ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Mayor Matt Tuerk on Monday slammed the man trying to unseat him over mailers that are set to hit homes this week.
Ed Zucal is sending out three pieces of campaign literature.
Two urge Democratic voters to support him over Tuerk, who the mailers blame for a “quality of life crisis” and driving up rent and poverty rates.
Each features a photo of the mayor in a Halloween costume.
Allentown mayoral candidate Ed Zucal “a candidate who has built his entire campaign of lies.”Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
The other mailer is being sent to registered Republicans in Allentown. It criticizes Tuerk’s actions the night before Donald Trump’s PPL Center rally in October, when the mayor clashed with a Trump campaign worker.
“Go Woke, GO BROKE,” the mailer says in rainbow letters, above a quote White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calling Tuerk a “Trump-deranged Democrat.”
Tuerk on Monday called Zucal “a candidate who has built his entire campaign of lies” and questioned the factual basis for the councilman’s mailed attacks.
He hit out at Zucal for actively courting Republican support in the final weeks of his campaign.
“He wants to have it both ways, pretending to be a Democrat while running a campaign rooted in MAGA-style politics, tactics and deception,” Tuerk said.
'An image of himself'
The mayor criticized Zucal, who served as an Allentown police officer for more than two decades, over unauthorized uses of organizations’ logos and images during his campaign.
“He appears in campaign literature wearing his police uniform, even after the Allentown Police Department specifically asked him to stop,” Tuerk said.
“And he does all of this to create an image of himself that simply isn't true.”
“[To] all of the residents of Allentown, I want to be totally clear: my opponent is not your guy... He's deceiving Democrats, and he's trying to use Republicans.”Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, about political opponent Ed Zucal
Zucal on Monday told LehighValleyNews.com the Allentown Police Department has never asked him to stop using his uniformed photo.
Said Tuerk: “[To] all of the residents of Allentown, I want to be totally clear: my opponent is not your guy. He has posed as a Democrat for years. He's now not running as a unifier, but as an opportunist.
"He's deceiving Democrats, and he's trying to use Republicans.”
Zucal needs just 100 valid write-in votes from Republicans to win the party’s nomination for Allentown mayor, according to Pennsylvania election regulations.
No Republican candidate is seeking the party's nomination for the office.
Tuerk said he is confident Republican voters in Allentown will “see through [Zucal’s] disingenuous approach to try to get votes.”
But “if he does hit that threshold, we'll deal with that as it comes,” Tuerk said.
'Support of every Allentown voter'
Zucal in a written statement to LehighValleyNews.com on Monday said he’s reaching out to Republican voters because he is seeking “the support of every Allentown voter.”
He called himself a “lifelong Democrat” and said he’s proud to serve as a Democrat on Allentown City Council.
“This election is bigger than one political party, however,” Zucal said. “Allentown is at a crossroads, and every voter in Allentown deserves to have their voice hearing in this election.”
Zucal this month said he would have no problem running as a Republican.
Democratic York City Mayor Michael Helfrich ran as a Republican as he defeated two-term Mayor Kim Bracey in the 2017 general election.
He lost that year’s Democratic primary but earned enough write-in votes from Republicans to appear on the ballot.
