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Covenanter Seeks to Instill Integrity in Public Office
By Stan Friedman
ALLENTOWN, PA (December 15, 2005) - Ed Pawlowski says he is grateful for a
local newspaper poll that put him well behind his opponent in the city's
recent mayoral election.
"I was actually nine points out a week before election day," he says.
"Obviously that wasn't good."
The poll turned into a blessing, inspiring his supporters to work harder
and led to an infusion of funds. He won the election by a 30-point
margin and won every district in the city. With a population of 110,000,
the city is the third largest in the state. Pawlowski, who had never run
for office, defeated a twice-elected former mayor.
Pawlowski formerly attended Grace Covenant Church in Chicago. His wife,
Lisa, is the daughter of Marleen Halsey, who works in the Business
Office of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Chicago. The couple has a
seven-year-old daughter, Mercy, and a three-year-old son, Alex.
The mayor-elect had been encouraged to run after he resigned his job as
director of Community and Economic Development for the city. Pawlowski
says he left the job because of his dissatisfaction with the mayor's
performance that made it impossible to continue working together
effectively.
During a trip back to Chicago to visit family, Pawlowski said he prayed
extensively before making a decision about running for public office. He
determined that if he could raise $10,000 during the brief trip to
support an election bid, he would consider that an answer to his
prayers. Supporters pledged $20,000.
"I ran on a vision of really changing City Hall and putting integrity
back into the process," says Pawlowski, who assumes office January 3.
Campaigning and being in the spotlight has proved more difficult than
Pawlowski imagined. "It is a grueling task to run for office. Even when
you're honest, you're ripped apart. I knew it would challenge me and
make me grow in many different areas.
"I have no privacy now," he notes. "You lose your own identity," and he
jokingly adds, "You lose your first name - you're now mayor." Everything
in one's personal life is carefully scrutinized, he observes. "Your life
is no longer your own. That's exciting in one sense and very challenging."
Although he had never run for public office, much of his life has been
spent working with community development in one way or another. After
attending Moody Bible College and working with InterVarsity for several
years, Pawlowski did community organizing with a coalition of churches
on Chicago's southwest side. He also worked with Lutheran Social
Services of Illinois and Windows of Opportunity, an affiliate of the
Chicago Housing Authority.
After earning a master's degree in public administration from the
University of Illinois, he spent several more years working with the
Chicago Housing Authority. Pawlowski began to make a name for himself
when he moved to Allentown to become president and CEO of the non-profit
Alliance for Building Communities.
During his tenure, the barely operating organization grew dramatically,
creating affordable housing and stabilizing neighborhoods. In 2000, the
Fannie Mae Foundation honored the organization with a national award for
its housing program. The program converted apartments in old row houses
to single family housing for first-time homebuyers. Success led him to
accept his recent city position.
Pawlowski says he wants to diversify the city's tax base and strengthen
outreach and marketing. Allentown has much to offer, he says, as
indicated by the fact that three Fortune 500 companies are located in
the city.
The city still is recovering from the way it was portrayed in the Billy
Joel hit song/music video "Allentown," in which the community is
described as an impoverished city with abandoned steel mills. "He (Joel)
was talking about Bethlehem, but it didn't rhyme, I guess," he says,
noting that "Allentown doesn't have any steel mills."
What Allentown does have, Pawlowski says, is a future.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
