King Edwin has sent a Royal Proclamation to all His loyal subjects, telling them he'd like "to give back to a community that has given so much to me." But instead of digging into His own pocket, He wants you to dig into yours for His 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament, to benefit the Lehigh Senior Center. I'll agree this is a worthy charity for a politician. Seniors do vote. But how is Hizzoner giving something back? He's really just asking you to give something back.
He's not giving a dime. Even the large donation check for the senior center is paid with campaign funds that come from Pawlowski's contributors, not his own purse.
37 comments:
In the picture,which one of the three golfers is the mayor
Bernie,
Is this the same Lehigh Senior Center that's on S. Elm in Allentown?
Can you scan the invitation and post it?
Let's hope he swings a golf club better than he throws a ball.
"Is this the same Lehigh Senior Center that's on S. Elm in Allentown?"
Yes.
"Can you scan the invitation and post it?"
I don't have time to scan it today. Tight schedule. Here's a cut and paste job:
"Dear Friends,
I would like to thank you for your support in last week’s election. Because of your efforts, I received the most votes of any candidate for Lehigh County Democratic State Committee. We also delivered a major victory for Dan Onorato for Governor. Dan took over 56% of the vote in the Lehigh Valley in a four person race. Wow! I am thankful for all your hard work and effort. It will result in great things for Allentown and Lehigh County .
I would also like to invite you to a golf outing with me. This is my 4th Annual Charity Golf Tournament. Click flyer is below or click this link: http://www.lehighseniors.org/golf-June10.htm to register.
As Mayor, I try to give back to a community that has given so much to me and this golf tournament is a small way I can help an organization that needs our help and the support, the Lehigh County Senior Center .
I ask you to come and support this effort and if you can not attend please consider taking an ad or a sponsorship. I hope to see you there.
Thank you again for your continued help and constant support to make Allentown , in particular, and the Lehigh Valley in general, a better place to live, raise a family, and retire.
Mayor Ed Pawlowski"
i have never seen an attempt to raise money for a senior center met with scorn. I am sure the mayor will give some of his own money, but the nature of a fundraiser is to ask other people to give too.
Lighten up. The moment you start to view charity as a horrible thing, the cynicism has become contempt.
I'm meeting it with scorn. First, it's not charity, but an attempt to grabn senior votes from people who mostly need no help. Second, he's not giving his money. He's convincing others to give their money. He can't even use his own money for the cardboard check.
I've never viewed charity as a horrible thing, but do view phonies who play on people's emotions as the lowest of the low.
"First, it's not charity, but an attempt to grabn senior votes from people who mostly need no help."
I might suggest a visit to the senior center and tell us if fitness isn't important for seniors, or companionship, or arts/culture, or computer training. But until then, I'll trust the United Way's perspective that it is a charity. Unless you want to state that the United Way is making allocations to non-charitable organizations.
"Second, he's not giving his money. He's convincing others to give their money."
How do you know he has not/will not give money to the Senior Center? Nobody's disputing his campaign committee funds, but have you viewed the donor list or can you confirm that a check from the pawlowski family won't be a part of this? But yes, he is asking other people to give. That's a good thing.
Go bahumbug yourself all day long. Good people are going to give to a good organization while you humph and scoff about it. You must feel really good about yourself.
I know he's not giving his money bc he was too cheap evven to use his money for the cardboard check. We all know he is a tightwad who hits others up, buit never spends a dime himself. this is just more of the same. Where's his pledge to give his own money? Nowhere.
As far as the charity iteself, the only reason money is going there is bc those seniors vote. There's no altruism.
Hmmm... let's draw a parallel for a moment. By holding a fundraiser, the mayor is hoping to get votes from senior center members. I'll accept your premise for a moment (though I find it replete with holes). Wouldn't it also be reasonable to then say that when a PAC raises money and then gives it to Charlie Dent, that it is fair to say that the PAC expects Charlie Dent to vote the way the PAC does? Well, I know you will say "no, that's not reasonable to say", but the honest answer would be "yes, that seems reasonable."
By using your logic, we can now say that by the same logic, Charlie Dent is now expected to vote the way the US Chamber of Commerce wants him to vote. Seeing that most LV businesses are not members of the US Chamber of Commerce, Charlie Dent is now expected to vote in a way that is contrary to his district. Thank you Bernie for making this so perfectly clear.
Socialism is great so long as you are using other people's money.
Bernie
Maybe you'd do a separate entry on Sestak? Issa: Sestak scandal could be Obama's 'Watergate'...
Rove: Sestak's lying or he's protecting a felon in Barack Obama's White House...
Republicans call for special prosecutor... Courtesy: Drudge
Since it's the same senior center,
we think its director is also the chair of the local democratic party which adds a bit of flavor to this entire situation.
When the final list of donor's comes out and a check from the Pawlowski's are included in it, will you issue a formal apology and correction?
No altruism? The organization struggled in 2009 and is doing so in 2010. It needs money to fulfill it's mission, but you are more intersted in challenging it's charitable purposes.
Feel good Bernie. Low income seniors count on this center and you are more interested in making a political statement. All the good you claim to do in being a watchdog is undone with these sad commentaries.
Thanks for the invitation Bernie.
You always get invited to everything. After reading the comment section, one writer does pose the most interesting debate.
Does Dent's endorsement by chamber
demand his loyal support? Only time and a good calculator will tell.
Go bahumbug yourself all day long. Good people are going to give to a good organization while you humph and scoff about it. You must feel really good about yourself.
10:25 AM
Bernie should be proud of himself. We didn't know about this issue until reading it here. Thanks Bernie.
Low income seniors count on this center and you are more interested in making a political statement.
You mean only low income seniors are allowed? That doesn't make sense. We've seen the program brooklet and no where does it ask income base, only what each class charges.
Lehigh County Democratic Party Officers Web site:
Chair Rick Daugherty
1st Vice-Chair Linda Minger
2nd Vice Chair Courtney Robinson
Secretary Helen Scheerens
Treasurer Celeste Dee
Lehigh Senior Center Staff
Executive Director
Rick Daugherty
Director of Development & Programming
Diane Nolan
Development Secretary
Julene Martin
Membership Services Coordinator
Elizabeth Rusin
Membership Secretary
Ethelene Cross
Financial Assistant
Samir Ibrahim
Office Assistant
Munis Bhalio
"Bernie should be proud of himself. We didn't know about this issue until reading it here. Thanks Bernie."
Hopefully you will be generous and give to a good cause. That's what the event is for.
"We've seen the program brooklet and no where does it ask income base, only what each class charges."
Go read the newsletter again. There is a member rate, a non-member rate and a LI rate... it stands for low income. I think for a single person, it is 23k and it is 50k for a couple. But there is clearly a Low Income level for each class.
"Second, he's not giving his money. He's convincing others to give their money."
Sounds like a typical Washington liberal. They want you to give all of your money, so they can be generous with it. With that platform, he is positioning for a run against Dent in 2012.
Among Pawlowski listed expenditures on Bernie's blog provided link are multiple funeral flower expenditures. Since, according to Friends of Pawlowski's own filing, this fund and not the mayor paid for these flowers. Surely then we must assume, Moody Bible College grad Pawlowski must have indicated such information on all those
Sympathy cards?
1-800-FLOWERS
Carle Place, NY 11514 6/29/2007 $42.98
Description: Condolence flowers for a supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top Go to Bottom
2 Expenditure Details 2
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-FLOWERS
Carle Place, NY 11514 6/21/2007 $40.98
Description: Sympathy flowers for supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top Go to Bottom
Page One of 221:
1 Expenditure Details 1
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-FLOWERS
Carle Place, NY 11514 6/29/2007 $42.98
Description: Condolence flowers for a supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top Go to Bottom
2 Expenditure Details 2
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-FLOWERS
Carle Place, NY 11514 6/21/2007 $40.98
Description: Sympathy flowers for supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top Go to Bottom
3 Expenditure Details 3
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-FLOWERS
Carle Place, NY 11514 6/14/2007 $62.98
Description: Sympathy flowers for supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top Go to Bottom
4 Expenditure Details 4
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-Flowers.com
Carle Place, NY 11514 2/9/2007 $57.98
Description: Sent Flowers to Rendell staffer as a thank you
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 1
Go to Top Go to Bottom
5 Expenditure Details 5
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-Flowers.com
Carle Place, NY 11514 1/22/2007 $52.98
Description: ?
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 1
Go to Top Go to Bottom
6 Expenditure Details 6
Recipient Date Amount
1800 Flowers
Carle Place, NY 11514 8/16/2007 $57.98
Description: Purchase flowers for supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top
"Sounds like a typical Washington liberal. They want you to give all of your money, so they can be generous with it. With that platform, he is positioning for a run against Dent in 2012."
Sounds like a typical Dittohead conservative tea-bagger. More interested in punishing the poor than in helping the community. With that platform, it sounds like your ready to be a part of the pathetic political machine that is the LV Tea Party.
"1 Expenditure Details 1
Recipient Date Amount
1-800-FLOWERS
Carle Place, NY 11514 6/29/2007 $42.98
Description: Condolence flowers for a supporter
Filer/Payer: Friends of Ed Pawlowski
Report: 2007 Cycle 5
Go to Top Go to Bottom "
The only thing that bugs me in this is that he is using a NY vendor and not one of the many great florists in Allentown.
"Sounds like a typical Dittohead conservative tea-bagger."
Typical liberal. You are forced to demagogue and try to marginalize anyone who disagrees with the policies in Washington. When that fails, then your pathetic attempt to use the poor as a way to score political points.
As Mayor, I try to give back to a community that has given so much to me and this golf tournament is a small way I can help an organization that needs our help and the support, the Lehigh County Senior Center .
Would the mayor's "people" explain to us actually how he is giving back to the community? Playing golf, eating some nice food and perhaps a drink or two, how is this giving back? If he was treating everyone to golf fees, now THAT would be giving back.
Good point about those flowers. Sorry we didn't think of it. Now Call reporter Renshaw should do a story.
Flower Fund:
As someone pointed out the mayor's campaign fund comprises more than 200 pages. We can only wonder how many arrangements were ordered at donors expense during the past four years and what that figure might have done to help
Allentown-based florists survive.
Bernie -
As many other posters have pointed out, the LC Senior Center is run by Lehigh County Democrat Chairperson Rick Daugherty.
The Senior Center is also a polling place.
I'm sure that it is also just a coincidence that a large cardboard check (advertising last year's contribution from the Friends of Ed Pawlowski) was prominently displayed in the Senior Center lobby during the 2009 election cycle.
Anon said:
"Seeing that most LV businesses are not members of the US Chamber of Commerce, Charlie Dent is now expected to vote in a way that is contrary to his district."
*********************************
Possibly the most asinine statement ever, but I'm sure you'll top it with your response.
Just because "most LV businesses are not members of the US Chamber of Commerce" doesn't mean that they are opposed to the Chamber's position on issues.
Let's carry your logic to today's blog post. I'm sure a majority of Allentown seniors don't use the Senior Center (it's fairly small). So by your thinking Pawlowski is opposed to a majority of seniors in Allentown.
"Let's carry your logic to today's blog post. I'm sure a majority of Allentown seniors don't use the Senior Center (it's fairly small). So by your thinking Pawlowski is opposed to a majority of seniors in Allentown."
No, the logic would be that since Pawlowski is raising money for the Senior Center while Bernie is calling it a horrible act, Pawlowski supports seniors and Bernie opposes them. But you are right: both statements are horribly illogical, but Bernie is the one who started the illogical rhetoric by claiming that this is all some kind of sham intended to draw votes.
"Bernie is the one who started the illogical rhetoric by claiming that this is all some kind of sham intended to draw votes."
It clearly is a sham intended just to draw votes. The LV Senior Center is a polling place. Its exec director, Rich Daugherty, just happens to chair the LC Dem party.
This is not charity - Pawlowski is just bribing voters.
"When the final list of donor's comes out and a check from the Pawlowski's are included in it, will you issue a formal apology and correction?"
The final list of donors will never come out. It never does. pawlowski operates in the shadows. But he'll take credit for money given by other people to encourage seniors to keep on voting for him. I know exactly what he is doing, and it ain't out of the goodness of his heart.
This is not the only such attempt at rewarding politicians. Pawlowski wrote a similar message sent out by his buddy Adrian from Muhlenberg College, now a leader at Civic Theater, asking others to join him in supporting the Civic Theater. It makes one wonder. There are many non-profits that never see a letter of support encouraging donations from the populace. Only Pawlowski sycophants are deserving of his support, as quid pro quo. Don't you think the City's 'truth squad" should look into this , rather than the Villa charges against Donovan? I believe it violates the charter, using his position for personal gain.
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