PA Senate 14th District

TL: Pittston Township union representative Michael Saporito on Wednesday filed to withdraw from his candidacy for the 14th Senatorial District seat, according to a primary withdrawal list posted on the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site.

I spent a few days trying to find out some info about this guy is and came up empty. Saporito's petitions were being challenged by the Yudichak camp according to PittstonPolitics.com.

So that leaves 2 local Democratic heavyweights looking for the nomination to succeed Ray Musto. I must say that I'm surprised that there are not more people running for this seat on both sides. Of the the 4 people looking to go to Harrisburg I can honestly say I like them all and will be neutral in the race.

When you compare the job that Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton has done with the record of his predecessor you have to be impressed. He restored the bond rating of the city and added to the ranks of the police department. The downtown has seen more businesses open than close and it's not a ghost town after dark anymore. The trash is picked up on time and the streets are plowed when it snows. There have been some sore spots like the Heights fire house closing and staff reductions in that department. Yes, he has raised taxes because it was the responsible thing to do because we don't want to go back to the days of taking 3 tax anticipation notes in one year.

State Rep John Yudichak knocked off Stanley Jarolin in the 1998 Democratic primary and has been reelected easily since. Jarolin was best known for keeping us informed on which streams would be stocked with trout but not much else. He has had some significant achievements in his time in the State House including ending the unemployment penalty for people on Social Security. He refused to take the the 2AM payraise and has proposed legislation to end the per diem abuse.

A comment on a previous post said Word around Wilkes-Barre is that Leighton thinks he has the Senator seat in the bag already. His camp thinks that Kanjo is going to deliver it for him and he is going to deliver the Congressional race for Kanjo. They don't think Yudichak has a chance.

This is silly. Kanjo in another fight for his political life so he doesn't need to get mixed up in other races even if we all know that Kanjo and Yuddy don't exchange Christmas cards anymore. The last politician around here that could deliver a race was Marty Murray and those days are long gone.

Luzerne County Commissioner Steve Urban is the only Republican running for the State Senate seat but he is also running for Lt. Governor. I couldn't find a Urban for Senate website but did come across one for his Lt. Gov bid. Steve is the only one that I have voted for in the last 2 county commissioner general elections. He says he would be able to argue for county governments across the Commonwealth when Harrisburg decides to pass yet another unfunded mandate that passes the cost on to local government.

In the fall we will also be able to vote for a Libertarian candidate provided she gets enough signatures before August 1st. It won't be easy because the Dems and Reps have set an almost impossible number for 3rd party candidates to get on the ballot. Betsy Summers has run for a few offices before and was a member of the last Luzerne County Government Study Commission.


Note: All 4 candidates are threatening to show up at our blogger get together this Friday in Pittston.


.