Sultana's 19 YO Daughter Charged With Corrupting Morals of Minors

Yesterday, I told you that Pennsylvania State Police caught two of Easton City Council member Taiba Sultana's minor children in the act of vandalizing a campaign sign at a busy intersection that opposes her bid for the state house. As I noted at the time, there was a third person waiting for these children in a nearby car but was unsure whether she was an adult. It turns out that she is yet another of Sultana's children and is 19 years old. According to a news release from District Attorney Steve Baratta, she's been charged with corrupting the morals of minors. Her name is Imman Malik.

Sultana told The Morning Call that her children were in their way home from school when they saw the signs. Deeply upset, they vandalized them. I suppose a spontaneous reaction like that from children is understandable. But as several of my readers noted, who the hell carries black spray paint in their school back packs? This was obviously planned. 

We have yet to hear whether any action will be taken in response to a complaint from Easton resident Frank Graziano. He spotted Sultana's adult son at the 25th Street and Freemansburg Avenue intersection at 4:30 pm on the very same day as this adult child removed anti-Sultana signs and threw them in the back of his Honda Civic. That actually occurred in Wilson Borough so another shoe may be dropping soon.  

The signs stolen and vandalized were purchased by PaCitizensPAC, an independent committee formed by immigration attorney Ray Lahoud. His signs began disappearing or were spray-painted within hours after they were planted. 

In the meantime, Sultana is continuing a divisive campaign and is doing her best to incite the worst in all of us. A black voter showed me this text from Sultana: "Hey. I need your vote. ... We have to win against the old white network."

NorCo Council: Ken Kraft Tells Lori Vargo Heffner "You're the Queen and We're Just Your Servants"

I've been so caught up with the Sultana saga that I'm unable to bring you up to date about what has been going on in Northampton County over the past several days After Jeff Corpora was appointed by President Judge Craig Dally to fill the Council vacancy created by Tara Zrinski's resignation, it appeared the acrimony might dissipate. Wrong! Tensions were still bubbling under the surface, and there've been several minor earthquakes in Council chambers this past week. I'll be filling you in far more detail next week. For now, I want to tell you about the Council Clerk vacancy, which involved several ugly exchanges about a story from this very blog. 

On Monday, I told you that 22 people have applied for the $107,482 a year Council Clerk position. I noted that only two people who actually work for the county applied. The rest are outsiders. Aside from Deputy Clerk Aline Shafnisky, I did not identify any of these people. But I could have because the public has every right to know who seeks public employment. Those are our tax dollars and we have a right to know how they are spent. 

If I wanted to do so, I could file a Right-to-Know request today, seeking the names of every person who has sought county employment this year. There is nothing privileged or confidential about that information. The application itself is confidential unless the applicant is eventually hired, but the names of people seeking employment would have to be divulged. 

My story apparently threw some Council members for a loop. That's because Council President Lori Vargo Heffner refused to share the information with anyone, even the members of the committee tasked with going through the applications. She claims to be concerned with protecting the privacy of applicants, but that concern betrays a complete misunderstanding of the Open Records law and the need to be as transparent as possible in government. 

As Judge Damon J. Keith once warned, “[d]emocracies die behind closed doors….When government begins closing doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation.”

Vargo-Heffner should certainly have disclosed the identity of all 22 applicants to her fellow Council members and was wrong to keep this to herself or get worked up in a lather because a member of the public had it. 

Ron Heckman seemed to also think that the identity of public job applicants is some sort of state secret. "It's a personnel issue," he protests. The identity of an applicant or proposed salary is no personnel issue. It is a matter of public record. 

They're both simply wrong, which is kind of scary because they both should know the importance of transparency in government, even when it comes to the hiring process. 

Knowing who is in the running for one of the highest paid positions in the county might trigger some red flags. 

Council member Ken Kraft was bothered that Vargo-Heffner decided how to seek applicants without getting Council members to vote on it. He was especially irate that she unilaterally changed the job description without the approval of five members of Council. Kraft said he probably would have voted for the procedure used or the change in job description, but Vargo Heffner never gave Council the opportunity. 

"Last I looked, we didn't elect a Queen," he snarked. She insisted that the Clerk position is a "private personnel matter," but there is nothing private about a Council Clerk. Her disciplinary record might be confidential, but who her identity is absolutely public. 

At one point, the duo began talking over each other and Vargo-Heffner began to silence Kraft. 

 "I have the floor, I took the floor, thank you. 

"Oh you took it. Ok, 

"I did.

"Because you're the Queen and we're just your servants. Is that what it is?" 

At that point, two Swiss guards removed Kraft and beheaded him. 

NorCo Dem Party Boss Survives Coup Attempt

Last month, I told you that NorCo Dem Exec Committee voted that it has no confidence on party chair Matt Munsey. It did so on the basis of the following: (1) Undercutting elected incumbents Sal Panto, Susan Wild and Bob Freeman . (He's been accused of circulating petitions for challengers and texting talking points during the Easton Mayoral debate); (2) Participating in a GOP effort to undermine public confidence in our voting system to a State Senate Committee whose real goal is to disenfranchise voters; (3) He refuses to conduct regular party meetings; and (4) He has ignored party bylaws requiring a separate treasurer; and (5) has denied party resources to area committees. But at a meeting on Tuesday night, Munsey survived an attempt to remove him as chair. 

The same group that supported the vote of no confidence presented some grievances and wanted to remove Munsey as chair. By a vote of 26-6, the Executive Committee determined that the charges had not been sufficiently proven or investigated, and by a similar vote of 26-6, the Executive Committee voted to dismiss any further action with regards to the Chair until after the November election.

UPDATED: Pa. State Police Nab Taiba Sultana's Children As They Vandalize Campaign Signs

As I told you on Monday, Pa Citizens PAC is an independent political action committee formed by immigration attorney Ray Lahoud purely to oppose Taiba Sultana's candidacy for the state house seat held by Bob Freeman. Lahoud seeded it with $45,000 of his own money so he could actively campaign against her and reported his spending as required by our campaign finance laws. Part of his spending included the purchase of signs like the one you see with this story. They began appearing throughout the 136th district early this week. Yesterday morning, they started to disappear. Many were also vandalized with black spray paint. 

Usually, these crimes are committed in the middle of the night, away from prying eyes. But the idiots engaged in this criminal mischief were doing so in broad daylight. Yesterday afternoon, Pennsylvania State Police nabbed two minors at the busy 13th and Bushkill Streets intersection as they were spray-painting the anti-Sultana signs. Waiting for them in a car was a third person who may be an adult or minor. All three happen to be Taiba Sultana's children. 

Pennsylvania State Police notified Easton police, and at least two of these children were taken into custody. 

Pa. Citizens PAC has released the following statement:

This afternoon, PA Citizens PAC was contacted by the Easton Police Department. According to arresting officers, Pennsylvania State Police observed two individuals spray painting and defacing PA Citizens PAC's signs opposing Taiba Sultana's candidacy for the Pennsylvania State House.

PA Citizens PAC was informed that the two individuals were children of Easton City Council Member Taiba Sultana (and candidate for the PA State House), apparently at the request of their mother. PA State Police observed the two defacing the political signs and, upon approach, found each with cans of black spray paint. The two were taken into custody.

PA Citizens PAC believes in the right of all to speak freely and has respected Taiba Sultana's whenever she exercised the same. Unfortunately, while Ms. Sultana proclaims her support for the rights enshrined in the United States Constitution and protests for others across the world to enjoy those rights, Ms. Sultana has, time and again, demonstrated a complete lack of respect for others who wish to exercise those very same rights.

PA Citizens PAC urges Ms. Sultana to take time to immediately resign as a member of Easton's City Council and end her candidacy for PA House District 136.

Amazingly, Easton resident Frank Graziano spotted Sultana's adult son at the 25th Street and Freemansburg Avenue intersection yesterday afternoon at 4:30 pm as he removed anti-Sultana signs and threw them in the back of his Honda Civic, Frank called Easton police, so it should be no surprise if charges are filed against this person. 

Vandalizing a campaign sign is usually just a summary offense but can be a misdemeanor depending on the amount of damage caused. Stealing a campaign sign is a third-degree misdemeanor. If Sultana encouraged her children to vandalize and steal campaign signs, she could be charged with solicitation, conspiracy or corrupting the morals of minors. I'd like to know if the minor children were in school yesterday.  I sometimes wonder whether Sultana is a female version of Dickens' Fagin. 

No matter how much you might dislike them, campaign signs are core political speech fundamental to American democracy. 

Sultana has previously claimed that she is a victim of political retaliation by Mayor Sal Panto. She said so after she was charged last summer with assaulting her adult son. She has also accused Hizzoner of racism and just about every other 'ism there is. But her children were initially caught by Pa State Police, not Easton Police, so it's getting harder for her to claim that she's a Panto victim. But she will. Right now, her Facebook pages are strangely on radio silence. 

I should end this by noting that Bob Freeman had nothing to do with Lahoud's campaign signs. Freeman's campaign insists he has never been associated with those kinds of tactics. Lahoud, in contrast, loves rolling around in the gutter and especially likes to be compared to either Soros or the Koch brothers. He's very naughty. But he followed the law. Sultana's family, and perhaps Sultana herself, broke it. 

UPDATED 12:30 PM: Sultana Plays Victim Card, Yet Again! - In Morning Call coverage of the campaign sign vandalism, Sultana admits the tampering by two of her underage children, but for the 1,678.456th time, claims she's been targeted because she's progressive and a minority.

NorCo Elections to Use New Live Dashboard For Results

From NorCo Elections Office: The Northampton County Elections Office announced that beginning with the General Primary Election on Tuesday, April 23rd, Northampton County will have a new way of reporting election results.

 Designed by Tenex Software Solutions, Inc., a new Live Results dashboard will be located on the Elections Division website. [www.norcopa.gov/election-result] The dashboard will reflect the unofficial results in real-time as they are processed starting at 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, April 23rd, and will continue to be updated until every eligible ballot has been processed and counted.

 

Ballots cast by voters either in person, by Absentee or Mail-in ballot are processed at varying times according to what is permitted by Pennsylvania law. The unofficial results will not include write-in candidates’ results until canvass is finished.

 

During higher turnout elections, this process may take longer to complete.

 

Pre-canvass will begin at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. The official computation and canvass of the votes cast from the April 23, 2024 Election will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 26, 2024.

 

Election results are not considered official until after they are certified by the Northampton County Election Commission during a public meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

UPDATED: McClelland Did File Timely Finance Report

On Monday, I reported that Democratic State Treasurer candidate Erin McClelland had been tagged by the Department of State for failure to file her 2d Friday Pre-Primary Finance Report, which was due on Friday. A person who would like to manage state finances should be doing an exemplary job of reporting her own campaign finances. I was already set against her, but this was the final nail in her coffin for me.

I just pulled that nail out. The Department of State was wrong when it included McClelland in its "did not file" list. She had, in fact, filed a timely report. 

I apologize for misleading you. 

Two Ways To Revive Our Troubled Democracy

Donald Trump has done his very best to undermine democracy (yes, I know it is not a pure democracy) in America by assailing the free press and attacking the integrity of our elections. While I think his real goal is autocracy, I agree with conservatives and liberals who think we could really improve our democratic form of government with two simple changes. In an article entitled "Democracy Die in Primaries" and publishes in conservative Rael Clear Politics, Nick Troiano lists them. 

"The reason our elected leaders don’t seem to represent us is because, quite literally, most of us don’t elect them."

1) Open the Primaries Already. - In closed primary states like Pa, we see low turnouts that cater to party extremists. "So far in 2024, nearly a third of U.S. House seats have already been decided by only 3% of eligible votes in the eight states that have held primaries for offices other than the presidency. In 2022, 8% of voters elected 83% of Congress."

2) You Need a Majority to Win. - "Consider how the 2024 election might have been different had these principles been in effect. First, had the GOP required a majority winner in the 2016 primaries, Donald Trump might not have become the nominee with only a plurality (45%) of the vote. Second, without Trump’s victory that year, there would likely be no Biden rematch in 2024, and therefore no efforts to run candidates like Dean Phillips off primary ballots. Third, majority-winner elections using ranked choice voting would level the playing field for independent and third party candidates rather than dismissing them out of hand as spoilers."

NorCo Exec Lamont McClure Has Found a New Director of Corrections

Below is the resume of Dr. Michael Pittaro. He's the man that NorCo Exec Lamont McClure intends to appoint to replace Corrections Director Jim Kostura after 31 years of dedicated service to the county. Kostura intends to retire on May 10. He's a former Navy Seal who strted at the jail as a corrections officer. He credits these officers, and not himself, for being the best in the state, and his boast appears to be backed uo by glowing inspection reports. He will be hard to replace, but I've never seen a more detailed resume than that of Dr. Pittaro. His nomination will have to be confirmed by County Council.

Pittaro Resume by BernieOHare on Scribd

Pa State Rep. Bob Freeman Raises $66k in Quest For Re-Election: Also Benefitting From Ray Lahoud

According to his latest report with the State, filed Friday, State Rep. Bob Freeman has raised $66,000 in his bid for re-election to the 136th Legislative district. He also reports $24k worth of in-kind contributions. Going into the final days of the campaign, he was sitting on nearly $63k.

His most recent report lists $26.5 in contributions from unions and fellow legislators. In-kind contributions, mostly from the Pa House Dem Campaign Commitee, appear to have funded at least three mailers. 

What about his opponent, Taiba Sultana? She has filed, but her report is still unavailable on the state website. The state elections office informs me that data from some reports is still being imported. When I see her report, I will tell you about it. 

I can tell you that an independent expenditure committee has been formed in opposition to Sultana. This committee, formed by Ray Lahoud and funded with $45,000 out of his own pocket, is exposing her as she should be exposed. 

Lahoud, incidentally, is an immigration attorney and knows all about the plight of immigrants in this country. He needs no lectures from Sultana. 

I'm Falling Apart

A few weeks ago, I told you that I'm basically blind in my left eye as a result of cataracts. That issue will hopefully be addressed soon. But I'm still falling apart. A month ago, I suffered an injury to my shoulder while lifting. That has been slow to heal, but I was doing quite well with some stretches. Until yesterday.

A friend wanted me with her during an appointment she had with Palmer Police yesterday after her parked car was hit over the weekend. I told her there was nothing police could do, and I would be useless, but she insisted. So, I went. And because the weather was so nice, I rode my bike along a number of back roads that are always more hilly than they seem when you're driving. 

I was right. There waws nothing police or I could do. After the interview had concluded, I started to get on my bike, which was right next to her car, where she made me move it. For some reason, I lost my balance and went over. I landed right on the very shoulder that was healing rather nicely. Now it isn't. 

It could have been worse. I fell over right by her car. She did not notice and began backing up and missed running me over by about six inches. She never saw me laying there and just drove off. Eventually, I got up and rode home to an ice pack and Aleve.  

Believe it or not, I still enjoyed the ride and look forward to Ironton Trail tonight, where I will try to beat my grandson 

Stollsteimer Leads in Money Race for Dem AG Candidates

The campaign finance reports of three out of five Democratic candidates for Attorney General. Because the state elections office is still importing data from reports into their system, the reports filed by Jared Solomon and Keir Bradford-Grey are unavailable. Reports are on file for Eugene De Pasquale, Joe Khan and Jack Stollsteimer. 

Of these three, Stollsteimer is way ahead in the money game. He raised $353k in the most recent filing period, which gave him a $$871k warchest. He spent $637k, leaving him with $234k for the closing days. He is heavily funded by trade unions.

Joe Khan raised $276k in the most recent reporting period, giving him a total of $619k. He spent $479k, leaving him with $140k. Locally, he did get a $10k contribution from State Rep Josh Siegel, who while qa member of Allentown City Council voted No to police grants and participated in "Fuck the Police" demonstrations. 

If I were Khan, I'd have sent that money back. 

Eugene DePasquale raised $88k in the most recent reporting period, giving him a warchest of $226k. He spent $132k and had $94k for the closing days of his race. 

Making Russia Great Again

The world is a scary place. Donald Trump as President will make it much worse. That is my chief objection to him as President. He endangers national security. His unwillingness to stand by allies undermines our own safety. 

He has stated that, contrary to our treaty obligations, he would refuse to help defend NATO allies who are "delinquent" in contributing to their own defense in the event they are attacked by Russia. “No, I would not protect you ... . In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”

It's bad enough that this bible hawker is unable to keep his own word, as numerous contractors can attest. But he will refuse to stand by America's treaty obligations as well. 

Incidentally, the requirement that NATO nations devote 2% of GDP to their own defense is a benchmark set in 2014, not a treaty obligation. The person who asked nations to pay more was Barack Obama.  

Two Tragic Lsses For Us

Over the past week, two people who I admired very much passed away. They had little in common. One was a hard drinker was completely capable of telling people to shove it when he was tired of their bullshit. The other went out of his way to be kind-hearted and forgiving to everyone, even me. They did have one thing in common.  They cared. 

The former is John Kachmar, who died Friday after a lengthy illness. After graduating from Notre Dame Green Pond, he served in the Marines, ended up in Vietnam and was wounded in action. 

My father, a WWII vet who was wounded in action himself, never talked to me about the war or his experiences as a POW. After being released from the service, Kachmar attended Moravian and wanted to interview my father about the war. Although my Dad tried to duck the interview, Kachmar's father was a bigwig with the local Democratic party and put the heat on. 

During the interview, my dad was initially evasive when asked about his war experience. But he eventually let John have it.

"Excuse me, but what the hell makes you think you know what it was like?"

"Because I was wounded myself in Vietnam."

My father talked to Kachmar after that. They actually became drinking buddies. One night, Kachmar had a tap on his door, and it was my dad with acclaimed novelist Kurt Vonnegut. That trio formed an unlikely bond while Kachmar was still a student at Moravian College. 

Many people think if they wear camouflage or prance around wrapped in a flag and a bazooka at a Trump rally, that makes them patriots. Getting shot in the gut for your country is what makes you a patriot.  

I eventually met John as well, mostly when he worked for former Congressman Don Ritter and was administering Lehigh County.  Kachmar spent several years managing municipalities throughout the country, mostly in the South. In fact, he actually helped establish several local governments.  

We became re-acquainted again when he returned to Bethlehem and took on Willie Reynolds in the Bethlehem Mayoral race.

The latter is Deacon Anthony Koury. 

If you attended Notre Dame Green Pond athletic contests at any point in the past century, you undoubtedly saw him. He worked there for 43 years. 

During his time with the Crusaders, Koury did it all. He was a gym and social studies teacher, traffic director and maintenance supervisor. He was also the school's athletic director. In that role, he was able to persuade Alberell Electric to contribute outdoor lighting for football games. He sweet-talked Young Volkswagon into building a scoreboard. He also lobbied for and finally succeeded in getting Notre Dame into a league. But the accomplishment of which he is proud is convincing the PIAA to allow small schools to join forces for a team sports. As a result, Notre Dame became the beneficiary of gifted football players from Moravian Academy. And Moravian Academy added some Notre Dame girls to its field hockey teams.

I got to know him when he worked as a tipstaff. We were frequent lunch companions. In the years I knew him, I never once heard him say a negative thing about anyone. He would fail as a blogger. But as a human being, he excelled. 

22 Apply For NorCo Council Clerk Position

At the end of the April 4 meeting, NorCo Council President Lori Vargo Heffner announced that she as seeking applications for the Council Clerk, now that Linda Zembo is retiring. The pay is ridiculously high, $107,482 a year. That's over three times what most clerks are paid in the county. The one downside is that it is an exempt position, meaning the position is at-will. 

As of Friday, 22 people applied for this job. Only two are current county employees. An external hire would have a long learning curve.  I am a bit shocked to see that 19 of the 22 applicants are women, and that very few men or women have anything close to qualifying work experience. 

Council should cast the line again, a little closer to shore.  An effort should be made to hire someone who works for and understands the county. I can think pf people in different departments who would be excellent in this role.