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Lehigh County is withholding payment of a $10,000 grant to Properties of Merit until Executive Director and congressional candidate Sam Bennett proves the Allentown nonprofit followed Internal Revenue Services guidelines when setting her salary. The grant was about to be processed by the county's fiscal office when The Morning Call revealed in early July that the nonprofit's board had gone against the guidelines last year when establishing Bennett's $110,000 pay. Cindy Feinberg, the county's community and economic development director, later informed Bennett that she must provide documents showing that the organization adhered to IRS salary-setting guidelines before the county releases the grant. Bennett has pledged that the administration will receive them by the end of August, Feinberg said. |
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Properties of Merit's board has cut Executive Director Sam Bennett's six-figure salary in half and asked a consultant to review how the Allentown nonprofit arrived at her pay after a Morning Call report questioned the process it used. Bennett, also a Democratic candidate for Congress in the 15th District, said in a statement Thursday that the decisions by the board Wednesday night to reduce her annual pay to $55,000 came at her request in an effort to avoid controversy surrounding her $110,000 salary. "I am very concerned that this situation might put a cloud over Properties of Merit at this important time when [the organization] is expanding statewide," Bennett said. |
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During a running dispute with Congress in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower remarked, "The public good goes begging while politics is played for politics' sake." Keep that thought, which columnist William Safire highlighted in "Safire's New Political Dictionary," in mind as we look at a good public program in the Lehigh Valley and some politics local and statewide. The public program is Properties of Merit, founded here in 1999 by Siobhan "Sam" Bennett of Allentown. It has been a good endeavor, based on the concept that just as blighted properties can turn a block downhill, well-cared-for ones lift it up. POM identifies "good" properties and honors their owners annually. The Morning Call has been one of its staunch corporate sponsors, providing advertising space and other support. |
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A state grant last summer reshaped the nonprofit founded by Congressional candidate Sam Bennett from one run out of her Allentown home to one with office space, a staff and a six-figure salary she played a role in setting. How Properties of Merit came to Executive Director Bennett's $110,000 salary goes against Internal Revenue Service guidelines and raises questions about the organization's -- and Bennett's -- decision-making. The organization picked three people -- Bennett among them -- to determine a fair wage. It ignored budget size when researching salaries at similar organizations. And it counted future volunteers as employees, comparing itself to organizations with 100 or more staffers. What emerged was a salary for Bennett, a Democratic candidate in the 2008 election for the 15th Congressional district seat, that exceeds that of most other executive directors from comparable Lehigh Valley organizations, whether measured by mission or budget. |
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By Bill White Meanwhile, I've been following the Charlie Dent-Siobhan Bennett congressional race with interest, mostly chuckling at her campaign's wacky e-mails and other activities, such as blasting him for 'refusing'' to attend Musikfest, asking for a clean campaign pledge while she's calling him names, and accusing him of ducking her because he had been ''dodging'' her debate challenge for 12 days in August. Bennett's blunderbuss must be smoking. The goofiest was the press release I received last Friday. |
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