Michelle Bednar for Controller 2017

Incumbent Democratic Luzerne County Controller had a nice gathering of supporters at Bentley's on Friday. It attracted a nice crowd including a few Republicans including District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis. The Democratic Party heavyweights State Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski , Jerry Mullery and State Sen. John Yudichak sang her praises. Her campaign team touted her accomplishments including weeding out incorrect homestead tax breaks wrongly granted to some Luzerne County property owner. Her opponent Walter Griffith  had received the break on two homes and an auto repair business he owns.

Democratic County Council candidates Wendy Cominsky, Matt Vough and John Gadomski  offered their support and Republican Chris Perry showed up. Perry has been to almost every event D or R I've been to. He is running hard.

Other notables were Judge David Lupas who is up for retention and George Brown who should have been the Mayor of W-B. I asked Judge Lupas about mandatory minimums and he gave me a  lawyers answer saying they could act as a deterrent but Judges should be able to fit the punishment to the crime.

                                          


Luzerne County sending bills to recipients of incorrect homestead tax break

Idiot watch

Arrest in Plains Little League fire 

Harding man arrested in Plains Little League arson

After getting liquored up at a bar Brian Gashi, 39, of Harding and a friend (who he wouldn't rat out) went looking for a place to rob. They broke into the Plains Little League clubhouse and got away with deep fryer, food, candy, beverages, money, an electronic score board controller and the public address system To top it it off he set fire to place. Those actions make him a scumbag but he rises to level of idiot criminal because he left his cell phone behind.. The cops called a few people on his saved list who told him who he was then arrested him and he confessed to the crime. My favorite Judge let him go earlier,  David Lupas vacated an arrest warrant for Gashi on March 7th. I'm not sure who the bigger idiot is.

I always try to find a video to go along with Idiot Watch (YouTube Weekend) and got 3 suggestions.

Michelle suggested Lady Gaga. I always look for an excuse to post a Gaga video but this really fits with all the prison imagery. 

    



DB Echo thinks this Robert Cray song speaks to the incident.

I'm also thinking Robert Cray's "Smoking Gun":

I get a constant busy signalWhen I call you on the phoneI get a strong uneasy feelingYou're not sitting there alone
I'm having nasty, nasty visionsAnd baby you're in every one, yeahAnd I'm so afraid I'm gonna find you withA so called smoking gun    Mrs. G 

Lupas familly saga

I have to admit to having corruption fatigue. I still read the stories in the local press but haven't posted about the 3o+ people charged and convicted in the ongoing probe lately. Maybe I'm succumbing to the cynicism of many people I know that have been resigned to the fact that we have been ruled by crooks for a long time and think things will go back to business as usual once the heat is off. All the attention has been on the corrupt public official that have been convicted of taking bribes but now another one of the people paying the bribes has been sentenced to jail.

SCRANTON - ... local engineer Michael J. Pasonick was sentenced to one year prison, a $250,0000 fine and two years probation on federal charges he bribed a school board official.
U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy acknowledged all the good Pasonick has done, including recently opening a food pantry he plans to turn into a soup kitchen, but called his actions "reprehensible." Conaboy also cited Pasonick's cooperation with federal authorities in landing "seven or eight" convictions of public officials," but noted "you were not charged for much of your questionable conduct."

Next up is Bob Mericle. If somebody is taking bribes someone is paying them.

Now longtime Wilkes-Barre Area solicitor is accused of running a ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 30 people who trusted him with their life savings. The victims are being represented by Earnie Preate of all people. I'm not sure what is worse, defrauding us nameless/faceless taxpayers or people you have a relationship with at church or who think of you as a friend.

W-B Area solicitor resigns amid probe

The whole thing started unraveling. Records in the county Prothonotary's Office indicate Lupas has defaulted on three loans since last April, owing more than $300,000 in principal, interest and fees.

Luzerne County Judge David Lupas sounded like an ungrateful child when asked about his father's troubles.
"I haven't talked to my father in some time," the judge said.

Then this bombshell dropped explaining why he hasn't talked to him.

CV:
Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas said in a statement released today that he provided information to authorities investigating his father, attorney Anthony J. Lupas Jr., for allegedly running a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Wow!

In 2003 Lupas the senior bankrolled Lupas the junior's bid for Luzerne County DA to the the tune of $750,000. You now have to wonder where the money came from.

Lupas tenure as DA was dominated by the Hugo Selinski case. He couldn't get a murder conviction of a guy with 5 bodies in his back yard and repeatedly screwed up on procedural issues in this and other cases. He went on to be a Luzerne County Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and was put in charge of Juvenile Court. While he was the DA many of the abuses that happened under Judge Mark Ciavarella occurred. Lupas and Jackie Mo didn't pay attention to the Juvenile Court

Salavantis hits Jackie Mo hard

Republican challenger Stephanie Salavantis is trying to make Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll a part of the kids for cash scandal that resulted in Judges Conahan and Ciavarella going to jail. She has been running an ad the last few days that says Jackie Mo could have made a 3 minute journey to juvinile court to find out what was going on and thus end it. The spot is not on her YouTube channel even after I asked her to post it. That request was posted on her Facebook page and was deleted within minutes. Her facebook page has been chopped up with everything before September being deleted.

Nice try, but David Lupas was the District Attorney for most of the time when all this was going on. It's ironic that Lupas is now the judge in charge of the Juvunile Court. With Hugo Selenski back in the news I'm reminded how many times Lupas dropped the ball and couldn't get a murder conviction for someone with at least 5 people buried in his back yard.

Musto Carroll faces aggressive challenger

What the hell here is the Majestic ad




Update: The "Three Minutes" spot has been added to Salavantis' YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/salavantisforda

Young Republicans have questions for Jackie Mo

From the inbox


PRESS RELEASE:

For additional information, contact:
Luzerne County Young Republicans
LuzerneCountyYRs@gmail.com


In light of the recent sentencing of Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan for their roles in the “Kids for Cash” scandal, The Luzerne County Young Republicans (LCYRs) seek answers to lingering questions surrounding Luzerne County corruption. How could this scandal have continued for years without any County Officials noticing? Would the scandal have been prevented, or at least its effect been minimized, if other County officials had done their jobs?

The Interbranch Juvenile Commission shed light on these questions. In its report, the Commission concluded that District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll failed to perform her duties and showed no interest or concern for the juvenile court system during the “Kids for Cash scandal.”

In addition to her negligence, Musto Carroll engaged in nepotism and cronyism by hiring Mark Ciavarella’s daughter and daughter-in-law in the District Attorney’s Office. Jackie Musto Carroll’s actions reek of corruption and the LCYRs believe she owes the residents of Luzerne County an explanation for her behavior.

The LCYRs request that District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll formally answer each of the following questions and return the same to the LCYRs.

1. Why did you fail to discover the Kids for Cash scandal?

2. By your own admission, you never set foot in a juvenile courtroom during the Kids for Cash scandal. Why did you ignore this part of your job?

3. Under your watch, the Assistant District Attorneys were not adequately trained and as a result failed to recognize and challenge the routine deprivation of juveniles’ constitutional rights by Mark Ciavarella. Why did you fail to train your Assistant District Attorneys when proper training would have prevented the scandal?

4. Despite the obvious nepotism and cronyism involved, why did you hire Mark Ciavarella’s daughter and daughter-in-law in the District Attorney’s Office?

5. Did Mark Ciaveralla ask you to hire his daughter and daughter-in-law, or contact you in any way regarding the hiring process?

6. Do you believe that nepotism or cronyism have any place in government?

7. Given the Interbranch Juvenile Commission’s finding that you “stood by and abdicated” your responsibility as a prosecutor, how can the residents of Luzerne County have any faith that you will not to continue to abdicate your responsibility since you have already set abdication of responsibility as a precedent?

8. Given the Commission’s finding that you “demonstrated no initiative, interest, or concern with what was occurring in juvenile court,” how can the residents of Luzerne County feel confident that you can effectively lead the charge of protecting our children?

9. Why did you fight to block the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from reviewing whether the Luzerne County juveniles, who were denied legal counsel, were entitled to relief?

The LCYRs have sent the above questions to Jackie Musto Carroll. We request that she answer and return the above questions to the LCYRs by October 14, 2011.


The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report via SOP


In testimony before the commission, current District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll and her predecessor, David W. Lupas, who is now a county judge presiding over juvenile matters, "incredibly conceded that they had never set foot in a juvenile court throughout their entire careers," the report said. Lupas and Musto Carroll "demonstrated no initiative, interest, or concern with what was occurring in juvenile court."

From the TL:
Musto Carroll declined Friday to comment or address the questions in the release. She and Lupas have said assistant district attorneys never made them aware of concerns they had in juvenile court.

The LCYR's don't have a website but you can find them on Facebook

This guy has balls

I spotted this LTE in the CV written by an attorney that recently started practicing in Luzerne County. Under the previous regime of Conahan and Ciavarella he would never win another case in this county again. We will see if things change.


Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. claims he saw nothing, heard nothing and knew nothing about the injustice occurring in the courts of Luzerne County. I don't believe him. I do believe that he would do anything to save his $157,000 a year job, as would his fellow judge, Tom Burke.
.
Terrorists at Guantanimo Bay had more rights than children did in Luzerne County. How would you feel if it were your child who was lied to, tricked and unjustly sent to kiddie concentration camp?
.
Olszewski and Burke claim they did nothing wrong. "It wasn't me, It was them. I didn't know. How could I know?" Just men had a duty to discover the truth. Olszewski said the hearings took place a half a mile away in another building. How could he hear? How did an advocacy group over 100 miles away in Philadelphia hear enough to file lawsuits on behalf of more than 500 children? How did the FBI know enough about it to raid juvenile probation? Olszewski says if he knew he would have told the FBI. If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, oh what a party we'd have.
.
I was a judicial law clerk in Schuylkill County. In my experience, what went on in the courthouse and in many of the cases was common knowledge among the judges, staff members and law clerks. Even then, almost 10 years ago, stories were coming out of Luzerne County from lawyers and litigants alike, that the judges were crooked, that the cases were fixed. It was not until I started practicing in Luzerne County that I realized that most of the gossip was true.
Peter Paul Olszewski and Thomas Burke have failed us. They have failed to protect us. They have failed to protect our children.

Now it is election time and they want you to know them as "Peter Paul" and "Tom." After they win retention they're back to being "Your Honor," and we the people are back to being nobodies. In this lawyer's opinion, Judge Olszewski and Judge Burke do not deserve to be retained as judges.
.
Attorney Joseph A. Woitko
Beaver Meadows

The question I keep asking is how does everybody know what was going on in Lokuta's courtroom but nobody knew what was going on in Ciavarella's? Zen want's to know why the District Attornerys David Lupas (now Judge) and Jackie Musto Carrol and their staffs did not notice a gross disparity between the offense and the punishment that was meted out?

And how about the Probation Department and the Public Defenders?

PPO-2 answered my question a week ago and the TL has Tom Burke's defense today.


"I can tell you categorically I did not have a single incident where a lawyer came to me and said, ‘By the way, there’s something you should look out for because there may be abuses,’ ” Burke said. “We can look back now and say if there were more checks and balances, maybe these abuses would have been discovered sooner.”

Bill Sharkey is an embezzler

W-B: Luzerne County Court Administrator William T. Sharkey pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement this morning in federal court.

Usually a plea agreement and a court hearing answers the questions surrounding the crime. But there are many questions that have not been answered yet in this case. Reading the Indictment and Plea agreement I have to ask which Judges signed the forfeiture orders and why was he able to get away this for 10 years? The theft was discovered when the state police went to District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll to ask for some of the ill gotten gains to buy some new equipment. She checked the accounts and discovered the money wasn't there and called in the FBI. I find it hard to believe that the state police and other agencies were not aware of past forfeitures and asked for a piece of the pie.

Her predecessor, who is now a Judge, David Lupas was the District Attorney for most of the time that Sharkey was stealing these funds. We all know that paperwork and accountability were not Lupas' strong points. Lupas recently sentenced a Pittston Township secretary who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $31,000 from the township to house arrest. Judge Mark Ciavarella did the same thing when a couple of people got caught stealing really big bucks from the Recorder of Deeds office.

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit part trois

Another draconian sentence for someone caught stealing from the taxpayers.

WILKES-BARRE -A former Pittston Township secretary who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $31,000 from the township’s garbage fund was sentenced Wednesday to eight to 16 months of house arrest.

This stiff sentence was handed down by our newest Judge David Lupas. Recently President Judge Mark Ciavarella also handed down similar sentences to 2 employees of the Recorder of Deeds Office for stealing hundreds of thousands from us.

Some of our Luzerne County jurists may have an interest in establishing a precedent by sentencing people convicted of public corruption to laying on the couch watching cartoons for a few months.

Lupas punts

More Delays in Selenski, Weakley Trials

The Luzerne County district attorney's office filed appeals Tuesday to the state superior court in the case of Selenski and Weakley. Those appeals mean another year or a year and a half before the men head to trial.

If this case ever comes to trial it will be long after Dave Lupas starts wearing black robes. He leaves it to Jackie-Mo to clean up another one of his messes.

Lupas drops the ball again

CV: The Ortiz cases mark the 10th time in less than 18 months that Lupas’ office lost cases or dismissed charges after failing to bring a defendant to trial within the required time period.

TL: 17 drug charges dropped

And this guy is going to be a Judge. Who's he going to blame this time.

Methadone clinic

"All I can tell you is we’re not happy with it,” -Yatesville Mayor Joseph Chiumento

It seems to be the wave of the future. More drug treatment centers as oppossed to locking people up. Jackie-Mo and Dave Lupas want to lock up all the druggies like that has worked over the last 40 years. The people who have to live next to a treatment facility understandably yell NIMBY. But this proposal is for a for a facility is in a location that was carefully selected as it is away from residential areas, schools and child care facilities.

It's a sad thing that there is such a demand for this but the people who are proposing it have done their homework. The last time this came up was over the clinic in Plains Twp. and then Mayor of W-B Tom McGroarty led the charge against it. But low and behold. There has not been one police call to that clinic since it opened.

People make stupid decisions in their lives. Does that mean you just turn your back on them when they want to make it right? I'd rather have someone hooked on methadone than heroin living on my street. And believe me, they live on YOUR street.

A deal for Hugo?

Hugo Selenski wrote a letter to the Citizens Voice that they decided not to publish but did a story on it. Kinda lame, they should publish it. The most newsworthy thing is the charge that Jackie-Mo offered a deal:

I’ll give you something to ponder by taking you back to early 2005,” Selenski wrote. “Jackie Musto Carroll walked up to attorney Demetrius Fannick in the courthouse and said, ‘Tim, is there any possibility of a plea agreement with Hugo? Dave (Lupas) knows his career is over if he loses this case.’ That sounds like a politically loaded question that only cares about furthering careers rather than being a protector of Luzerne County.”

And Lupas ' opponent, Tom Marsillio, for the Judge seat keeps hammering away at him. The Mary Leo ad is emotional and deceptive as a commentor on the TL website points out:

A Lupas ad claims he was responsible for the capture and conviction of the murderer of Mary Leo. I thought W-B PD caught him when he was linked to a stolen cell phone and then the guy confessed to the Leo murder. There was nothing to go to trial; he confessed. Just curious.

The buck starts here

No matter what goes wrong in the Luzerne County District Attorney's office the head of that department won't take responsibility. The latest screwup is over issuing of a warrant for a person who recently murdered someone. Mr. Lupas blames it on Public Defenders Office for the delay but the PD says he made no such request. Is this guy paperwork challenged? The Hugo escape charges, the Holdren case and many others just show a lack of attention to detail. His opponent in the upcoming election for Judge is asking the Attorney General for an investigation.

Marsilio Campaign Calls for the Attorney’s General Office to Investigate District Attorney David Lupas

When David Lupas lost the Hugo Selenski murder trial he blamed the Judge.. He made up allegations that had no factual basis in order to have the Judge remove himself from the second Selenski Trial.

When Mr. Lupas had a case dismissed because it was not brought to trial on time he blamed an Assistant District Attorney and said it was the Assistant’s fault.

When the newspapers ran a story on all the cases that have been dismissed because they weren’t brought to trial on time, Mr. Lupas blamed the Police.

Now a man, Lewis Jones, has been murdered because Mr. Lupas ignored a Court Order made on March 5th to issue a Warrant for the arrest of the man who killed Mr. Jones. This Court Order was made 8 days before Mr. Jones was killed. Mr Lupas has blamed the Public Defender’s Office and said he ignored the Judge’s Order because they asked him not to issue the Warrant.

Where does it end? When is Mr. Lupas responsible for something?

Mr. Lupas is telling the voters he intentionally ignored a Court Order because he was asked to. What right does Mr. Lupas have to ignore a Court Order because someone allegedly asked him to?

The Attorney General’s Office should be called in to conduct an investigation of Mr. Lupas and the District Attorney’s Office and make an independent determination of the culpability of Mr. Lupas for the death of Lewis Jones. The Attorney General’s Office should decide if criminal charges are warranted against Mr. Lupas in the death of Lewis Jones. No one, not even the District Attorney, is above the Law.

No sex, drugs or rock n' roll

Just an old fashioned cooking the books for a friend. At least one question has been answered, Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran does show up at the office once in a while. What she does when she is there is another question.

DA: Feds eyeing ‘Doe’ flap

Changing the name on a tax lien for a pal may or may not be a crime but it sure doesn't look good. Our crusading District Attorney/Judicial candidate typically punted the issue, “Because it involves federal Internal Revenue Service issues and federal liens, it would be looked at by officials at that level,” he said.

A Big Fat Slob and The Lu Lac Political Letter have more. Like many of us Mark wants to see Jill in a tube top.

This week in Hugoland

The escape charges that were reinstated by a three-judge panel are being appealed by the defense to the entire Pennsylvania Superior Court. Hugo Selenski's defense team cited four reasons for the appeal. The most important one is The district attorney’s office, by its own admission, did not file its policies and procedures for joining the cases. This part of the case will drag on for a while.

The trial on the murder charges may also be delayed because of defense motions which is probably fine by DA David Lupas. Just get past the primary for Judge. And Paul Weakly's attorneys want a separate trial. The media coverage of the latest hearing focused on Hugo's supposed "outburst" in the courtroom. Dr. Tara calls bullshit on the coverage.

“Set a trial date already,” Selenski said. “I’m sick of this."

Hugo can be charged with escape

The master of the bedsheets (it's like a 1940's movie) can now be charged with escape according to the Pennsylvania Superior Court. A victory for DA Dave Lupas but there will be more appeals.

Candidate websites

In the race for Luzerne County Judge Tom Marsillio slaps around current District Attorney Davis Lupas on his new website. I thought that sort of thing was a no-no in a judicial race. Ed Mitchell doesn't like his client being taken to task over his record.

“The Web site is mostly a nasty, negative diatribe,” Mitchell said. “Itignores the thousands of successful prosecutions and convictions Dave hashad asDA and as an assistant DA.”

Check out the fun at http://www.marsilioforjudge.com/ and http://www.lupasforjudge.com/

In the DA's race Jackie Musto Carroll is online at http://www.jackiemustocarroll.com/