Liz Sichler resigns

Elizabeth Sichler was the vice-chair of the Luzerne County Republican Party until she resigned on November 12th. Party Chairman Terry Casey said she quit because "business is tough."

She is famous for finding ways to get other candidates kicked off the ballot and until recently was the right hand of Rep Karen Boback.

It looks like business is tough for her company, Priority Search Inc. in Kingston. The local papers are reporting that the Secret Service is investigating the outfit because it didn't carry out it's responsibilities and some money is missing. One the people who has been burned by this outfit is 2007 Republican Commissioner candidate Bill Jones who might be giving it another try in 2011.

Remember that Liz has not been charged with a crime, yet.

Luzerne County Republicans

My friend Zen left this comment on an earlier thread:

Please Luzerne County voters, I beg of you, keep voting straight democrat. It will ensure that we have something to write about.

I read similar comments on the Times-Leader website all the time. I would be more than happy to vote for Republicans (sometimes I do) in the county if they would actually field some candidates.

In this upcoming election for the the state house races in the county the 5 Democratic incumbents don't even have a GOP opponent.

In last year's local elections there was no Republican candidate for Judge or District Attorney and the R candidate for Coroner was Dem that won on a write-in after losing the Democratic nomination.

The Commissioner candidates, Steve Urban and Bill Jones, wouldn't even talk to each other and after the election Jones switched to the Dems. The GOP nominee for Clerk of Courts had no money to defeat a 20+ year office holder and the Treasurer hopeful not only had no money she said the only change she would make is requiring licenses for cats.

It's hard to take this bunch seriously.

After the last shutout in 2007 people blamed the debacle on Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano and they blamed her for the dismal showing in the election before that.

This is what I wrote last year:

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. ..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.

A new county Republican Chair is supposedly on the way, we''ll see. But Villano is not the whole problem. When I look at FEC and state finance reports I see that there is plenty of local GOP money but the people who donate to state and federal races skip the local ones or donate to the Dems. I find it hard to believe that the local Republicans can't find attractive candidates for local offices and back them financially.

Now Russ Bigus is a Democrat

Last month Republican Luzerne County Commisioner candidate Bill Jones jumped ship and today his buddy Dallas School Board Director Russ Bigus joined him.

TL: "Yes, I have switched; I’m now a Democrat as of four hours ago,” Bigus said. “This was a decision I didn’t take lightly because I have been a Republican all my life...Bill (Jones) and myself have the drive, the work ethic and the ability to be successful in politics,” Bigus said. “We understand that we need to be there for the people, not for the party. The party should support the candidate, but I didn’t find that to be the case in my experience...People change careers all the time.”

If Mitt Romney is a conservative I guess anything can happen.

He recently left his job as the HR Director of the Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 and before that he was the Principal of of Regis Elementary School in Forty Fort. In 2006 he ran in the Republican Primary to succeed Charlie Lemmond in the 20th Senatorial District of Pennsylvania finishing 4th with 13% of the vote.

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He provided some interesting moments in that contest including having one of his large signs being torched and somehow he garnered the endorsement of PACleanSweep even though it was an open seat. The high comedy of the race was when Dave Madeira got into an argument with him about who had shot more animals in their lives. A now long lost blogger of the time proposed a duel to settle the question.

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Now it looks like he is running for the 117th District State Rep seat of Freshman Karen Boback who is facing a tough challenge from conservative Republican James May. My guess is that he looking for a bruising GOP Primary that will leave the loser's supporters bitter and then he will try to unite them with the Democrats of the district to win the seat.

Bill Jones becomes a Democrat

Talk about bad timing. The local Dems are embroiled in the biggest local scandal to ever become public and he decides to join them.

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Still smarting from his loss in the Luzerne County Commissioners race, Jones decided to take his ball and go home. Jones finished last of the four candidates 3,770 votes behind Steve Urban, who won re-election as the Republican minority commissioner. He explains his switch by explaining that the local Republican party is “in total disarray. Everyone basically is doing their own thing, and that is exactly why Republicans can’t win.” If he didn't know that before he got into the race he deserved to lose. He takes some shots at Urban saying it's his fault that county party is almost nonexistent. I bet they didn't exchange Christmas Cards this year. Urban shot back, "Maybe he has more in common with the Democratic majority than he has with the Republican Party.”

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Both papers said that Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano did not return phone calls to comment on this earth shattering event. I've been passing on the criticism of Villano for a few years now but I think it's unfair to blame her for all the ineptitude/infighting/cliques/ etc. of the local GOP. Where are the big money people who host events for national or congressional candidates? I'm sure that there are local business and professional people who are registered Republican that would be very attractive candidates but they don't want to get mixed up with this dysfunctional bunch.

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Our ever expanding list of local scribes have some things to say about this turn of events. The West Side Republican says "so long Sore Loser, don't let the door hit you on the way out. " The Angry Republican tells us that "We all know that the county party is a joke and the laughing stock of the state. Following a close second is Lackawanna's."

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Then there is the Yonksterist Manifesto.

Talking Heads - Road To Nowhere

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 poll

The mysterious poll that was taken over a month ago but no one would take credit for finally has a father. The Skrepenak/Petrilla campaign manager, Mike Prociak, has admitted that they paid for it, like there was any doubt about it. Who else has the money? They won't make it public but it appears that the Citizens Voice and Times-Leader have seen it.


The surprise was that it has numbers on 2 of the row office races. In the Sheriffs race Republican incumbent Barry Stankus is leading challenger Mike Savokinas as expected. Savokonis is the only county candidate with a website and he raises questions about the finances of the office. The poll also said that Recorder of Deeds Mary Dysleski and Democrat Red O'Brien are in a close race.


Prociak said that Democrats Greg Skrepnak and Maryanne Petrilla are win and place but wouldn't tell us who is show. The 3rd place candidate said it was bullshit: "It was their poll," Steve Urban said. "I doubt any of the questions benefited me. So, you can't judge anything by what it says." The other Republican candidate Bill Jones could not be reached for comment as usual.

Luzerne County Commissioners race

Are the Wilkes-Barre papers in sync? In the last two days the CV ran editorials endorsing Democratic incumbent Greg Skrepnak and county controller Marianne Petrilla for Luzerne County Commissioner and incumbent Republican Steve Urban and Bill Jones to get the GOP nod.

In the last two editions of the TL it has had profiles of Petrilla, Skrep and Jones. I guess Urban will be tomorrow.

The Luzerne County primary is boring

Steve Urban announced today that his running mate will be Bill James. The other Republicans are Christine Katsock, Bill Jones and Dave Shipula. With Steve Flood very ill the Democratic primary will be won by Greg Skrepnak and Maryanne Petrilla. I'll go out on a limb and predict that our next Commissioners will be Skrep, Petrilla and Urban.


The hottest race in the county is for Cororner. I'm sure there was a reason in the past why the Coroner was elected but it doesn't apply today. Forensic science is such a technical specialty that maybe we shouldn't not elect this office but hire the best person available.

Good questions

“We’re just going out and buying. These projects sound good and look good, but how are we going to pay for them?” -Bill Jones Luzerne County GOP commissioner candidate

Crestwood School Board member Bill Jones formally announced Friday that he is running for Luzerne County Commissioner as a Republican.

If elected, Jones said he would do more research and public disclosure before the county gets involved in leases or real estate purchases. He cited two examples of questionable decisions: the county’s planned purchase of a downtown Hazleton building for a southern annex and an Ashley breaker for a mining museum.

Jones, 48, said he supports preserving history but would want a definitive plan on who would pay to develop and maintain the Huber Breaker site before he’d approve it. Commissioners recently agreed to buy the breaker property through eminent domain to prevent the owner from selling it for scrap.

“Is the state going to help fund this? How many people will come to see it? Without concrete answers to these kinds of questions, I don’t know how we can justify taxpayers spending money on it,” Jones said.

After the Bond Brothers blew $7 million borrowed to build the new juvenile detention center that went by the wayside they decided to take the Huber Breaker by eminant domain. A project that is estimated to cost $9 million adding to a $193M capitol improvement plan. Now the Luzerne County Community College (LCCC) needs $10 million to match a state grant, another project not budgeted for. So how does LCCC apply for a state grant that requires a local match and the commissioners didn't know anything about it until Monday? Spending money on the college is a better investment than spending $1 million on an "upscale restaurant" in an old bank building on Public Square but how did they not know this was in the pipeline?