McClure's "Law and Order" Committee Meets Illegally

Blogger's Note: This was originally posted June 6, 2006 at Lehigh Valley Ramblings. As Democrats in Harrisburg embark on reform measures that include strngthening the Sunshine Act, local Democrat McClure has become a chronic violator.

When he ran for Northampton County Council, Lamont McClure set himself up as a "law and order" tough guy who would grab child molesters with one hand while jabbing terrorists with the other. He lost.

Now it's the voters turn to lose. Thanks to some back-room maneuvering, McClure managed to get himself appointed to a Council vacancy. And "law and order" McClure, whose campaign was heavily funded by the DA and his staff, is now Chairman of Council's Judicial and Legal Committee. He was appointed by Council Prez Grube, who also coughed up $500 to fund McClure's losing campaign.

The "law and order" committee met yesterday to consider more effective ways to collect outstanding fines and costs from people whose financial woes are usually what get them in trouble in the first place. Let's face it, most criminal defendants aren't exactly sitting in the lap of luxury.

Now I don't know whether McClure was getting collection tips from loansharks, bookies, or the bastards at my video store because I wasn't there. In fact, not a single member of the public attended.

This is because the meeting itself was illegal. Both the Sunshine Act and Northampton County's Home Rule Charter require that public notice of the time, date and place of a meeting be posted prominently at the government center. Now a notice was posted, but it never told us WHERE this meeting was to take place. As it happens, the meeting occurred in the bowels of Council chambers, well behind closed doors.

Now don't forget that we have a new $43 million government expansion, complete with wind-sensitive fountains and private bathrooms for each judge. You'd think that someone somewhere might consider the public's need for a more accessible meeting place than Council's private boudoir.

And Lamont McClure, a lawyer, should know better than to conduct a meeting when the posted notice doesn't even tell us where it will occur. Of all committees, one would expect a "Legal" committee chaired by a lawyer to at least try to follow the law.

Of course, I keep forgetting that the decision to appoint McClure was itself as violation of the Sunshine Act. And since he was rejected by the voters, he's not there to represent the people's interests by doing silly things like following the law. Instead, he's trying to please his buddy and financial supporter, the DA, by looking like he's tough on crime. And I guess it doesn't matter whether he violates our Sunshine Act. After all, who's going to prosecute this dude? The DA? Try again. The state Attorney General? He's probably not too interested in pursuing a matter that would only result in a $25 fine.

We need a tougher Sunshine Act. Even more importantly, we need government officials who understand the importance of conducting the people's business in public.

Northampton County Council: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Follow the money. That's what they tell you. If you want to know how you're government rep feels about runaway development or corporate welfare, look at where he's getting his campaign contributions. Under the influence of now convicted campaign consultant Michael Solomon, former Northampton County Exec Reibman developed a highly refined system under which thousands of dollars from county contractors and employees poured regularly into his campaign coffers. Things had become so obscene that, when he ran for exec, John Stoffa shunned these legal bribes and won, which certainly tells us how Lehigh Valley residents feel about this practice. But what about the members of Northampton County Council? Do they spurn big money from special interests, like Stoffa, or do they believe in business as usual?

I've looked at the campaign finance reports for each of our illustrious County Council members. It's a tale of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

Surprisingly, most of them are actually good. Wayne Grube, John Cusick, Ann McHale, Ron Angle, Mike Dowd and Diane Neiper all rely on their own funds, and a scattering of small contributions, mostly from individuals. Their reports make clear they owe nothing to anyone.

The Bad

Charles Dertinger wants to be your next U.S. Congressman. But if you look at his campaign finance report, you'll soon realize that he won't be your Congressman at all -- he'll instead be a union puppet. In his successful quest for a Council seat, almost all of his campaign funds came from union PACs. They gave him over $15,000! He also managed to get $500 from the King of Special Interests, Glenn Reibman.

Most of this money isn't even local. Come to think of it, neither is Charles! He himself happens to work for a union, and is based in Flushing, NY How convenient! I guess Charles can think about County business while burning fuel during four hour commutes.

Now don't get me wrong. My own sentiments are strongly pro-union. We need them. But when one candidate not only works for a union, but gets almost all of his campaign funds from them, he's obviously their slave. Hey unions, why don't you let us elect our own guys with our own money?

The Ugly

I put Lamont McClure and Anthony Branco in the "ugly" category because, even though both relied heavily on money from special interests, the voters still rejected them. They lost. Yet they both now sit on Council, thanks to back room shenanigans.

Anthony Branco didn't raise as much money as Dertinger, but most of it came from special interests. Developers Atiyeh, Tuskes and Pektor were major contributors ($2,400), and I'm sure Tony will remember that when they ask for TIF financing or to place a property in the KOZ.

Lamont McClure is the strangest of them all. In a losing campaign, he managed to pull in about $10,000 from lawyers, most of whom are big city lawyers. Unions kicked in $3,440. DA Morganelli, who employs McClure's wife, donated $1,500, and one of his detectives provided an additional $500. Reibman sweetened the pot with $1000 gathered from his pool parties, and even Grube provided $500.

This guy owes nothing to us -- remember, we rejected him. But pals like Council Prez Grube and DA Morganelli wanted their boy on Council, and that's what they got. He's not our Councilman: he belongs to unions, lawyers, the DA's office, and Grube.

Incidentally, many of these nonlocal attorneys who gave to McClure, and McClure himself, work for Mr. Baseball, Peter Angelos. Although Angelos has pretty much destroyed the Orioles, his control of Maryland's legislature is legendary. His measures are simply called "Angelos bills." He's a heavy campaign contributor. He now spreads his tentacles to Northampton County. Maybe he wants to buy the Lehigh Valley Dawgs!

The Need For Reform

County Execs and elected officials like the DA should not be permitted to donate to candidates who decide their budget. And just as the Home Rule Charter prohibits a Councilman from being employed by the County, the same argument should apply to a Councilman's spouse. Even if Morganelli didn't give McClure a dime, do you really think McClure could give an objective evaluation of the DA's budget when the DA is Mrs. McClure's boss?

In addition to the possible conflict of interest presented by accepting money from elected officials, the dangerous influence of NONLOCAL political money is being felt, especially with Dertinger and McClure. Council will have to approve 11 union contracts. How can we expect Dertinger to look at them fairly when he himself is a union puppet? And will McClure, beneficiary of all kinds of money from big city lawyers, try to steer swaption deals or bond work their way? To prevent Philly or New York special interests from deciding what happens in Northampton County, politicians should be barred from using nonlocal money to run a campaign.

The best way to minimize the influence of special interests in elections is to make them irrelevant. How do we do that? Adopt publicly funded clean elections laws. In this system, candidates are provided a flat sum by the government to run their campaign if they pledge to seek no money from private sources. This system is up and working in six states.

This proposal has not been considered in the land of midnight legislative payraises, where local write-in results are available to the press on election night, but are shrouded from the public ten days after an election, and where campaign finance reports in the hotly disputed 133rd legislative district are still not posted on the net.

Do we want reform or business as usual? Business as usual is what we'll get from Dertinger, McClure, and Branco. That's what their little publicized campaign finance reports tell us.

Blogger's note: This was originally posted at Lehigh Valley Ramblings.