Councilman scolded over primary ads
An East Washington Borough Council member was rebuked by his fellow board members Monday night over words he used in his campaign advertising for the spring primary.
Councilman Bill Adams, who was appointed to fill a vacancy on council in September, ran with three other candidates on a platform with the mission to “bring common sense, professionalism and conservative thinking back to East Washington Borough with teamwork to become fiscally sound to meet our obligations.”
Adams ran for re-election on the Republican ticket as a team with Tamara Chacko, Mary Taufer and Guy Tucci. They were the top vote getters. Council members Jeff Bull and Kelley Dickson did not receive nominations to the November election.
There were no candidates on the Democratic ballot.
Campaign information that Adams used was called into question by board members Gregg Gould, Bull, Lori Crosier and council President Blake McCandless.
Noting they had selected Adams over another person to fill a vacant council seat, McCandless said they felt they had been “thrown under the bus” by his campaign slogans.
Adams declined to address their questions, saying the meeting was not the appropriate time to respond. He suggested some type of candidates night for the discussion.
“If I say something it will just generate an argument,” he said.
But Gould, who read a statement expressing his disappointment with what he called a “tactical maneuver” to “install a council majority of same-minded people” told Adams it was his obligation to raise his concerns about council at their meetings. He noted Adams seldom expresses concerns about policy decisions at meetings but his actions in the election lead Gould to believe Adams has serious reservations about decisions made by his peers.
Crosier said she was hurt by comments at the polls that council cared more for mowing and edging than making repairs to borough roads.
“I took that as a personal hit,” she said. “I did ask that the edging be done in Memorial Park, but I also voted to give a substantial amount of our budget to road work.”
Bull noted the borough has about $500,000 in the bank and its pension fund is over-funded. “But you say we didn’t meet our fiscal obligations?” he asked.
And, the borough no longer has to apply for a tax anticipation loan at the start of each year, said McCandless, who concluded his remarks with, “hang your head low, Bill, because you should, you really should.”
Adams’ wife, Sharon, is the borough tax collector, and she won the nomination on the Republican ticket, beating out Pamela Toth. There were no candidates on the Democrat side.