The time has come for Cynthia Mota to resign from Allentown City Council. Although she works for Promise Neighborhood of Lehigh Valley, which is directed by Hasshan Batts, she didn't disclose that connection when she voted eleven times last Thursday to make him mayor. Cynthia appears to have zero conception of what constitutes a conflict of interest.
In late January Batts met with councilwoman Mota to discuss the needs of families in Allentown. By early February Promise Neighborhoods hired Mota as Community Manager. Apparently, Mota and Batts are also concerned with their own family needs.
In addition to reaching out to the city, Promise Neighborhoods is reaching out to the state, to see what resources they can harvest there. They seem to be forming the perfect vehicle to become a depository of politically correct funding. Care to make a donation?
ADDENDUM: Emily Opilo of The Morning Call writes on Twitter at 2:50 pm: So Allentown Councilwoman Cynthia Mota does work for Allentown Promise Neighborhood and was hired by Hasshan Batts, the same candidate she voted for in 11 rounds of voting for mayor. But that doesn't appear to violate the city's ethics ordinance. I'll have a story explaining.
Will the paper provide proper attribution to this blog?
UPDATE:The Morning Call story on Mota is out. Mota should be ashamed for not disclosing that she worked for Batts, and The Morning Call should be ashamed for not disclosing that this blog broke the story.
UPDATE APRIL 3, 10:45 AM. I have been assured by the Morning Call reporter, despite the timeline, that her report was derived completely independently of mine.
Maybe Promise neighborhoods should hire more city council people...Gee would that be a problem, or as they no doubt beleive, a solution.
ReplyDeleteMike, Thanks for this information that the local paper failed to show an interest in.
I just checked Councilperson Mota's City Council bio and Promise Neighborhoods is not listed
ReplyDeleteHere's my issue/concern.
ReplyDeleteWhy did they take applications only to narrow the vote down to 2 guys that ran and a felon??
There were more qualified applications than that. And according to the charter Ray was not eligible.
They should ALL resign.
These people never resign as it gives them a voice they wouln't otherwise have.
ReplyDeleteThat entire spectacle with Batts was disgusting.
Very informative MM. Over the weekend, a few cohorts and cronies of mine lamented about her actions while we were toasting a few fine spirits. To my memory, none of us could put a valid reason on her decision to support a convicted felon with an obvious checkered past. Of course, the obvious misinformed, dumb, lowlife and product of the Dominican Republic personality slants were the common theme brought up, but none of us thought of the possibility of employment as the common bond. Now we know! Her vote was for sale and the corruption continues. Let's see who on council will support a full-time independent investigation and prosecution if warranted. Obviously a conflict of interest abounds, but a state ethics complaint will take months, if not years. Allentown cannot afford another misuse of honest services and her actions are very questionable in the least.
ReplyDeleteIt's troubling that we do not have a local newspaper to report on these issues. Much of what we've experienced these past few years can be attributed to no source of news or slanted news. It's pathetic. Thanks for helping to fill the void.
ReplyDeleteJamie @2:01 You are absolutely right, it was disgusting. MM came in during it and sat 2 rows in front of me. I could not figure out why she was being so adamant about Batts being Mayor when she knew he could not be due to his felony convictions. One would have thought she would have learned her lesson from the Delta Thermal deal that she was investigated for.
ReplyDeleteCity Council now has to act on her transgressions for not declaring a conflict of interest, possibly through the City Ethics Board. I also think the state should investigate Promise Neighborhoods since a convicted drug dealing felon is Operations Director of an organization that works with children. HE was in a similar position was he was arrested in 2007 and convicted in 2008. The woman he was living with at that time was employed at Kids Peace. She was also arrested and convicted. Convictions were for drugs and altered stolen handgun. ITs serial number was removed.
Is this the type of person who should be working with children? Not in my mind!
fire@2:47, although this comment section is not moderated, i would prefer if commenters refrained from referencing any particular ethnicity when criticizing someone. thank you
ReplyDeleteYa see, the rules don't apply to some people.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on breaking this.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Pawlowski spirit lives on in Council...
Oh, who's the guy with the tie?