A local Republican laments that they can't attract good candidates because the local media amplifies smear tactics used against them. Although there may be some truth to that explanation, as a conservative independent, I find the lack of choice in the voter booth unacceptable. I hope an independent comes forward in some of these races.
Pictured above is my billboard from 2014, when I ran as an independent against eleven term powerhouse Julie Harhart from Northampton, and a Democrat. If I was younger and nicer, I would love to run again.
There is no doubt about it. The Morning Call has poisoned the political water around here with its favoritism to all things Democrat. Today’s print edition is filled with government propaganda and Democrat skewed opinion.
ReplyDeleteSome will say, “But, that’s just national, not local.” This fellow Independent voter says “Nonsense!” Such daily bias and censorship by the Morning Call and others could discourage good candidates with alternate viewpoints getting involved. And, for what? To go before an audience that has been primed ahead to reject them right out of the box.
When community resources foment One Party government, that is what it will get, and all the abuses, declines that follow unchecked. Happened in cities all across America. New York City and Philadelphia are now lost and being avoided by many.
Greater Allentown makes its own bed and now it must sleep in it.
anon@6:21: You may try and convince yourself that justifies the Republican failure to field candidates, but I can't see that formula ever yielding anything but failure. I remember although the suburbs were very Republican, the Democrats always put a candidate up...often the same one who lost race after race....but as the lottery advertises, "you can't win unless you play".
ReplyDeleteOf course, you are right about not winning unless you play, Mike. But, the impediments to anyone not Democrat winning in Allentown keep growing. The atmosphere for such just isn’t there. There is not enough balance of thought made available for consideration.
DeleteAmong all the analogies available, “We are what we eat” applies here. Media propaganda and censorship coming into our homes has worked. The truth about the takedown of America needs to be dug out. Too few are willing or able to do this.
For me, it’s now about voting against all Incumbents. Assuming my vote will be properly recorded, of course!
Mike, Democrats run in suburban districts because they know the Republicans won't smear them in print or on media ads. Please Mike! You are years behind what is going on, on the ground politically.
DeleteIn order to run for anything as a Republican you need to become a MAGA nut and adhere to their ideology. No thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh please Mike! Why should credible Allentown Republicans with Families, solid reputations, and jobs or businesses run for office in the city, when even credible, solid, Allentown Democrats with families, solid reputations, jobs or businesses won't either? You are writing from ignorence Mike, I and others have tried to get the latter to run for years, they won't either. I have told you this already and yet, in this case your memory fails. Besides the Pawlowski puppet encumbants, take a look at the Democrats who run for office in the city. Want to label these people "high calibre" ? The fact is, that the in this city, as with most others, politics has become very ugly, even for the Democrats who might try to challenge those in power. By the way Mike, do you think it's a small thing to be labeled a "Racist" in print on multiple flyers, mailed to thousands in your community? One more thing Mike, with all do respect, no one takes independent candidates seriously. That explains why your run ten years ago drew zero response from either party. If an "Independent Party" ever did become a threat to the Democrats then they would be slurred and slandered with the most vile accusations the imagination can produce. Until then, they won't waste their time. Stop trying to spread the blame for Allentown's problems around, one party is responsible. Roy and Ed both understood the neccessary usefullness of destroying the oppositions and this lesson was learned by those who in the following years have replaced them. One party cities, states, and/or countries are universally corrupt to the core and totalitarian in practice. Refocus on this reality if you care about the city.
ReplyDeleteScott@7:33 and associated anons: Although your excuse may have more validity for Allentown proper, for your party not to field a candidate(s) in the suburbs is sad. South Whitehall is now 132, and the Republicans swept their commissioner races last year. You're also conceding Whitehall without a candidate.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I got 13% as a one man band in 2014, which is 13% more than the Republicans will get this year in Lehigh County.
Are you changing the subject for Allentown? We lost nearly every local race, suburbs incleded because the RNC and the Republican Stare Committee continue to campaign like it's 1999. They stupidly refuse to engage in early, and mail in voting. Instead they waste money the old fashioned way, flyer and media ads. As a result we have lost the race before in person voting begins on election day as the Dems use paid "volunteers" to harvest mail in votes form their legion of less than stellar voters. We need to replicate these methods to win but leadership won't. The grassroots are furious about this and this explains why the RNC and PA State Committee are broke. Yes, we lose, and we know why, it ceratinly isn't our message, it's all about turnout now, turnout, turnout, turnout. Congrats on your 13%, but impressives as it is for an independent, it is still 13%. Be well my friend.
DeleteThe thing that is being overlooked in the discussion is gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is often portrayed as something that is done just to benefit Rs. The truth is that is often used to benefit Ds as well. This was the case when the District lines were redrawn after the 2020 census. The approach used in Lehigh County was to take the D base in Allentown and and slice that so it could be used to offset and reduce any R advantage in surrounding areas. The net result is districts with the following partisan breakdown (according to Dave's Redistricting website):
ReplyDeleteDistrict 22 (Siegel) D=70% and R=38% for a 42 pt. advantage
District 134 (Schweyer) D=61% and R=36% for a 25 pt. advantage
District 133 (McNeil) D=57% and R%=41% for a 16 pt. advantage
District 132 (Schlossberg) D=56% and R=41% for a 15 pt. advantage
Each of the districts above have a double digit D advantage and are represented by incumbents who would be well funded in any race against a R challenger. Even with South Whitehall (which by the way has a D advantage in registration) in Schlossberg's district there is enough of Allentown included to more than offset any potential gain from SWT.
Don't blame Republicans for not running in a race where they would almost certainly lose. Instead, focus on having more competitive districts drawn after the 2030 census. Until then we are stuck with the Districts as they are currently configured.
Dean@8:38: Schlossberg, and to a lesser extent McNeill, would be difficult to beat, but your plan to wait to 2030 must sound like candy to them.
DeleteMike, you're right, you can't win unless you play and as an "independent" you too are electing not to play. Extreme Democrats have fathered Extreme Maga. Fire must and will be fought by fire. How will current the politics burn out: dictatorship, federalism, secession, revolution, take-over? Nothing good there, but that's where they're taking us.
ReplyDeletePlease explain what is extreme about Make America Great Again? The Republican platform is essentially unchaged in the past fifty years. Trump isn't ideological, he never strayed from the platform. The reason he is hated is because he poses a real threat to the enchenched, self serving, bureaucracy,what we now refer to as the deep state. Just 15 years ago Obama was against gay marriage, for border security, pro Isreal...the truth is one party has radicalizedin the last 15 years and to cover their tracks they have projected their radicalism on the conservative party. The fact is, conservatives are called conservative for a reason, we keep what works and are instinctively suspicious of "reform ".
DeleteTrump tried to overturn a fair election by force. Many of his close followers spew crazy rhetoric that the new MAGA republications tolerate and even embrace in an effort to gain favor in the party. Kind of ridiculous you need to sign onto all of that to serve on your local school board or to represent your district in Harrisburg.
Deleteanon@1:33: I do not know how much influence Trump followers have in their local party, but I do know that any registered Republican can run for office in the primary.
Deleteanon 8:41 & 9:03: Although I printed both your comments, I will not be hosting more R vs D comments. This post is limited to my observation that the local Republican party has declined to compete in the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure what you mean when you say “republicans” have long forfeited Allentown and are now forfeiting the surrounding areas. Are you referring to the party structure, or are you referring to individuals?
ReplyDeleteIf the former, I’d argue that the party structure is still there (albeit smaller than it once was), but that it’s always been up to individuals to choose to run.
So in that sense, I think independents are as much to blame as anyone else.
I know it’s difficult to paint independents with a singular brush, but many are former republicans who made the choice to leave the Republican Party. Doing so has left the Republican Party with less to offer potential candidates.
I’m not here to cast aspersions on anyone’s motivations for leaving the party, or even trying to disagree with their reasons, but what you see happening in Allentown and the surrounding area is the natural byproduct of those choices.
If any independent is unhappy with one-party democrat rule and truly upset at not having a choice in the general election, I would urge them to change their registration to Republican and run for office, or at least to get involved in republican registration efforts and get-out-the-vote/election activities.
anon@12:05: One person thinks the problem is the local media, another the districting. You blame the independents. Last I knew independents can work and vote for whomever they choose in the general, very often the Rs. Perhaps you have leadership issues?
DeleteMM (@12.30): I’m not blaming independents as much as making an observation.
DeleteIndependents (and conservatives of any political affiliation) tend to be more individualistic and less about serving a group or organization. In short, our identity is more about who WE are vs. what group we belong to. That often works against us in the political realm.
While I understand that independents can and often do work for the R’s, in general it’s not as easy to communicate with them because of their “independent” voter registration.
“Independent” covers a wide swath of the electorate, and includes people who think the democrat party isn’t far enough to the left. That makes it difficult for Republican candidates (or the local party) to effectively target the independents that might be willing to vote for the candidates, work for their cause, or even run for office.
I’m not sure what your last comment about “leadership issues” means, and assume it is a dig at the local party. I am not a member of that group (so maybe I’m part of the problem), but also don’t believe it’s their responsibility to find candidates to run. That has to be an individual decision, but I do expect the local party to help any qualified candidate willing to run for office.
Maybe the bigger point is that if we’re all not happy about the current one-party, democrat rule we might all have to get involved and work harder to help Republicans find and elect candidates that better represent us and give us a choice.
"anon"or whoever :) @ 3:32: you can say the same thing different ways under different handles, but don't expect registered independents to re-register as R's as your game plan. You might try contacting independents, they're on the voter lists just like R's and D's. But once again, at the end of the day, you must field candidates for anybody to vote for them.
DeleteMy view is this. We are now in danger of losing the America we always knew. Some believe that’s a good thing, I do not.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, everyone needs to discuss what’s already gone on to bring us down, who should be held responsible, and how to stop the slide. You choose not to host this type of discussion. Fine.
Politicians have done this.
We need different people in office . . . BOTH parties! How can we expect change by voting the same people back in who are failing us? I won’t be doing that.
anon@12:38:you won't be voting for "different people" in the four local state rep elections, there is only one candidate for each of those offices. That was the reason for this post.
DeletePA elections feature insecure dump boxes that were approved by both parties. The state went on to elect a governor who refused to debate, and a senator who refused to be honest about his blithering. The media played along for its favorite team. We are no longer purple, as some used to brag. PA is a deepening blue.
ReplyDelete