In a taped interview with The Morning Call on corruption at City Hall, Pawlowski stated that it would be ludicrous to modify the system because a few people acted improperly. What he failed to mention is that those people pleaded guilty to illegal acts for his benefit, and allegedly under his direct or indirect control.
That he remains a favorite to win, or even viable, bodes poorly for Allentown. As I have reported before, and as revealed on his Facebook page, he has been courting selected small minority groups and businesses, as opposed to the more established among them. The fact that they would even consider voting for him is a problem in itself. If he prevails on May 16th, Allentown has officially turned the wrong corner.
UPDATE: Francis Dougherty, former Managing Director of Allentown, and Pawlowski's #2 person, has pleaded guilty in federal court this morning to tying city contracts with donations to Pawlowski, under Pawlowski's direction. Pawlowski is scheduled to debate the other mayoral candidates this afternoon.
UPDATE: State Representative Michael Schlossberg has joined the chorus asking for Pawlowski's resignation
photo by The Morning Call, showing candidates being asked how they would counter potential corruption in city hall.
All the President's Men .. or is it All the Mayor's Men
ReplyDeleteFormer top Allentown bureaucrat Francis Dougherty charged in FBI investigation
This is a quote from Charles Hugh Smith:
ReplyDelete"Democracy in America has become a hollow shell. The conventional markers of democracy--elections and elected representatives--exist, but they are mere facades; the mechanisms of setting the course of the nation are corrupt, and the power lies outside the public's reach.
History has shown that democratic elections don't guarantee an uncorrupt, functional government. Rather, democracy has become the public-relations stamp of approval for corrupt governance that runs roughshod over individual liberty while centralizing the power to enforce consent, silence critics and maintain the status quo."