In Ed Pawlowski's commutation request, he uses the word corrupt only in regard to his campaign manager, not to himself. Rather, he describes himself as naive and too eager to serve the public.
As someone who started scrutinizing Pawlowski a decade before his conviction, I can tell you that he was anything but naive. On the contrary, he played the public as well as he played those bidding for city contracts. For his last campaign he assembled and empowered sycophants from Allentown's various demographics, to ensure victory in the Democratic primary. He succeeded, and those people are still in positions of power in this city.
These people that he empowered have been tireless in their effort to get him freed. While they view their loyalty as a virtue, they too don't question their own integrity...That is a character flaw they share with Pawlowski. While the campaign to free him may succeed, I'm afraid that there will be no community lesson.
No matter what the charges are, before the trial, always plead not guilty. Ed had over 50 felony charges to face in court. He pled not guilty and made the fed prove its case.
ReplyDeleteWell the feds did prove their case, as least in about 47 I think was charges. Proved their case beyond reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty.
Time for the game playing to be over Ed. You got caught, you're in the slammer for what you did. And serving your time for those convictions.
I understand Ed has found religion in prison and is doing other things. Good I hope that makes the time pass faster. You want to get out early? Good. Now fess up and admit your guilt. You're in jail. The time for the games are over. Admit your guilt and maybe you can work a deal to be out of jail.
Otherwise, the doors to jail will stay shut.
anon@6:40: I expect Pawlowski's sentence to be commuted. Alan Jennings is connected enough to have the right pol ask Biden. Biden, or any president, doesn't evaluate the cases, it's a favor to the pol asking.
ReplyDeleteWould that pol be Susan Wild, Ed's legacy not only to Allentown but the whole 7th district?
DeleteI would think that Wild, Shapiro, or Casey could be asked.
DeleteThe disgraced former Allentown mayor has not found Jesus in the federal penitentiary, he has hid behind a sanctimonious pseudo-religious act since he arrived in Pennsylvania. What has changed is his interest in working with service dogs. While in Allentown he was steadfast in his contention that he was allergic to dogs and could not be anywhere near them. The Good Lord, or maybe the prison food or fresh air and exercise, has indeed produced at least one mysterious outcome. Mr. Pawlowski, the jailhouse dog trainer, is an unrepentant narcissist as his latest attempt to cast himself as a committed public servant betrayed by conniving subordinates and done in by his personal naïveté demonstrates.
ReplyDeletePawlowski correspondence is simply the latest testament to an unrepentant sociopath incapable of responsibility, repentance or contrition.
“What happened to me” is not the same as “What I did.” Language matters.
ReplyDeleteEd Pawlowski did massive damage to Allentown, its government, its citizens, its politics and in the process ruined careers and lives of many good people. He took a good city and corrupted it. Much of the damage he created remains in place where he put it to this day. Ed P. is the worst criminal in the history of the City of Allentown. No one prior or since owns more felonies than Ed Pawlowski. Now, from his bunker, he continues to delude himself claiming altruistic public service for all his avaricious self serving crimes. Those who continue to defend him compromised themselves long ago by backing the criminal for their own gains thereby enabling him to prevail as long as he did. Thank you to the Justice Department for rooting out the nucleus of our City's corruption, however, it seems that the depawlowskification of Allentown did not go far enough.
ReplyDeleteFree Ed and he wins in a land slide Ed DeGrace has conducted polling to confirm this he is Gods servant let him work
ReplyDeleteAlan Jennings is guilty of the same lack of contrition. He stood silent when his buddy Ed Pawlowski gutted the voter approved Systematic Rental Inspections Bill. This legislation was improving rentals in the city, bringing them up to code, eliminating illegal and substandard units. This bill protected the same low income people Alan claimed to be a champion of. Alan to this day refuses to admit his culpability for the very sorry state of many of our downtown neighborhoods. They are now filled with overcrowded and often deplorable Rental units. One wonders who did more long term damage to Allentown, the politician who used the city for his own advantage,or the low income advocate who turned his back on the poor. Scott Armstrong
ReplyDeleteDeplorable rental units, you say??? Did you ever consider HOW they became deplorable??? One answer: from the idiots that live there, that's how!!! Silly me always thought you took better care of something that wasn't yours... not so these days.
DeleteI had a friend that just refused to rent his center city units because he was sick of fixing the same things over and over and over... torn off screen and interior doors and railings, broken windows, clogged toilets, etc, etc, etc... he held out for good tenants but finally sold both units.
I understand the landlord's problem in that he needs the income to pay the mortgage, but at what expense???... his neighbors and the neighborhood. And that, my friends, is how Allentown has gone down the proverbial shitter!!!
Allentown has a people problem and no other. NO amount of rebuilding will cure it's ills...
Pawlowski never took responsibility for his crimes and it’s obvious that he still is not willing to take responsibility. When he finishes his sentence, and he deserves to serve every day of that sentence, he will return to politics in some capacity or to the ministry, two vocations where he can continue to run some version of his well honed scams with the addition of a redemption story that a certain audience eats up.
ReplyDeleteThe facts of the matter are that the federal agents and prosecutors could have continued their investigation and found an additional fifty criminal charges and many more culpable coconspirators.
During the trial Pawlowski’s Chief of Staff was asked, “how did you know the Mayor was lying”, he answered, “because his lips were moving”. Check the transcript.
Pawlowski is who he always was and so is Jennings.
The Big Lie of the entire sordid affair is that Pawlowski’s crimes were “victimless”.
Many good and honest people were seriously hurt during the aggressive corruption of the Pawlowski regime by city personnel, like the Codes Department and others, acting as official thugs in service to Pawlowski and his deeply corrupt regime.
Wasn't Susan Wild the Allentown City Solicitor whose office was right next to Pawlowski's office all those years he was committing his 47 felonies? If so, she's either an accomplice or a fool? Her reward for silence? A nice seat in the US House of Representatives. Ain't these politicians great. Now she can spring her boss from the clink. What in all that makes you think you're being well represented in your government?
ReplyDeleteWild was solicitor at the end of Pawlowski's long tenure, and it was determined that she was not complicit. I don't see the connections or rewards that you're trying to weave. Although I do not have a horse in the current 7th race, I won't host further comments on this insinuation.
DeleteEd sees himself as a lightweight in the current trend in political transgressions. Through his righteous indignation, he probably feels he has paid too great a price for his crimes, especially when he is not responsible for them. His admission that the devil made me do it is a little late, and his sham humility through his blame on others is too transparent. He would have been much better off apologizing for his crimes, but he does not seem to possess true humility. Once a thug, always a thug.
ReplyDelete