Nyce vs. Ferraro

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

Nyce vs. Ferraro

Doctor Octopus · Member

glenn is just a little boring. i'm as party line as you can get, but he's about as exciting as a cup of lukewarm bethlehem tapwater

he'd beat ferraro before he beat nyce though

go ferraro!

newbie · Newbie

With any luck at all, Glenn will get defeated in the primary.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: newbie
"With any luck at all, Glenn will get defeated in the primary."

Has his opponent raised a significant amount of money? Has anyone of importance endorsed him? It doesn't appear that he has been getting a lot of press.

Doctor Octopus · Member

I'm a yellow dog Democrat and I have no idea who is running against Reibman.

Whoever his opponent is has no one backing him at all. I was at the official Democratic Party endorsement of Reibman and everyone seemed to like him pretty well, and he certainly has full backing from the party.

Valo · Member

Glenn's opponent is a guy named John Stoffa. He's the former Director of Human Servies in Northampton and Lehigh Counties. He has experience and was endorsed by the Express-Times.

newbie · Newbie

Stoffa's web site is at http://www.johnstoffa.com

The news page has links to all of the articles that have appeared in the Call and the Express Times.

He has been endorsed by the Express Times - and was endorsed by the Call when he ran for council in 2001.

I know he has been doing mailings to a very targeted list and has been receiving a good response. He's sending out more material this coming week to a larger mailing list.

The only press I can find about Reibman's campaign has been when he responds to John's charges - Reibman doesn't appear willing to discuss issues and he will not debate Stoffa. Frankly, Reibman appears to me to be an arrogant cuss who doesn't care much what the voters think.

I don't know what's going on with the county Dems - that outfit seems to not care very much what the rank and file here - I have been a Lehigh Valley Democrat for 30 years and have NEVER heard a damn thing from the party leadership - no contact at all - no requests for help or money, etc.

Valo · Member

Same here. The Northampton County Dems. are worthless. It's a shame we keep getting our butt's kicked.

amodernphoenix · Member

Well, I suspect we will not get our butt kicked this time around. King Glenn will be dethroned in November, as long as the voters have enough sense to nominate Peg Ferraro in the Primary. Doug Dodge, another candidate in the Primary is a good guy with great ideals, but he just doesn't have the experience working with Glenn to be able to read him the way Peg does. Glenn will try to run all over whoever he faces and all of Peg's experience with the County Council, as well as her proven results and integrity, make her an ideal candidate.

As for the other opponent, Bob Nyce, I would bet the voters will send him a clear message next Tuesday. Out of three candidates, it won't be too suprising to see him come in third. In this campaign, he hit below the belt one too many times and spent all his time attacking his opponents, rather than promoting his own agenda. Plus, his complaints about the website thing are just getting silly, I mean come on. I can understand he would be mad about it initially, after all, Peg thought of it before he did. But Peg ended the issue by giving the site back months ago. Why is he still whining about it all this time later, rather than talking about important issues like our high taxes, lack of open space and the frivilous county spending? And regarding what he did to those nice ladies at the Republican Women of Northampton County event, I think his behavior speaks for itself.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: amodernphoenix
"Well, I suspect we will not get our butt kicked this time around. King Glenn will be dethroned in November, as long as the voters have enough sense to nominate Peg Ferraro in the Primary. Doug Dodge, another candidate in the Primary is a good guy with great ideals, but he just doesn't have the experience working with Glenn to be able to read him the way Peg does. Glenn will try to run all over whoever he faces and all of Peg's experience with the County Council, as well as her proven results and integrity, make her an ideal candidate. As for the other opponent, Bob Nyce, I would bet the voters will send him a clear message next Tuesday. Out of three candidates, it won't be too suprising to see him come in third. In this campaign, he hit below the belt one too many times and spent all his time attacking his opponents, rather than promoting his own agenda. Plus, his complaints about the website thing are just getting silly, I mean come on. I can understand he would be mad about it initially, after all, Peg thought of it before he did. But Peg ended the issue by giving the site back months ago. Why is he still whining about it all this time later, rather than talking about important issues like our high taxes, lack of open space and the frivilous county spending? And regarding what he did to those nice ladies at the Republican Women of Northampton County event, I think his behavior speaks for itself."

This is no chance that Dodge will finish anything but a distant third. He hasn't raised any money to get his message out, and doesn't have any name ID from previous campaigns or office-holding.

amodernphoenix · Member

Yeah, I do understand where you're coming from. I am just really against Bob Nyce, especially after looking through some of the literature he has sent to voters. To me, there's a difference between going after a person's record, like Peg Ferraro did on Bob's tax record and overspending of taxpayer money, and the negative attacks Bob Nyce made on her as a person. He called her pathetic, desperate and on many occasions, dishonest. Even the dishonest claim, if he could back it up, would be legitimate. However, he has never been able to find even one instance in her 30+ years in office to support that claim. To me, that says something right there. As for the new story about the way he verbally attacked women in front of a large audience, it only makes me like him less. It just happened by a matter of chance, I was actually there that night and saw his behavior first-hand. Everything the report said about the night is true, it was surreal. I can't believe a candidate for public office would do something like that.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: amodernphoenix
"Yeah, I do understand where you're coming from. I am just really against Bob Nyce, especially after looking through some of the literature he has sent to voters. To me, there's a difference between going after a person's record, like Peg Ferraro did on Bob's tax record and overspending of taxpayer money, and the negative attacks Bob Nyce made on her as a person. He called her pathetic, desperate and on many occasions, dishonest. Even the dishonest claim, if he could back it up, would be legitimate. However, he has never been able to find even one instance in her 30+ years in office to support that claim. To me, that says something right there. As for the new story about the way he verbally attacked women in front of a large audience, it only makes me like him less. It just happened by a matter of chance, I was actually there that night and saw his behavior first-hand. Everything the report said about the night is true, it was surreal. I can't believe a candidate for public office would do something like that."

What news story are you talking about?

amodernphoenix · Member

Bob Nyce Insults Republican Women of Northampton County

In an evening that was supposed to be an opportunity for members of the Republican Women of Northampton County to meet the candidates for Northampton County Executive, one candidate instead, took the opportunity to insult and belittle the Republican Women in attendance.

Bob Nyce, candidate for County Executive, commenced the question and answer session by telling executive board member (and Area Chairman from Forks Township), June Vail, that he won’t “waste his time” addressing her question. Mrs. Vail had voiced a concern about the negative campaigning in the County Executive race.

Nyce grew visibly angry, as he raised his voice to the her and shot back, “I didn’t come here to defend my campaign, I’m not going to waste my time debating you on this.” He then informed the audience of about 30 that he didn’t believe his campaign had gone negative.

Though the group seemed shocked at Nyce’s unprovoked response, the forum continued with a question from another executive board member (and City Chairman from Easton,) Merrielee Legath. Legath made reference to one of the mailings Nyce sent to voters accusing his opponent, Peg Ferraro, of supporting the failed Ballpark in Williams Township with tax dollars. Legath asked Nyce how much of the money spent on the project was from Northampton County tax dollars.

Nyce responded sharply that he wasn’t there to debate her [Legath] either and the money was spent by County Council so long ago, it wasn’t his concern. He said he would rather focus on how to avoid spending taxpayer money on projects like the Ballpark in the future. Legath asked him again, how much taxpayer money did County Council spend on the project and Nyce responded, “Hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

At this point, the three Northampton County Council members in the room were asked by the Republican Women to address the question. Mary Ennslin, Peg Ferraro and Tim Merwarth each stated that as far as they know, County Council did not spend any money on the project, all money came from other sources. They elaborated further that the money Nyce made reference to actually $150,000 and it was the result of a lawsuit paid by the Executive Administration, not a County Council vote. Nyce’s response was that he had been told differently.

The last question Nyce was asked before he sat down, was regarding his attendance at County Council meetings. One of the audience members asked Nyce if it was true that he had never attended a Council meeting, to which Nyce responded, “Yes.” At this point, the audience member asked why he had chosen not to attend and pointed out that every other candidate for County Executive had.attended meetings.

Again, Nyce was visibly angry as he told the audience that he didn’t feel he should have to "waste his time attending Council meetings" until he had the Republican Nomination. Then he would start coming. As for the point of the other candidates attending County Council meetings, Nyce responded sarcastically, “Good for them. Congratulations.”

This exchange between Nyce and the audience member further exemplified the critical difference between Nyce and Ferraro. While Ferraro has 12 years of Northampton County government experience, Nyce has none.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: amodernphoenix
" Bob Nyce Insults Republican Women of Northampton County In an evening that was supposed to be an opportunity for members of the Republican Women of Northampton County to meet the candidates for Northampton County Executive, one candidate instead, took the opportunity to insult and belittle the Republican Women in attendance. Bob Nyce, candidate for County Executive, commenced the question and answer session by telling executive board member (and Area Chairman from Forks Township), June Vail, that he won’t “waste his time” addressing her question. Mrs. Vail had voiced a concern about the negative campaigning in the County Executive race. Nyce grew visibly angry, as he raised his voice to the her and shot back, “I didn’t come here to defend my campaign, I’m not going to waste my time debating you on this.” He then informed the audience of about 30 that he didn’t believe his campaign had gone negative. Though the group seemed shocked at Nyce’s unprovoked response, the forum continued with a question from another executive board member (and City Chairman from Easton,) Merrielee Legath. Legath made reference to one of the mailings Nyce sent to voters accusing his opponent, Peg Ferraro, of supporting the failed Ballpark in Williams Township with tax dollars. Legath asked Nyce how much of the money spent on the project was from Northampton County tax dollars. Nyce responded sharply that he wasn’t there to debate her [Legath] either and the money was spent by County Council so long ago, it wasn’t his concern. He said he would rather focus on how to avoid spending taxpayer money on projects like the Ballpark in the future. Legath asked him again, how much taxpayer money did County Council spend on the project and Nyce responded, “Hundreds of thousands of dollars.” At this point, the three Northampton County Council members in the room were asked by the Republican Women to address the question. Mary Ennslin, Peg Ferraro and Tim Merwarth each stated that as far as they know, County Council did not spend any money on the project, all money came from other sources. They elaborated further that the money Nyce made reference to actually $150,000 and it was the result of a lawsuit paid by the Executive Administration, not a County Council vote. Nyce’s response was that he had been told differently. The last question Nyce was asked before he sat down, was regarding his attendance at County Council meetings. One of the audience members asked Nyce if it was true that he had never attended a Council meeting, to which Nyce responded, “Yes.” At this point, the audience member asked why he had chosen not to attend and pointed out that every other candidate for County Executive had.attended meetings. Again, Nyce was visibly angry as he told the audience that he didn’t feel he should have to "waste his time attending Council meetings" until he had the Republican Nomination. Then he would start coming. As for the point of the other candidates attending County Council meetings, Nyce responded sarcastically, “Good for them. Congratulations.” This exchange between Nyce and the audience member further exemplified the critical difference between Nyce and Ferraro. While Ferraro has 12 years of Northampton County government experience, Nyce has none. "

Is this an actual newspaper article or just a hit piece put out by the Ferraro campaign?

amodernphoenix · Member

I checked into it, that was a review of the Candidates Night, written by 4 of the people who were there. Sorry it took so long to find the answer, wanted to be correct before I posted.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: amodernphoenix
"I checked into it, that was a review of the Candidates Night, written by 4 of the people who were there. Sorry it took so long to find the answer, wanted to be correct before I posted."

Written by whom? Peg Ferraro supporters?

LV Dem · Veteran Member

Looks like the GOP had a nasty election with a surprising outcome. The real question is "what does Nyce do without Reibman to bash!" Looks like he will need to define himself rather than be an alternative to the big nasty man.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: LV Dem
"Looks like the GOP had a nasty election with a surprising outcome. The real question is "what does Nyce do without Reibman to bash!" Looks like he will need to define himself rather than be an alternative to the big nasty man."

Nyce has an impressive resume and solid campaign experience. Stoffa seems to be well-qualified for the position, but it remains to be seen if he has the political skills to be elected. I wonder how much his win had to do with popularity as opposed to his opponent's unpopularity.

Either of these men will be a vast improvement over Reibman.

penfan · Newbie

I wouldn't underestimate Stoffa. What he accomplished ... with a small core group of helpers, without any party support, and with a relatively small budget .. is nothing short of remarkable. A quick look at his website (www.johnstoffa.com) and the mailers that he distributed makes it clear he is the real thing.

It is hard to imagine that anyone could spend decades in county government with his success and not be politically astute. Certainly voters were responding to Reibman's lack of popularity; at the same time, Stoffa was clearly viewed as a very good alternative.

Nyce has his hands full now ... and my prediction is that Stoffa will be the clear winner come November.

sleeper · Member

I agree that what Stoffa pulled off was quite astonishing. I wouldn't have guessed it. At the same time though, Nyce beat the party, as he so eloquently stated in his victory speech. Nyce obviously doesn't come off as a "nyce guy", and that is the very reason I believe he will be successful in the fall. Like it or not, people vote not for the winner, but against the loser, and Nyce certainly has the political experience and savy to paint Stoffa as the bad guy. To be sure, who would have ever thought of Peg as the "bad guy"?

LV Dem · Veteran Member

It's clear to me that neither of these guys are losers. They both pulled major wins against tough candidates. Nyce might have the experience, but Stoffa isn't wet behind the ears. He pulled off a primary upset. All of that being said, there will be a rush to try to define the other guy before the other guy defines us. I don't think this campaign is going to be a standard negative campaign in any strict sense of the word, but I don't think it's going to be pretty either.

Valo · Member

We're finally going to have a real race in the Lehigh Valley this November with Nyce and Stoffa. It'll be more interesting than Ervin and Cunningham.

FormerLVGOPer · Veteran Member

quote:
Originally posted by: sleeper
"I agree that what Stoffa pulled off was quite astonishing. I wouldn't have guessed it. At the same time though, Nyce beat the party, as he so eloquently stated in his victory speech. Nyce obviously doesn't come off as a "nyce guy", and that is the very reason I believe he will be successful in the fall. Like it or not, people vote not for the winner, but against the loser, and Nyce certainly has the political experience and savy to paint Stoffa as the bad guy. To be sure, who would have ever thought of Peg as the "bad guy"? "

People who have been around know that Peg is quite capable of being the "bad guy." Back in 1994 she ran a nasty campaign against Joe Uliana, and just like this time, it was not successful.

penfan · Newbie

Nyce won't get far trying to paint Stoffa as the bad guy. It's not clear how he would even go about doing it. And I suspect that Stoffa will try to stick to the issues and won't run a negative campaign (there are plenty of others more than willing to do the dirty work).

Nyce needs to define himself around the issues, or he will be in trouble. At the same time, Stoffa needs to rev up his campaign. If those things happen, this will be some race.

LVGOP · Member

Peggy's campaign was more shameful this time than her primary with Uliana. She was a good party chair, though sometimes acted like a dictator, but she has been and always will be a terrible candidate. Awful on the stump, slow on her feet, and way too liberal while not being smart or quick enough to cover it up.

For the record, I think there are just as many people who would say Peg is mean as would say she is not. lol Thank goodness Bob Nyce put the nail in her political coffin, she is probably the only one of the three Republicans in that primary that would have lost to Stoffa.

Go Bob Nyce!