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.