Last night Allentown City Council, in addition to electing an interim mayor, conducted a wholesale pandering exhibition beyond compare. Leading the show was Cynthia Mota. When I entered council chambers, Hasshan Batts was giving his interview for mayor. I was rather surprised, because Mr. Batts wasn't scheduled for an interview. However, because half the chamber was full of his supporters, Council succumbed to crowd pressure and voted to allow Batts to proceed.
Before council voted for mayor, Mota said that council has to respect the wishes of the people, obviously referring to Batt's supporters. Now, of course among the many reasons not to accommodate the crowd was that few of them were ever there before, and probably won't ever be back again. Never the less, Mota pleaded with them to stay involved and attend council meetings.
When council finally voted, Mota voted for Mr. Batts eleven times, before finally switching her vote to give Ray O'Connell the mayorship.
ADDENDUM: Last night and today in the press everyone is referring to Hasshan Batts as Dr. Batts. In 2008, Mr. Batts was heralded as having a Master's Degree and put in charge of a youth program. Despite that opportunity, he operated as a major cocaine dealer and was incarcerated. He is now being heralded as having a Doctorate Degree, and again has been placed in charge of a program. A segment of the black community feels that they are underrepresented in city government, and tried to impose Doctor Batts as mayor last night, so that the greater community can make amends for the minority underrepresentation. Dr. Batts may well be rehabilitated. However, there are numerous black leaders in the community with no legal issues which they could rally behind. Rather than a one night demonstration, they should encourage someone to enter the primary elections in 2019. I do not fault Batts or his supporters for their effort last night, but council's pandering was inappropriate.
Allentown always finds new ways to very publicly humiliate itself. Last night was no exception and the attempt at mob rule was the latest stupidity du jour. Representatives Ms Mota are elected to represent the people, in such a role they/elected leaders are to govern in what they believe are the people's best interests. The fact that you as an elected leader haven't figured out your role isn't to respond to the mob, and would in fact bring one, is testament to the reign of stupidity here in our once fair city.
ReplyDeleteVery good article Scott. Ms. Mota showed the absolute uninformed nature of the ruling class in Allentown. To vote for a convicted felon illustrates what Allentown politics has devolved to. I guess city council should have had this quality listed as desirous on the candidate's resume'. In any way, this was in violation of HRC and State law and Batts would have never lasted legal scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteI was very distressed that Council President and Acting Mayor MacLean allowed an interview and relented to mob rule. I semi-supported MacLean for interim mayor, however, after watching that debacle, I'm glad he never sought the position. His candidate and idol, Charlie Thiel, never got past the three votes threshold. Now I see why APD was in a holding pattern for years! I certainly hope Mayor O'Connell does not seek his guidance on selecting a new police chief. If so, we'll have another 1 3/4 years of Pawlowski rule guiding our police department.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading accounts of the meeting it is clear race was an issue at last night's meeting and it was ugly. Apparently the mob felt it was OK to judge people as guilty just because of their race. That's an interesting turn of events by those who until the last 50 years were themselves negatively judged by their race.
So the relatively brief, judge people by the content of the heart period of American history is over and thanks to the left's fondness for identity politics is now replaced with racial victimization and blame.
Let the healing start? I only wish it was so. Anger is the new tool of the demagogues who pose as leaders. Lord help us for one doubts we can help ourselves here in Allentown.
Was this demonstration last night the result of Allentown City Council drafting the 'Ban The Box' ordinance last year
ReplyDeleteI just took some time to read about about Batts and his partner's crimes in 2007. They had 4 kilos of cocaine (and if coke costs $150 per gram, then that's $600K worth of coke), along with 50 pounds of marijuana (which is a HUGE amount of pot), numerous firearms and $50K cash. This isn't neighborhood dealer level stuff - they seemed to be running a regional drug hub that probably supplied dealers not just in the Lehigh Valley but far beyond. With amounts that large, they would be selling to dealers, not individual users. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have a direct supply line coming from Mexico and/or South America. God only knows what htey had to do to defend that amount of drugs. Honestly, the amount of drugs confiscated from their own home blows my mind. Add to that Batts' job at the time was Director of children's services at Northwestern Human Services. And his partner was a counselor at Kidspeace.
ReplyDeleteMota's support of Batts is therefore flabbergasting. Leaving aside all the talk about race, Batts' past ought to have been an obvious and easy factor in eliminating him from consideration, regardless of the city or state law on prior convictions.
Picking up the theme of racial equality,though - the case for having a mayor of color is certainly not made by selecting someone of Batts' character as a candidate. His supporters have actually harmed their own cause, in my mind, because it very incorrectly implies that no one of better character could be found in the non-white community. (Of course, there are a lot of good people who could be found that meet the non-white criteria. Why, then, did they stick with Batts? It really makes no sense. He must have one heck of a cult of personality. I guess his current career as a "life coach" indicates such.)
http://www.wfmz.com/news/two-youth-workers-charged-with-dealing-drugs/16306555
The Allentown NAACP is disappointed that the Allentown City Council is still playing the good old boy system. Last night’s selection of the interim mayor was living proof. City Council knew that accepting an application, from an African-American candidate who was not qualified to run, yet, they allowed his candidacy to move forward, pitting him against a highly qualified civically involved African-American woman.
ReplyDeleteWe are dismayed at your total disregard and disrespect for our community.
Barbara Redmond
Secretary
I will always support the person I believe is most qualified to be mayor. What race, gender, or creed that person is will always be the least of my concerns. Through legislation passed on the federal level 5 decades ago, America has acknowledge justice and opportunity were denied to the nations minority populations.
ReplyDeleteSorry to sound so sixties-seventies, but the nation would be best served if we got get back to judging people by the content of their hearts and the measure of their character. It is nonsense to politically promote and/or support people just because of shared skin pigment, creed, or ethnic background.
regarding the comment from the NAACP at 12:43, the your in regard to disregard and disrespect refers to city council, not this blog post or blogger.
ReplyDeleteThe candidacy of Dr.Batts made the entire Allentown community look like fools. Councilperson Mota certainly made Dr. Batts's candidacy an issue that never should have happened.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Redmond wrote at 12:45: "The Allentown NAACP is disappointed that the Allentown City Council is still playing the good old boy system. Last night’s selection of the interim mayor was living proof. City Council knew that accepting an application, from an African-American candidate who was not qualified to run, yet, they allowed his candidacy to move forward, pitting him against a highly qualified civically involved African-American woman."
ReplyDeleteBarbara, you evidently do not know the process that City Council had to follow. Every person that submitted an application had to be interviewed as long as they were a registered Democrat for at least 30 days, were a city resident, and did not have a criminal record that included a felony arrest. Your assertion that City Council pitted two African-American candidates against each other is absurd! They did that themselves by submitting applications.
Cynthia Mota has shown time and time again how much of a racist she really is. Last night was another example of her bias. As a Council member she knew that Dr. Batts was ineligible to be Mayor because of 2 felony convictions for drug dealing in 2007 in addition to a prior arrest in 1995. Yet she not only advocated for him to be interviewed, but then voted for him through 11 ballots just to prolong the "show" she had created. If by some miracle Dr. Batts would have been elected, he would have been removed from office by the courts and Allentown would have had to repeat this process again.
ReplyDeleteAfter learning some of his history, I think he has to be investigated because of his past convictions while working with youth in our community.