In the debate between candidates for Lehigh County executive Wednesday night, one unseemly moment intruded on an otherwise tightly run and mostly civil event.

As Democrat Josh Siegel decried a recent military-style raid by immigration officials on a Chicago apartment building — with agents rappelling onto the building from a Black Hawk helicopter and zip-tying residents, including young children — a number of people in the audience laughed.

“I don’t think it’s funny,” said Siegel, who early in the debate at Lehigh Carbon Community College lamented the extraordinary incivility and divisiveness that have taken hold in this political era. “I think it’s a serious constitutional violation.”

Siegel was answering a question about whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should be allowed to wear masks as they carry out their duties. That’s something his Republican opponent, Roger MacLean, supports, saying agents face death threats and harassment if they don’t conceal their identities.

It was one of many of issues separating the candidates: Siegel, a young, progressive state representative who launched his political career by running for mayor of Allentown when he was just out of college; and MacLean, a former Allentown police chief and City Council member who adheres to traditionally conservative politics.

Another question that underscored their divergent worldviews concerned police responses to calls involving people having mental health crises.

Siegel favors a program in which officers are teamed with social workers or mental health professionals trained to defuse such situations, ensuring they don’t grow into potentially lethal encounters.

MacLean, speaking from his experience as an officer responding to such calls, says  adding civilians to potentially volatile encounters is too dangerous. “Those calls can go south really quick,” he said, adding that he favors early intervention with people known to be at risk of such crises.

Asked to name issues of greatest concern, Siegel cited housing affordability, with prices freezing out young people in search of starter homes and older residents looking to downsize; and voting access. He said he wants to expand the ways people can vote, by adding ballot drop boxes across the county and opening voting-on-demand centers.

MacLean favors the opposite strategy. He wants fewer drop boxes and says they should be monitored by camera to make sure people aren’t dropping off more ballots than permitted by law.

“There’s pretty many places to vote,” he said, rejecting the idea that expanded capacity is needed.

The candidates pledged to be responsible stewards of county finances, a matter of particular concern as local governments deal with the fallout from federal spending cuts and a budget impasse in Harrisburg that threatens county program funding. Both favor increasing the county’s $25 million stabilization fund, which has been used to keep programs going until state funding starts flowing again.

The debate grew testy when Siegel criticized MacLean’s 30-year residence in a city-owned home for which he paid no property taxes. In a campaign ad, Siegel said MacLean parlayed that tax advantage into ownership of other properties and said the Republican is out of touch with the struggles of would-be homeowners.

“I paid rent on that [city] house every month that I’m there,” MacLean replied, noting that he paid taxes on his other properties. “I worked two jobs to pay for what I have and to raise six children. I worked two jobs for most of my adult life, plus I worked extra assignments when I was on the police department.”

Seeking to cap the evening on an upbeat note, debate moderator Brad Osborne asked the candidates to say something positive about each other.

Siegel commended MacLean for being a good father, whose six children have gone into law enforcement, the military and other careers.

MacLean, for his part, recalled meeting Siegel when the Democrat ran for mayor.

“At that point, I thought ‘This guy might have a future,’” he said. “Our politics have gone separate ways since then. Obviously I think I’m the better choice but it’s been fun running against him.”

https://www.mcall.com/2025/10/08/lehigh-county-executive-debate/