Peter Schweyer attributed his victory to the voters overwhelmingly approving the vision being implemented by him and his fellow Democrats. He ignored the fact that the vast middle class voted with their feet, and moved out of Allentown in the last decade. Jeanette Eichenwald attributed her victory to spending no money on the campaign. Frank Concannon, 88 years old, confided that he did no campaigning at all and conceded It's a little strange. As I mentioned in a previous post, no Republican has won in Allentown since 2003. In 2005, Republican candidate for City Council Charlie Thiel, paid to have billboards put up throughout the city, to no avail. This cycle, Republican Eric Weiss knocked on hundreds of doors, and was aided by two mailings from the LVAR-PAC. We are a one party town. The new electronic voting machines make the one party pick easier than ever. With the old lever machines, a voter could see all the candidate names before them on the machine. Now. the new electronic machine asks if you would like to be a one party monkey, and apparently, the vast majority push yes.
Are you implying that you can't "see" your votes if you vote one party on the electronic machine?
ReplyDeleteThe display gives you the summary of your votes after you vote one party.
And this is a bi-partisan site, right? Just checking.
Do you mean every R for Allentown council lost?
ReplyDeleteanon 5:23, i base my comments on the fact that on the older mechanical machines, all the names were there, visible the board, with the levers. on the new electronic machines, the first question is: do you wish to vote straight party, with no names visible. i believe this distinction steers voters to more straight party voting. i have no statistics to back this assumption up. i do consider this site bi-partisan.
ReplyDeleteanon 5:40, correct, every republican lost since one single win in 2003, by dave bausch. he had been county executive for years, and had great name recognition. he also lost the next time he ran. i believe it's no longer possible for any republican to win in allentown.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteRepublicans could have won in Allentown but the LCRC dropped the ball. This was a rare opportunity that was squandered by the county chair.
Scott Armstrong
scott, i respectively disagree. although you may have an issue with woodman, the LVAR sent out two fliers for eric weiss, which is as much or more than you would have expected from any county chair.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect I know this business better than you. Two mailers done out of Philly, one arriving on Election Day at many homes was a minimal effort and guaranteed defeat.
Scott Armstrong
MICHAEL, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN ALLENTOWN, NO CHECKS AND BALANCES ON COUNCIL AND CONTROLLER THAT WILL NOT BE INDEPENDENT IN OVERSEEING YOUR MONEY AND THE REPORTING BEING DONE ON ALLENTOWN. AND MORE REPUBLICAN VOTERS LEAVING ALLENTOWN,WITH INCREASED WATER, SEWER,GARBAGE FEES AND NODOUBT INCREASES IN REAL ESTATE TAXES TO PAY FOR THE AREANA BOND ISSUES AND POSSIBLY TO PAY ON THE MORTGAGES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT ZONE, SINC THE TAXES FORWARDED TO HARRISBURG WILL NOT MEET THE TOTAL COST.
ReplyDeletescott, the fact is that no republican has won in almost a decade, despite billboards and multiple fliers. in the previous elections there was a different county chair, less of a democratic registration advantage, and your party still lost. (even when you were city chair)
ReplyDeleteSeems GOP chair was first and foremost concerned with getting his wife elected and setting up Ott to succeed Cunningham.
ReplyDeleteThe city GOP had no coordinated theme or message. Any sort of coordinated effort would have made the controller's race tight as well as knocked off concannon.
After the idiotic comments by Frank Concannon, I have no more sympathy for the citizens of Allentown, this was the last chance for any sort of two party-system. Hizzoner is now unstoppable.
ReplyDeleteGOP will never win in Allentown barring a huge scandal !
ReplyDeleteanon 7:17, in 2005 charlie thiel, a well respected republican moderate, spend over 14k on billboards, a first in city history for city council, and still lost. this year the LVAR spent as much on behalf of eric weiss, and he lost. all comments implying that the county party failed to perform for the city candidates, is nothing more than party infighting.
ReplyDeleteSo what happened here?
ReplyDeleteI suspect foul play.
I am not an apologist for the Republic party and not a supporter of Wayne Woodman. Billboards and flyers are no substitute for leadership. It is time for a change.
ReplyDeleteMichael: For decades Montgomery County was a one party county. People said it would never change. Last night the D's took over the county.
ReplyDeleteWhen does the Mayor work, does not attend Council Meetings,raises money daily for his campaign committee and on election days goes fom voting polling districts throughout Allentown With a taxpayer funded vehicle,that includes gasoline and repairs, to ask the voters to support his Democratic ticket.Someone needs to stop him, especially the few Republicans that still live in the city, if not you will be moving.
ReplyDeleteJust as the Tea Party took over the Republican party nationally and in several states, Molovinsky and his loyal readers need to leave their computers and take over the local Republican party. It can be done.
ReplyDeleteanon 8:17, fyi, i'm a registered independent, and cast very few votes yesterday. my interest is limited to issues, not party politics. that said, necessary checks and balances suffer in a one party town. my efforts will be limited to this blog, and an occasional sermon to city council.
ReplyDelete"GOP will never win in Allentown barring a huge scandal"
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, I consider the PAWLOWSKI PALACE OF SPORT to be a 'huge scandal'.
Fact is, the GOP simply just will never win in the PEOPLE's DEMOCRATIC CITY of ALLENTOWN.
But, whatever. Besides, how much worse can it actually get? Probably not much, I believe.
:)
I guess the answer is to cross file.There is no reason to believe that eric would not have gotten the required dem signatures in the primary.
ReplyDeleteMM -
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Scott as well.
I personally know the effort that Wayne Woodman put into Allentown and it was significant - in terms of fundraising, meetings and personal financial commitment. It was honestly beyond the level of help and attention I would normally expect from any county chair, who has many boroughs, townships and school districts under his domain.
Wayne understands the importance of Allentown and the opportunity present here to highlight the differences in the political parties. Believing that Woodman is responsible for the timing and mailing of campaign pieces for individual campaigns throughout the county is simply unrealistic.
The outcome is obviously not what we hoped for in the city, and there is much work to be done to overcome the 3 to 1 registration disadvantage in the city.
If people need a scapegoat, I'll be happy to fill the role but I honestly don't think that will solve the problem.
We have many open committee seats in the city, as well as many other less time-consuming opportunities and ways to help out. I would encourage any registered Republican in the city who wants to help change things to please call the county party - TODAY - to get involved (610-435-3322).
Leave your name and contact info. We want your help.
Mike Schware
Allentown Captain, LCRC
Anon 9:37 -
ReplyDeleteUnlike the school board races, you cannot cross-file for City Council through the normal ballot petition process.
I think you could do it as a write-in, although that would be difficult since there are usually more candidates than seats in the Democratic council primary.
Couple that reality with the fact that write-in campaigns are difficult to win, and I'm not sure this approach would work.
Also, I haven't seen the details of yesterday's turnout yet, but I doubt that any of our city candidates took a majority of the Democrat vote last night. That also makes me skeptical that a council write-in would work for City Republicans.
But I honestly like the outside-the-box thinking.
MM -
ReplyDeleteOne more point. I think politicians who view last night's results as an endorsement of their "vision", should think again.
As I mentioned, Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to-1 in the city. I'm being a bit sarcastic when I say that I'm pretty sure that the final outcome was a little less than that margin.
That doesn't exactly imply an endorsement to me.
I like Peter Schweyer's eyesight.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Schweyer can be Chairman someday after his success-filled tenure on the Rubber Stamp City Council. Perhaps, after my playing days in the AHL are done, I will settle down in Allentown and take out citizenship so I can vote in the local elections and be a one-party monkey, too! Perhaps I can even volunteer for a Schweyer campaign someday.
All great stuff to aspire to, maybe I should fake a devastating injury and retire early!
TOOTHLESS FOREIGN JOCK
As much as you will hate this comment the republicans can not come up with the ground game the dems have been coming up with since Sam ran in 2001.As much as you hate her guts she is a great organizer and put feet on the street.I would suggest the republicans do the same in Allentown.From my observation from the past Scott did a decent job but got little help.Too many chiefs and not enough indians.You also need to ressurect Tom Burke in one capacity or another.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteWhat effort / efforts did the chair employ to increase Republican turn out in the city? The truth is turnout was pathetic all around. Interested however to read that his effort in the city was significant.
Scott Armstrong
scott, if woodman could have done more is a republican issue, of which i'm not part. with only one victory (2003, one councilman) in the last six election cycles, somehow criticism of him seems selective; considering he was not chair during all the previous failures. if your disappointment in widespread, i suppose he will lose the next chair election.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteLooking at the election results and where the PAC’s time and money were spent it is clear Allentown was not a priority. Pat Toomey was brought in for a fund raiser; he is the biggest star we have. All the proceeds from this event went to My Lehigh Valley PAC instead of the committee’s coffers. I rest my case.
Scott Armstrong
Mike Schware- What was the theme to win in the city on Tuesday? Oust Hizzoner, transparency in gov't? No more taxes without representation?
ReplyDeleteWhat was the GOP doing to specifically attract independent voters?
The vote was a bit tighter than the 3-1 registration margin based on the GOP top line and Lou Hershman's name recognition!
Did GOP have phone banks, get out GOP vote drive.
A couple of last minute mailers from philly do not cut it. You needed a party led coordinated effort starting after Labor Day, not a last minute mail spree.
Palowski has a war chest that can bank roll himself and anyone he wants. And with all the " pay and play" about to come from arena contracts he will only grow stronger.
Do not waste your time and money on the city elections in two years.... Start working on voter registration and building a team to win in the muni elections in 2015.
Scott Armstrong is what Forest Gumps mother constantly warned about......stupid is as stupid does ....ASD board will ace a new form of entertainment for themselves next year as Armstrongs inability to control his emotions will short circuit his brain....let the meltdown begin.
ReplyDeleteThe Mayor now has his duccks lined up, Council,Controller and the Morning Call. More taxpayers will be leaving and more democrats will be moving into city. A once beautiul All American City no doubt will end up in Bankruptcy, with no Checks and Balances and with the tax base eroiding with taxpayers moving to the Suburbs,expenses will be exceeding revenue. Allentown will be joining Harrisburg.
ReplyDeleteMikem Scott Armstrong is correct. Republican Party would of worked more to Get their registered voters out, with the low turnout in the city their votes would of help off set the straight ticket voting of the many democrats that voted Democrat.
ReplyDeleteMike your Another View today in the MC was outstanding. I will not pay an additional charge to view the MC on line, however I would like to share your article with some old Allentown friends. The old Central JR High is having a reunion this month. Many of those coming have moved out of the area and have no idea how things have changed. When I shared it took us an hour and 20 minutes to get police to our home after being broken into they thought I was being negative. I told them the new police station is less then two blocks for us, I went to the open house. The same authorities you mentioned made it sound like it would be like living in Mayberry with Sheriff Taylor and Aunt B. THAT AINT' SO MY FRIENDS. I told one of the officers I heard a man being shot from my bedroom a few years ago, another was killed half a block away the following summer. The officer knew about the shooting and murder he was the officer who I heard ask others to bring Crime Scene Tap. The same logic and law that have removed all the PENN STATE INDIVIDUALS SHOULD HAVE BEEN USED TO REMOVE AND CHARGE THE ALLENTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS when those 5 Little boys were raped at Central Elementary school. She never reported it to police or allowed anyone else to. She received a bonus the next year before she left. UNBELIEVABLE, BUT TRUE. Our schools even now require the presence of multiple police units daily at Wm Allen. Raub and other middle schools request officers weekly, a Trexler student has been charged with assault this year already. Allentown needs more then and Hockey Ring to straighten out this city. It NEEDS LAW AND ORDER BROUGHT BACK.
ReplyDeletegreg, later tonight or tomorrow morning, i will reproduce my editorial in today's paper here on the blog.
ReplyDeleteIt truly was a spectacularly well-written piece with heavy-duty historical references to throughly highlight your point.
ReplyDeleteIf Pawlowski's Pravda had more writers capable of that, maybe they could actually have a more reality-based reason to believe more people would be willing to pay for their Cheerleader exhibitions in print.
VIKTOR TIKHONOV
two out of three Allentown Republicans did not show up to vote. If they had and voted Republican they would have one by a 2 to 1 margin. Scott is right, it is the party's own fault.
ReplyDelete