Pawlowski's upcoming fourth term may well be less than the full four years. Although he won the election with 39% of the voters, his next evaluation will be by a jury. However, I suppose the lesson from election night is not to underestimate Mr. Pawlowski's ability to overcome obstacles.
Ray O'Connell supporters harbor the hope that Pawlowski will either resign in a plea deal, or be removed from office when found guilty in the upcoming trial. It is their understanding that City Council will appoint O'Connell mayor until a special election can be held. At that point he could then run as the incumbent.
There will be much speculation about how the election may have turned out without the write-in and independents. However, such speculation seems less than productive at this time. Although the upcoming trial may change the political dynamics once again, at this point Ed Pawlowski is mayor. The city and his distractors, myself included, can best proceed accepting that reality.
Ed Pawlowski was elected for his 4th term for the most part with the support of the minority communities. While I have referred to these voters as low information, many in fact were aware of the charges against the mayor. Although several of their members, with their own political aspirations, say that they think that he is innocent, others are more blunt. They simply don't consider criminal charges a deal breaker, and certainly not charges pertaining to corruption.
It was a given for years in Allentown that you had to be an ethical Democrat to win. Now perhaps you no longer even need to be ethical. In Washington D.C. they are erecting a statue of Marion Barry. Barry was re-elected mayor after finishing a federal prison term. Perhaps a statue awaits Ed Pawlowski.
I think they should put a statue on top of PPL building like William Penn in Philadelphia.
ReplyDeleteBoss Hogg makes Joe Dadonna look like a political neophyte. This great politician and liar, deserves a statue because he managed to convince the minorities who supported him that corruptness is fair and expected in local government.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if we can forget the "O'Connell/Hendricks siphon plan" yet. Part II is where his highness goes to jail, [and he will], and O'Connell gets put in temporarily, leading to a special election wherein the republican party as no viable candidate. The Syrian community will switch their loyalty to the new mayoral candidate [for political influence] and the Hispanic caucus will be left out because there is no corruptible candidate to support. In other words it is a win/win situation for the democratic party and the republicans will go further into hiding.
We all can not forget the anticipated rain water tax that itz highness is already antipating a loan against fundz yet to be collected!
ReplyDeleteThere is just too much juggling of the faked fictisious monies put to print by this collective circus! They are not even providing palatable drinking water to the public not to mention the other venuez of brushing teeth with human waste dirivitivez they are abundantly aware of!
Let this be the last carpetbagger mayor Allentown has. The voters wanted a Chicago mayor, they got a Chicago mayor and all of the corruption and indictments that are part of the baggage of a Chicago mayor.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the resident Republican, Mr Amrstrong, the Republicans were run out of Allentown on a rail before being tarred and feathered by the Democratic thugs that are the muscle of the Pawlowski Administration.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is that the Daddona administration flooded the city with the welfare types, and Emma Tropiano was labeled a racist for calling it out back in the 1980s. Over the past 30 years the seeds that Daddona planted has grown into a field of weeds that has engulfed most of Allentown. Ed has enhanced and grown it considerably. As I read on this page last night from a contributor, the West End will be overrun next. This is why the Republicans in Allentown are a minor blip on the Democrat's radar. If you're of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, it's time to find a better place to live, as most have done over the past 30 years.
DC Council takes step towards placing statue of Marion Barry in front of Wilson Building
ReplyDeleteIn a meeting Tuesday, the DC Council Committee of the Whole voted unanimously to a measure that would advance the possibility of adding a statue dedicated to the late mayor in front of the Wilson Building.
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Summers (while attending college) I worked in my grandfathers commercial HVAC business. I have worked at several penitentiaries (including Lewisburg). I spoke to quite a few inmates - they all told me they were innocent.
Five observations:
ReplyDelete1) Scott Armstrong's call on O'Connell was right on the nose. O'Connell had no chance as a write-in, but without a doubt he took enough of the anti-Pawlowski vote to prevent a change in Mayors. This is the ugly flip side of what our country's founders meant when they hoped for a democratic system where "ambition counteracts ambition". Woe unto Allentown if O'Connell's ambition brings another full term with Pawlowski as mayor. Both elections have me wondering about the merits of preferential voting, aka ranked voting, where voters select a "second choice" together with a first choice. Under such a system Pawlowski would have been dispatched in the Dem primary.
2) O'Connell is no dummy and I believe he knew exactly what he was doing. Putting personal ambition ahead of the well-being of the City is downright shameful, and the rest of the Council should take this into account when considering who replaces Pawlowski, if it comes to that. The next Mayor needs to be above reproach and O'Connell's actions here disqualify him from appointment. Especially if Pawlowski remains Mayor for more than the next 12 months, as Trent Hall persuasively argues.
3) On the other hand, I never heard a convincing explanation from Hyman about how he would have de-conflicted himself. He's still a better choice than Pawlowski, and I don't think it would have swayed enough votes, but it would have been nice to hear that Hyman had a plan that would have kept his administration above reproach. Going from a corrupt mayor to a deeply conflicted one wasn't quite the improvement we had in mind.
4) I was floored by the voter quoted in the Morning Call saying he believes that 54 counts against Pawlowski are just a setup. When institutions of our federal government are attacked for following long-standing non-partisan norms, and when the media is attacked continually for reporting the facts, it becomes easier for a citizen to convince himself that a 54-count indictment is nothing more than a setup.
5) Pawlowski's good result was aided by anti-Trump sentiment among low-information voters, in fact it may have been big enough to make the difference. All Pawlowski had to do was invite Latinos to come vote against Trump's party and there was probably a line out the door, down the street, and around the block. Dems did very well in tons of municipal elections around the country where disaffected voters took the first opportunity to vote against Trump. It's a shame, as many fine municipal candidates were tossed out of office based on events out of their control.
In the end it's a bad-news/good-news result. Allentown has a corrupt mayor, possibly for the next four years or longer. On the other hand, we can all enjoy continued Pawlowski popsicle handouts at West Park band concerts.
Ed's trial is going to be longer than three months. I expect six at a minimum, as 54 felony charges are a lot for the feds to prosecute. I also suspect jury selection is going to be an issue. I'm surprised the trial is being held in Allentown, as it really is going to be difficult to find unbiased jurors. Ed's a predominant public figure in the area, and I suspect the only ones who are unbiased are in nursing homes.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that a plea bargain is going to happen. Ed worked very hard, probably harder in this election than in any previous one to be elected. He's not going to take a plea as that will trigger his removal from office.
What I do suspect is in the future is a mistrial, again based upon the jury pool. I agree there are enough of the low-information types that vote that they'll be in the jury pool and perhaps one, maybe two will be on the jury. I don't know if the judge will sequesterer the jury also, but you can be sure there is a lot of publicity surrounding the trial. Perhaps given all that, you'll have a jury made up of the unemployed and the retired. Not good for the prosecution and good for Pawlowski.
That will push a retrial into 2019... and we'll go through this all over again... or will we? The Virginia McDonell decision may vacate all of this, and Ed will walk. Also remember, even if Ed is convicted, he's not actually found guilty unless he is sentenced.. I'm not sure if he can delay sentencing though the appeal process or not.. and all of this will take time, as the wheels of justice do not move quickly. Time when Ed will be mayor.....
There are still a LOT of shoes to drop.
One thing to understand re: the Marion Barry statute issue.
ReplyDeleteBarry was a womanizer (strictly consensual) and recreational cocaine user. The feds set him up with drugs and defacto female informants continuously in order to arrest him. They taped these encounters and while no citizen of DC thought Barry was a saint, they did feel the whole fed thing had racist overturns (Republican USA wasting money/resources for years against Barry). Barry was a civil rights icon for years before, and the feds never indicted him or charged him with public corruption. In the minds of the citizens, he was a good Mayor who championed the people. His problems were of a purely personal nature, and supporters easily separated that from policy decisions. In much the same way that white citizens tolerate their representatives who are known drinkers, whatever, people distinguish between personal foibles and crooks. The former are acceptable; the latter reprehensible.
The Mayor is a completely different scenario. No one has claimed he has personal demons.....rather, the indictments all pertain to public corruption.
lol..you got me there mr molovinsky...fed ed is the WHITE MARION BERRY!!! well played sir!!!
ReplyDelete"Pawlowskis Victory Was A Loss For Allentown"... Dont let Mr Panderhouse and Morning Stall Lie To You,,,,
@Trent Hall But they both had the support of the people they either pandered or had love for. I believe Marion loved the people. I believe Fed Ed just loves his builder buddies and kickbacks. I still throw up at the sight of fed ed campaign headquarters in Allentown....smh....
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