{"id":20817,"date":"2025-10-31T13:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/20817\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:39:11","slug":"the-northampton-co-executive-candidates-and-where-they-stand-on-5-key-issues-armchair-lehigh-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/20817\/","title":{"rendered":"The Northampton Co. executive candidates and where they stand on 5 key issues | Armchair Lehigh Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armchair Lehigh Valley content is published on lehighvalleylive.com<\/a> as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters nonpartisan factual information. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein. For more information, or to subscribe at armchairlehighvalley.substack.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Northampton County executive candidates<\/a> \u2013 Republican Tom Giovanni and Democrat Tara Zrinski \u2013 are vying to succeed the current county executive.<\/p>\n

While Lamont McClure, the Democratic executive who did not run for a third four-year term, is not on Tuesday\u2019s ballot, his record from the last eight years is.<\/p>\n

Giovanni says it\u2019s time for a change in county leadership to bring more transparency and accountability to the office.<\/p>\n

Zrinski, who is endorsed by McClure<\/a> and acknowledged his successes with the county, said her administration would be different from his. \u201cI\u2019m a different person. I have a different focus,\u201d she said on the Sept. 22 broadcast of WFMZ-TV\u2019s \u201cBusiness Matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county executive next year will earn $105,000, up from the current $85,000. The executive oversees 2,000 county employees and a budget of $502 million. In his eight years, McClure did not raise the real estate tax and reduced it once. (He is a 7th Congressional District candidate in 2026.)<\/p>\n

Although Giovanni and Zrinski serve in elected county offices, they had different experiences before politics. Giovanni, a councilman, owned an information technology business. Zrinski, a former councilwoman and the current controller, worked in several jobs, including time spent as a writer, college philosophy instructor and environmental activist.<\/p>\n

Tom Giovanni<\/p>\n

Giovanni<\/a>, 72, of Plainfield Township, is a lifelong resident of the Slate Belt. He graduated from Pius X High School in Roseto and attended Northampton Community College and Lincoln Technical Institute with degrees in business administration and specialized electronics.<\/p>\n

After finishing at Lincoln Tech, he landed what he called a \u201cdream job\u201d with Western Electric in Allentown, famous for manufacturing the first transistors in 1951. He worked there until the mid-1980s when the company laid off a number of workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I would never get laid off,\u201d he said in an interview with Armchair Lehigh Valley. After working at a computer tech job that required being away from home each week, he switched to Bell and Howell, servicing mail-inserting machines.<\/p>\n

In 1990, he decided to start his own business, Hi-Tech Laser Systems, to service laser printers. From being the only employee, he expanded the company\u2019s focus to a range of information technology services, including establishing networks and servers for businesses and other groups. He had about 14 employees by the time he sold the business in 2012 to East Coast Network Services.<\/p>\n

He served on the board of directors of the Nazareth YMCA for a number of years and worked on the effort to consolidate the area YMCAs into the Greater Valley YMCA. He has been chairman of the board of Nazareth Mutual Insurance Co. since 1999.<\/p>\n

When incumbent District 4 county council member Matt Dietz decided not to seek reelection in 2019, Giovanni campaigned for the office that represents the Slate Belt and Nazareth area. He won the election with 60% of the vote. He was unopposed for reelection in 2023.<\/p>\n

He points to his business experience that qualifies him to run the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of experience in managing people,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m well versed in managing employees and handling their concerns and to weigh their concerns \u2026 I make the final decision but it\u2019s a team effort of everybody together in the county moving in the right direction. I\u2019ll try my darndest not to raise taxes. I\u2019ll see what programs work and what programs don\u2019t work, see what we need to do to help people in this county.\u201d<\/p>\n

He voted for McClure\u2019s 8.5% tax cut for 2022, but said that in hindsight, \u201cMaybe we shouldn\u2019t have done that,\u201d noting the county would have had more revenue to work with since then.<\/p>\n

Tara Zrinski<\/p>\n

Zrinski<\/a>, 50, of Bethlehem, is a granddaughter of a Bethlehem Steel worker, graduated from Freedom High School in 1993, studied philosophy and English at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and later enrolled in Moravian Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n

At that time, she was raising her two sons as a single mother. She worked for the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley as director of lifespan faith development. She was an adjunct professor of philosophy at Northampton Community College and other area colleges. She wrote for several publications, was a local coordinator for Food and Water Watch and worked for solar energy companies.<\/p>\n

Much of her work involved social issues, which led to her getting involved in politics and being elected to county council in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of it had to do with my growing up in the church, my education, at the seminary. I really am service oriented. \u2026 So public service was a natural flow from the activism I was doing, because I really like to engage in the community as well. I want to make a difference, I want to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was reelected in 2021 and in 2023 was elected county controller. She has also run other offices, including state senator in 2022, and said she is committed to serve the people.<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t planning to run for county executive but decided to campaign for the office after McClure said he wouldn\u2019t seek reelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I ever thought that when I ran for county council that I would get the opportunity to run for county executive. … I find myself very grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this work and to be able to do it with the potential to have so much influence on things that are really important to me \u2013 not just the environment, but social issues and employee issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As county controller, she oversees a team of auditors and gained more knowledge about the inner workings of county finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what the auditors are looking for. So I know what transparency in budgets looks like firsthand, because the process that would go about auditing financial statements or procedures or the performance of a specific department is a very logical framework of questions that reveal the segregation of duties, the transparency of transactions, tracking the money.\u201d The recent audit of Gracedale finances was an example of that, she said.<\/p>\n

If elected, Zrinski would become the first woman to serve as Northampton County executive. (Lehigh County has had two female executives \u2013 Jane Baker and Jane Ervin.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to potentially be the first woman who is [Northampton\u2019s] county executive,\u201d she said \u201cbecause it does break some sort of glass ceiling for individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gracedale<\/p>\n

At the Gracedale nursing home, Giovanni cited the lack of transparency and accountability after council in 2022 allocated $5 million in federal covid relief funds to give workers bonuses to keep them on staff. Council learned this year that the bonuses ended and asked the Zrinski\u2019s office to perform an audit.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur audit revealed that about half of that money went directly to employee bonuses while the rest supported ongoing operating costs like overtime and staffing shortages up until the end of 2023. Retention bonuses continued to be paid employees under union contracts and to career service employees, with bonuses ending at various times,\u201d Zrinski wrote on the controller\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

She said the audit showed the need for improvements in tracking how the county\u2019s money is spent under which categories.<\/p>\n

During the interview, she said, \u201cTransparency is key because if you don\u2019t have transparency, you don\u2019t have trust.\u201d She believed that the administration could have informed council details of the transfer but said council had an opportunity to question the status but didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Giovanni, when interviewed on the \u201cBusiness Matters\u201d program on WFMZ-TV, said he was satisfied with the audit. \u201cIt kind of validated what happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his interview with Armchair Lehigh Valley, he said McClure \u201cshould have told council in executive session [about the bonus money]. \u2026 We could have staved off a lot of issues if the administration would have been transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWhen something is wrong, someone should admit the problem. I don\u2019t have a problem with saying, \u2018I screwed up.\u2019 People are only human.\u201d<\/p>\n

As county executive he would first \u201cdo a total assessment of problem areas,\u201d including Gracedale and its reliance on higher-cost agency nurses to fill shifts, county finances and employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is a good relationship between the executive and county employees. What are we missing? We need to get our morale back up so it\u2019s a decent place to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giovanni said there\u2019s turnover of employees at Gracedale and elsewhere in the county. \u201cHow can you hire people if you can\u2019t retain the ones you have?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Zrinski, if elected, wouldn\u2019t change the management at Gracedale, giving the new administrator Michelle Morton time to make an impact. \u201cShe\u2019s willing to stay, and I\u2019m willing to help make an effort to support her to make Gracedale stronger,\u201d Zrinski said.<\/p>\n

She suggested Gracedale could hire a development director to work with the Friends of Gracedale Foundation to raise larger sums of money for Gracedale operations.<\/p>\n

She said Gracedale needs to hire more of its own employees, rather than rely on an agency to provide nursing help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county used to be a place where it was like a family to work,\u201d Zrinski said. \u201cAnd that is the kind of environment that I want to get back to. The idea that we can be a community of caring people that care for each other is really important to me, and I think in order to be able to do that, you have to compensate people fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration<\/p>\n

McClure has been criticized for not allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents inside the county prison or courthouse to apprehend noncitizens wanted on federal charges.<\/p>\n

McClure said the law requires<\/a> a judge\u2019s order. Without that, the county notifies ICE when an inmate will be released from prison, and agents can apprehend the person outside the courthouse or prison, which happened twice this year without incident. McClure issued an executive order in 2020 after a federal officer, without a warrant, apprehended a noncitizen in the courthouse<\/a>. ICE disputes the need for a judge\u2019s order<\/a>, saying federal law allows ICE agents to make arrests inside a courthouse or prison.<\/p>\n

Giovanni said, \u201cIf they have the proper paperwork, they should go into the prison. The county let two violent immigrants into the street. They shouldn\u2019t have let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zrinski countered, \u201cWe\u2019re handling it right when we say that we require a bench warrant and we need to uphold due process. I don\u2019t see a problem with the ordinance that Lamont put into effect and in fact, I would keep that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elections<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s voting machines improperly tallied votes <\/a>in a few contests in the elections of 2019 and 2023, which required a review of the backup paper summaries to determine the actual vote count.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to really be secure and train good people to know what\u2019s going on. \u2026 They do have good people,\u201d Giovanni said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with the machines, that\u2019s an issue. They need to be programmed correctly, and they need to be tested on every machine. \u2026 Humans make mistakes and you need to test it and make sure it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the county should reallocate the number of machines at polling places to eliminate long lines at some polling places.<\/p>\n

He said during the \u201cBusiness Matters\u201d forum that the county couldn\u2019t use paper ballots as an alternative, but said in an interview that was incorrect. He said he would have to research whether switching to all paper ballots \u2013 as Lehigh County does \u2013 is a better option.<\/p>\n

Zrinski said the county should explore using paper ballots. The ballots are read by a scanner to tabulate the results, which is what Northampton County uses for its mail-in ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to also expand the opportunity for people to get ballots on demand,\u201d she said. \u201cThat would just enfranchise more voters, and I never think that is a bad thing. I like that we have drop boxes in different places that make voting accessible for individuals to drop off their ballot instead of going all the way to Easton.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmland\/open space<\/p>\n

Giovanni supports efforts to save agricultural and undeveloped land from being used for new homes or business. His son is a dairy farmer whose land has been preserved. Giovanni cautioned, \u201cIf too much is preserved, however, that hurts the tax base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zrinski supports continuing the county\u2019s program to preserve farmland and open space. \u201cI don\u2019t think it is just a means by which we mitigate warehouse proliferation. I think it has value in itself in terms of having agricultural security now and in the future to be able to potentially farmland,\u201d which provides locally sourced food.<\/p>\n

Affordable housing<\/p>\n

Giovanni envisions a cooperative approach to creating affordable housing. \u201cThere are some good ways to attack that. I\u2019ve talked to developers about it.\u201d He would work with municipalities on zoning suggestions that could lead to more residences people can afford.<\/p>\n

Zrinski said the county must develop affordable plans with community groups. \u201cI\u2019ve been talking to individuals who are really engaged and invested in affordable housing, entry level homeownership housing, people who are interested in helping with the problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armchair Lehigh Valley content is published on lehighvalleylive.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-20817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}