Simao Resigns as NorCo GOP Treasurer

Treasurer Resignation Letter, Tony Simao, NorCo GOP

As a point of clarification, I should note that I attended a meeting of the NorCo GOP at the Northampton County Courthouse. That is the people's building, and I needed no invitation from anyone. Chairman Robert Kerr stated I was welcome, but now I see Simao whining about it.

Who is Tony Simao?

Ask Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan. He knows who Tony Simao is, and recently set his smear machine to work to try and stop him. No less a luminary than Callahan's second-in-command, Joe Kelly, was caught red handed, passing along dubious information to political consultant John Blankstein. From there, it made its way to a NYC blogger, who tried to slime Simao without even talking to him.

Of course, the people who ended up looking shady were Joe Kelly, John Blankstein and NYC blogger Jon Geeting.

Why are they so intent on stopping Simao? Because he and fellow City Council candidate Tom Carroll have declared war on Bethlehem politicians. Using Youtube, they've published video indictments of the Callahan Administration. There's Open Letter to Bethlehem Politicians (1.046 hits), Open Letter - Page Two (423 hits), and Recchiuti's Big Adventure (235 hits).

There have been some complaints here and elsewhere that Simao has failed to provide answers. This is his start, and he starts by telling you a little about himself. He is Portuguese, immigrated here at age 8, was naturalized at age 16, and right after high school, went into the Marines. If you'd like more answers, watch the video.

Bethlehem DCED Director Joe Kelly Behind Simao Smear

On Monday, I told you about Blogger Jonathan Geeting's attempt to smear Bethlehem City Council candidate Tony Simao with a 2007 bad check charge. No attempt was made to contact Simao and get his side of the story. Geeting never bothered to report that the birthdate is not Simao's birthate, or that Tony has a cousin with exactly the same name. Most important of all, he never even bothered to mention that there's been no conviction on what is, after all, a summary matter.

I guess the presumpton of innocence only applies to Democrats.

Investigation is not Geeting's strong suit. In fact, I'm not really sure he has a strong suit. He relies on information fed to him by Democratic operatives, and then just pukes it up on his blog, like he did to Steve Salvesen.

But I know the source of Getting's information, whether it's direct or indirect. It's none other than Joe Kelly, who just happens to be Bethlehem's DCED Director. He is effectively the second in command in Bethlehem, right after Mayor John Callahan.

Kelly made sure this information was passed on to John Blankstein, who fancies himself as the Lehigh Valley's James Carville. His LinkedIn profile tells you he's the CEO of Market Street Strategies. That's a front for a dirt-digging operation for Democrats.

Once Blankstein got the information, he made sure it was passed around the all the right people, except that one of them knew me.

Uh oh.

Another person doing what he calls "opposition research" is none other than Democratic City Council candidate Michael Recchiuti. He was digging into the personal life of one of the candidates, and passing the information along to people like Bethlehem City Council candidate J Willie Reynolds, in hopes he could smear Simao, too. In fairness to Reynolds, there is no evidence he did anything with the information sent to him.

One of Recchiuti's emails found its way to me.

Uh oh.

I have contacted Recchiuti, Kelly, Reynolds and Blankstein with this question: "Would any of you care to enlighten me on the smear campaign you have orchestrated thru Geeting?"

The only person who responded was Recchiuti, who attempted to justify going into the gutter.

Here's the Blankstein and Kelly email.

On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 1:22 PM, John Blankstein <blanksjc@gmail.com> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joseph Kelly <joek1216@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 5:49 PM

http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJReport.aspx?district=MDJ-31-1-05&docketNumber=MJ-31105-NT-0000747-2008

Poor Tony Hanna must be rolling over in his grave. Oh wait, he's still alive.

Geeting's Irresponsible Accusation

It started on this blog last week. "Seamus," a Callahan acolyte, attempted to smear all three Republican candidates for City Council by suggesting that one of them had dropped one bad check and may have made some ribald postings on the Internet in another time and place.  Now I'm a bottom feeder with very low standards, but I deleted the slime. Now it has popped up on Geeting's blog. Since he's in the tank for every Democrat, he posted it right away, without even bothering to check it out. Had he done so, he'd know he's wrong.

Here's what bothered me about what Seamus was doing. First, he's a Callahan operative, and is trying to divert attention away from some hard-hitting videos posted on Youtube by Simao. Second, Seamaus refused to tell me which of the three candidates he was talking about, in effect smearing them all. Third, Seamus lacked the courage to identify himself and take responsibility for his accusation. Fourth, my own research leads me to conclude that the charge is unfounded. Finally, even if it were true, one bad check charge is insufficient to persuade me that a person is financially irresponsible. I'd have to see a pattern.

Just last week, Geeting was preaching that he was not going to write about those silly Republicans running for Bethlehem City Council. "It’s a waste of my time and your time to be thinking about these dudes." Yet just a few days later, he wastes his time and yours, not by thinking about them, but actually smearing one of them with a lie.

According to Geeting, "Turns out Antonio A Simao bounced a check at a BJ’s back in 2007 and never paid, as the case is still open." Well, that's partially correct. It appears that someone named Antonio A. Simao was charged in 2007 (never convicted) with bouncing a check somewhere. The case remains open because there's been no conviction; not because the check remains unpaid.

But is this the Tony Simao running for City Council? The birthdate listed on the citation is not Tony's birthdate.. And guess what? The Tony Simao who is running for City Council has at least one cousin whose name just happens to be "Antonio A. Simao." Moreover, the citation itself makes pretty clear that it was never served on anyone, certainly not the Tony Simao running for City Council. Tony told me he's unaware of any citation. Finally, nobody was ever actually found guilty of bouncing a check.

It's highly likely that this bad check charge, never pursued, was intended for someone else.

Like Seamus, Geeting made no effort to actually determine what happened. He never bothered to contact Simao. But that was not his purpose. The truth is irrelevant. Like Seamus, he's doing Mayor Callahan's dirty work. Before publishing an untrue accusation, perhaps he should have asked himself why Seamus and Callahan were unwilling to take responsibility.

With this latest irresponsible post, Geeting has pretty much destroyed what's left of his credibility.

If you want to comment on this post, you'll have to take responsibility for what you write.

Updated Tuesday, 10:19 AM: Geeting has posted a new blog, bragging about how many hits his original Simao post garnered. He makes no apology for his failure to conduct even a cursory investigation into information fed to him by Callahan operatives. He instead asks, "[D]o you really believe that there are two Antonio A Simaos living in Bethlehem, born on the same day exactly ten years apart?" Had Geeting done any sort of investigation, he'd know (1) two Antonio A Simaos do live in Bethlehem; and (2) the birthate listed on the citation is not that of the Republican candidate.

His post was a willing smear, engineered by "Seamus" of the Callahan camp. And today, Geeting proves he's an "ends justify the means" kind of guy. He's willing to use outright lies if it serves his agenda. That's why he has no real credibility.

City Council Candidates Carroll, Simao Suffer Borderline Thuggery

Last Saturday, Bethlehem City Council candidates Tom Carroll and Tony Simao had breakfast at the Borderline, a popular greasy spoon located smack dab on the border between Allentown and Bethlehem. In fact, that's why I always thought it was called The Borderline. Now I'm wondering whether the name stands for borderline personality disorder, especially after hearing about how the diner's owner, Chris Valianatos, blew up at Bethlehem City Council candidates Tom Carroll and Tony Simao. Let me tell you the story.

In local races, Carroll and Simao know there's no substitute for pounding the pavement, especially in a race against Mayor John Callahan's machine. So last Saturday, after spam and eggs at The Borderline, they met a few volunteers and distributed those precious street lists, full of the names of super voters.

After a few hours of knocking on doors, Simao and Carroll returned to The Borderline for lunch. While there, Tony noticed some campaign material for other races, and could see a picture of Bill Clinton, who had visited the restaurant, proudly displayed. Tony decided to ask owner Chris Valianatos if he and Tom could serve coffee to customers the following Saturday. They'd get noticed while simultaneously helping the restaurant keep nasty caffeine addicts like me from going postal, early in the morning.

"Of course!" answered Valianatos, who told his hostess she'd have some help the following week.

Yesterday, Carroll and Simao asked the local party to send an email to its distribution list, asking for volunteers on Saturday and Sunday. Here's what it looked like.

SATURDAY

October 8th

MEET UP AT

The Borderline Restaurant

**** West Union Blvd.

 10:00 a.m.

Where Tony and Tom will be serving coffee

You will be with a group of other folks

Who want real reform in Bethlehem

The email identifies Borderline as their rendezvous point, but makes no claim that the restaurant or its owner endorses them. You could argue that letting them serve coffee is an implied endorsement, but many restaurants do that sort of thing. As long as it brings in business, that's all that matters to them.

Here's where things get weird. On Wednesday afternoon, while Carroll and Simao were working on their campaigns, Carroll got a call. A former prosecutor, he instinctively put it on speaker phone when he realized what was happening, so Simao heard every word.

On the other end of the line was a very angry Chris Valianatos. He may have been gleaming the last time he had seen Tony and Tom, but was a completely different person on the phone. He was livid that the two City Council candidates would send a "flyer" (it was an email) mentioning his restaurant.

According to both Simao and Carroll, Valianatos made these statements: "You fuckin' put my name on a flyer ... You put my business on a flyer ... I'm going to fuck you up ... You're going down ... This is illegal ... Callahan is my best friend ... Bill Clinton has been here ... I'm a good Democrat ... You fooled with the wrong person ... I'm going to take you out ... You don't know who the fuck you messed with."

While Valianatos screamed and cursed, Carroll was unable to get a word in. Eventually, Valianatos hung up on him. A few minutes later, Caroll called again, but it was just more of the same, with Valianatos hanging up again.

Simao told me afterwards that he knew running for office would be interesting, "but I didn't think it would ever get to the point of physical threats being thrown around." Especially from a restaurateur.

Was there some misunderstanding, or was Valianatos catching heat from the Callahan machine?

When contacted, Valianatos told me he had no problem with Simao and Carroll serving coffee at his restaurant, but objected to ther email mentioning his restaurant's name without his permission. "Now all the Blackberry people have it," he complained.

He denied stating that Callahan is his best friend, stating that he instead told them Callahan is a "frequent patron." While that might be true, FEC records indicate that Valianatos is a "frequent" Callahan contributor. He gave Hizzoner $3,700 for his failed Congressional bid.

Getting Clinton to drop in must have been expensive.

When I asked him whether he had made the remarks reported to Simao and Carroll, he hung up on me. I called back, and he told me that Simao and Carroll could talk to his attorney, and hung up again.

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to ask Valianatos who in Callahan's machine leaned on him, although it's obvious that's exactly what happened.

It's what's wrong in Bethlehem.

The rendezvous point has been changed from the Borderline to Perkins on Route 191. Simao and Carroll have just sent an email to everyone stating to forget about meeting up at "the restaurant whose name shall not be mentioned," but they mentioned Perkins.

I sure hope the owner there isn't Callahan's best friend, too.

Simao's "Letter to Bethlehem Politicians" Catching Fire

Tony Simao might be fighting an uphill battle for a seat on Bethlehem City Council, but his career in Hollywood is assured. His riveting video, Open Letter to Bethlehem Politicians, is going viral, at least by Bethlehem standards. When I first saw it late Monday night, there were just 4 hits. Less than 24 hours later, there were 241 views.

Simao tells me he put it together using video editing software called Nero. Its score reminded me of the beginning scenes of Gladiator, while others thought it was more like The Omen.

No matter what movie it reminds you of, it's a very telling indictment of Mayor John Callahan's mismanagement at the helm of Bethlehem. It comes fast on the heels of an independent audit showing that Bethlehem finished 2010 with a jaw-dropping $14.2 million deficit.

Amazingly, Bethlehem again made a late pension payment again, incurring a fine, despite assurances last year that it would never, ever, ever, ever, ever happen again. t continues to play games with EIT money collected for other municipalities. And most disturbing of all, it took a cool million out of federal CDBG money, without even bothering to inform Council.

Unfortunately, the video is very accurate.

"There'll be more," Simao told me last night.

Carroll & Simao Unleash Hell Against Bethlehem Politicians

Now this is one powerful video, definitely worth the time spent watching it. I reminds me of a blockbuster movie preview, and I half expect Russell Crowe to jump out in the end and lop off the head of some decadent Roman Emperor. Instead of Crowe, it's Tony Simao and Tom Carroll, who are running for City Council in Bethlehem. Aside from the Hollwood style, this preview is a very compelling indictment of Mayor John Callahan's mismanagement.

Will it get them elected?

Council President Bob Donchez is unbeatable, and they leave him alone, very wisely. They instead focus on incumbent J. William Reynolds and candidate Mike Recchiuti, both of whom are tied to the Mayor.

I think it will be tough to beat Reynolds. He might be a Callahan cheerleader, but seems to work hard at his job and put in the hours. There's something to be said for that work ethic, which I respect. Also, his skin has to be incredibly thick because he never lashes out at the people who criticize him, even when they do it with silly grades in an open meeting.

Maybe he should start a blog.

I have not quite made up my mind about Reynolds, but agree Recchiuti is a joke who cold not even keep his job in some law firm. His Callahan-financed campaign should be seen as an attempt to stack the deck in favor of the Captain of a sinking ship.

Interestingly, fellow Republican Al Bernotas is absent from this clip. That's probably a good thing. I called Al recently, and he surprised me by telling me he was in the middle of a class on zoning at LVPC. The guy really cares. But he's grown increasingly bitter over the Elias zoning expansion, in which he is a litigant, and has lashed out at many people unnecessarily. At a recent City Council meeting, for example, he actually chided members of Bethlehem's Planning Bureau for not dutifully writing down his pearls of wisdom concerning a new zoning ordinance. If Reynolds or Donchez had done something like that, they'd be strung up in a heartbeat.

Callahan Blasted For Private Trash Talks

At a 6 PM news conference outside Bethlehem City Hall last night, three Republican City Council candidates lambasted Mayor John Callahan for "private" meetings with Council members to discuss problems with its 19 private trash haulers. According to one city official, there have been 1,300 complaints. Callahan has told The Express Times, "We know we have a problem and we're going to try to sit down with city council on it."

Before the news conference ever started, there was already a reaction from City Council Solicitor Chris Spadoni. In addition to decorating his office's front lawn with a J. William Reynolds campaign sign, he yesterday fired an angry email to Republican candidates Al Bernotas, Tom Carroll, and Tony Simao. In it, he denies these private meetings are Sunshine Act violations.

Here's my question. If you know you have a problem with private trash haulers, wouldn't it make just a little more sense to sit down with them than with Council members? Callahan's explanation sounds like garbage. If there have been over a thousand complaints, why did Joe Kelly refuse to release any of them to Al Bernotas? Why did he instead tell Bernotas to file a Right-to-Know request, using that law as a shield to deny information, instead of providing it?

All three candidates spoke during yesterday's news conference, as about fifteen onlookers shivered in the cold evening air. Here's some of what Tom Carroll had to say.

"This is a City that this administration has brought to over $300 million in debt. This is a City that has over $12 million in running deficits over the last several years. This is a City that had an EMS building that was falling apart, and they borrowed an additional $6 million last Fall for the purpose of fixing that EMS building, didn't fix it, and then raised our taxes 6 percent. This is a City that couldn't even make its first payroll of the new year. And then, with all these other pressing problems, he wants to meet, one-on-one, with the individual members of Council to talk about contract hauling.

"Did he meet with the haulers individually? No. These are businessmen in our City, who make a living and pay their taxes, and he wants to take away our right as citizens to contract with our own individual haulers and he wants to put these people out of business while at the same time, grabbing whatever money he can in that process because he has so fiscally mismanaged this City.

"We give credit to the two Council members that [sic] currently serve on this Council, who refused to meet with the Mayor, David DiGiacinto and Jean Belinski. We do ask that all of the other Council members refuse to meet with him privately, one-on-one, about an issue that has been ongoing for many years. And instead, encourage the administration to talk with the contract haulers, the private haulers, about this issue."

Private hauler Andy Prickler (Andy's Hauling) was at yesterday's news conference, and stated he's asked repeatedly to see these thousands of complaints over the past two years. They are never furnished.

Q. Do you think that the Mayor is looking at this as a way if enhancing revenue for the City?

Pricker: "Absolutely. Absolutely. We make a profit now so why wouldn't he like to take it over and make a profit?

Q. So is that what you think the motive is?

Prickler: "I believe so, yes. I still haven't seen the complaints and I said before and I'll say it again. We've asked for ... to see these complaints for over two years now. Every year, it's a thousand complaints. Here's another question to answer. Why is it the City of Bethlehem that always has this trash issue? Why is that? You don't hear any problems from Lower Saucon. You don't hear any problems from Bethlehem Township. You don't hear any problems from Bushkill Township, Lower Nazareth. These municipalities are all independently contracted haulers that are serving these communities and we don't have no problems with them so why does the City, Bethlehem, seem to always have a problem with the independent system that we have?"

Q. What was your name, sir?

Prickler: "Andy Prickler."

Q. How do you spell it?

Prickler: "P-r-i-c-k-l-e-r."

Q. You're a little prickler.

Prickler: "Yeah. Andy's Hauling and Waste Disposal."

Updated 9 AM: Callahan's side of the story is reported at Bethlehem Patch.

Dent Gives Early Endorsement to Bernotas, Carroll and Simao

Although it's by no means unusual for LV Congressman Charlie Dent to endorse a candidate for local office, he had to take some personal satisfaction in seeing a full slate of Republicans - Al Bernotas, Tom Carroll and Tony Simao - willing to take on "one party rule" in Bethlehem. Dent left Washington, D.C. at 5:30 AM Saturday just so he could publicly give them his good government stamp of approval following a Lincoln Day breakfast at Hotel Bethlehem.

Dent, who became intimately familiar with Bethlehem's mismanaged city government during his most recent Congressional race against Mayor John Callahan, stated Bethlehem "deserves better that what it's getting right now from the current administration." Noting that Bethlehem's bond rating has been downgraded, Dent said it's time for some "meaningful oversight." He called on City Council to be "watchdogs for this administration, not lapdogs."

"You will have better City government because of these guys," he said.

Dent did recognize some "voices in the wilderness," people like Jean Belinski, Mike Schweder and Dave DiGiacinto.

Below are excerpts from the candidates.

Al Bernotas on YouTube: "I'm not waiting until we get elected to City Council. We've already started to make a difference by going out for the past year and a half, two years, just listening in. We're going to do a few Right-to-Knows, we're not going to allow only City Council to see the budget, P&L and what's going on. I'd like to see the check register posted to a website. A little bit of sunshine never hurt anyone. ... I know how to balance my checkbook and take out loans and pay them back. I'd like to help the City administration learn to do that, and I'd like to make sure that City Council watches everything that's going on, and communicates with the people."

Tom Carroll on YouTube: "The City is already $300 million in debt. That means that for every adult over 18 in the City of Bethlehem, we all owe, just for the debt of this City, $5,000 a person. ... The administration says, 'We have a revenue problem. They do not. They have had a 150% increase in revenue since 2000. They do not have a revenue problem. They do not have a tax problem. They have a spending problem and they have a borrowing problem."

Tony Simao on YouTube: "There comes a point in time when the tough choices have to be made. ... Ron Angle comes to mind, the Northampton County Bulldog, as he's known in some circles. I believe that that's my type of character as well. I don't like incompetence. I don't like waste. It seems like there is a lot of it going on in the City of Bethlehem to the point where now, at a national level, Wall Street is taking notice and lowering bond ratings."

On the Democrats' side of the ticket, City Council Prez Bob Donchez and J. Willie Reynolds are seeking reelection. Mike Recchiuti, a lawyer and member of the City's Parking Authority, is also seeking your approval.

(Blogger's Note: I was unable to attend this endorsement due to a family commitment.)