Politics

Bill Hansell has a remarkable history. He has held either elective or appointed positions at all levels of government, including advising local governments throughout the world. By definition, he is an expert. But he may be facing his most, uh, challenging position: Lehigh County Executive.  Join Alan Jennings as he welcomes Bill Hansell to Lehigh Valley Discourse.

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Among the many distinctions of the 2012 election season was that it was the most expensive in history. President Obama and Mitt Romney each raised around a billion dollars and outside groups spent another billion or more. We know that a lot of that money went to pay for advertising, but what about the people who placed the ads or produced them or think up the strategy behind them?

In Washington's latest game of chicken, President Obama is counting on voters who see things his way to give him the edge in his quest to get congressional Republicans to accept tax increases on the nation's wealthiest as part of any fiscal cliff deal.

To energize those voters, the president is ramping up a series of campaign-style events meant to educate the public about the stakes, as he sees them, of letting the Bush-era tax cuts for middle-class Americans expire if no agreement is reached by year's end.

Mona Rodriguez was elected as the Member Representative at last night's WDIY Members' Meeting.  Ms. Rodriguez will serve a two-year term on the Board of Directors, with the main role as liasiaon between the board and the WDIY members.

A handful of congressional Republicans after finishing their Thanksgiving dinners decided to give anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist the brushoff, saying they wouldn't abide by his "no new taxes" pledge as they work on a budget deal.

Breathless coverage ensued.

"Move over, Grover?" read one headline.

In past years, conservatives have used the phrase "war on Christmas" to liberally accuse liberals of trying to ruin the holiday through political correctness and anti-religiousness.

This year, it's the Obama White House warning that Republicans are a threat to Christmas or, more precisely, the part of the economy that relies on the holiday shopping season — retail sales.