Which Seat Does Julian Stolz Really Want?

Controversial East Penn School Board member Julian Stolz will be on Tuesday's primary ballot running for both Emmaus mayor and Emmaus Borough Council.

But which seat does he really want?

He is prohibited by law from holding all of them at once.

Stolz declined this week to answer questions from Patch about his commitment to the school board and his interest in borough council.

Stolz did announce that he has decided to support Mayor Winfield Iobst for re-election and will withdraw from the mayor's race as soon as he "can legally do so." Stolz said he decided to run against the incumbent when he thought Iobst was part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Stolz says that Iobst is no longer part of that coalition and says he believes the mayor now fully supports the Second Amendment.

In the borough council primary, Stolz is one of two Republicans running for three open seats. So he will automatically advance to the general election in that race. (There are also three Democrats running.)

As a school board member, Stolz already serves on a powerful body that oversees a $130 million budget and 10 schools that enroll 8,000 students. The school board determines property tax hikes—if needed—to fund the district. (There's no East Penn tax hike for the coming year).

Parents called for the ouster of Stolz following Tweets he made that some people found offensive.

Stolz issued a fake April Fool's Day resignation, then later promised to "think before Tweeting."

Stolz is serving a four-year school board term that will end in 2015.

Stolz, 25, is a graduate of Emmaus High School and has been on the East Penn School Board since 2007. In 2011, he described himself as "conservative Republican" in a Patch candidate questionnaire distributed to school board candidates.

Stolz has more than 1,000 followers for his Stolz Report on Twitter. He also posts online at The Stolz Report on Blogspot.

His Twitter summary introduction says:

Strong is fighting! It's hard, and it's painful, and it's every day. It's what we have to do. Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass.