian Tower in Nazareth for the past two weeks. He's failed to roll back the 16% tax hike he condemned. The Budget he voted for is a $2.1 spending increase over last year, for a whopping $111 million. That's the most money that Lehigh County has ever spent in a single year. He increased the deficit from $7.3 million to $7.7 million, leaving the County's reserves at a bare $17 million. Finally, he supported a 3.4% tax hike over what Lehigh County residents paid last year.

Amazingly, this guy is the favorite.

His campaign literature and robocalls falsely claim he has cut taxes and reduced spending. But he screwed up last week. Not only did he do horribly in a debate at Allentown's NAAC. He also botched an interview with tea party friendly radio host Bobby Gunther Walsh. He suddenly grew forgetful when asked about whether he has really cut spending.

Gunther: "Now here's the problem according to this report. You pass the Budget, you cut some spending? Is that what it does? You said it cut spending.

Ott: "It cuts - I gotta' look at the final numbers because we were still batting around various amendments - but my understanding is I think the newspaper report is somewhere in the neighborhood of two and a half million was cut from the proposal.

Gunther: "Wait, is that two and half million from the proposal or two and a half million reduction in spending?

Ott: "Um, I'll have to look at that because I'm -

Guther: "Wait, wait, wait, woah, woah, woah. Wait, woah. So you are Nancy Pelosi? You voted on it but you don't know what's in it?

Ott: "Gunther. I will openly acknowledge that I think it's probably the case that it's a cut from the proposal, not a cut from the actual year to year. Last year, we did a year-to-year spending cut. This year they came to us with a catastrophe and basically said., 'Look, we've got a major problem that cost us an extra $3.8 million.' They tried to dip $10 million out of the stabilization fund.We reduced that dip down to $7.5 million. The County is still deficit spending and we haven't dealt with the fundamentals that drive that yet. The new Executive is really going to have to deal with it, or we're gonna' face a 2015 tax hike, which is not a possibility with me.

Gunther: "So you passed a budget.I gotta' tell you, that's kinda' a disappointing answer. You voted and passed something but you're not sure what you voted for, so that's a bit -

Ott: "- No. Guther, it's not that I'm not sure what i voted for. We had 13 amendments on an 800-page budget, and i know that was in the ballpark of $2.5 million. But not all the amendments in the initial amendments that were proposed got passed, so if you like, I can detail the ones that did, but I assume you probably don't have enough time for that.

Gunther: "No, it's not that. You don't know whether it's a cut in spending or a cut in the proposal. You think it's a cut in the proposal so we have not cut spending with this budget.

Ott: "I don't know the answer to that offhand -

Gunther: "-That's what I'm saying. That's the part that's the disappointing answer.

If I know that Ott's budget increases spending to Lehigh County's highest level ever, so does he. It seems that even Bobby Gunther Walsh considers Ott's answers "disappointing."

Ott Goes For the Bigot Vote at NAACP Debate

Remember those photos of a stunned Will Smith family as Miley Cyrus began twerking during the VMA awards? Well, that was how a forty-person audience reacted last night to Scott Ott's performance at Allentown NAACP County Exec debate. All he needed to make the night complete was a Confederate Flag. He may have even had one in his truck at the St. James AME Zion Church, buried under his guitar. After watching Ott and opponent Tom Muller answer questions, I think I can safely say that these are forty votes that Scott Ott won't get.  What he did get, after it was over, was a tongue lashing from one angry woman, as two others had her back.

I was a little late getting there because I was visiting my brother in the hospital. He had grown suddenly ill after reading this blog, and doctors are flipping coins over whether he'll last the week. So I missed Ott's initial remarks. But several audience members made sure that I heard about it. Ott reportedly told this crowd of Allentonians, in Allentown, that the only time he gets to see one of them is when they're coming up through the court system.

Not terribly bright.

Tom Muller

What I did hear him say, at one point, is that he's been advised that Latinos all quit school at age 15 to look for jobs. ... And that it makes no sense to teach prison inmates how to cook or perform low-paying jobs because they make too much money selling drugs. ... And that Republicans had advised him not to come to Allentown. ... And that Obamacare is no good.

Not terribly bright.

That might play well on WAEB or at your local KKK, but did not go over well before the NAACP. Ott's one gift is his ability to communicate, so he must have had an off night.

The largely African American audience, to their credit, remained polite.

But after it was over, I got an earful myself. Fran Eddings, CEO of the PA STEAM project at Cedar Crest College, told me she wanted to remain positive, but was clearly upset by Ott. "That was an affront to me as an African American person," she said. "The people of Allentown are not as inept as some may think they are."

Ott was also asked to explain abstaining from voting for a Meals on Wheels grant for needy Lehigh County seniors. At the time he abstained, he said that Lehigh Commissioners are "the last line of defense for the taxpayer." He complained that the "Chinese communist government is fronting us money to feed 85 year old women in Lehigh County." So it's up to patriots like him to "exercise some restraint that the federal government seems incapable of exercising."

Scott Ott

When I questioned Ott about his remarks, he never responded to me. But he had no choice last night.  He explained that he has "concerns that we couldn't feed seniors in our own community" and doesn't want to be dependent on the federal government because that well may some day go dry.

Tom Muller, who was driven to run for executive after being subjected to this kind of tea party pandering, objected that Ott's so-called reform team has a nasty habit of "talking about national problems and the national debt," calling it a "bunch of nonsense" on the local level.

What would he do?

"Yes, we definitely will feed that 85 year old woman in Allentown.

"I would do it every time."

When asked about the Veterans Mentoring Program in Lehigh County, Ott knew little about it. Muller had to explain that it was founded in 2011 to address issues faced by a growing number of veterans who get involved in the criminal justice system. It's a program championed by DA Jim Martin, one of Ott's favorite targets at budget time.

Though he had no idea what the program was, Ott made sure the audience knew that his grandfather stormed the beach at Normandy, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was ready to go to Japan.

He apparently thinks that veteran status is inherited.

Asked about their ability to play nice with others, Muller pointed out that, under former Executive Don Cunningham, he worked well with seven members of the Republican party. He credited Commissioners who actually read the material prepared for each meeting, and who took the time to call and discuss things. That stopped when the Ott block assumed power.

Ott told the audience not to "mistake the due process and deliberative part of our meetings for divisiveness." He then claimed that David Jones is his favorite Commissioner, in an effort to establish at least some connection with people he had already lost.

Ott's favorite Commissioner was not at the debate. But Brad Osborne, whom Ott voted to dump as Chairman, was there. So were three Ott supporters, planted strategically in the audience with iPads. These political operatives, paid or unpaid, filmed Muller every time he spoke, hoping to catch him in a goof.

When the candidates closed, Ott said he represents a different approach to government. It's one we've seen recently in Washington. He did not mention his work as a Wal Mart greeter or the jobs he quit along the way. Muller reminded the crowd that he actually has a background and some heavy duty experience, including managing Lehigh County for the past 8 years under three different Executives.

He told the crowd that if they support him, the election is November 5. If they support Ott, it's on November 12.

I think everyone in that room, save for Ott and his political operatives, will be voting on November 5.