Scott Ott in it to Win?

It seems that Lehigh County Executive candidate Scott Ott might be in this thing to win. He hit the ground running and had a respectable showing during the primary. Sure, he was unchallenged, but he put up a respectable vote total, especially when compared to the incumbent, Don Cunningham.

There is no doubt that Don Cunningham is in office, like so many Democrats across the country, because the GOP incumbent four years ago sold out Republican principles and embraced Big Government "pragmatism". The resulting shellacking of Jane Ervin was due to the fact that many Republicans voted for Cunningham who portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative. The Republican intellegentsia routinely assume that Republicans would vote for a Republican no matter what. I have heard many times, "Would you rather see a Democrat in office?" Well, during this election, and has been proven many times, rank and file Republicans are not voting for anybody with an "R" by their name no matter what.

(Ervin's political advisor currently works for Congressman Dent. One hopes that this inane thinking is not infecting Congressman Dent's political "strategery".)

But Scott Ott is taking it to Cunningham and the myth that he is fiscally responsible. This is refreshing after hearing for years - from GOP "leaders" and advisors - that we can't "offend Democrats", or that Dems are "too popular" to go after on issues. (No matter the GOP is in such dismal disarray!)

From Scott's blog @ http://www.scottott.org/:

Top 5 Reasons to Fire Don Cunningham in 2009


When you run for office, it's not enough to simply convince people you can do the job better, you have to give voters a reason to fire the incumbent. This isn't dirty or negative campaigning, it's just a fact of life that folks are more likely to stick than to switch.
I'm running for Lehigh County Executive against Don Cunningham. So, here's a list of the...
Top 5 Reasons to Fire Don Cunningham in 2009

1. His annual out-of-balance budgets, relying on reserves to cover deficit spending, this year to the tune of $12 million. In 2005, he attacked the incumbent for precisely the same fiscal charade, at which time he professed belief in 5-year budget plans. Such a long-term plan, if it exists, would have to show a major tax increase in 2010 or 2011. But his personal 5-year career plan doesn't include serving as Lehigh County Executive past 2010. (see item #5 below).

2. During his 2005 campaign he rightly criticized the incumbent for raising taxes 69.5 percent, but once elected, he didn't return that money to the taxpayers nor slash the tax rate. He spent all of that, and more. (see item #1 above)

3. Campaigning in 2005 he promised to build the county courthouse for a mere $17 million instead of the then-forecast $73 million. He told voters that he would lease space in existing buildings to save some $56 million. Instead, he built a courthouse that's half of the original plan, and rehabbed some existing rental space for a total of about $70 million.

4. With workers and business people nationwide concerned about losing the right to a federally-supervised secret ballot union vote, Don Cunningham has actually certified a card-check "election" adding 447 new unionized employees to the Lehigh County government payroll. Doing so, he denied workers the protection that the secret ballot provides from potential abuses by both union leaders and business owners.

5. By running for Governor while also running for re-election as County Executive Don Cunningham sends a message that the people of Lehigh County are merely a speed bump on his road to Harrisburg. He hopes to serve only one year of his four-year term, and most of that he'll devote to running around the state raising millions of dollars. That time would be better spent working to cut spending from his $12 million unbalanced county budget.I'm running for Lehigh County Executive to help restore common sense to government, to balance the budget through cutting costs and programs, to prevent further card-check union votes, and to foster the free-market energy and personal responsibility that has made Lehigh County a great place to live and work.