Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The jury is out

Democratic Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla has been getting some high marks from some of my friends lately. She has been joining with GOP Commissioner Steve Urban in making all the right noises about the countless scandals that have come to light over the last year. But what action has she taken?

She called for an investigation of Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael Conahan business relationship with PA Child Care owner and Cargo Airport builder Robert Powell after it was widely known that the FBI and IRS had already launched a probe.


She called for Sam Guesto's head when it was revealed that he was strong arming county prison officials not to bid out items that were previously bid and deciding on his own to build a bigger prison. Not to mention the Debit Card Debacle. But Guesto has a job with the courts now and his boss is Ciavarella who says he's doing a great job. I have an idea, since this newly created court director job was invented for him after his position as chief clerk became untenable how about the salary board meet and eliminate the job.

The prison board suspended Warden Gene Fischi and the Purchasing Director for a week for violating the county bidding policy and possibly breaking state law. They should have been fired. Some sort of secret police organization is supposed to be investigating this mess according to DA Jackie MO.

And why does Sam Hyder still have a job on the public payroll?

Remember when Controller Steve Flood was screaming about the 20 year lease with PA Child Care and a bunch of other things. He was making too much noise and asking uncomfortable questions so he had to to go. So the County Dems recruited Maryanne Petrilla to take him out in the Primary of 2005. In her 2 years as Luzerne County Controller I don't remember her making any waves except for auditing the Republican Row Officers and even then she didn't find much wrong.

With all that said I hope that she does kick ass and takes names but I'm a cynical old bastard that has to see results.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gort,

When I lived in Luzerne county, we comnented on this subject many times. Neither one of us voted for any Democratic candidate that was supported by the county Democratic party. We even voted for Republicans when there was a chance.

As a Democrat who was willing to vote for a Republican, there were many times there was no choice to do so in a GENERAL ELECTION. Some offices went uncontested. In Luzerne county the only Democrat I voted for religousely was Doc Hudock when he was alive because I felt the coroner office should be handled by a doctor with pathological expierence and should not be a political office to begin with.

Now for some commenters that will say, "Keep voting Democrat", there are many Democrats that will vote for a Republican if given the chance. But we need viable candidates to vote for. And don't give the excuse that the big wigs are RINOS and only put up soup cans for candidates. Give us someone to vote for. I Miss Carolee, I miss Flood that pissed off his own party. Believe me Republicans step up to the plate, give us someone that cares about the county, you will find Democratic voters to support you. It is not good when one pary rules an area i.e. the Presidency and the Congress, or even a low county government. When one party controls all power, well like the old saying goes "Power corupts and absolute power corupts absolutely". If Luzerne county is given the chance to vote for a home rule again, you might want to consider it. The Devil you know is not always better to deal with then the Devil you don't know. We saw what we got when Vondy and Skrep said trust us, don't go crazy and scrap the system. Or keep going through the same thing election after election.

Anonymous said...

Three cheers for the Rainman. You make good sense but unfortunately it will probably fall on deaf ears.

When are you going to move back to Luzerne county?

Tony Thomas said...

I wish that people would be more open to Independent candidates in this area. It would be nice to have representation from people who owed no party loyalty.

Anonymous said...

Petrilla voted to create the position that Guesto occupies. She let every dollar go out the door for her two years as controller. Anyone who thinks she isn't in on the whole scam is fooled... again.

Anonymous said...

She' a lot of noise with very little action. All sounds good but nothing serious results from her jabber. Meanwhile when she was controller she saw no evil or heard no evil. Just another democrat bullshit artist.

Big Dan said...

That picture...YIKES! You should have a warning before you view that picture!

Anonymous said...

I used to cut and color her hair. She is hiding lots of grey.

Anonymous said...

And just remember... these people control your voting machines. Still think the vote you cast on that electronic machine goes to the person you want? Think again.