About this column:
Bernie O'Hare is a Lehigh Valley native and lifelong troublemaker. One of this region's first bloggers, he spends most of his free time going to meetings, from Coplay to Hellertown. But his passion has always been Northampton County government, which he sues every now and then. He's also a title searcher.If you attend many meetings of local government, as I do, it's easy to see the hypocrisy. Mayors and council members hold themselves up as incorruptible public servants looking out for you, but many of them serve the agenda of the special interests that got them elected in the first place. Democrats serve public sector unions whose contracts have enslaved the rest of us. Republicans serve businesses, whose bottom line means more than the welfare of the people who work for them, or the public who buys their product. Few of them really serve us. In Bethlehem, for example, Mayor John Callahan …
2010 was a lousy year for real estate in Northampton County. Realtors escrowed licenses, and the the local recorder of deeds office was about as busy as a church on Monday. The next year would be better, everyone said. Guess what? It's worse. Throughout the first seven months of 2011, the real estate market has slumped another 7.1% in Northampton County. You'd have to go all the way back to 1983, twenty-eight years ago, when Madonna was still Like a Virgin, to find a worse year. The 3,088 deeds recorded during the first seven months of 2011 is a whopping 35% below the 4,740-deed average over …
It was an Oscar-worthy performance. Beating back tears, the Nature Conservancy's Ellen Lott made an impassioned plea that Northampton County Council save 130 acres of woodland in Upper Mount Bethel. "I am here to speak for the trees because they have no tongues." She also claimed to speak for salamanders, frogs and "a place where raptors soar overhead and water trickles down." The trees, lizards and chicken hawks need your dough, and they got it, too. After hearing Lott compare Ron Angle country to the Amazon rain forest, it was unanimous, the presiding council approved $260,400 of your …
Let's say I'm the kind of dude who likes gerbils crawling up my tush or who wants to date my French Poodle. You might think there's something wrong with me, but that's your problem, buddy. If you decide to fire me or kick me out of your fancy Bethlehem restaurant, I can report you to Bethlehem's goofy new Human Relations Commission. So there.Now you might say that this new law does not cover bestiality, but that would be discriminatory, and I'll sue you for that, too. So next time you catch me flirting with those frisky squirrels who frolic around Town Hall, looking for nuts, mind your own …
Their message was loud and clear. Over 120 people braved tornado warnings and pouring rain on April 20 to storm into Fowler Family Southside Center and let four state representatives know, in both Spanish and English, what they thought of Governor Corbett's proposed $27.3 billion budget. Teresa Donate, a professor at Northampton Community College, summed up the mood of this crowd. "Vengo prendia en candelo!" she fumed. Translated, that's "I'm on fire."This anger is in stark contrast to the electorate's mood when Tom Corbett was first elected just last November, in a near landslide. Now, his …
Remember how casinos were supposed to make all of our property tax problems go away? They just went up 5.3% in Bethlehem, and now its school district might hire a private tax collector like Portnoff Law Associates, to squeeze every last nickel out of you.Privatized tax collection, called tax farming, has historically been quite unpopular, especially here in the Lehigh Valley. President John Adams found that out when he imposed a house tax, the first and last federal property tax, to pay for a possible war with France. Private assessors were hired to go house to house, counting windows and …
Like my Patch bunk buddy, Jonathan Geeting, I'd love to see a bi-county public health department here in the Lehigh Valley. Never mind that Erie County, which has a public health department, ranks 52 out of 67 counties in that ominous "morbidity" rating. Never mind that Northampton County, which has no public health department, actually ranks 10 in health factors like smoking and STD. No, damn the evidence, and spend away. Replace the "pro-morbidity" pols, as Geeting calls them.What Jonathan and other spenders fail to realize is that, before we have public health or nice choo-choo trains to …
We were all horrified by a February 10 UGI gas explosion that killed five people and leveled a city block in Allentown. For five hours, natural gas fueled the flames, as City and UGI officials scrambled to find a shutoff valve. Had the explosion occurred just half a block away, it would have been a school. And that's the real tragedy. Throughout the Lehigh Valley, not just Allentown, there are miles and miles of aging cast iron pipelines, some of them over 100 years old. If you live in Bethlehem, Easton or any of the boroughs, what happened in Allentown could easily happen to you.Last week, …
In "John Morganelli, Bon Vivant," I told you that our local top crime dog, DA John Morganelli, regularly dips into his campaign fund for meals at posh places like the Blue Grille and Emeril's Chop House. He blew over $13,000 on himself last year to dine out (35 times), fill up the tank (15 times) and even to buy DA uniforms at Macy's. But there's one eatery he missed - Darto's Restaurant in Bethlehem. The owners must be looking for his business because the first thing you see when you walk into this North Street breakfast nook is a poster telling you to sign Morganelli's election petition for…
Looks like Gracedale has become Northampton County's Wisconsin. Public sector unions are flexing their muscles there, as they are doing with Gracedale here.Unions were doing that back in October, when they used a Gracedale rally on county grounds to campaign for state house candidate Charles Dertinger, Congressional candidate John Callahan and U.S. Senate wannabe Joe Sestak. Despite this illegal electioneering, all of their candidates came up short at the polls.Instead of agreeing to concessions, AFSCME brought a giant inflatable rat to the Courthouse on the day they were supposed to …
Last year, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli raked in $87,874.37 from well-wishers, including people who work for him and lots of $250 checks from defense lawyers. Morganelli is sitting on a $130,000 mountain of cash. But don't worry. He made lots of contributions last year, too. To himself. Campaign finance records reveal that Morganelli donated $13,625.87 to himself last year, a year in which he wasn't running for anything. Thta's right. His campaign fund became his personal ATM machine. So what did he do with all that dough? He blew $1,109.99 at Macy's, presumably to buy…
It might be the root of all evil, but it's hard to wage political war without it. In Pennsylvania, where there's no limits on the amount of money that can be raised or spent in any local or state race, people with money can buy elections, drowning out the voices of those with nothing. It's time for a change, but our campaign finance system lurches forward with no meaningful reform in sight. People with money like it this way. Campaign finance reports, which must be filed periodically in the elections office, can at least help you follow the money. But in most cases, you have to make a …
The last thing you should ever do is give legislators a pile of money and tell them they can only spend it on emergencies. They'll find more code blues than you'll hear in a year at your local hospital. Unfortunately, there's just such a fund in the People's Republic of Northampton County, called the "contingency fund." As you might have guessed, Council members find all kinds of reasons to just throw it away. Last week, they voted to give $25,000 for a halfway house to a woman with no lease, no nonprofit, no board of directors and no real plan. Let me tell you the story. It actually started…
Are right-wing maniacs to blame for the Tucson tragedy in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Az) was shot outside a Safeway during a meeting with her constituents? That's what left-wing maniacs claim. Late last week, Bethlehem Patch published a little ditty about a small group outside State Rep. Joe Brennan's office, carrying "Stop the Toxic Rhetoric" and "Hate Speech is Violence" signs. They continued their mission at Bethlehem's Town Hall Tuesday night, where they will stand "in support of Bethlehem City Council members and against right-wing disruptions of their meetings." Instead of trying …
Do you love the smell of methane in the morning? If you work for Chrin Landfill in Williams Township, chances are you do. A familiar rotten-egg odor wafts through south Easton regularly, the by-product of decomposing scrapple and other garbage. Last year alone, there were seventy DEP inspections, culminating in a $187,500 civil penalty in late December.Not to worry. The Chrins have a insurance plan to combat pesky state regulators. Campaign contributions. Since 2000, they've contributed over $250,000 to candidates seeking state office in Pennsylvania. That includes judges, prosecutors, state …
We're fickle. For younger people, the average job only lasts between three to five years. We trade in our cars every five years. About a year later, we trade in our homes. We even trade in our wives and husbands. They last around 15 years, before half of us decide to trade up. We reassess. But when some elected official starts talking about reassessing real estate, we trade him in. Last time Northampton County reassessed, in 1994, Jerry Seyfried was County Executive. Voters traded him in. Nobody likes reassessment. Not homeowners, who convince themselves it's a tax increase in disguise. Not …
Want to drive a card-carrying public sector union member nutz? Just whisper "Privatize!" in his ear and then run like hell. It's like a stake through the heart. "Private businesses only care about the bottom line," he'll roar. "We care about people." And, of course, that 5% annual salary increase. Unions are roaring right now about the privatization of Gracedale, the Northampton County-owned nursing home. They've taken out half page ads in the local paper and are making a last-minute push to get the signatures needed for voters to decide Gracedale's fate in a May referendum. They have 10,774 …
Allentown calls itself the "City Without Limits" these days. That's certainly true when it comes to tax increases. Earned income taxes just shot up 35% on residents and nonresidents alike. Bethlehem is known as the "Christmas City." Shoppers can promenade up and down Main Street or ride carriages, blissfully unaware of the City's compete inability to pay its bills. That City faces a 5.3% tax hike next year, too.Easton has no nickname. It can't afford one. Allentown and Bethlehem look down their noses at their red-haired step sister. But it's the only Lehigh Valley city that will leave …
I was sure it was dead. Despite over four hours of emergency medical treatment from the Lehigh Valley's best and brightest physicians and nurses, the Lehigh Valley Health Department died a slow and agonizing death on July 19 in Northampton County's star chamber. Six Northampton Council members, joined by three Lehigh Commissioners, delivered the killing blow. Quoting incantations from FDR, JFK, Thomas Jefferson and even Frank Zappa proved to be of no use. Time of death? 10:38 PM. Cause? Lack of hospital support. Amazingly, they were unwilling to provide one red cent for a program that …
He's been to at least 5,000 of them. It's one of his hobbies, you know, along with cigars and antiques. If you attend municipal meetings anywhere in the Lehigh Valley, it's only a matter of time before you run into the Northampton County Bulldog.I'm speaking of Council President Ron Angle. Democrats hate him, but so do lots of Republicans, especially the bluebloods. In his ten years with the County, he's tangled with everyone. Senior judges, reporters, County Execs, Jolly Joe Timmer, girl scouts. No one is safe. He's been called a cigar thief, will forger, lousy dresser and cannibal. And that…
