While the two candidates for Northampton County executive agreed on several topics during a candidates forum Wednesday, they split on the role of federal immigration enforcement in the county.

Republican Council member Tom Giovanni and Democratic county Controller Tara Zrinski answered questions individually during a taping of Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tony Iannelli’s “Business Matters” show.

Giovanni, who took Iannelli’s questions first, said a county executive order that forbids Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting people in the country without authorization in the courthouse or adjacent prison, unless they have a warrant, is wrong.

“I don’t think we need that executive order,” Giovanni said. “We need to be compliant with the federal laws.”

Zrinski said she supports the county order while following federal law, but added that ICE agents are “going too far,” and that there have been instances where the agency has wrongly detained people.

“We follow the law,” she said, “I’m not handing people over to ICE, and I’m not going to allow them in the courthouse or the prison.”

The executive order, issued in 2020 by county Executive Lamont G. McClure, has drawn criticism from Republicans, notably U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who spoke against it this year on the U.S. House floor. Zrinski and Giovanni are seeking to succeed McClure, who decided not to seek reelection and instead run for Congress in 2026.

McClure has defended the policy, and said it balances immigration enforcement laws with due process rights. The policy came about after an ICE agent detained an immigrant without a warrant in 2020 at Northampton County Courthouse.

Gracedale

Gracedale, the county nursing home, has become a hot issue in particular over unpaid retention bonuses totaling around $2.5 million that council voted to approve and the administration pledged to pay.

Giovanni said when he questioned what happened to the bonuses, the administration said the fund “is out of money.” Council then sought an audit, performed by Zrinski’s office. He said the audit validated that the money did not go toward bonuses but was commingled with other Gracedale accounts.

Zrinski essentially agreed, adding that the audit turned up no evidence of fraud. She also said the administration could have been more transparent in how the money was moved but added McClure told council in June 2024 that the money had been spent but not on bonuses.

Giovanni more than once criticized the administration for lacking “accountability, integrity and transparency.”

Asked by Iannelli to give an example, Giovanni cited Gracedale. “Transparency would have been ‘we are running a deficit,’ and that hadn’t been told to us until June 2024, that they’re having a problem. We weren’t really told.”

Zrinski said Gracedale habitually runs into deficits, with insurance and Medicaid reimbursements lagging behind by months.

Zrinski at times distanced herself slightly from McClure, a fellow Democrat and staunch campaign supporter.

“I don’t feel the current administration did a bad job,” she said, noting how McClure pulled the county through an unprecedented pandemic. “We do what we can with what we have. But I plan on running my administration a little bit different. I’m not [Lamont] 2.0.”

Other topics

Both candidates agreed on other issues, including property reassessment. Neither sees the need to do a reassessment, with Zrinski adding the county has benefited financially from residential and commercial building since the last reassessment in the mid-1990s.

The candidates expressed concern a reassessment could mean a tax increase that could particularly hit older homeowners.

Giovanni said the administration ought to cut property taxes paid to support county services. Taxes have held steady under McClure, with one year seeing an 8.5% decrease.

Iannelli said at the outset that Giovanni declined doing a debate format for the taping — as the candidates in Lehigh County did — but Giovanni said he was never asked. Northampton County GOP Chair Glenn Geissinger, who was contacted by the Chamber, said he turned down a debate, because both candidates and their positions are known.

“I had discussions with the station … that ultimately led to this format,” Geissinger said.

Wednesday’s taping will air 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 on “Business Matters” on WFMZ. Election day is Nov. 4.

Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/03/northampton-county-exec-candidates-forum/