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:

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

Todd Eachus wants to be House majority leader

Luzerne County State Rep. Todd Eachus , who ran the Dems' fall campaign effort, wants to be the majority leader of Pennsylvania House after some modest success increasing the Democratic majority by 2 seats. He is taking on current House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese and Frank Dermody of Oakmont.

From a PR:

“The people of Pennsylvania spoke clearly last Tuesday. They want access to affordable health care for people of all ages. They want to know their children are getting a good education. They want to know that there will be good jobs available for them and for future generations. They want safe roads and bridges and a brighter future for all of us.”

We all want those things but his support of the fantasy cargo airport near Hazleton gives me pause. He 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. Shortly after that I got a curious piece of mail from Eachus paid for by the taxpayers claiming 100,000 jobs could be created. It was unusual because I'm not even in his district. So far there is no anchor tenant such as FedEx or DHL. Well, forget DHL. The slots money was supposed to be used to lower our property taxes and people like Eachus keep finding new ways to spend it on other projects. Enough of that. They really need to rewrite that law.

According to Capitol Ideas, who gets to read Capitolwire because he has an expense account, DeWeese is probably going to win re-election to his leadership post "unless, of course, he doesn't."

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

Obama hits back

As my good friend Pope George Ringo has been urging Barack Obama hits John McCain hard over the economy in 2 new ads airing in Indiana and Ohio.

The Ohio ad hammers Mac over the imminent closure of a cargo airport like the one recently proposed to be built near Hazleton.

TPM: The likely closure of a shipping hub that was bought by DHL in 2003 with the help of lobbyist and current McCain campaign manager Rick Davis -- as well as McCain himself.

Obama Hits McCain On DHL in Tough New Ad for Ohio





The Indiana spot quotes McCain saying the economy is rosy then has a bunch of "man in the street" testimonials saying it is not.








It's the economy Stupid.

Pennsylvania budget

For the first time in a while the Governor (Ed Rendell) and the state legislature agreed on a budget for the Commonwealth before the deadline of July 1st. Both sides got some of want they wanted with Rapid Edward and the Democrats getting more money for education and an obscene amount of borrowing for a long wish list and the Republicans can point out the plan doesn't have any tax increases.

This item irks me: $800 million from slot-machine revenues for dams and water and sewer facilities. We were told that tax revenue from the slots would be used to lower school property taxes with some allowance to offset the local costs of hosting the casinos. Now with this new pool of new money every politician and others can't resist the temptation to spend it on something else. Some people with a history of getting local governments to finance their ventures are even proposing to use $250 million of slots money to guarantee a bond issue to build a cargo airport near Hazleton that no shipping company will commit to using.

Thanks to Capitol Ideas for his heroic coverage of the budget negotiations over the weekend. It probably involved too much stale coffee, fast food and antacids.

The latest outrage in Luzerne County

Luzerne County has paid a New York company more than $670,000 since May for employment services through a no-bid contract not approved by county commissioners.

Under the contract, Continental hires workers chosen for county work and provides workers’ compensation and payroll services for those employees. The county is charged two fees — 1.19 percent of clerical employees’ hourly rates and 1.33 percent of field employees’ rates. The county paid OneSource Staffing Solutions more than $707,000 for similar employment services from January 2006 to May 2007. Both county employment contracts didn’t include expiration dates or maximum payment amounts.

Not even the Commissioners know what is going on let alone our clueless former Controller.

TL: Eight people who retired from Luzerne County’s 2005 special early-out incentive are still working as consultants for the county – prompting complaints from union workers...Initially, some county officials argued that retaining consultants was a cost-efficient way for retirees to train their replacements. The retirees received their prior hourly pay but no health benefits.
However, Urban said he has received complaints from workers and taxpayers that consultants continue to work when they have already received early-retirement bonuses of $20,000 plus $1,000 for each full year of service and payment of accrued vacation and sick time.

This is what I wrote about the golden parachute scheme 2 years ago:

Our two Luzerne County Commissioners, Greg Skrepnak and Todd Vonderheid, who along with their army of consultants who came up with the Orwellian sounding "Life Transition Plan" hired back a bunch of people who were supposed to be let go. But the kicker is they are not on the county payroll but work for a temp service. So in addition to paying them the same salary the county is paying a premium to the employment service.

And the audit of the lease the PA Child Care facility in Pittston paints county officials as inept negotiators who blindly entered into an agreement that allowed PA Child Care’s owners to reap “unreasonable” profits at the expense of county, state and federal taxpayers. Remember that the people who own PA Child Care also want to build a useless airport near Hazleton with the help of a boatload of taxpayer money.

Sam Guesto was one of the people who negotiated this contract and is now being considered for a newly created position of director of specialty courts and alternative sentencing. Guesto was the guy that was supposed to monitor/approve spending on the county debit cards. Now Steve Urban and many others are calling for his head but it looks like he will end up with a soft landing.

And the new Commissioner's Maryanne Petrilla's solution to all the bad press that the county lately has been getting was to fire Kathy Bozinski as Luzerne County public information officer. And she did this without the normal personnel executive session or giving Bozinski a chance to defend herself. Yeah, Petrilla is real breath of fresh air.

The people in charge have been failing us for a long time and maybe it's time to shake up the whole system. Home Rule may not be the solution to the problems of Luzerne County government but it's worth a try because this system is not working right.

HOME RULE

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.

Tax relief or Corporate Welfare?

Given a choice what would our represenatives in Harrisburg opt for?

Pa. House OKs slots funds for new arena

The state House voted 121-77 today in favor of a new slots-funded economic development program that will supply $8 million a year that's needed to build a new hockey arena in Pittsburgh.

Slots revenue eyed for projects

Supporters of a proposed cargo airport in the Hazleton area are eyeing slots revenues to help pay for the $500 million project. State Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, inserted a $16.5 million authorization for the cargo airport in a new House bill listing projects under the Pennsylvania Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund.

It doesn't surprise me that this new big pot of gold is just too tempting for our tribunes of the people to resist. Rapid Edward sold this idea to us saying that revenue from the slots parlors would be used to reduced property taxes. I haven't seen my property taxes reduced and the Governor now wants to raise the sales tax with a promise to reduce property taxes that would create yet another pot of money that can be raided. How many more taxes will be proposed with the promise of reducing school taxes only to be diverted to another purpose?