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Pawlowski to Drop Guv Bid, Endorse McCord

Ed Pawlowski
Ed Pawlowski

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski will end his bid for Governor, numerous Democratic sources tell PoliticsPA. He will endorse Treasurer Rob McCord on Monday.

Pawlowski campaign manager Mike Fleck declined to confirm or deny the move.

“I have no information on that now. But there will be an announcement on Monday,” Fleck told PoliticsPA.

Several Democrats who had announced their support for Pawlowski said that the Mayor had informed them of the decision.

PoliticsPA was unable to reach McCord’s campaign for comment.

Pawlowski faced a number of challenges in his longshot bid. His Lehigh Valley base doesn’t comprise an overwhelming percentage of Pa. Democrats. He got a late start, officially declaring his bid in September. And he did not deliver a standout performance during a handful of debates and forums thus far.

But perhaps most compelling was fundraising. Although Pawlowsi’s campaign finance report has not yet posted, several Democrats said the Mayor had raised only around half a million dollars in 2013. The fundraising leader in the primary, Tom Wolf, brought in over $13 million.

Earlier Friday, Pawlowski’s campaign did not respond to a request for his fundraising report.

11 Responses

  1. So, is McCord for PPPs, aka 3 Ps, public-private -partnerships? Of course, PPPs are privatization deals. This is a question the debates/forums need to ask the Dems—-of course Corbett loves PPPs.

  2. Jackb1977-

    Admittedly, I don’t live there. However, my impression was that there was more to it, possibly how it was bid or it wasn’t the right amount of money. Hopefully, some of my friends from Allentown will drop in and clarify the details as they were vocal trying to get City Council to look into the matter, hold hearings, etc. They know the details. I just got the Cliff Notes summary.

    Much has been made of Allentown’s “successes” downtown for building and construction. However, I got the distinct impression that it was the “Haves” that were making out and the “Have Nots” sections weren’t getting their share of community development and infrastructure improvement.

    We’ll have to wait for the campaign finance reports to see how much Pawlowski spent on “consultants”. As for Fleck, the impression I get is that if Pawlowski wanted to “shut down a bridge for a traffic study”, that Fleck would be his go-to guy making it happen. 🙂

  3. The water is still controlled by a public entity, Lehigh County. So that wouldn’t be going to private interests. Also, the vast majority of the $ went to fully fund the pensions of all the city employees. That seems like a win in my book.

    Listen, I think Fleck and those guys are worthless as well. You should give some credit though to Allentown making some progress. It’s one of the few cities in PA doing much of anything.

    I do agree that his campaign was a waste of time though.

  4. I have a few political friends who live in Allentown. They were all opposed to the water deal, particularly how it was handled behind closed doors and without sufficient transparency or public commentary. Beyond that, it seemed to be a sell out of a public resource to private interests.

    My friends there were much closer to the issue, and had far less kind things to say about the Mayor on this and other issues. I trust my friends’ judgments on Pawlowski and his unworthiness for office.

  5. Ed P. was a joke to begin with. His strategy was that no one would run against an incumbent. Missed on that one. Bet the consultants make money and get picked up by McCord. Waste of time and money.

  6. David,

    What don’t you like about the water deal? Just curious to get your opinion on this.

  7. “I have no information on that now. But there will be an announcement on Monday,” Fleck told PoliticsPA

    Total BS. Fleck is one of Pawlowski’s top cronies. He is so far up Pawlowski’s hind-quarters he can’t see the light day.

    There is no way that Fleck wouldn’t have been intimately involved in any discussions to pull out. Fleck most likely would have been the one to bring the bad news to Pawlowski that his campaign was doomed in the first place.

    Pawlowski’s poor showing and lack of viability is no surprise. Pawlowski’s independent opponent in Nov got 40% of the vote, despite Pawlowski finagling his way onto BOTH the Dem and Rep ballots (and already being a two term incumbent with tons of money).

    Pawlowski’s been touting his record, like on the water deal, but that was one of the reasons so many voters voted against him.

    Good riddance.

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