Officials assure they can still govern after no-confidence vote against mayor
Whitehall Township commissioners who publicly stated they have no confidence in Mayor Michael Harakal Jr.’s leadership say they’re looking to put the controversy behind them and continue their work governing the township.
Earlier this month, after agreeing to pay $140,000 to settle harassment claims against Harakal and require township-wide training, Board President Joseph Marx, Vice President Philip Ginder, and commissioners Randy Atiyeh and Charles Fisher voted in favor of the “no confidence” motion. Thomas Slonaker voted against it and Jeffrey Warren voted “present,” Marx said.
No-confidence votes are rare, but when they do happen, they can complicate government relationships, said John Walko, a municipal law attorney at the Montgomery County-based firm Kilkenny Law.
Walko said a vote like this doesn’t have legal ramifications but can still impact a government in multiple ways.
From his 12 years of experience in municipal law, he said he’s seen such votes make it harder for governments to work together, leading to infighting, gridlock in passing legislation and even retribution from the person who was the subject of the vote.
Walko added, however, that it’s more common for officials to move past such tension and focus on fulfilling the duties people elected them for.
“I don’t know the [Whitehall] mayor, I don’t know the commissioners, so I can’t say anything personal, but when people are in positions to make decisions, sometimes they can let their hurt feelings take the best of them,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean you have to do that. Hopefully . . . everyone does the right thing for the right reasons and not for political revenge or retribution or because they’re angling for something better.”
Moving past the tension is what Whitehall officials interviewed by The Morning Call promised to do.
Marx said that while there may be tension in the working relationship among Whitehall leadership, he will continue to work toward what the board needs to accomplish and is “more than willing” to cooperate with Harakal.
“I pledge as board president to move forward here and accomplish the things the people elected us to do,” he said. “I think we need to put this behind us. The mayor acknowledged to The Morning Call, to the press, that he is not going to resign — and I accept that fact. If he’s unwilling to resign, then he needs to step up, perform his duties until his tenure is up, and we’ll go from there.”
Harakal, Ginder, Warren, Fisher and Atiyeh all are up for re-election this year. The remaining commissioners’ terms expire in 2025.
Ginder expressed a similar attitude, saying the lack of confidence hasn’t caused difficulty for himself as a board member and that voters during the election season will decide their own confidence in Harakal.
“As a Whitehall Township commissioner for 23 years, I have always done the job the people elected me to do and I will continue to do the job the people elected me to do — in the interest of the voters of Whitehall Township,” Ginder said. “This has not affected my ability to be a commissioner. I still do my job, and try and get done what needs to be done for the rest of this township.”
When asked about the board’s ability to govern following the no-confidence vote, Fisher said in an email, “I believe that this board will continue to act with integrity and professionalism, as it has through these last few years. Time and again I have seen the members of this Board and Administration rise to serve the citizens of this township first and foremost, no matter what their personal feelings were. I do not believe this occasion will be any different, and I truly believe that.”
Atiyeh and Township Solicitor Jack Gross declined to comment. Harakal, Warren and Slonaker didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Harakal previously said he will work to repair his relationship with the Whitehall community. He has denied the harassment claims made against him by three current and former township employees, saying he didn’t do anything to anyone he couldn’t have done “in front of [his] mother.”
The board’s decision against Harakal is not the township’s first experience with votes of no confidence.
In early 2021, the board issued a vote of no confidence in former treasurer Colleen Gober after nearly $78,000 of taxes and fees paid by Whitehall Township residents to the tax collector’s office in 2018 and 2019 were revealed to be unaccounted for.
The investigation into suspected fraud, performed by Allentown accounting firm Buckno Lisicky & Co., began in August 2019 in coordination with Whitehall police and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office and concluded in December 2020.
The investigation resulted in no charges because there was insufficient evidence to prove definitively who was responsible, and whether the incident was a case of theft or “incompetent records management,” District Attorney Jim Martin said at the time.
The township didn’t accuse Gober of illegal conduct.
A vote of no confidence was also issued by Allentown City Council members in 2016, against then-Mayor Ed Pawlowski during a corruption scandal that led to his conviction on federal charges.