Stoffa: He's Sticking His Neck Out For You!

Express Times Endorses John Stoffa!

Great news here in the Stoffa camp! The Express Times has just endorsed John Stoffa for reelection as Northampton County Executive. Noting that the choice is "as clear and compelling as it ever has been," the editors recommend Stoffa.

"We hope Democrats will take the time to measure the performances of the candidates and see in this case that the status quo -- Stoffa -- is the argument against complacency and against a return to the laissez-faire, party-run management style that dominated the county administration before him.

"Stoffa says he wants a second term to map out what the county needs, looking at where it will be in 2030 and 2050. Taxpayers are fortunate to have someone looking ahead, but also to deal with the day-to-day headaches of running a large bureaucracy with equanimity, bipartisanship and some backbone.

"That's Stoffa."

This is a shot in the arm that will drive us in the final days. My thanks to The Express Times for their very kind words.

Why Stoffa Dislikes the KOZ Tax Break

John Stoffa: "The only way you can cut costs is personnel. That's most of your costs. You can delay hiring. You can not hire. You can freeze positions and you'll save money.

"I'm going to disagree with most of the people here. I don't like KOZs. I think we should get rid of them. It means Keystone Opportunity Zone, where you don't pay any taxes for ten years. I like LERTA, where you pay 1/10th, 2/10th, 3/10th as the years go by. That makes sense to me. To give somebody no taxes, no sales taxes, no nothing. People can live there in condominiums and pay no taxes. It's wrong. I don't believe in KOZs. I would get rid of them."

Morning Call Endorses John Stoffa

Great News — The Morning Call has endorsed John Stoffa for Northampton County Exec! This has energized my father's campaign in its final week. Here are the three reasons why Editors believe Stoffa deserves your vote.

"First, Mr. Stoffa has much more experience in county government than Mrs. McHale. He has served for 30 years in both Northampton and Lehigh County; Mrs. McHale has been on county council for about 11 years. As for executive experience, Mr. Stoffa ran Lehigh County's Department of Human Services for eight years and is in the middle of his fourth year as executive. Mrs. McHale's experience in a family insurance business doesn't match up with the varied demands on a county executive.

"Second, Mr. Stoffa better articulates a vision for the county. He puts modernization of the prison at the top of the list, and has been willing, in spite of political risks, to explore public-private and regional options. That includes the proposed Bethlehem Township treatment center, something Mrs. McHale has voted against. The prison is the right priority. Mr. Stoffa can list a series of cost-cutting steps in his administration, but Mrs. McHale is not clear on how she would cope with a rising demand for county services and declining state funding.

"Finally, there is the politics. Mr. Stoffa has run afoul of the Democratic establishment, partly because he appointed Republicans to top positions. So, the county committee endorsed Mrs. McHale in February. Good, clean fun, we suppose. But, if going lockstep with party leaders is to be the qualification for county executive, we'll support the bipartisan man. Nominate John Stoffa on the Democratic ballot."

John Stoffa & Open Space

My father and I both grew up on farms. He loved it. I hated it. Farms are dirty, messy, and a lot of work. If your father has a lot of work responsibilities, taking care of a farm and fixing up an old farmhouse leaves little time for a childhood of family fun. My parents had the same fight year after year from 1978 until 1998 where at the end of the argument they would announce to my brother and I that we were selling and moving to Easton. This was usually accompanied by the “whooshing” sound of me flying up to my room to pack my suitcase. I couldn’t get off that damn place fast enough. But we never moved to Easton and I always had to unpack my bags.

As soon as I graduated from Moravian and was on my own, I moved to 10th and Linden in Center City Allentown. I didn’t care if there were shootings on either side of my block within the same year, I was in the city where you could walk everywhere and there were people and noise and traffic and I was far away from steer and albino peacocks and sweet corn sold out of the driveway.

But now that I’m the same age my father was when he bought our farm, I look at things differently. I went away to Miami for eight years, one of the most urban places in the country, and I returned to the place of my childhood, Northampton County. I was shocked, honestly, because so much of what made the area special disappeared so quickly.

There was an old farm on the corner of 512 and Stoke Park Rd. All the kids used to sleigh ride down that hill in the winter and then come back to my house and dry their fannies on our radiators. The farmhouse was torn down but the barn survived for many years serving as the push off point for the sledders. Now there is a Wegman’s there: not even a Wegman’s, but a Wegman’s sign letting you know that a Wegman’s is nearby.

The Pharo Estate on the other side of the road had a ton of land. The house reminded me of Tara in Gone With the Wind with its columns dating back to 1804. Old Mrs. Pharo lived there for many years and there used to be a small splice of a road that was “Old Stoke Park Road”, surviving from the 1800s before they re-directed Stoke Park Rd. to meet more cleanly with 512. The house still exists, the barn morphed into some modern office space and the old farm that went on for acres is all condos.

Koehler’s Corners on the corner of Jacksonville Rd. and Stoke Park was a definite landmark and almost like a visual petting zoo. Since the late 1700s, the same family lived here and this farm offered Hanover Township residents a visual petting zoo as we drove by gazing at the various farm animals and horses being ridden by their riders. That’s gone too. I don’t even remember what’s there now it’s so forgettable.

Dr. Gene Witiak had his beautiful historic early 19th Century Goetz Homestead on 512 and the barn housed his veterinarian practice. I remember sitting outside on the back porch drinking lemonade with his twin daughters, who went to Asa Packer with me, as we looked out on the fields and he examined my cat. That land is all developed now and the Witiaks actually had to physically move their home to another location to save it. I applaud them for that. The barn was torn down.

The Diefenderfer farm on the southwest corner Jacksonville and Hanoverville is gone now too. So are the Uliana’s and Fehnel’s farms that bordered ours. I was doing research on Historic Hanover Township and found the brochure from the Sept. 20, 1998 Historic Hanover Trolley Tour and was shocked to see that of the 12 historic farms and homes on this tour, 25% of them don’t exist anymore, and that’s just in the last ten years since I moved to Miami.

Now don’t get me wrong. Before we moved to Melody Ranch - our Stoke Park Rd. farm - we lived in a development in Hanover Farms. I’m not saying our neighborhood’s lime green aluminum sided 1969 split levels with brown shutters and plastic Bicentennial eagles above the front doors didn’t have their charm; that was part of my childhood, too. But it doesn’t seem to hold the fascination, the memories, or the uniqueness that the old farms and farmhouses gave to the township where I was raised. I worry that townships like Hanover are in danger of turning into Central Jersey where you know not where one town begins and another ends except for the clues that the freeway exits and entrances give you.

The friends I made when I was living in Miami love to visit Pennsylvania. They think it’s beautiful. They love New Hope, Bethlehem, Easton, Jim Thorpe. Nazareth and Bangor have their charms, too. But Hanover Township? Yes, my hometown - where I grew up - does have its charm to my Miami friends. That charm? Wegmans (because there is no Wegmans in Miami.) I wish I could take them back in time and show them Hanover Township in the old days. Hanover Township is much more than a Wegmans. If I could take them back in time, they’d remember more than just Wegmans.

So even though I might have been my father’s hardest convert to open space programs because of my childhood spreading manure and selling sweet corn, I think I’ve come around after visiting where I grew up ten years later. Traveling around Pennsylvania, I see that we are far behind Lehigh, Bucks, and Lancaster Counties in open space preservation, but it’s not too late. I’d give anything to bring that hill back for the kids to sleigh ride on like we did in the 70s and 80s with that big red 19th century imposing barn. Where do kids in Hanover Township sleigh ride now?

Interview With Northampton County's First Cat

Name: Tuxedo
Age in Cat Years: 56
Political Party: Democrat
Residence: Allen Township

Tux, may I call you Tux?

TUX: Surely.

Tux, you were recently featured in the Voter's Guide of www.lehighvalleylive.com. You've kept a low profile these past three and a half years, much lower than, let's say, Bo Obama.

TUX: Oh please. Don't get me started about that circus. In my day, political leader's pets were more dignified. Anyway, continue.

But the public IS curious about you. Tell us a little about your relationship with your owner, John Stoffa.

TUX: I was a housecat that was abandoned and came upon this farmette where this guy was always planting sweet corn and moving manure piles on weekends. I began meowing around the house and they started feeding me. At that point in my life I wasn't ready for a new relationship with a new family so I just took the food and watched them from afar. Times goes on and the farmette is sold and the whole neighorhood is slated to be demolished and this guy puts me in a carrier even though I was a stray and moves me out to the country on a new farm with him.

Where you were still...uh...feral?

TUX: Yes. I was still not ready to start a new relationship but the food kept getting better and better. It went from dry to wet food and then I started following the old guy around on the farm while he tooled around on his tractors and whatnot. He must have taken it that I was being loving or companionable but I was worried he was going to cut off more of his fingers and was keeping an eye on him. He was the first one I let hold me and then it went on from there. In due time I managed to weasel my way into the house.

What is unique about you?

TUX: I'm almost completey deaf. By the way, I appreciate you using that megaphone. I believe I'm the only deaf cat in Northampton County. It can be a bit of a burden since I can't hear people calling me or cars driving up the driveway. I'm often startled by people who come up behind me and I've had more than one embarrassing incident sitting in the driveway minding my own business with my head turned the wrong way only to find John's car running but parked in front of me as he waves and claps his hands wildly trying to get me to move out of the way. I am looking into kitty hearing aids on the Internet. Though I can't hear it, I'm told that my meow, since I've lost my hearing, has become to resemble something similar to an Austrailian dingo being strangled.

What is your take on past presidential pets?

TUX: Socks handled the whole Monica Lewinsky thing like a champ. The Bushes push their dogs too hard, making them write and publish books. It's just too much pressure. That's why Barney bit that reporter. He flipped. Bo? The press is focusing too much on Bo. He's so young and with all those expectations, I just don't know. I most admire Quentin Roosevelt's parrot, even though he wasn't a Democrat.

What do you like best about Northampton County?

TUX: The cat unions. We have eleven in Northampton County. I belong to UFP, the United Feline Patrollers Union. We are farm cats that patrol their owners' farms, catching field mice and making sure that all cats stick to their own property lines and don't wander into someone else's territory.

Do cats file grievances?

TUX: I did just yesterday. I peed on the Oriental rug and they put me in the yard for the day. Who do they think they are? Humans still don't understand that when a cat chooses a family, the house belongs to the cat.

What's your key political issue?

TUX: Open space, definitely. Open Space. The development in Northampton County is making the mice and bird population decline rapidly. This affects the cats of Northampton County.

One more question?

TUX: No. My people said you wanted five minutes.. I gave you five. I need to look into the kitty hearing aids. Remember, get off the sofa and vote for Stoffa. I'll keep the sofa warm while you're gone.

Bill White Gives My Dad an A- in Recent Debate

Thanks to The Morning Call's Bill White, who recently gave John Stoffa an A- for his performance on Tuesday night's league of Women Voters' debate. Here's what Bill says.

"What Stoffa always has done is answer questions directly, and he did that again Tuesday. The difference, for me, was that he did it with more fire than I've seen in the past. He even asked the moderator if the candidates could ask one another questions or respond to one another. "

If I were handing out grades, I'd give the League of Women Voters an A+ for an outstanding event.

The picture, right from Bill White's blog, features him at Egypt's Musikfest.

Why We Need to Do Something About Our Jail

About 65 cents of every real estate tax dollar is spent on our courts and jails. Does it have to be that way? Eighty per cent are there on drug and alcohol charges. Nearly 70% of all inmates will return to Chez Northampton. Doesn't it make fiscal sense to reduce that figure? That, and a common sense of decency, is what is behind John Stoffa's proposed treatment center and work release facility in Bethlehem Township.

"We have four people in a cell, four bunk beds, a commode and a hopper, and it is disgraceful the way we treat our people in our jail."

John Stoffa Tells Voters Why They Should Reelect Him