Salvatore J. Panto Jr.
Salvatore J. Panto Jr. is an American politician from Pennsylvania who is the current mayor of Easton, Pennsylvania, and has served for six non-consecutive terms. First for two terms from 1984-1992, and another four terms from 2008 to present.[1][2]
Mayor Salvatore J. Panto Jr. | |
---|---|
![]() Panto in 2021 | |
Mayor of Easton, Pennsylvania | |
Assumed office January 2, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Phil Mitman |
In office 1984–1992 | |
Preceded by | Phil Mitman |
Succeeded by | Thomas F. Goldsmith |
Personal details | |
Born | 1953 Easton, Pennsylvania |
Political party | Democratic Party |
Alma mater | Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (Bachelor's) Lehigh University(Master's) |
Website | www.easton-pa.com |
Early life
Panto is a Easton native. He received a Bachelor's degree from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and a Master's degree from Lehigh University. In 2011 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Public service from Lafayette College.[3]
Political career
First tenure
Panto was elected mayor at the age of 31 in 1984 making him the youngest mayor in Easton's history. During his first tenure he focused on making the city cleaner and safer. He expanded the city's police and fire department and hired code enforcement officers.[1][3]
Second tenure
When he returned to the office of mayor the city of Easton was on the verge of filing for Act 47, the municipal equivalent of bankruptcy. However, Panto was able to re-organize city finances to create a surplus budget every year during his second tenure without increasing the real estate tax.[1] An advocate for public parks, Panto has greatly expanded the city's park network and also improved their safety and cleanliness ending rampant drug dealing and gang violence, and cleaning dangerous trash. In 2017 he received a $850,000 subsidy from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to improve the National Canal Museum and the 520 acre park next to it.[4]
Panto has also served as the President of the Pennsylvania Municipal League and during his tenure advocated for increased state spending to renovate storm drains in rural and underfunded municipalities and opposed PA house bill 1069 which would require the posting of an agenda 24 hours before board meetings, and for the board meetings only act on topics on the agenda.[5][6]
In 2019 Panto became the center of a municipal spending debate. City Councilmen Peter Melan proposed slashing the city councilor's salary in half due to Mayor's salary doubling. The other members of the city council refused to decrease their own payroll and Melan has announced his candidacy for mayor in 2023 hoping to defeat Panto in the Democratic Primary but would ultimately fail, only getting 30.15% of the vote to Panto's 69.85%.[7][8][9]
Panto has also been criticized for his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic during which he shut down the city hall and had all municipal duties performed over video call.[10][11] This online municipal government system, combined with a $6,000,000 shortfall in the city's budget due to a near total loss of the city's tourism revenue for the nearby casino and the Crayola Experience, resulted in difficulty in Panto re-hiring city employees and a large decrease in his popular support.[12] Panto was able to salvage the situation by slashing the city's taxes resulting in a large influx of New Yorkers moving to the city to avoid New York City's cost of living and earning the city the moniker "little Manhattan."[13]
Panto has also received criticism for proposing removing the term "Easter" from the city's annual Easter egg hunt in 2022, but backed down after backlash from local churches and citizens.[14] He has also received criticism for publicly cursing out a local African American bar owner at a Town hall meeting after the bar owner complained that the city has done nothing to compensate for his wife being hit by a city owned advertisement screen during a storm and that the city would've done something if she were white. Panto responded by repeatedly shouting profanities at the owner. He has since apologized for his language, but defends his actions of defending his integrity against racism accusations.[15]
On May 16, 2023, Panto defeated Melan in the Democratic primary, and with the Republicans not being competitive in Mayoral elections since 2007, this was largely treated as the election proper. Should he again defeat his Republican challenger on November 5, 2024, this would mark his 7th term as Mayor, and 5th consecutive term, making him the longest tenured mayor in Easton's history. However, he vowed this 7th term would be his last, and that he would not seek re-election to an 8th term in 2028, which would make him Mayor for 28 years, 20 of which consecutively.[16] On April 1, Panto partnered with Lafayette College during Literacy Day, reading to a elementary school class in an effort to increase children's interest in books.[17] He is also one of 6 Pennsylvania mayors to attend the 91st meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors.[18]
Electoral history
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | |||
Republican | Timothy D. Reilly | |||
Total votes |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | 1,631 | 69.85% | |
Democratic | Peter Melan | 704 | 30.15% | |
Total votes | 2,335 | 100% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | 2,839 | 81.53% | |
Republican | Timothy D. Reilly | 628 | 18.04% | |
N/A | Write-ins | 15 | 0.43% | |
Total votes | 3,482 | 100.0% | ||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | 1,282 | 75.86% | |
Democratic | Taiba Sultana | 402 | 23.79% | |
Democratic | Write-ins | 6 | 0.36% | |
Total votes | 1,690 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | 1,807 | 98.64% | |
N/A | Write-ins | 25 | 1.36% | |
Total votes | 1,832 | 100.0% | ||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | 1,047 | 99.71% | |
Democratic | Write-ins | 3 | 0.29% | |
Total votes | 1,050 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. (incumbent) | 2,513 | 80.54% | |
Republican | Mike Krill | 607 | 19.46 | |
Total votes | 3,120 | 100.0% | ||
Democratic hold | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. | 2,370 | 64.88% | ||
Republican | Gary Bertsch | 1,283 | 35.12% | ||
Total votes | 3,653 | 100% | |||
Democratic gain from Republican |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Salvatore J. Panto Jr. | 914 | 60.13% | |
Democratic | Michael P. Fleck | 606 | 39.87% | |
Total votes | 1,520 | 100% |
References
- "Mayor Salvatore J. Panto, Jr". www.easton-pa.com. Easton, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Salvatore J. Panto, Jr". www.easton-pa.com. Easton, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Salvatore J. Panto Jr". lvb.com. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Mabaso, Alaina. "Meet Urban Parks Champion, Easton Mayor Sal Panto". goodforpa.com. Pennsylvania parks and recreation. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Sturges, Amy. "Opposition to House Bill 1069" (PDF). www.pml.org. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Sturges, Amy. "Storm Water Management and Support for House Bills 473 and 474" (PDF). www.legis.state.pa.us. PA Municipal League. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Salamone, Anthony. "Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. declares victory in primary election as he seeks fifth straight term". The Morning Call. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- Hurst, Robert. "Easton City Council proposed salary decrease will not move forward". thebrownandwhite.com. Lehigh University. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Miller, Rudy. "Easton councilman announces he's running for mayor". www.lehighvalleylive.com. Advance Publications. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Panto, Salvatore J. "Your View by Easton's mayor: City rises to meet pandemic's challenges". www.mcall.com. Alden Global Capital. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Easton City Hall closed to the public as part of COVID-19 workplace measures". www.wfmz.com. Maranatha Broadcasting Company. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Groppe, Maureen. "Despite federal COVID aid, some cities face hurdles bringing workers back after budget cuts". www.usatoday.com. Maribel Perez Wadsworth. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Caldwell, Dave. "Easton, Pa.: A Gritty River Town Being Transformed". www.nytimes.com. A. G. Sulzberger. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Lea, Jessica. "UPDATE: City Will Not Drop 'Easter' From Egg Hunts After Complaint About Separation of Church and State". churchleaders.com. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Bresswein, Kurt. "Easton mayor apologizes for cursing at public meeting during Pudding Bar discussion". www.lehighvalleylive.com. Advance Publications. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Myszkowski, Brian. "Panto takes mayoral race for 5th term in a row, 7th overall". Lehigh Valley News. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- Huth, Kelly. "Lafayette's America Reads team organizes Literacy Day". Lafayette College. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- "91st Winter Meeting Registered Mayors". United States Conference of Mayors. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- Salamone, Anthony. "Northampton County GOP chair says DA Terry Houck not welcome to seek reelection as a Republican". The Morning Call. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- "Summary Results Report 2019 Municipal Election" (PDF). www.northamptoncounty.org. Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Summary Report" (PDF). www.northamptoncounty.org. Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Results" (PDF). www.northamptoncounty.org. Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Summary report" (PDF). www.northamptoncounty.org. Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "General election 2011 results for Lehigh Valley and Northwest New Jersey races". www.lehighvalleylive.com. Advance Publications. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- "Municipal and county election results". www.mcall.com. Alden Global Capital. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- Jordan, Tracy. "It's Panto over Fleck in Easton primary ** Democratic mayoral hopeful will face Republican Gary Bertsch in November election". www.mcall.com. Alden Global Capital. Retrieved 24 January 2023.