Macungie Mayor: It’s My Son’s Fault

Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman said that residents who say his son is to blame for his controversial tenure as mayor are right. But they’re pointing fingers at the wrong son.

Hoffman and his wife Sue sat down with Patch on Monday to talk about their plans to move to Virginia at the end of June.

Hoffman also spoke about how he became mayor and how things evolved to the point where he is currently waiting for a response from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on a lawsuit with the borough and Macungie police. Hoffman said that he has his older son Michael to thank for it all.

It was Michael who pointed out to him that no one was running for Macungie mayor during the last election and it was Michael who encouraged Hoffman to throw his hat into the ring. "I never wanted to get involved in politics," Hoffman said. "I don't like speaking in front of people."

Hoffman said that the job of a borough mayor is pretty simple—to break tie votes in council and to oversee the police department. It's on that latter point that Hoffman and others in the borough have seen things differently, Hoffman said.

According to Hoffman, his trouble with the Macungie police department began from his campaign and flyers he posted around the borough indicating his desire to make changes to the department if elected.

"I am truly sorry for what the borough had to go through because of all the lies told at the beginning," Hoffman said, referring to the belief of some people that he has been “targeting” the police department because of his son Jason’s DUI arrest.

That arrest, Hoffman said, happened after he was already campaigning on a platform of police reform.

"I don't know what I have done to the police department that warrants their fear of me," he said.

This article is the second in a series. Check back on Lower Macungie Patch next week for more from a Patch interview with Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman. During the interview, the mayor spoke about his upcoming move to Virginia, his time as mayor and shared some parting words for his constitutents.