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Callahan’s track record should trump Republican smear tactics

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan will be a major force in the upcoming Congressional elections, which he is now definitely entering. Callahan’s announcement that he will be running for the 15th Congressional District seat brings relief to a host of Democrats who have urged Callahan to run for Congress, including Vice-President Joe Biden, who reportedly courted Callahan in late June.

Callahan will be running against Republican Charlie Dent, who was elected to Congress in 2004. Callahan says that he will be running on a platform of job creation and fiscal responsibility, which seems to be the running campaign slogan for a swath of candidates. He says that he reduced Bethlehem’s debt by $54 million since taking office.

It didn’t take the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) much time to issue a press release attacking that claim. In the press release, the NRCC calls the Mayor ”John ‘Taxman’ Callahan” and tries to use his support for the federal stimulus bill to portray him as a reckless spender. “It’s no surprise that Nancy Pelosi pulled out all the stops to get John Callahan in this race,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “As the promoter of the Democrats failed stimulus bill and the architect of a massive tax increase on Lehigh Valley families, Callahan would fit right in with the fiscally irresponsible crowd in Washington.”

Spain also calls Callahan “another Pelosi rubberstamp,” suggesting that he will be a sheep in Congress, blindly following Democrats instead of representing Lehigh County fairly and adquately.

That’s not the only attack that has been made on Callahan by the NRCC. The NRCC Web site also picked a telephone exchange Callahan had with Rahm Emmanuel in which Emmanuel asked Callahan, “Are you tired of being ****ing mayor yet?” Callahan, who is serving his third term as Bethlehem mayor, responded, “It’s better than being ****ing congressman.” The NRCC Communications Director had this to say about the exchange, “With Lehigh Valley facing such tough times how can middle-class families entrust John Callahan with representing them in Congress when he holds such disdain for the job in the first place?”

This was before Callahan announced that he would be running for Congress. The NRCC’s preemptive muckraking could be a signal that the political clout and impressive background Callahan brings to the race could bring the Republican party and Congressman Dent trouble. Before Callahan’s announcement, The Morning Call’s Josh Drobnyk reported that Callahan’s “decision is a coup for national democrats, who for years have been urging Callahan to challenge Dent. It pegs the  15th District … as one of the national races to watch this year.”

Callahan won the race for Bethlehem Mayor in a special election that took place in 2003. His win was a landslide victory, in which he swept every ward in the city. In the 2005 primary Callahan won unopposed in the general election and he is expected to run unopposed this year for Mayor while he runs for Congress. No Republican has filed to challenge Callahan in the Spring primary, according to The Morning Call, suggesting that Callahan’s popularity in Bethlehem may make Republican candidates shy away from the race. Callahan was the youngest Councilman in the history of Bethlehem when he was elected to City Council in 1998.

All of this suggests that Callahan will be a strong foe for Dent, who has been involved in fuel cell technology development projects and currently serves on two House committees: Homeland Security and Transportation and Infrastructure. In Congress, Dent has pushed policy targeting infrastructure development, crime prevention and urban redevelopment in an effort to improve quality of life in the Lehigh County.

During his time as Mayor, Callahan has spurred revitalization projects in the old steel city of Bethlehem, including the successful implementation of the Local Revitalization Tax Assistance Program (LERTA), which offers a tax free period to businesses as an incentive for development in designated LERTA areas. Bethlehem’s implementation of the LERTA program converted Bethlehem’s old steel production sites into warehouses, industrial and office sites that generated revenue and job growth in Bethlehem. In 2007-2008, an inter-office memorandum reported that the LERTA program had resulted in 78 projects and the creation of 1,387 new jobs, which resulted in a net annual payroll of $82.5 million for Bethlehem workers. This is just one example of economic development projects that were undertaken in Bethlehem.

The NRCC would like to paint Callahan as just another “Taxman” and just another supporter of the preemptively labeled “failed” federal stimulus bill. It would also like to portray Callahan as a public servant who does not care about the people of Lehigh Valley. The NRCC won’t have any difficulty smearing Callahan and gaining the votes of Republicans who vote according to the narrow and impinging scope of tax policy.

What the NRCC will have trouble doing, however, is convincing Lehigh Valley residents not to vote for John Callahan, the Bethlehem mayor elected without Republican opposition for his last term and expected to run without Republican opposition in the upcoming mayoral election. After all, who else stepped up to the plate for Bethlehem?

July 30, 2009 at 1:53 pm

--Kenneth Elder

Tags: Charlie Dent, John Callahan

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