November 7, 2007

Aide Set to Be Youngest on Bethlehem City Council

Unofficial tallies have 26-year-old newcomer besting Republican

By Nicole Radzievich of The Morning Call

Political newcomer J. William Reynolds on Tuesday captured a seat on Bethlehem City Council, making him the youngest council member ever and continuing the Democratic Party's monopoly of the board.

Unofficial results show the 26-year-old political aide got 5,362 votes, while Republican challenger Esther Lee lost her council bid, tallying 3,311 votes.

"I didn't run for council to set any record -- this is the town I grew up in, the town I love, and I ran to make it better," Reynolds said while watching the election returns with friends at the Bethlehem Brew Works. "No one's life is going to get better by one election. It's what happens over the next four years that matters."

Reynolds ran an aggressive campaign in the more competitive and crowded primary field and kept up the pressure during the fall as he, two incumbent Democrats and Republican Lee vied for three council seats.

The unofficial tally shows Robert Donchez, who has been on council for 11 years, re-elected with 5,967 votes, and Gordon Mowrer, a former mayor, re-elected to a second consecutive term with 5,742 votes.

Lee, who had a campaign budget of $0 as of the latest financial filing, had entered the race to give voters another perspective. She showed up at the city's sole debate this fall, underscoring that she is not "part of the team" of Democrats.

She said she hoped that her run for council, which she has been doing regularly since 1977, opened a dialogue on affordable housing and beefing up the police department so that the city is protected when the $600 million casino complex opens at the former Bethlehem Steel plant. And she's not ruling out another run in two years.

"You just never know," she said.

Donchez, a political aide for a legislator and a retired teacher, had promised he would continue to fight for improvements for emergency services if he is re-elected to a fourth term.

"I'm very humbled by the confidence the voters placed in me and I'm really looking forward to serving for another four years," Donchez said.

Mowrer wants another term on council to ensure the old Bethlehem Steel buildings are restored as proposed in the casino plan. Mowrer made headlines two years ago when he proposed a ban on gambling because of the traffic and other side effects of the project. The ban failed, and construction is poised to begin for the first phase of the project.

At candidates' forums this year, Reynolds drove home the message that he had more at stake than any other candidate running. As a young professional, he said, he knows the challenges Bethlehem faces to get young people to stay and raise families in the city.

Before Reynolds, now-Mayor John Callahan held the distinction as being the youngest city councilman when he was elected in 1997 at the age of 28.

Reynolds was a star athlete at Moravian College and Liberty High School and now works as a legislative aide for state Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton and Lehigh.

nicole.mertz@mcall.com


 

Paid for by Friends of J. William Reynolds, P.O. Box 1632, Bethlehem, PA 18016