County government isn’t exciting. It does societal necessities that save lives, but it doesn’t get glorified in every day life. It runs the children & youth department. It provides public defenders. Here in Northampton and Lehigh Counties, they run the county nursing home. They protect open space. They house those under arrest while they await trial. The provide a justice system to our public. These are necessary functions. They are not things that thankfully, most of us have to worry about every day. For the most part, our local Lehigh Valley counties have been run well for the last eight years. Minimal to no tax hikes, no cuts in services. Lamont McClure and Phil Armstrong both did a nice job.

So imagine the most terrible kind of guy to replace Armstrong in Lehigh County. He’s a man who lives off of the public, who was intimately close to a scandal ridden administration that still casts a shadow over Allentown. He ineptly ran a police department that ran wild over the city, even as crime sky rocketed. He lead city council as the administration stole services from the public. He’s a party switcher who promises the chaos of DC for local residents here. He gives comfort to conspiracy theories and wants to weaken the right to vote. He’s kind of a mess.

Meet Roger Maclean.

Roger is a grifter. He lives in a city owned home that he doesn’t have to pay for. He hasn’t worked for the city in years in any capacity, but those were the terms to get him here. Boy, lucky for Allentown. If he was just a grifter, I guess I’d just say oh well. Unfortunately that’s the tip of the ice berg. Roger served as Ed Pawlowski’s favorite police chief in Allentown, ineptly overseeing an era of record setting crime, especially violent crime, much worse than we have seen in years. While criminals were running wild, I do have to say that Roger’s force was active- just not apparently at fighting crime. Obviously most cops are good cops, but Roger had a rogue element under his nose terrorizing the city. The District Attorney’s office has charged several already this year for crimes committed back in those days, crimes like forcing a woman to commit a sex act to avoid jail. Perhaps he had no idea, but isn’t that even worse then?

Perhaps he wanted to atone, or maybe he had no clue, but Roger decided to further serve Ed Pawlowski. I guess his time as his police chief wasn’t good enough service, so he ran for city council. As a councilman, he had no daylight between him and “Fed Ed.” Roger was such a good soldier that they made him Council President! Remember, at that time Pawlowski allies controlled a majority of the council, so loyalty was valued. As he rubber stamped Pawlowski’s budgets and spending. Roger was right there for his friend, there to the bitter end, bumbling through both of his roles in the city with no clue the mess that was going on.

It’s kind of hilarious that Roger’s “issues” page on his website tells us that he’ll be a fiscal conservative as Executive, protect public safety, and bring transparency to the county, give his record with the city. That’s kind of the point though in a campaign where everything is a lie. Sure, he did the opposite of those things at the city, so he’ll do them here. Then he’ll tell you he’s a moderate, because he switched from Democrat to Republican, because the Democrats left him. In fact, I’m sure he’ll tell Lehigh County Republicans he was always a true MAGA guy. I’d love to hear who he actually voted for in the 2016 Democratic Primary though, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders? Fact is fiction though with this guy.

On his “issues” page, Roger kind of tells you why he’s dangerous though. Just as he served Pawlowski as his master in Allentown, he’ll serve the GOP establishment that asked him to run for this job. The county government administers and oversees elections. What’s Roger say about “election security” though?

A representative democracy depends upon free and fair elections. Every voter deserves a system that makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat. As County Executive, Roger will restore confidence in our election system and ensure that every legal voter’s voice is heard free from corruption or coercion.

Who is it that doesn’t have confidence in our local election operations? What election was contested unfairly? Roger won’t answer that for you. Roger is going to do what he was told. Roger is going to get rid of drop boxes and try to eliminate voting by mail in Lehigh County. Just as he complied to Dear Leader Pawlowski, Roger will now comply to King Trump’s executive orders to make it hard to vote. He had to give something to these people in order to be offered another job and a higher pension. He’s going to hand over your right to vote.

Some people in politics will dance with the wind and do anything for the next opportunity. In fact, I’d gauge that most of them will. Roger Maclean is one of those people. When he had the opportunity to serve the people of Allentown, he let them down to satisfy his funder, Ed Pawlowski. Now, he’s going to bring that same ethic to Lehigh County to satisfy the Lehigh County GOP. While he supported a more looney tunes character in the primary to my knowledge, I’m sure Ryan Mackenzie will be there to stand by his yes man. Roger will dutifully kill vote-by-mail and harm Cedarbrook Nursing Home. Don’t let the fox in the hen house.