ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Some city residents want to strip city Councilwoman Candida Affa of her power to vote on all things related to a soon-to-restart investigation at Allentown City Hall.
Karen Ocasio, whose firing in November 2023 prompted council's no-confidence vote against Mayor Matt Tuerk, on Wednesday night submitted a petition with about three dozen signatures.
That petition asks council to pull its contract with Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris LLC to take over the body’s dive into allegations of racism and discrimination by and against city employees.
Council in June 2024 hired former FBI agent Scott Curtis to lead the investigation. But members voted 4-3 in January to nix that deal and hire Duane Morris to analyze Allentown's personnel and nondiscrimination policies.
If council moves forward with Duane Morris, council members should at least demand Affa’s recusal or force her removal from all future votes on the probe, the petition says.
“[Affa] is … being investigated and sued for discrimination and the same things that [city employees] are all complaining about."Karen Ocasio, petitioner
Ocasio said petitioners want Affa to have no influence over the investigation because a federal lawsuit filed last year said she was partly responsible for a racially hostile workplace at City Hall.
The suit alleges Affa, who is white, has made repeated racially motivated comments against Deputy City Clerk Tawanna Whitehead, who is Black.
“She is … being investigated and sued for discrimination and the same things that [city employees] are all complaining about,” Ocasio said.
Ocasio’s comments and the petition seemed to fall on deaf ears Wednesday night; no council members spoke about the measure and no action was taken before the body quickly moved on to the next item on its agenda.
Allentown residents can place an item on council's agenda by submitting a petition with at least 35 signatures.
'Laughable': Affa
Affa, who was not at Wednesday’s meeting, gave short shrift to the petition when reached by phone.
“They have a vendetta against me. It’s political; it’s laughable, it really is.”Councilwoman Candida Affa
She vehemently defended herself and accused Ocasio and others of “using me as a scapegoat to end the investigation.”
“They have a vendetta against me,” she told LehighValleyNews.com. “It’s political; it’s laughable, it really is.”
“All they want is their 15 minutes,” she said, questioning why petitioners would seek to end the investigation.
“What are they afraid of?”
Ocasio told LehighValleyNews.com she believes the probe will cost taxpayers too much and worries Duane Morris’ findings will not present an accurate picture of workplace issues.
“There’s no way that I’m going to recuse myself, and there’s no way they can make me recuse myself."Councilwoman Candida Affa
Affa said the federal lawsuit in which she is named is “a whole, separate thing” from Duane Morris’ investigation.
She noted two other council members — President Daryl Hendricks and Vice President Cynthia Mota — also are named in Whitehead’s federal lawsuit.
The suit alleges they and Mayor Matt Tuerk “did shamefully little” to protect Whitehead from Affa’s alleged harassment.
Affa was unequivocal about whether she will abstain from future votes about the investigation.
“Oh, hell no. Hell no,” Affa said. “Recuse myself from what? The voting is over.”
“There’s no way that I’m going to recuse myself, and there’s no way they can make me recuse myself,” she said, questioning the weight of a petition that garnered 37 signatures in a city of more than 125,000 people.
She said she might take notice if the petition had 30,000 or 40,000 signatures.
Fewer than 13,000 votes were cast in the 2023 Democratic council primary, when Affa all but secured her re-election to a third term with 1,933 votes.
