Northampton County Councilman Hayden Phillips (R) has taken an old school approach in West Easton, as he seeks re-election to County Council.
I arrived home today to find a campaign card, along with a personal sticky note attached.
I wasn’t alone. Others residents tell me they found the same on their doors.
It impresses me that a County Councilman would bother with our little borough, where only about 350 voters participate in an election year. Most politicians at the county level would probably end up in the West Ward of Easton trying to get here, let alone care enough to include it on their campaign trail.
Obviously, Councilman Phillips can’t walk the entire county. I’m wondering if he is limiting these excursions to Democrat strongholds, hoping to convince Democrat Party Line voters to cross-over in what could be an election year where Democrats come out in force to vote against anyone with an “R” next to their name.
Phillips already had my vote. I just need to decide on my choices for the remaining 4 seats. There are a total of 5 County Council seats in contention this election cycle.
Phillips appears to have evolved from the Tea Party extremist he once was and has found solid footing on the County Council, often acting as an Independent by challenging County Executive John Brown’s belief that an Executive can run the county with little transparency, or accountability.
Back in 2015, Phillip’s tried to curb Brown’s contract spending. His ordinance limiting the Executive’s threshold to sign contracts from $100,000 down to $25,000 without Council approval passed in a 7-2 vote.
Brown vetoed the ordinance and an attempt to override the veto failed when two “Yes” votes inexplicably changed their minds to “No”. A more recent attempt by Phillips to pass the same ordinance could only garner two votes in favor and failed.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.