Allentown mayor to announce whether he will seek reelection

Hyman says he’s backing incumbent so progressive candidate is defeated

Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell will announce Friday whether or not he is seeking reelection next year.

It appears he will be. Developer and prospective mayoral candidate Nat Hyman said Thursday that after meeting with O’Connell that morning, he decided to not run and instead throw his support behind the incumbent.

Hyman’s goal: ensuring the defeat of Ce-Ce Gerlach, a progressive Allentown City councilwoman who has already launched her mayoral bid.

“By getting behind Ray, I believe we have the best shot at making sure Gerlach does not become mayor, which I think would pose an existential threat to the city,” Hyman said.

O’Connell, celebrating his 71st birthday Thursday, said he needs to talk to his family before making a final decision and would announce it Friday.

In a letter earlier this week, Hymansaid he recently commissioned a poll that showed Gerlach holding a substantial lead over other prospective Democratic mayoral candidates, with Hyman and O’Connell as distant runnerups

Hyman said Gerlach lacked the “intellectual capacity, experience or ... moral or ethical fiber” to be mayor. He accused her of being unprepared to manage the city’s finances and operations, and criticized her for launching a mayoral bid just one year after her election to City Council.

Gerlach said she welcomes competition from “all who want to bring their ideas forward to make our community better,” but also disputed Hyman’s characterization of her.

“I knew from the beginning that this would be a tough fight, but it is disappointing that before either of them even announce, the lies, personal attacks, and political gamesmanship has already started,” she said in a statement. “The people of Allentown deserve better.”

O’Connell is a retired school administrator and former city councilman who was appointed interim mayor in March 2018 after former Mayor

Ed Pawlowski was convicted on federal corruption charges. In 2019, O’Connell was elected to serve the final two years of Pawlowski’s fourth term.

During his 2019 campaign, O’Connell vowed not to seek reelection. But within two months of his victory, he said he was open to potentially running again in 2021 for another four years in office. At the time, Hyman accused the mayor of going back on his word.

O’Connell made the politically unpopular decision in late 2018 to raise property taxes 27% — Pawlowski had kept the tax rate flat the previous 13 years. The move reassured credit rating agencies concerned about the city’s dwindling cash reserves, and budget surpluses in 2018 and 2019 provided further fiscal stability, at least in the short term. Last week, City Council passed O’Connell’s second consecutive tax-free budget, which draws $1.1 million from reserves to cover a deficit.

O’Connell is not exactly longtime buddies with Hyman, who owns a costume jewelry chain in addition to his real estate pursuits.

Hyman narrowly lost to Pawlowski in the 2017 general election after switching parties to run on the Republican ticket. At the time, he attributed the loss to O’Connell’s decision to run a write-in campaign, which ostensibly split the anti-Pawlowski vote.

Gerlach also played a role in that race, actively campaigning on O’Connell’s behalf during his losing bid in the 2017 Democratic primary and his general election write-in campaign.

The 34-year-old Center City resident has been a prominent community activist the past decade and served on the Allentown School Board from 2012 through 2019 before being elected to council.

A former mental health therapist and substitute teacher, Gerlach has promised to build on her progressive record by fighting for “structural, systemic” reforms related to affordable housing, racial justice and public safety. During her year on council, she spearheaded a commission on homelessness and has called for reallocating some of the police department’s budget to social services she believes would do more to improve public safety.

The field for the Democratic nomination is expected to get crowded. Fellow first-year progressive city Councilman

Joshua Siegel has also announced a mayoral bid, as has longtime regional economic development official Matthew Tuerk. City Council Vice President Julio Guridy recently participated in a mayoral candidate forum but has not made a decision about running.

Former Allentown police chief and city Councilman Roger MacLean has also expressed interest in seeking the Democratic nomination, and Allentown Community & Economic Development Director Leonard Lightner has said he’s considering a bid.

Tim Ramos, the Republican mayoral nominee in 2019, says he’ll again try to become the city’s first GOP executive since 2001.

Hyman declined to share the complete results of his recent poll, but he said Thursday that he hopes other Democratic candidates vying for the nonprogressive vote will coalesce behind O’Connell.

The owner of 15 properties in Allentown says his past disagreements with O’Connell are insignificant “compared to the bigger issue of defeating Gerlach.”

While Gerlach didn’t immediately respond to Hyman’s missive earlier this week, other city progressives denounced it.

In a statement, Siegel claimed Hyman’s letter was “filled with racist dog whistles about my colleague,” and criticized Hyman for attempting to “cut a backroom deal to subvert the will of the voters.”

“This race should be about a vision for the city of Allentown and a case for one’s own candidacy,” Siegel said. “We also need to trust the next mayor to call out the failed status quo that isn’t working for most residents of Allentown.”

Allentown’s next mayor will face considerable challenges, starting with the city’s finances. The city’s latest five-year plan projects annual deficits of $2.2 million to $3.2 million through 2025, depleting cash reserves in the absence of tax hikes or spending cuts.

An independent audit completed last year offered a more pessimistic outlook, predicting annual deficits of more than $10 million in the years ahead if the city doesn’t find new revenue sources and mitigate the growth of health care and pension costs.