Will Bethlehem Voter's Make a Mistake on Election Day?

On Tuesday, November 6, 2007 Bethlehem voters will elect a new City Controller...and they are going to make a mistake.

In Bethlehem, Democrats have a registration advantage of around 2 to 3. It increases when you look at likely voters. Democrats rarely face real challenges from Republicans in general elections in Bethlehem, the real races happen in the Democratic primary.

This year is different, at least in the race for Bethlehem Controller.

The Democratic nominee is David DiGiacinto (and he is going to win).

The Republican nominee is Meg Holland (and she is going to lose).

The real losers will be the people of the City of Bethlehem. The voters will be making a huge mistake by electing David DiGiacinto.

If DiGiacinto is elected, the City will be subjected to turmoil and controversy. If you have read my blog you already know that DiGiacinto is part of the Schweder-Rooney faction of the Democratic party. There is a fear that DiGiacinto will hold personal grudges against Mayor Callahan and will go out of his way to cause trouble for him. This is something that the City cannot afford to go through with the impending development of the Steel land and BethWorks.

DiGiacinto has already shown that he will spare no expense to get elected to the $42,000.00 per year job. The Morning Call reports that he has raised over $30,000.00 (mostly from out of town) and has given $20,000.00 of his own money. And he is scheduled to have another fundraiser in New York City with his CEO buddies.

My question is why spend this much money for this position, unless you have ulterior motives.

The good news is that today is October 30th, and the voters did not vote yet.

There is still a chance to stop DiGiacinto, Schweder and their New York CEO buddies.

Vote for Meg Holland for Bethlehem City Controller.

Meg's campaign has touted that she is qualified and her opponent is not. The truth is they both are qualified. Meg should be touting that she is good at what she does and she has more experience doing it than her opponent. Read this post on the Morning Call's Bethlehem Daily Star Blog about her experience at Bethlehem Steel.

Bethlehem will be lucky to have this experienced professional as its Controller.

Meg will not be a rubber stamp for the Callahan administration, she will make sure the money is spent on what it is supposed to be spent on, will conduct audits and institute fraud prevention controls. However, she will not use personal grudges to cause unnecessary problems and needlessly waste taxpayer money.

On Tuesday November 6th, this Democrat will be voting for the best person for the job-Meg Holland.

Lehigh County Row Offices

Lehigh County Clerk of Judicial Records

The race for the newly created Row Office is between current Clerk of Court and Democrat Andrea Naugle and current Recorder of Deeds and Republican Marie Dean. The new office will be a combination of the Clerk of Courts, Recorder of Deeds and Register of Wills. I voted against the creation of this office last fall, and still think it will be a mistake.

There has not been too much campaigning in this race.

The Morning Call ran an article in today's paper regarding all of the row offices up for election in Lehigh County.

I feel that Andrea Naugle is better situated to handle the new responsibilities that this office will create. Currently, the Clerk of Courts office handles both the Civil Division/Family Divison and the Criminal Division, which is going to be the bulk of the new office.

For Clerk of Judicial Records I recommend Andrea Naugle.

Lehigh County Sheriff

Sheriff Ron "Trooper" Rossi is the Democratic Nominee and incumbant.
Republican Joseph C. Vargo is the opponent and currently a Sargent in the Allentown Police Department.

Rossi has been a good and decent public servant. He is a popular figure in Lehigh County and will be hard to beat. He claims staying within his budget as one of his achievements.

Vargo believes the Sheriff's department needs better and more adequate training. He also believes the deputies need to be more visible in the community and out there tracking fugitives.

While I think Vargo has some good ideas, Rossi has an understanding of what running this office entails. He understands that the Sheriff's office involves more than protecting judges and running the x-ray machine. Deputies serve process in civil and criminal matters, execute on judgments and handle gun permits, in addition to many other jobs.

For Lehigh County Sheriff I recommend Ron "Trooper" Rossi.

Lehigh County Controller

Thomas Slonaker, the Democratic nominee, is running against incumbent and Republican Peter Shaffer.

Slonaker is the former Treasurer of Whitehall and has degrees in business, including his MBA, and would be willing to be more than a part-time Controller.

Shaffer is a CPA and is the two term incumbent. In addition, he runs his own accounting firm. Shaffer claims he spends approximately 35 hours per week as the Controller.

Slonaker wants the Controller to help forecast the County's financial future.

Both men are well qualified and would be fine choices.

I recommend Thomas Slonaker for Lehigh County Controller.

Dirty Tricks in NorCo Council At-Large Race

So I am sitting at home, relaxing after dinner with my wife, when my phone rings.

I look at the Caller-Id before answering.

It reads: "Easton PA, 484-548-6400."

So I answer. I say "Hello." No response. I say "Hello", again. No answer

Then, as I am about to hang up, I hear a voice.

The voice tells me. Do not vote for Peg Ferraro. Peg Ferraro is bad. Peg Ferraro did nothing on her previous term on council. (Note: I am paraphrasing, I did not have time to write it down)

Now I know that Tony Branco is the Democrat running against Republican Peg Ferraro for the Northampton County Council At-Large Seat.

I say to my wife, that is weird, and proceed to explain the call to her. She says that is very weird...considering we live in Lehigh County. (Note: We did live in Northampton County until 2 years ago when we moved to a nice place on the West Side, within walking distance to downtown)

Curious as to the origin of this call, since the voice left no clue as to who was responsible, I google the phone number.

My search reveals that this number has been used in other races. Including a local district justice race and a Bucks County election.

I also found out the number is registered to a ATX Communications.

Calling the number just led to a message saying I reached a disconnected number. I am guessing the number is an outgoing number only.

I hope that Tony Branco is not behind this. I would hope that he is above this. He seems like a nice guy.

Dirty politics is one thing. But anonymous dirty politics has no place in a county council race.

Controller Race Update

The race to be Bethlehem's next Controller is on fire.

Meg Holland struck early with some press conferences and some attacks on her opponent's perceived lack of accounting experience.

Now, David DiGiacinto is fighting back.

First, the Morning Call ran a nice article highlighting his career and his background, and allowed him and Holland to trade some jabs about his accounting experience.

Second, DiGiacinto started off the campaign mailer season in Bethlehem with a nicely done mailer highlighting his career, his Bethlehem roots and his experience in business.

Third, DiGiacinto has launched his campaign website. http://digiacintoforcontroller.com/home/

In a year when most thought the races in Bethlehem would lack excitement, the race for Controller appears to have changed that.

Campaign finance reports are due by Friday. It will be interesting to follow the money in this race.

Who is David T. DiGiacinto?

David T. DiGiacinto is the Democratic Candidate for Controller in the City of Bethlehem. He is a 1975 graduate of United States Military Academy at West Point.

He spent 6 years as a Captain in the U.S Air Force as a Pilot-In Command, resigning his commission in 1981. After which he spent 18 years with Pfizer in various positions including Sales, Marketing, Business Development and General Management in the Chemical/Food Science and Consumer Health Care Groups.

He joined Spencer Trask Specialty Group LLC, a leading private equity firm which helps start-up companies develop their products, in 2000 and is currently a Senior Managing Director.

He serves on the Board of Directors of several companies, including Minrad International, Inc., a pain management company that focuses on anesthesia and analgesia, where he is an Independent Director, Member of Compensation Committee, Member of Nominating Committee and Director of Minrad Inc; and Vyteris, the maker of a drug delivery patch, where he is Secretary, Director, Chairman of Audit Committee, Member of Compensation Committee and Member of Nominating Committee

He is also the owner of BETHNY Enterprise, Inc., which I have no idea what it does.

He expressed his interest to fill the vacancy on City Council created by John Callahan's election to the office of mayor in 2004. He was nominated to be a finalist by Councilman Schweder. The appointment eventually went to Joseph Leeson.

He was a member of the Bethlehem Authority, at one point he was the vice-chairman of the authority, which is the oversight committee for the City's water department and the watershed. He was not renominated to the board earlier this year by Mayor Callahan.

As you can see, Mr. DiGiacinto has a very impressive business background. His experience at Pfizer and in his current positions with Spencer Trask and serving on the board of directors of publicly traded companies make him qualified to be the City Controller.

The politics behind this election are quite interesting. The following account is mostly hearsay and has not been verified, however from the facts I stated above I believe it is true.

DiGiacinto was supportive of James Delgrosso in the 2003 special election for Mayor. Delgrosso was the candidate backed by Schweder and TJ Rooney. DiGiacinto, as I mentioned above, was nominated by Schweder to fill Callahan's seat on Council. Just connect the dots.

DiGiacinto's political donations also support his allegiances.

( Note: The politics going on in Bethlehem politics at this time were crazy, to say the least. There were secret meetings, back room deals and unreturned phone calls. For those of who do not know the whole story, please read this May 30, 2004 article from the Morning Call, which is reprinted here. It is a great article that explains the different factions in the Democratic party in Bethlehem.)

When DiGiacinto's term on the Authority was up, Callahan did not re-nominate him due to his allegiance to Schweder and Rooney.

Now DiGiacinto is the Democratic nominee for City Controller.

How will Callahan deal with DiGiacinto? Will he support the Republican Candidate Meg Holland? Rumors have it he may already be supporting Holland.