The Rehabilitation of Jim Cawley?

(Note: For a lot of reasons, my typical posting activity is going to be greatly constrained, but I hope to be able to post periodically on selected topics. We’ll see.)

This story (sourced from a recent edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer) tells us the following…

PHILADELPHIA, Jan., 13, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Jim Cawley has been named president and chief executive officer of United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (UWGPSNJ), effective February 9. The announcement was made by Lon Greenberg, chairman, UGI Corporation/AmeriGas and chair of UWGPSNJ’s regional Board of Directors, following a six-month national search.

…

“The Board was determined to identify a leader who demonstrated a commitment to serving the community and carrying out our mission, and who possessed the ability to build relationships, engender trust in the community and generate results. We considered a wide cross section of candidates, and Jim was the clear choice,” says Greenberg. “He has spent the majority of his career in the service of others, both regionally and nationally, developing productive relationships and leading large groups of constituents to success. As lieutenant governor, he also has a unique understanding of how United Way’s Impact areas connect, and how strategic improvements in Education, Income and Health can lift the entire region.”

…

Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter endorsed the Board’s selection. “Jim Cawley is a great guy and a fantastic public servant. I truly enjoyed working with him when he was a County Commissioner in Bucks County, in part because he always displayed a regional perspective on issues. He understood that we are one Philadelphia region with one common future,” says Mayor Nutter. “As lieutenant governor, Jim Cawley was always available and always listened when my team and I needed to discuss issues related to legislation or economic development projects. He is a great friend to Philadelphia and the Commonwealth and he cares passionately. I know that he will do a terrific job in his new position at the helm of United Way.”

“A great guy”? “A fantastic public servant”? Did I miss a memo or something?

Gosh, that’s not the Jim Cawley I remember from his days as a Bucks County Commissioner.

To wit…

As noted here, Cawley once said that he was “far from somebody who is rooting for the (Democratic) economic stimulus package” here (of course, forget for a moment the myriad benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as noted in the post.

He also supported so-called “right to work” legislation here (should REALLY be called right not to be paid a living wage – first bullet; by the way, it turns out that Richard Yuengling Jr., head of the PA beer company, supports it also as noted here…a shame to have to give up that brand now since I enjoy it).

This includes a veritable potpourri of bad governing decisions here that you can file under the heading of lack of transparency (with the Bucks commissioners, including Cawley at that time, refusing to provide more information on hiring and firing decisions, a budget being constructed which supposedly held the line on tax increases with no feedback from the county commissioners, again including Cawley…oh, and the entire fiasco over moving the voting location from the Creekside Apartments in Bensalem, PA in an effort to hurt Democratic electoral turnout also happened while Cawley was a Bucks commissioner, let’s not forget).

And of course, it’s “full steam ahead, water-on-fire-be-damned” when it comes to Cawley and fracking as noted here (4th bullet).

In addition to the Creekside fiasco, this tells us how Cawley made sure that about $400 grand of taxpayer dough in Bucks went to a golf course (hardly economically stimulative as opposed to true shovel-ready projects); we also learn that Cawley helped to steer about $200 an hour in legal services to the Langhorne, PA firm of Begley, Carlin & Mandio (which had given $142,000 to county Republicans and commissioner campaigns in the past seven years), and on that same day that the firm received the award, six of the firm’s attorneys contributed $9,000 to the county GOP, according to an analysis by the Democrats (last bullet).

Also, here is a reminder that Cawley may have had a hand in the supposed “third-party” candidacy of one Jay Russell in his run for a post as Bucks County Commissioner (think Ralph Nader in Florida in 2000 – Russell worked at a hardware store and apparently had no political experience), as noted in the comments from here. That ordinarily would not be a big deal, but that year, Russell ended up siphoning off just enough votes to prevent Steve Santarsiero from being elected as a commissioner and giving the board a Democratic majority.

Oh, and by the way, I couldn’t find anything in the prnewswire story about Cawley’s compensation for his new non-profit job.

All of this makes me take an even dimmer view of United Way than the one I already have (here) – probably a lot more worthwhile charities to donate to, especially with a toad like Cawley running the local branch of this outfit.