Northampton County Republicans Would Love to See Barron Primaried

An old Lehigh Valley Ramblings Photo

I get that Northampton County Republicans are used to running circles around the County's Democrats, but perhaps this one is from the "funnies" bin. Apparently a Northampton County Council Republican, a guy who just voted for the Brown tax increase, suggested to a Democratic member at a recent meeting that the Democrats would be "smart to primary Barron so they at least have a shot this November." Barron would be the County Controller, Steve Barron, and apparently Republicans are pretty confident they can beat him. Of course, they were in 2011 too.

For all of Barron's issues with council and the Executive from time to time over the past seven years, he's got a pretty decent record on the whole. He's uncovered a lot of fraud. He just nailed the Executive and his staff for over-charging the county on their reimbursements. He fought on the right side of the Gracedale fight. He's fought this Executive's wasteful "government by consultant" too. I'm not saying he'd be impossible to beat in a primary, but he'd be difficult.

And regardless of who Democrats do put up, why would the Republicans have confidence? Barron has twice beaten then, and they will be asking the electorate to give them a "rubber stamp" Controller to compliment an out-of-control Executive. Ron Angle may run, which will make the race a total dumpster-fire in the primary, as Angle will not pull punches. The other names that come up- Council people Geissinger, Benol, and Vaughn (one of which was the source of the quote above)- would be running with a bad record on council, including this latest tax increase. If they try to "draft" someone else, frankly they'd have to be someone with both great financial qualifications, and willing to take the salary, which coming from the private-sector would be a cut. In short, they probably don't have many strong options, unless a state legislator or something is going to try.

So crow all you would like Republicans. Most of your material is old, and your candidates are weak. Go ahead and tell us how strong you are. Let's see it backed up.

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A Civics Lesson for Northampton County Republicans

Northampton County Council's Republicans are mad. It's year two of John Brown's tenure as County Executive, and they all have to walk the plank and vote for a tax increase for him. This is causing them to lash out and say stupid things. Take for instance, Bernie's account of Seth Vaughn ranting at Steve Barron:

Seth Vaughn followed Benol with an interrogation.  "I won't hold you up too much," he sarcastically stated. "I know you're very busy."

Vaughn correctly took Barron to task for some unprofessional comments in his mass emails, which would be more appropriate here. In one email, Barron refers to Brown as "Dear Leader" That actually is a name coined by yours truly. Vaughn claimed that Barron also told employees that the Brown administration is an "ignorant administration which delivers needless beatings to the employees of Northampton County." 

Vaughn pointed out that Barron's comments are a violation of the County's electronic resource policy, though that is unenforceable against Barron as an independently elected official

"We don't pay you for your opinion," thundered a visibly angry Vaughn. "We pay you to be a nonpartisan office."

Actually, Council is not the boss of him!

Then Vaughn blamed Barron for the tax hike.

"Your lack of oversight has led to this conversation about us having a tax increase. You've been sitting here for seven years, and you've watched this fund balance go down."

Time for a civics lesson for Mr. Vaughn:

1. You don't pay Mr. Barron, we do. We elected him, twice. And actually, as a result of that, he gets to have an opinion, and you get to listen to it. Welcome to public office.
2. No, no one pays him to hold a nonpartisan office, that's garbage. Last I checked, the two candidates for Controller (or more than two, if small parties hop in), have partisan labels attached to them. Barron was the Democratic nominee for the job, and he beat a Republican. There is absolutely nothing nonpartisan about the Controller's office.
3. Electronic resources policies don't apply to independently elected officials. Barron in no way answers to the County Executive's office, or their rules.
4. No, Barron can be blamed for bad advice, bad judgment, or almost anything Mr. Vaughn would like, but not the tax increases. That is on council. Council votes on tax rates. Council has been a partisanly adversarial body to Mr. Barron's office for five years now. That is the fault of the council, and council alone.

Civics are needed because of the objectively stupid statements coming from Mr. Vaughn here. I'm not sure what the lunatic-fringer Hayden Phillips was calling on Barron to resign for now, but we'll leave his rantings, and the opportunistically driven Benol's rantings out of this, as they stand on their face as partisan. Either Mr. Vaughn has no idea how government operates locally, or he is just mad that he had to vote for a tax increase. I understand that. I do, it will obviously be used against him. That doesn't mean you get to talk crazy or stupid though.

Republicans on Council are frustrated. They have a golden opportunity in 2015. You have four Democratic Council members, a Democratic Controller, and a Democratic District Attorney up for re-election, and no Republicans face the voters, and they just had to cast a strike against themselves by voting to raise taxes. It's bad politics. They are in this hole though because they continue to support an incapable, over-matched Executive who is wasting the public's money and trust on his "government by consultant." He's going to create a serious fiscal crisis by 2016 and they might have to vote to sell Gracedale just before re-election. I get it, it's tough carrying water for a dud of an Executive. My best advice to them is to stop carrying that water while they're only a few steps behind.

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