Vonderheid would do it again

Former Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid told the the Luzerne County Government Study Commission on Wednesday that he would vote to lease the PA Child Care juvie prison in Pittston again.

CV: In November 2004, commissioners Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak signed a $58-million, 20-year lease for a juvenile facility owned by Hazleton-area attorney Robert J. Powell and western-Pennsylvania businessman Gregory Zappala...In January, disgraced former judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan were charged with taking more than $2.8 million in a kickback scheme to send juveniles to Pennsylvania Child Care LLC's facilities. Powell pleaded guilty in July; Zappala has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing..."I'd sign that lease tomorrow, with only two alterations," he said.

I'm not going to rehash all the controversy about that decision because everybody who reads the local papaers and this blog knows the story. I just find that statement to be in-fucking-credible.

Vonderheid is now the head honcho of the local chamber of commerce that always tells us that we have "great work ethic" and promises "good paying jobs." Under his stellar management the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry just avoided having it's headquarters sold at tax sale.

While he was in office he teamed with Greg Skrepenak and an army of consultants to produce county budgets that were works of fiction resulting in ever more borrowing every year just to pay the bills. That's why I call them the Bond Brothers.

Now we have to deal with Skrep and Vondy's lack of basic math skills and Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Steve Urban will have to bite the bullet and raise taxes to balance the budget. They are already getting beat up in the newspapers comment sections about the possibility. Last week Urban told me that they are not going to borrow any more money and I don't think that they could even if they wanted to because the county has reached the limit.

Nobody wants to pay more property taxes but I don't see an alternative.

About that finder's fee

SCRANTON - Prominent area developer Robert Mericle has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of failing to report a felony, Acting U.S. Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt announced today.

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The agreement, which was signed July 31, calls for Mericle to plead guilty to one count of failing to report a felony. Prosecutors say Mericle failed to disclose his knowledge that former judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella had accepted kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the PA and Western PA juvenile detention centers that Mericle built.

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The centers were owned at the time by Gregory Zappala and Robert Powell. Powell has also entered a guilty plea in the case. Included in the plea agreement Mericle has also agreed to pay $2.15 million for funding programs that will benefit "the health, safety and general welfare of children of Luzerne County." I guess you can try to buy your way out of anything.

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Alternate headlines from Big Dan

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"IT'S MIRACLE! MERICLE FINALLY CHARGED!"

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IT'S A MERICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""MERICLES DO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!"

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McGruff has

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Robert Mericle- No Miracle Could Avoid Pleading Guilty

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And my favorite

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Pfahrvergnügen from Pfannenschmidt

No more borrowing

County may face cuts and tax hikes

I have some mixed emotions about Luzerne County Commissioner Chair Maryanne Petrilla.

On the one hand I will always hold a grudge because she was recuited to take out the most effective Controller we ever had, Steve Flood, who sounded the alarm bells about the 20 year/$58 million lease with PA Child Care. The place was owned at the time by Greg Zappala and Robert Powell. Since then we have learned that Powell and multi party developer Robert Mericle were paying off the Juvie Brothers to put kids in their private prison.


On the other hand she has been upfront about limits of borrowing to balance the county budget since she became a commissioner and teamed up with Republican Commissioner Steve Urban to restore some sanity. The county is tapped out so borrowing more money for a new prison or anything else is out of the question. There is only so much you can cut so we can expect a big tax increase next year on top of the reassessment that doubled or tripled taxes on some people.

“Raising taxes is a very tough decision that one has to take very, very seriously. But at the same time, I said many times that I can’t make decisions today and tomorrow based on hoping to get re-elected in four years."-Maryanne Petrilla

Skrep's Dad

I make a point of leaving out the family members of public figures on this blog but Democratic Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrenak's father is in the news. He testified Tuesday before a federal grand jury and we can only guess what he was asked about because grand jury proceedings are secret.

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Skrep says that he has no idea why his dad was called to testify and won't ask him. Greg, Sr. is the owner of Big Ugly's bar in Wilkes-Barre and his son claims that he is rarely there.

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Federal authorities have also requested copies of Luzerne County commissioner meeting minutes from 2004 through 2007 – the years of Skrepenak’s first term in office.

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During that time Skrep and the other Bond Brother Todd Vonderheid approved a 20 year lease for $58 million with PA Child Care owned by Robert Powell and Greg Zappala after declaring an emergency when Juvie Brother Michael Conahan closed the county lock up on River Street in W-B. Powell has since plead guilty to paying bribes to former Judges Conahan and Mark Ciavarella.

Marino testifies

SCRANTON – Luzerne County Judge Michael Toole’s tipstaff Tom Marino testified for more than 1 hour Tuesday before a federal grand jury investigating corruption within the county.

He was issued a subpoena on June 1. The Feds are looking into money Participant 1 Robert Powell paid to Toole. Zen says it was $82,000 for his services for refusing to rule on subpoenas issued by then Controller Steve Flood when he was looking into the county contract with PA Child Care in 2005 then owned by Powell and Greg Zappala. Toole could have ruled against the subpoenas, but that would have given Flood a chance to appeal to get the subpoenas enforced. Toole was also a guest at the Juvie Brothers Florida condo least once and also ruled on a dispute involving Robert Powell's yacht.


Prosecutors say Powell knew that Conahan and Ciavarella were committing a crime when they accepted the kickbacks from Powell and local developer Participant 2 Robert Mericle, but failed to report it. He also helped the judges disguise the source of the money he and Mericle paid.

Juvie Brothers update

SCRANTON – Four months after publicly portraying himself as the victim of extortion by two rogue judges, attorney Robert Powell has admitted he was a willing participant in helping the disgraced jurists conceal part of their illegal activities....

When it was first revealed that Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan were taking bribes the question was who was paying them. The indictments identified them as Participant 1 and 2. Participant 1 was later identified as Robert Powell co-owner along with Greg Zappalla of PA Child Care in Pittston Twp. Many of the kids that got railroaded through Ciavarella's courtroom ended up there or their other venture Western PA Child Care. Participant 2 is multi-party Bob Mericle who's company built the Pittston Twp. facility. We await the headlines about the biggest real estate tax payer (minus KOZ's, LERTA's, etc) in Luzerne County in the near future.

Remember that Powell, Zappala and former Hazleton Mayor Michael Marsicano wanted to use taxpayer money to buy the land from them to build a Fantasy Airport near Hazleton. State House Majority Leader Todd Eachus and Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak were hot for the idea.

The US Attorney has charged Powell with conspiracy to commit tax evasion and part of his plea agreement includes forfeiting his yacht and private jet.

When he gets out of jail in 5 1/2 years he will need a new ride. This might get him around:

Juvie Brothers update

When you're right, argue the facts. When you're wrong, argue the law.

WILKES-BARRE – Attorneys for two juvenile treatment centers contend that the kickbacks paid to two former judges were related to favorable rulings they issued in other civil cases, not for the placement of children in the facilities....Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Juvenile Law Center, which filed one of the four suits, said Monday she’s confident the evidence will show that payments made to the judges were directly related to placements in the detention centers, and not some other kickback scheme.
“(You) are not going to make a profit by running a private child care facility if you have empty beds,” Levick said. “The connection between any sort of kickback and Ciavarella’s ability to keep beds filled is inescapable.”

The lawyers for the owner of PA Child Care, Greg Zappala, wants to disqualify attorneys for the Juvenile Law Center because they have been "government informants.”


Levick on Monday called the allegation “laughable.”
“It’s so incredibly stupid I almost don’t want to dignify it with an answer,” Levick said.

Jill Moran out

Times Leader File photo / Clark Van Orden

As predicted on this blog a few weeks ago Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran has resigned. Her business ties to the the Juvie Brothers, Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, and law partner of Participant 1, Robert Powell has made her position untenable. The way that this has been playing out an indictment can't be far off.

She falsified a tax lien by changing Powell's name to John Doe. At the time I wasn't sure if that was a crime but a few lawyer friends say it is and the Feds seem to agree. During the last election Carolee Medico Olenginski accused her of not spending much time in the office and it was revealed that she had a clerk, Lana Bidwell, sign her name to official documents when she wasn't around proving Carolee's point.

She was a key attorney for Robert Powell's and Greg Zappala's PA Child Care facility that is the center of the corruption charges against the Judges and is listed as the head of W-Cat Inc., a firm that is building The Sanctuary, a town house development in Wright Township with Conahan, Ciavarella, Powell and others that recently went belly up.

I wonder if she got a chance to stay at the Florida condo and take a ride on the yacht, Reel Justice.

Hazleton Cargo Airport

“It is clear to me that all the questions need to be answered of the individuals surrounding the project. I’m going to suspend my support until all the questions are answered.” -House Majority Leader Todd Eachus of Hazleton


It's good to see Eachus finally question the motives of the people involved in this project. The rest of us smelled a rat right from the beginning. The same people that built the juvie jail in Pittston Twp. and were paying off the Judges wanted to find another way to profit at the public trough, as one local elected official explained, "it sounds like a plan to sell land using taxpayer money."

Wired for sound Participant number 1, Robert Powell, was until recently a principle in Gladstone Partners, the company that wants to build this fantasy airport. He sold his interest to his partner, Gregory Zappala in this company and PA Child Care. The word is that Powell is liquidating every asset he has and has experience moving money to the Caymen Islands.

Todd has been a staunch supporter of this piece of corporate welfare even sending out a newsletter to people in other districts promising 100,000 jobs would be created if the airport was built. He also inserted a $16.5 million authorization for the cargo airport in a House bill listing projects under the Pennsylvania Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund. The slots money is supposed to be used for reducing school taxes but it has to be hard for any politician not to think of a way to spend this big pot of gold on something else.

For more background see this site:

Hazleton's Cargo Airport

I'll believe it when I see it

The Times Leader has another story today citing anonymous sources saying that two county judges and a county court official are expected to face charges. No names or crimes were listed. We've been going through this for a few months and I'm getting to feel like I'm hearing the boy who called wolf.

The speculation centers on the tangled web involving Judges Mike Conahan and Mark Ciavarella with PA Child Care owners Robert Powell and would be Hazleton Airport builder Greg Zapalla. Prothonotary Jill Moran also has ties to a company, W-Cat Inc., that they all have money invested in.

Then there is the Debit Card scandal that the Secret Service is investigating and the no bid contracts at the prison that some secret police outfit is supposed to be looking into.

Luzerne County scandals

No indictments yet but the buzz says it's just a matter of days. I've lost track of how many investigations are going on in the county.


The latest one is about the theft of funds from the treasurer’s office that DA Jackie Mo handed off to the FBI. I'm sure if someone gets caught with their fingers in the till they will get house arrest just like Robert Pritchard and Carl Salitis.


The more serious probe centers on the tangled web involving Judges Mike Conahan and Mark Ciavarella with PA Child Care owners Robert Powell and would be Hazleton Airport builder Greg Zapalla. Prothonotary Jill Moran also has ties to a company, W-Cat Inc., that they all have money invested in.


Then there is the Debit Card scandal that the Secret Service is investigating and the no bid contracts at the prison that some secret police outfit is supposed to be looking into.


I need a scorecard to keep track of all of this. Will someone help me out?


Luzerne County's greatest hits, so far:

Debit Cards

Sam Hyder

Luzerne County Prison

Bonds

No Bid Contracts

The Latest Outrage in Luzerne County



Did I miss something?


HOME RULE

Sleep well

Top to bottom, left to right: Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, Pennsylvania Child Care owners Robert Powell and Greg Zapalla, Luzerne County President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella , Prothonotary Jill A. Moran, Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid.