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First, let me begin by stating I have limited respect for West Easton Council President Kelly Gross. That respect is for coping with one resident that went beyond acceptable social conduct. She has taken more than her share of personal abuse over the last years that became personal, rather than differences of opinion in how the borough was being run.  Personal abuse and ridicule that was inexcusable and nobody should be subjected to – not even a public figure.

She has served on the council for some 24 years and from what I’m told, many of those early years had her doing a good job.

There is always a, “but.”

But, it wasn’t all accolades. Her fall actually began when she became Council President and received the power that went with it. After a borough clerk unexpectedly passed away, things took a more noticeable change for the worse. Kelly Gross did step up and kept the borough running, performing the basic tasks that needed to be done by a clerk. She did them on her own time and without pay – but, she never seemed able to find a suitable replacement, or satisfied a clerk was trained well enough to give up the position.

She also assumed the position of Borough Manager, which violated Title 8 of Pennsylvania law, which prohibits an elected official serving in that capacity.

The borough office was restricted to her use. Council members complained openly that they were kept out of the loop. Council minutes hardly reflected what happened at council meetings.

The Right To Know Law wasn’t used by Kelly just to protect private information, but often to aggravate everyone who sought even the most basic information that doesn’t require the use of a RTK request.

Had a complaint? Some were told by her, “If you don’t like it, you can move.” I heard that one myself.

Others say she referred to West Easton as, “my borough.” It wasn’t far from the truth. She ran every aspect of it, in all positions of accountability, and answered only to herself. Lies were the norm. Transparency in government disappeared.

She had the 5-minute rule for public comments during council meetings reduced to 3 minutes and then actually used a timer on her phone to cut off those whom she didn’t want to hear from. Others were given far more time.

The mil rate increase and increasing sewer fees, as well as the recent audit problems fell on her.

I won’t even go into the fiasco that occurred when Councilman Stout passed away and his passing wasn’t officially noted until it was reported on this website. It was kept secret because more time than allowed by law was needed to find a pliable replacement who would blindly follow her and her puppet, Councilman Tom Nodoline.

Those and other complaints from residents weren’t necessarily the reason for her primary loss. Such things can be overcome and even corrected if you are willing to listen to critics and more importantly, the community at large.

The real reason is she didn’t campaign and therefore, was never aware of the residents dissatisfaction.

Whether she assumed the only ones at risk were newcomers, appointees, write-ins, and everyone else except the Council President, or the past victories and her respected father, Mayor Gerald Gross, would carry her through the primaries, she made a grave error. The Mayor placed her political signs on some lawns throughout the borough while she left town on the weekends.

Kelly simply didn’t work for it. She thought herself invincible. She had no idea how many people she had pissed off over the years and when they were actually provided a field of different candidates, they voted to remove her from contention.

Had she bothered to knock on doors and talk with residents I have no doubt that some would have been honest with her about how they intended to vote (or not vote) and why. She would have had the opportunity to convince them to change their mind and at the very least, would have been alerted to the fact that she was in trouble.

I knew it. Some Democrats I spoke with while door knocking told me they weren’t pleased with how she was running the borough and conducting council meetings (apparently, they did view the videos), but I never thought it went as deep as it did. I honestly thought she would win on her father’s coattails, but at a far less margin than she likely expected. I thought it would simply end up as Kelly receiving the third highest vote count among those running for the 4-year seat.

Her second mistake was in backing an appointee councilman, who never filed for the primaries and rarely attended meetings. Kelly spent more time trying to get Vernon Moore votes than she did for herself. Most already saw the reason why an effort was being made to have him back in the running for a council seat and didn’t need me to explain it to them. To ensure a majority when voting on motions.

Never, ever, run for an elected office and actively solicit votes for someone else who is running. Leave that type of campaigning to a popular POTUS, in an off-year election. You can give them permission to quote your support in their literature or advertising, but you don’t hand out literature or voting instructions for them. It only reinforces the opinion that they are going to be your pawn and indebted to you – especially if you are the assumed Alpha candidate and they are likely to lose you votes, rather than help your own position.

Her last mistake was in never getting her own message out to voters. One mailed postcard or one simple flyer reminding Democrats of what she had done for the borough in the past, including things that saved taxpayers money, and what she wanted to do in the future might have gotten her the baker’s dozen votes she needed to fend off a defeat.

Even an apology for her past arrogance toward people with a promise to change might have done the trick for her.

The only person who defeated Kelly Gross, was herself. Her past actions toward so many in such a small community came home to roost.

One Republican candidate, Tricia Mezzacappa, is unabashedly reveling in her defeat, for personal reasons. Kelly’s loss was not an endorsement of Mezzacappa’s candidacy by fellow Republicans. It was simply a matter of voters sending a message to all council members that council is there to serve them and they serve at the will of the voters.

Kelly Gross devoted many years to West Easton. Although she made mistakes along the way and her gavel may have given rise to an unwarranted belief of invincibility at the polls and power over all things borough related, she might still be thanked for those years of service before power went to her head – some of which were under the most unwarranted attacks that had nothing to do with politics and during years when nobody new wanted to serve on council for fear of being subjected to the same.