‘Saucon Democrats’ Group Hopes to Have Impact on Local Politics

The members of a new grassroots political organization that has formed in Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township say they hope to have a positive impact on local politics and culture.

Saucon Democrats, which began in July in a Hellertown living room and online, was to hold its second public meeting Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Coffee Shop Company in Hellertown.

Northampton County Controller Democratic candidate Tony Bassil was scheduled to speak to the group.

“We want to do social media, but also be social in person,” said Bill Broun, an East Stroudsburg University professor who helped organize the group, in a news release which was issued Saturday.

Broun said he’s joined with Democrats he met during his primary election campaign for Hellertown Borough Council.

“The consolation prizes for losing my election were a ton of humble pie and a ton of new friends,” he said. “I also get now that Dems and progressives in Hellertown and Lower Saucon have important interwoven concerns and common interests. We need to be talking. We just haven’t felt like there was a good way to stay connected. So we’re going to change that, hopefully.”

Broun said more than 20 Democrats, a few independents, and at least one party-unaffiliated person came to the first public Saucon Democrats’ meeting in August.

“I am thrilled to see the emergence of the Saucon Democrats,” said Lower Saucon resident and professional campaign consultant Jeff Kennedy, who attended that meeting. “There are good Democrats here. We have history, policy, data and science in our side. Now we have to work to get the message out.”

In addition to public meetings Saucon Democrats also has a public Facebook page and a Facebook group which currently has more than 65 members.

Among them is Larry O’Donnell, a borough resident who also serves as president of the Friends of the Hellertown Area Library.

“I’ve always been a follower of national politics but really want to learn more about what’s going on in our area,” O’Donnell was quoted as saying in the news release. “It’s nice to connect with a larger pool of people who have a similar outlook and live in my community. Too often we only talk about our views within the echo chamber of our close friends and family.”

Others who attended the September meeting included Hellertown Borough Council member Mike McKenna, Lower Saucon Township President Priscilla deLeon, Lower Saucon Township Council member George Gress, Northampton County Commissioner and Lower Saucon resident Lori Vargo Heffner and politically unaffiliated Saucon Valley School Board member Shamim Pakzad, as well as Democratic township candidate Atom Kallen.

Pakzad said issues of racial and ethnic equity in the community can be significant, with racism sometimes cropping up, he’s noticed, almost “at the flick of a switch.” He cited quality education as the most effective way to break the social and racial barriers in the community,

Borough resident and group member Erin Clavier, who works in acquisitions at Lehigh University Libraries, agreed with Pakzad but said she’d also like “to hear more from our youth and women community members and leaders.”

“I have lost faith in politics,” Clavier said, “but I am passionate about doing something tangible as a group. I want to get more voters to the polls–through doing something good as a group.”

She suggested bringing solar panels to public buildings and developing more outdoor activities, such gardening, for Saucon Valley students as examples of possible tangible group activities.

In August, all current Hellertown and Lower Saucon Democratic candidates were sent a Saucon Democrats candidate survey and invited to attend a meeting, the news release stated.

According to Broun, only incumbents McKenna (Hellertown Council), Gress and deLeon (Lower Saucon Council), as well as Lower Saucon Council candidates Kallen and Kristen Stauffer, responded to the meeting invitation.

“This tells me these Democrats in particular very much want to engage with other Democrats, but more importantly, they also want to make themselves available, informationally, for citizens who have legitimate questions about their candidates,” Broun said. “That’s the nature of a good, healthy democracy. It’s not just about ‘being a great guy.’ It’s about information.”

Saucon Democrats is open to the public, the news release said, with “Democrats and likeminded independents especially encouraged (to join).”

As proof of the group’s relative diversity, Broun said it has so far attracted at least one prominent local GOP member, who wasn’t named in the release.

“I don’t think you’ll find many fans of Donald Trump among our members, but we want to be a big tent,” he said. “We have staunch gun lovers, sportsmen, trade union folks and some conservative Democrats.”

“For now,” continued Broun, “our big goals are simply to get to know each other, and to enrich local democratic life–‘democrat’ with a small ‘d’ and a big ‘D’–by making citizens more aware of our amazing local, county and state candidates, and our hard-working officials.”

“Hellertown is changing,” he said, opining that the borough is less conservative than some people think and citing as evidence the fact that in 2018 Democratic candidate for U.S. Representative Susan Wild won there, while Republican President Donald Trump won the borough by just one vote in 2016.

The group meets every fourth Sunday of the month at the Coffee Shop Company at 650 Main St., Hellertown.