My recent post about the Morning Call and Ed Pawlowski, while not receiving comments here on the blog,* had a large response on facebook. Several group members expressed sympathy for the former mayor. They each thought that his sentence was too harsh, and some even believed that he was a great mayor. In each case they cited personal favors that he had done for them or their family. While they appreciated those favors, they ignored the fact that Pawlowski cheated the taxpayers by choosing vendors by their contribution to him, rather than on the merit of their bids and proposals.
When Pawlowski was reelected for the fourth time in November of 2017, after being indicted on 47 counts of corruption, I attributed his victory mostly to Hispanics, the demographic he aggressively courted during the campaign. None of the Pawlowski supporters referred to in the above paragraph are Hispanic. In 2017 I attributed his victory to low information voters. It seems he was also elected by low expectation voters. If you combine these two subgroups, Allentown's political future is discouraging.
The glitter of the new buildings, and a few concerts at the arena are apparently enough for current Allentown. The time may be approaching when molovinsky on allentown may need to find a new primary topic....Even a cynic like me needs to see some future to write about.
* most people seem to prefer commenting anonymously, an option not offered on this blog.
photocredit:The Morning Call/Pawlowski, lawyer and supporters.
Mike, had a New Year's day dinner and we discussed just this question; has the caliber of our city's elected leaders ever been lower? The answer was no and the consensus is therefore the city is in big trouble. This said, I have knocked on enough doors on the west end to know that area is populated by true believers. These same people preferred Ed to Nat and Tim Ramos even though Ray had just raised their property taxes by 27% and cooked the budget this year to put off the next giant increase until next year. These same voters also gave the ASD's architect of disorder and fiscal failure a promotion to city council. Look in the mirror Allentown, you are your own worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteAllentown & ASD will continue to regress as long as it remains a welfare magnet. Alan Jennings and his CACLV continues to encourage low income housing as does new City Council member Ce-Ce Gerlach. These practices have continued the ruin of a once proud city and school district that started with Joe Daddonna.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Pawlowski is more the norm than the exception. It is likely that he made missteps with those who had the power to do him in. Wherever there is government money and its ability to choose winners and losers there is corruption. I suspect that Pawlowski's deeds were small time compared to what is going on in the Federal and state government.
ReplyDeleteray@10:55, that was the premise of several people on the facebook dialogue...that he wasn't doing any different than most politicians, and that someone had it in for him. I don't consider rigging bids normal. However, the assignment of an aggressive FBI agent to Allentown could be considered an unforeseen misfortune for Pawlowski,
ReplyDeleteI don't consider it normal or acceptable, but I do believe that government corruption is widespread. Anywhere were government money to be spent or rules implemented that favor one entity over another. The state hospital property is a good example. It is doubtful that his investigation and prosecution was just bad luck Someone must have pointed people in his direction.
ReplyDeleteRay, I was told Ed was part of a larger investigation and they offered him several plea deals if he would cooperate. Apparently he wouldn't. That said, the real damage to the city wasn't the petty corruption that Ed engaged but the harm he inflicted on city hall and every board and commission by replacing ethical and competent people with yes men and hacks. Many of those people are still ensconced in important positions and continuing to inflict feckless leadership on the city.
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