Pointing fingers

"We need somebody in the Republican party that’s going to work for the Republicans ...she is controlled by the Democrats. She is the wrong person for the job. She has done nothing to help the party with fundraising. All of the candidates are forced to fend for themselves.”-
MINORITY COMMISSIONER Steve Urban

It seems like I do this post after every local election.

This time Steve Urban called for Villano's head and last year it was State Rep loser John Cordora saying “There was no backing from the local Republican party. The one thing the Luzerne County Republican Party needs to do is to get rid of Lynette Villano or there’s not going to be a Republican Party here in this county.”

From what I hear the local GOP organization resembles a collection of nerdy high school cliques that are getting bullied by the cool kids and will take whatever crumbs fall off the table. The TL has Bruce Phillips and John Rodgers pointing out that the party doesn’t have its act together. They can't raise money even though wealthy Republicans in the county regularly give to state and federal candidates. But many of them also contribute to the local Dems because they are smart business people who know that there isn't much chance of a Republican winning anything and want to influence the decision makers. At the GOP dinner the hostility to Urban and Walter Griffiths wasn't even masked and I've been told that Christine Katsock was working the polls for Tom Leighton. What a bunch.

The 6th District Republicans (W-B and surroundings) have a website that has a fundraiser listed and also asks that you take your aluminum cans to Bielecki's junkyard and donate the proceeds to the cause. They can have the money from my cans if they pick them up and cash them in, I'm not dealing with the zoo at the junkyard and I would just like to get rid of them. I think it's a creative fundraising technique, maybe next they will ask for people to donate their leftover food stamps.

“I think everybody should calm down. I don’t think we should make decisions in frustration or anger” -Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano

Plus ça change

The Democrats swept the Luzerne County row offices and all 7 elections in the city of Wilkes-Barre. The results in the city was predicted by just about everyone and I saw the county wave building in the last week or so. Sometimes I hate being right.


I was off about the order of finish in the Commissioners race with Petrilla topping the ballot but the result is the same with the 2 Dems in the majority and Steve Urban will continue to howl in the wilderness. In one of the races that was competitive had 2 term incumbent Sheriff Barry Stankus getting hit with the jinx associated with that office like previous Sheriff Carl "watch out for that dog" Zawatski. In both cases the perception was they were trying to cover up something. The theft in the Recorder of Deeds office sank Republican Mary Dysleski as Red O'Brien smelled blood in the water and hammered her hard about it. Urban blames Republican Party Chairwoman Lynette Villano for the loss of Stankus and Dysleski.

“I think it’s a reflection on her leadership,” Urban said. “Next year we have party elections, and I think Lynette Villano should seriously consider stepping aside and letting someone else come in and try to rebuild the party.”

Sorry Steve, it was a Democratic year and nobody has ever accused you of promoting party unity.

Election day in PA, I voted

The polling place was calmer than the primary with only 3 poll workers but signs for everyone running. We were voters number 300 and 301 out of almost 1000 at about 4PM. Maybe by the closing of the polls at 8PM half the voters might show up which is considered a good turnout for a local election.

I voted for some Dems and some Republicans. In the choice for a new Judge of the Court of Common Pleas I tested the write-in function. Dave Lupas will forever tied to Hugo Selenski in my mind so I typed in Hugo for Judge. It is so easy to do a write-in or type -in I think more under the radar candidates will emerge in the local primaries.

First reactions

The Pennsylvania Democratic party links to my Judicail ramblings at Pa Dems and reminds us that this election is important.





And one of my most trusted advisors said:

I won't be able to make it this year; I have ...training all week, otherwise I would have called off tomorrow. Will be sure to make it next year to toast Hillary's victory over Mitt Romney.

Programing note

I will be doing my usual post about voting at our local precinct and cover the returns after the polls close at 8PM. If anyone wants to make a prediction or share an election day story please email it to me and I will be happy to put it on the front page.

Wilkes-Barre city elections

The W-B has a whole new voting system for city council candidates but the final result will not be any different. The Democrats will probably sweep all the races but at least every race is contested and for the first time I can remember there is a full slate for Mayor, Council and Controller on both sides.

Mayor Tom Leighton will win another term and he deserves it. He hasn't done everything everybody wants him to but who can? In my opinion his biggest accomplishment was getting the budget under control. The last year of McGroarity administration W-B had to take 3 tax anticipation loans and the bond rating was shot to hell, it took a tax increase and some aggressive lobbying to reverse that. There are more now cops on the street and the downtown projects are a reality instead of a dream. Sometimes a Mayor has to say NO, and say we can't afford it. If the worse thing he did was to close the Heights firehouse he's doing alright. Mark will fill you in on the details. I like his opponent Linda Stets, she is easy to talk with and very informed. She makes some good points such as Coal Street Park needing a swimming pool. Her ad in the CV today had a laundry list of things she wants to do which I agree with but just don't know how to pay for.

The Council races will be won by the 3 incumbents and the 2 Democratic newcomers, Mike Merritt and Rick Cronauer. In the Nord End the question is "Is John Yencha still alive? ".


I just have to pull for Walter Griffith in District A. The guy has been busting his ass forever to get on the city council and I think it would be a good thing. One party rule is not healthy.

Election day in PA, Luzerne County

The choice for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas is between Democrat Dave Lupas or Republican Dave Lupas. I still find it hard to believe that no serious attorney ran for this seat. It's now easier than ever to do a write-in with the touch screens so may be I'll type in Stephen Colbert or better yet, Hugo Selenski. And Jackie Mo is the next DA.

Luzerne County Commissioner

The order of finish will be Skrep, Petrilla, Urban and Jones. Then when we get to end of the year when the budget doesn't balance and the state pulls the funding for the juvie jail in Pittston along with other disasters waiting to happen people will have second thoughts.

Coroner

An office that shouldn't be elected but it is and the best politician will win. John Corcoran is a Wilkes-Barre Area School Board member and the Democratic nominee. Jim Desiderio points to his 20+ years as an assistant coroner but got a back door nomination on the Republican side. I'm sure either man can do the job as well as anyone other than a pathologist like the late , great Dr. Huddock.

Sheriff

This one might provide the only drama of the night. Incumbent Republican Barry Stankus was cruising to victory until it came out that he was moonlighting at a grocery store and "forgot" to list that income on his financial disclosure form. Mike Savokinas is running hard and the Dems are looking for a sweep. The Lu Lac Political Letter recaps the race.

Recorder of Deeds

The only other Republican row officer Mary Dysleski has had a mess on her hands because of the thefts from the office that her opponent Red O'Brien has been hitting hard in his TV ads. Her defense is that she put procedures in place that discovered it. My friend Pope George Ringo has the pulse of Pittston and is predicting an O'Brien upset.

Other

Bob Reilly will win a sixth term as Clerk of Courts defeating Republican Butler Township tax collector Sue Rossi. My favorite guy in the courthouse Treasurer Mike Morreale faces token opposition from Republican Gina Nevenglosky.

Election day in PA, the Judges

My predictions and endorsements for what it's worth.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Superior Court

The Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission's ratings of appellate candidates are highlighted on PAVoteSmart as well as links to other critical information about the candidates and the important functions of Pennsylvania's courts.

My picks for the Supreme Court are Seamus McCaffrey and Debra Todd. I think McCaffrey wins on name recognition and his claim to fame for running the "Eagles Court” at the vet that dealt with rowdy Birds fans. And Todd has made some rulings that upset the law and order/war on drugs crowd but upheld the constitution. Maureen Lally-Green has been helped by ads paid for by some group in Virginia which she claims no knowledge. Why some group in Virginia cares who is on the PA Supreme Court is a mystery. Mike Krancer lacks the experience of the other candidates. Blackrobe at Keystone Politics has a great rundown of the race.

Six candidates are vying for the three open seats on Superior Court.

The Democratic nominees are Pittsburgh lawyer Christine Donohue, Allegheny County Judge Ron Folino and Philadelphia County Judge John Younge.

The Republicans are Allegheny County Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen, Dauphin County Judge Bruce F. Bratton and Pittsburgh lawyer Jackie Shogan.

I'm not up to speed on this one and have no idea who will win other than to say the Democrats are in better shape than the Republicans in any statewide race. Some less than thought out reasons to vote for or against the various candidates. Donahue has sent me about 10 or 15 glossy oversize postcards that don't say anything. A friend of mine is working to elect Ron Folino so I'll help him out. I read a book called Shogan or was it Shogun, many years ago and enjoyed it. And I got a robo call from Lou Barletta pushing Bratton, so that puts him on my shit list.

I'm still torn about electing statewide judges. On the one hand I think that the people should have a say in deciding who occupies positions in all branches of government. On the other if a political junkie like me can't get a handle on who to vote for maybe merit selection would be a better way to go. I think the biggest thing that turns me off to electing these offices is that the candidates won't tell you their positions on the issues. So we're subjected to bio adds that tell you how tough on crime and drugs they've been. All financed by the lawyers that will appear before them.

Retention

There are seven state court Judges up for retention. PACleansweep has been urging everyone to vote NO. Bernie has taken on the masochistic task of looking at the records of each jurist and gives a thumbs up to all but Saylor and Melvin. The candidates are:

Supreme Court Thomas G Saylor

Superior Court John L Musmanno

Correale F Stevens
Bonnie B Leadbetter

Joan Orie Melvin

Commonwealth Court Bernard L McGinley
Doris A Smith-Ribner

I have never voted to retain any Judge being the contrarian bastard that I am. In my memory only 2 have ever lost a retention vote. A Lackawanna County Judge that was under indictment and later convicted of theft and Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro in the pay raise fallout. Most of us don't know who these people are or what they do and the selection of appellate court judges should be taken out of the political arena.

Plymouth Council race

The Peoples Republic of Plymouth, Pennsylvania is ruled by a benevolent Big Brother, the unelected Boro Administrator Joe Mazur. We all remember Mazur for his eloquence when he was the Luzerne County Democratic Chairman and said Register of Wills Dotty Stankovic was "a cancer within the organization. " He was also "gleeful" when Petrilla defeated incumbent Controller Steve Flood in the 2005 primary. Steve rocked the boat and we know that's not allowed.

The town council and Mayor follow his lead and everyone is happy. Well maybe not after a protracted dispute over a new police contract and a lawsuit between the council and Mayor Dorothy Petrosky over scheduling of part-time officers. In the end Plymouth has more police protection and the the only winners in this pissing contest were the lawyers.

The primary election for council was close with 5 Democrats within 150 voted of each other. The results:

THOMAS MCTAGUE. . . . . . . 536
CARL CLEMM . . . . . . . . . . 454
CHARLIE LASINSKI . . . . . . . . 403
BILL DIXON . . . . . . . . . . 383
JACKI RYDZEFSKI LEVANDOSKI 361

The two challengers to the longtime incumbents fell short but gathered enough write-in votes on the Republican side to earn a ballot spot for the General Election.

They are:

Bill Dixon and Jacki Rydzefski Levandoski are seeking seats on Plymouth Boro Council for 4 year terms.

Bill has been a resident of Plymouth the last 26 years and is married to the former Janet Flynn. They have 2 children and 1 grandchild. He is an Army Veteran having served with the 101st Airborne in the VietNam war and has been employed by UGI Development the last 20 years. He holds the position of Lab Technician III at the Hunlock Power Division. He is a member of VFW Post 1425 Plymouth, Kiwanis, and was appointed to the Plymouth Recreation Board. He was active in youth organizations and is a volunteer for Rails and Trails and also serves as an annual fundraiser for United Way for UGI. One of his goals as a member of council is to promote family development and youth activity within the community.

Jacki was born in Plymouth and has lived there most of her life. She is the daughter of the late Verna Rydzefski and Chet Rydzefski . Chet was a longtime street commissioner in the Boro and also a part time police officer.

Jacki is employed as a psychiatric nurse . She is in her 22nd year of employment with Community Counseling Services. She has one son, Joshua. She is a member of Plymouth Alive, Wilkes Barre Dog Training Club, and Therapy Dogs International serving as a volunteer with her dog Blitz in kids reading programs. A goal of hers is to promote a safe, family oriented community. She advocates seeking grants and funds for revitalization and to provide services to the residents . She hopes that this would attract and encourage more families to find Plymouth as a desirable place live.


Jacki Levandoski tells us why the people of Plymouth should vote for her and Bill:


Our current political leaders tout that they are the government that we can afford...Of course we can when we offer the taxpayers very little.

We have little free services... We only at this point have a newspaper program that involves lugging papers to the borough building for a few limited hours weekly. Our current lawn pickup involves paying $1.00 for paper lawn bags then calling them to notify of a pickup. These are bags that can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot at a much cheaper price then they are charging, but Mr Mazur stated that they won't do it for free !

Anything that involves giving to the taxpayers...it seems they claim to have no money...
We have no money according to them ..yet they found it OK to spend taxpayer hard earned dollars to sue our Mayor , rather then use it for something such as a service. In addition, his games that he played with the police contract were ridiculous. He told them he wasn't paying them for pay beyond his specified amt. of hours. Thankfully, those officers continued to provide services to keep the community safe , despite getting 1/2 of their pay. This nonsensical game went on for months..which ended up involving the borough solicitor getting yet again a nice chunk of the hard earned tax payer dollars. A new issue is that now Mr Mazur gets council to approve the appointing of a recycle chief...despite having no recycle program. He told the Times Leader that it was for the new chief to get recycle grants. Funny, I thought that's what a borough admin. is paid for...to seek and write grants.

I want to be an active part of the boro government. I am committed to finding and helping write grants that would benefit the community. I will , when elected...create an email acct. that citizens can contact me with their concerns. Right now , we have no web page that is updated, despite many times of asking. I want to see this town move ahead. To have prospective home buyers look to the town as a town that has youth activity ..is safe..is family oriented...We now have our police issue taken care of..which will be helpful in keeping the town safe.. Also...I want to see more accountability of property owners in keeping properties cleaned up .Right now, we have a zoning officer who has been doing a great job in contacting these property owners...but my big gripe is that we are wasting time and taxpayer dollars by having to continually go after those same property owners ever few months..We have to find a way to penalize them. I tend to think that some people too are left off the hook with this. There is an eyesore old school in my neighborhood that has seeming slipped thru. Council told me last year that there is nothing they can do. We have far too many absentee landlords from out of the area who will rent to anyone...which has brought some drug traffic and less then savory characters into the boro.
At a meeting last year, a resident suggested to council a renters tax/fee which I think would be a great idea in generating an ongoing revenue, rather then just looking at burdening only tax payers. Apparently this was never looked in to.

We will be the voice of the people , not the voice of the administrator.

Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds

Finally some action in this one. Today I spotted a TV ad for challenger Red O'Brien pointing out the theft from the office over the years. It didn't accuse incumbent Republican Mary Dysleski of stealing but took her to task for lax management for allowing it to happen. One of the accused thieves, Robert Pritchard, plead guilty and was sentenced to house arrest. The other, Carl Salitis, is awaiting trial. I'm sure if he cops a plea he will also get ridiculously light sentence. After all, the good ole boys take care of their own.

Luzerne County Sheriff

Barry Stankus, the incumbent Republican Sheriff is facing a stiff challenge from Mike Savokinas in the only county race that has some excitement. Stankus has done a good job the last eight years but you can always do better. His opponent points out some shortcomings and offers his ideas to improve the office. Stankus snagged the endorsement of both local papers. The CV said "Stankus has done a good job for eight years and deserves to be retained in his office." The TL said....sorry, the article has expired on the web. I hate to bitch about the local papers because I rely on them but the TL charging money for a story more than 2 weeks old (3 bucks!) is stupid.

Luzerne County Clerk of Courts

Democrat Bob Reilly has had the job for 20 years and seems to be doing well at it. The Times-Leader said it was a close call this time around. Sue Rossi has the managment experience to take his place but probably doesn't have the political support to replace him. Which is a shame, I would like to shake up the whole place.

The Urban Terrorist stikes again

Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban had the nerve to tell the people about what is in the super secret audit of PA Child Care, owner of the juvenile jail in Pittston Township. PA Child Care threatened to file a lawsuit if information from the draft audit was given to the press citing "trade secrets." I don't buy it. The state Department of Public Welfare conducted an audit of how taxpayer money is being spent and we have a right to know. According to Urban taxpayers may be on the hook for $30 million to $40 million because of the lease.

County Children and Youth director Frank Castano and County Manager Sam Guesto refused to give a copy to Urban so he got a copy from the Dept. of Welfare. Commissioner Chairman Greg Skrepenak backs them up hiding behind the lame excuse of a threatened lawsuit if information from the audit was given to the press. Let them sue, what are they afraid of? Or a better question is, what is Skrep afraid of?

In an attempt at damage control the county Dems are in full insult mode:

Skrepenak said Urban could not be trusted with a copy of the draft audit, and on Thursday, Skrepenak said Urban proved him right. He called Urban “a coward.”


Skep also called him an “albatross,” a “liar” and a “sneak.”

Skrepenak said he will sue Urban if he is sued.


County Commissioner Rose Tucker said he’s a “bum” and said she wants to “strangle him.”

A law firm representing PA Child Care, which owns the Pittston Township center, said Urban’s audit release was “a desperate act by a desperate politician trying desperately to get re-elected.”

And to add to the nonsense:

“This would be displeasing in the eyes of the individuals who trained Mr. Urban in the military,” Guesto said. “You don’t call the press if you should move your battalion forward.”


Urban's response

“Rose can call me whatever she wants. I like Rose. She’s a sweet lady, but she has a responsibility here and she should not have shirked her responsibility by refusing to see the audit. She has a responsibility as an elected official to get involved in matters, no matter how difficult they are.”

Urban said Skrepenak is the one who put the county “at risk” with the lease.
“He’s got this county in a serious situation because he did not act prudently. He’s going to attack me because he has to cover it up.”

Remember that in 2003, Urban and then-Commissioner Tom Makowski voted to borrow roughly $9 million for a new county-owned juvenile facility. And then the money was pissed away on other projects.

Wilkes-Barre Council race

All the Wilkes-Barre City Council candidates were invited to a forum at Kings College but most of them took a pass. Even the Citizens Voice didn't show up. This was probably the only time before the election that all the candidates would share the same platform before the election. The TL has a recap of the positions of the people who actually lowered themselves to answer questions from the voters. They were:

Walter Griffith, Republican, District A

Vincent Guarneri, Republican, District B

Peter Gagliardi, Republican, District C

Linda Stets, Republican, District D

Michael Merritt, Democrat, District E

Missing in action:

Rick Cronauer, Democrat, District A

Tony Thomas Jr., Democrat,District B, INCUMBENT

Kathy Kane, Democrat, District C, INCUMBENT

Bill Barrett, Democrat, District D, INCUMBENT

Republican John Yencha, District E

Independent candidate Tony George, District B

Write-in candidate Sam Troy, District C.

Anybody see a pattern?

My friend David has his usual thorough coverage the event at The Lu Lac Political Letter. He covers the issues, the atmosphere and even a fashion report.

Wilkes-Barre political websites:

Mayor Tom Leighton

Mayoral candidate and District D Council candidate Linda Stets

District A candidate Walter Griffith

The 6th District Republican Committee covers W-B candidates and other races

Wilkes-Barre Can Survive! is pushing Republicans in the city and county

Lackawanna Wonderful

Unlike Luzerne County our neighbors to the north have a Commissioners race that is in doubt. Incumbent Republican Bob Cordaro and his running mate Brian Cashman remind us that that they made the hard choices. I'm sorry, I meant A J Munchak. It's just that Cordaro continues to brag about stealing the Yankees AAA team from Columbus it's hard to tell who he is running with. Sorry Bob, some of us are still pissed that you chased the Phillies out of town. The election is shaping up as a referendum on the incumbents as it always does.


A poll by Momentum Analysis shows the Democratic challengers Mike Washo and Corey O’Brien in good shape.

In the two-vote race for County Commissioner, nearly half (47% and 46%, respectively)
vote for Washo and O’Brien, less than a third (30% and 28%, respectively) vote for
Munchak and Cordaro, a fifth (21%) were undecided in their choice for either seat for
Commissioner and another 6% were undecided in only their second choice.

Luzerne County Commissioner's race

Bill James said he is running a write-in campaign after losing the Republican nomination in May. James and incumbent Steve Urban deny that they are in cahoots but Democrat Greg Skrepenak smells a rat:

“It’s Steve Urban’s way of taking votes away from Bill Jones. Obviously Steve Urban must be scared,” he said.

It just may be a coincidence that Steve Urban plans to join picketing Crestwood School District support workers on Thursday. Bill Jones is a Crestwood School Board member and the union workers have been working without a contract for 6 years. It's good to see a Republican office holder stand with the working man.

Urban said the county would never allow negotiations to drag on for six years. He pointed out that Jones was on the board for eight years.

“This tells a little about his leadership and not being able to sit down and negotiate in good faith,” Urban said of Jones. “To me it shows a lackadaisical attitude on his part.”

Jones said it's not his fault.

“Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s going on way too long. I’m not on the negotiating team.”

And Urban still wants to see the super secret audit of the juvenile detention center in Pittston owned by an outfit called PA Child Care. The owners of the company are Robert Powell and Gregory Zappala who claim the audit is “private and confidential,” and contend that the audit report is inaccurate and “reaches conclusions that are unjustified.” County Chief Clerk/Manager Sam Guesto said he won't give Urban a copy of the audit because PA Child Care might sue if the information becomes public and Skrep backs him up. Never mind that this about a $58 million, 20-year contract paid for with taxpayer money. I think it should be public. And don't forget the names Powell and Zappala, they are part of the group that wants to build a cargo airport near Hazleton. That project is already looking to use some of the slots revenue that is supposedly going to be used to lower property taxes. This time I smell a rat.

Luzerne County Treasurer

“When Paterno retires, I’m going to retire.”-Luzerne County Treasurer Mike Morreale


The latest installment of the Times-Leader inquisitions features the candidates for Treasurer. Mike Morreale stresses his experience and takes credit for making many office records computerized during his latest term, eliminating ledger books. His claim to fame is joining Steve Flood and Steve Urban to revamp the county pension fund. It was a pretty ballsy thing to do (bucking the powers that be) and the results show it was the right decision.


Morreale said his support for a change in pension fund management helped the fund to grow from $140 million to around $214 million while saving $1.2 million in money management fees. The performance of money managers is presented at public meetings, and money managers must come in for reviews if they under perform, he said.

“I did the right thing. It was definitely the right thing to do no matter what,” he said.

I've heard that there is an investigation going on about some missing funds from the office but nobody wants to talk about it.

Morreale said he was proactive when he detected an odd pattern of tax bill check recording in his office. While all accounts balanced, some of the tax bills were marked as paid and then voided and then paid again in the office computer system. He referred the matter to the county District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating.

His opponent is Republican Gina Nevenglosky who says she would be a full-time Luzerne County treasurer with no outside employment if elected. She says it's time for change after 27 years and takes a swipe at Morreale's age.

“There is also a need for a treasurer who is able to stay alert during commissioner meetings.”

She will have an open-door policy, likes to hunt deer and will keep the current staff in the office. The only change she offered is

... she wants to explore the possibility of requiring licenses for cats to bring in new revenue and discourage overpopulation of cats.

Ptolemy objected to that proposal pleading poverty (he's still unemployed and owes me a bunch of money) and saying "Don't blame me for too many cats, they cut my nuggies off long ago." What's next, mandating seatbelts for dogs?

The Urban Terrorist keeps asking questions

“I’m going to ask questions because that’s my job.”-Commissioner Stephen Urban


It looks like the Luzerne County budget is not balanced after all. Last year the Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) presented an election year "balanced budget" that relied on some questionable revenue projections that included some hoped for money from land sales that haven't happened yet. They were also counting on another $3 million from beefed-up tax collection. How's that going? The previous 3 years they had to float a bond to just meet payroll and it looks like that will happen again but not until after the election.

They are also looking at borrowing an enormous amount of money to build a new prison but have started eminent domain proceedings to pay the owner of the Huber Breaker a kings ransom in the hope of turning that big pile of junk into some sort of anthracite magical mystery tour. Paid for by another bond.

What's your sign, part II

It seems to be an annual ritual around here. Some candidate complains his signs are being stolen or is this just a case of overzelous Wilkes-Barre DPW workers removing them from public property far and wide.

Candidate: Hundreds of signs are stolen


The Democratic candidate for Luzerne County sheriff said hundreds of his campaign signs were stolen Saturday night or early Sunday.
Mike Savokinas, who said his signs are missing, estimates cost of the lost signs to be between $2,000 and $5,000.

This sort of juvenile nonsense happens every election, I've even seen it with my own eyes.


In the continuing Times-Leader series of candidate inquisitions it was W-B Council District A hopefuls turn.

Walter Griffith touts his 10 point plan and said he said he applauds the job done by Mayor Thomas Leighton. That's a first.

His opponent Rick Cronauer promises to make the city better but if after four years he feels he hasn’t succeeded, he will pull up stakes and accept failure. While that is refreshingly honest it's going to take a long time to fix the problems of W-B or any other small city in PA.

What's your sign

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind - Five Man Electrical Band


Some people discount the usefulness of yard signs in a political campaign, I'm not one of them. More than once the first time I became aware of somebody running for this or that office is when I spotted a yard sign for the candidate. Plus it's a traditional way of people showing support for their friends and neighbors. The latest dustup in Wilkes-Barre is over the placement of them on public property.


WILKES-BARRE - Starting Monday, public works employees will begin removing political signs on the edge of public property next to limited access roadways in Wilkes-Barre, Assistant Solicitor Bill Vinsko said.

Since when can Bill Vinsko give orders to DPW workers? He cites some ancient ordinance that says that signs cannot be 660 feet of a right of way on any limited access highways. The ordinance has never been enforced before and the timing has the usual suspects crying foul.

Republican City Council candidate Walter Griffith (via email):

My question is ...how does anyone know if it is a public works dept. employee or a person that just wants to remove the sign ? They wont clean up the gutters of the city of the litter because of lack of manpower but they somehow have the manpower to enforce this ordinance...Seems odd to me...where was this ordinance in the Primary when the signs were all over the place..this is truly a set back for freedom and democracy..


We need to make this a loud noise and make it heard all over the City...The Candidates are being stifled by the City Council and our Freedom is being taken away.


Mayoral and council candidate Linda Stets:

If the city is not targeting anyone then I have to wonder if they will be removing real estate signs that are placed on public property, as they are also temporary, and serve no purpose after a house is sold. I also wonder why we would burden our over worked, stressed out 35 remaining DPW workers with yet another project when parks, streets, storm drains, and trash all needs picked up first. Does Mr. Vinsko truly think our DPW workers have nothing better to do?

In other Wilkes-Barre Politcal news various aspriants for office have submitted to the annual Times-Leader Inquisitions, if I missed any please send me the link.

Linda Stets says the neighborhoods are being ignored in favor of downtown development and wants a swimming pool opened at Coal Street Park.

Incumbent Council member Kathy Kane thinks things are going great and credits the Mayor with restoring the city's credit rating.

North End Democratic hopeful Mike Merritt repeats the usual claptrap about ridding neighborhoods of drugs and crime. He's been going door to door asking for votes but missed one important address.

Wilkes-Barre Online

My district’s favorite, Mike Merritt did the door-to-door thing on my street, but skipped this modest adobe even though he knew I was home. And that annoyed me to no end. What’s that all about? You want my vote, but you’re concerned about what I might write about you? Who knows. Maybe he thinks he doesn’t need my vote since he’s got the party’s endorsement. Whatever.

I'm pulling for John Yencha in this one.

And the sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Q7cP3ij5g