Blogfest is a good time

A very big Thank You to the staff of The Red Mill for the outstanding service they provided to the 8th semiannual Blogfest. Our glasses were always filled and the food was great.

The bloggers and candidates filled up the place early and then the regular Friday night crowd rolled in. In 35+  years if politics I saw something tonight that only happens every once in a very while. A  young lady not connected to any of us wandered into our scrum and started talking to the various candidates. She told me that she had never voted before but will this time because she liked a few of the candidates.She had plenty of candidates to choose from.

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Controller candidate Carolee Medico Olenginsk (R) was the first in the door and bought pizza for the crowd. The question I kept getting is "where is Walter?" Former Controller Walter Griffith was always one of the first to arrive and the last to leave at our last events. I can't say I'm shocked he skipped this one. Dem nominee for Controller Michelle Bednar arrived later and charmed the crowd.

Most of the Luzerne County Council candidates attended. Eileen Sorokas (D) has been to everything  and Rick is a lot of fun. The Accountability Ticket of Mike Giamber, Renee Taffera  and Kick Heffron arrived together. Republican candidates Paul Defabo and Sue Rossi and Independent Rick Williams are all working hard to get votes and Blogfest was a natural stop.

Bob Morgan represented Cong. Matt Cartwright who has made every Blogfest since he got into the public spotlight. Cong. Lou Barletta did not send a surrogate as he usually does. They are both stuck in Washington dealing with the latest  manufactured crises.  

State  Rep Mike Carroll knows his back yard but the Mayor didn't make it.. 

Phyllis Mundy  was awol. I just might have to vote for Mike in the next election.

Alex Milanes lost his last election and is shopping around for an opportunity to lose another. Bible Buck and Duke from Dallas made it an official event.

The DJ race is the hottest thing in Pittston politics this year. Both hopefuls stopped by tonight and I like both of them. Jerry Macadon and

Alex Kokura have run great campaigns that tell you about their experience but have not ripped into each other.





Fellow bloggers Joe V, Michelle and Harold  helped organize the event and long lost blogger Zen made it as did the Yonk.  County GOP Vice-Chair Lynette Villano and 2032 Presidential hopeful John Lombardo had a good time. Former W. Pittston Mayor and the Governors local point man Bill Goldsworthy kept his consecutive string of appearances alive. 

More pics at

Blogfest Fall 2013

 

Steve Mocarsky of the TL was there

 

 

Politicians, bloggers gather at semiannual event

 

Eillen Sorokas for Luzerne County Council

Eileen Sorokas with Mrs. G in the background

Eileen Sorokas had a nice turnout for her kickoff rally in her quest to win a seat on the Luzerne County Council at the Polish Club in beautiful downtown Hudson yesterday. When I walked in the door I thought I was in the wrong place as the first person I spotted was Luzerne County GOP Vice-Chair Lynette Villano. It was then explained that Eileen generously invited all county candidates regardless of party. She's a class act.

The other 4  Democratic Council nominees showed up. Incumbent Linda Houck and the Accountability Ticket of Michael Giamber, Richard (Kick Heffron)   and Renee Zita Ciaruffoli Taffera. They were joined by Republican candidates Kathy Dobash and Paul DeFabo.

Both Controller candidates worked the crowd. Michelle Bednar (D) has already knocked off a big name in the Primary (Urban) and is now facing another one  Carolee Medico-Olenginski (R).

Councilor Ed Brominski and LC Chair Tim McGinley greeted the crowd.

More Photos at this link.

A night with the Republicans

Alex put together a great event last night to watch Mitt Romney accept the Republican Party nomination to be President. About 60 people came and went before Romney took the stage but only 20 or so actually hung around for his acceptance speech.

Before we joined the fun at Mulligans Irish Bar I popped into Boscov's to buy a new blazer for Blogfest. It was great to see all the businesses open  in downtown Wilkes-Barre. A few years ago Public Square was a ghost town after 5PM.

The first person I ran into was my 2nd favorite back cracker, recovering politician turned radio talk show host Dr. David Madeira. You can catch his act weekdays 6-9AM on 94.3FM. Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffth told me he loves his job despite being shorthanded because of budget cuts and spoke highly of county manager Bob Lawton. He said he will definitely be running for reelection next year. It was good to see past candidates Gina Nevenglosky and Joyce Gebhardt. Kingston Mayor Jim Haggerty said he suggested one of the names for the AAA baseball team, the Blast. It was great to meet the Right Wing Fringey guy.

I asked some people in crowd what they liked about Romney. Lynette Villano said he has the business experience that will help turn the economy around. She is planning a big luzerne/Lackawanna County GOP dinner and is looking for a headliner. I suggested Rick Santorum. Lori Vandermark also cited Romney's business experience and added that he managed a successful Olympics. Luzerne County GOP chair Bill Urbansky said he was an American success story. Walter Griffith said "I have to hold my nose to vote for either of them" but he likes Paul Ryan. Host Alex Milanes critiqed his party on several issues saying "I think the Republican's are on the wrong side of history on gay rights." He thinks if the party loses this election it needs to reinvent itself and he won't jump ship but will try to build bridges.

Bill Wellock covered the event for the CV and Steve Mocarsky quoted me in his write up for the TL. I was expecting to see Andrew Seder but Bill told me he works bankers hours.

County GOP viewing party lures undecideds

Pick of Romney buoys local GOP

Luzerne County GOP picnic

David Freed

About 50 people attended the  Luzerne County Republican Party Pre-Convention Rally / BBQ at the family farm of Chairman Bill Urbanski in Mountaintop. Going down the road to place I was glad I drive an SUV with 4 wheel drive. Many candidates and staff are in Tampa for the convention like Lou Barletta and Aaron Kaufman. They should have sent a surrogate.



Bill said he promised a hurricane free picnic and he delivered. You have to hear him sing.
 
The only statewide candidate to make it was Attorney General hopeful David Freed who dismissed the naysayers who think Mitt Romney can't win Pennsylvania because there are more Romney signs in SW PA than Obama signs. Talking to rank and file I was surprised by the pessimism of winning the Presidential race and down right hostility to Mitt Romney. I won't name names. 

17th Congressional District candidate Laureen Cummings complained about Obamacare then told me that the NRCC polled the district and thinks she has a good chance of beating Matt Cartwright. 

State Rep Karen Boback bragged the she secured both nominations and asked for support. I hate uncontested elections, The back mountain Dems need to get their shit together and get a candidate in 2014.

I finally got to meet assistant deputy dog of some county department Art Bobbouine. Try to pronounce that  last name. My pal Jim O'Meara dragged Laureen off to another event, he is her campaign manager. A real pleasure was meeting Jason Fitzgerald of Penn Strategies. He helped Marino win in 1010 and is now working for Freed and other candidates.Lynette Villano was taking the money and selling the chances for the prizes as she always does. She told me of her frustrations with lone wolf Steve Urban (R to D)when she was county chair.  I think I saw Norton the Blogger lurking about but there wasn't a  VW  micro bus parked  or any sign of Buzz let alone a Univac 3000.


On my way out I told David Freed that I thought the AG's office would be in good hands whoever won. He said he felt the same way after the primary. He respects his opponent.

Where was everybody, the turnout was less than I expected. Speaking of low turnout Alex is having a Mitt Romney Acceptance Speech Watch Party. 



More pictures at this link

New Luzerne County GOP chairman

In a bit of a surprise Kingston attorney Bill Urbanski was elected as Luzerne County Republican chairman defeating incumbent Terry Casey 79-72 at the party convention Sunday at Genetti's.


Casey was elected in 2008 succeeding Lynette Vilano. and it's fair to say that his record has been more hits than misses. In 2007 the Luzerne County Republicans lost EVERY contested county election. Their only winner that year was Steve Urban because one Republican had to be on the board of commissioners. His first move was hiring Renita Fennick as executive director who was able to deal with the various factions and got people to work together. A year round headquarters was opened in downtown Wilkes-Barre with space donated by a real estate outfit and he got the back mountain money boys to kick in some bucks to pay for it all. It paid off in the 2009 county elections when the Republicans won 2 out 3 of the Row Offices up that year. In 2010 the focus was getting Lou Barletta elected to Congress that was helped by the national wave.

Elections for the county council under the new Home Rule form of government was on the ballot in 2011 and the Republicans snagged 4 of the 11 seats and Stefanie Salavatis knocked off DA JAckie Mo. Not bad for a party that has been on the outside for a long time with a significant deficit in registrations.

 But some Republicans said they should have done better after all the corruption that has seen a slew of Democrats go to jail. Some have complained that the county party didn't help out municipal candidates enough particularly in Wilkes-Barre but that is not the focus of the county party.

The county Republicans haven't been able to fill all of the committee spots and got a big black eye when a race hater wrote himself in for one of them.One of my Republican friends said it was not a priority to recruit county committee members but 6th District honcho James O'Meara said he tried his best to get people to sign up without much success.

Bill Urbanski sounds like a Republican populist if there is such a thing CV: "My vision is simple: do away with unnecessary expenditures and bureaucracies and build a more inclusive county Republican Party," Urbanski said. "Too often committee members and even average voters feel as though they are on the outside looking in, or what may be worse, on the bottom looking up. In my mind, the contributions made by the rank-and-file members of the GOP are just as important as the contributions made by those in positions of power."

It looks like Kingston Mayor Jim Haggerty is the next coming of Marty Murray on the Republican side. He wrote the Home Rule Charter and now this.  "Winning the Republican county election is proof of your grassroots ability," Haggerty said.

Bill's brother posted this picture  :

Update: James O'Meara corrects me in the comments..

Actually, Gort, this year we were successful in the 6th getting new committee members. We have filled 8 of 10 slots in Plains, for example, and I will find people for the other two slots. It was similar throughout the rest of the 6th District. Recruiting those slots is a primary duty of a District Chair, so the empty slots ...and the responsibility to fill them ...are my responsibility.

Now he thinks he is Boss Tweed

I have to like John Cordora because he is a Blogger's dream. Cordora is like our own local version of Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann.
If you want someone to say something that is bat shit crazy he is your guy.

In 2006 he won the Republican nomination for State Rep in the 120th District. He ran a stealth campaign and came out ahead of 2 very attractive candidates. In the general election against Phyllis Mundy he got blown out and then blamed his loss on Lynette Villano and the Luzerne County GOP. His top issue was gay marriage.

In a news release, Cordora also attacked Mundy for supporting "abortion on demand, higher taxes, gay marriage and all the other liberal garbage."

In the recent primary election he was a Republican candidate for Mayor of Kingston saying he had a secret plan to prevent crime. It had something to do with putting a large spotlight on top of the new fire station on Wyoming Ave. that projects the image of a winged mammal that calls a Caped Crusader into action. He claimed to have visited thousands of homes in Kingston and found agreement that Jim Haggerty was a lousy Mayor. On election day he got a whopping 254 votes.


Now he is backing the Democrats.

TL: “I’m going to make sure I deliver at least 500 votes to (mayoral candidate Stephen) Radzinski and (council candidates) Barry Adams and Curt Piazza,” said Cordora.

Let's do the math. He gets 254 votes in a town that is still leading in Republican registration and then promises 500 votes for the Dems after he gets clobbered in the primary.

Everytime I hear someone say our problems in Luzerne County are a result of voting in Democrats all the time I think of him. I agree that one party dominance is not healthy but our local R's have to recruit some serious candidates



More John Cordora fun is in my archives.

Who's running for what?-Mayor of Kingston

The TL has some announcements.

Jim Haggerty is running for reelection saying "The future of our community is as bright as ever.” He will probably cruise to another term in the job that he has held since 1998. He has basics down, the trash is picked up on time and the streets are plowed when it snows. The police force is professionally run and he has partnered with Edwardsville to provide better fire protection and ambulance service.


Haggerty is also running for the Luzerne County Government Study Commission. He told me that he can contribute to the study because he is the Mayor of a home rule municipality and would bring the nuts and bolts experience of governing to the formation of the new charter. He also predicted that Home Rule would win this time.

Mayor Jim has 2 opponents in the GOP primary, Jeanne Shuella and John Cordora. I don't know anything about Shuella but Cordora rings a bell. He said the centerpiece of his campaign will be the lack of crime prevention in Kingston. “I have a common sense, aggressive plan to reduce crime in Kingston and I only want one term as mayor to prove it.” If someone can figure out how to prevent crime they should patent the process and sell it.


Cordora ran for State Rep against Phyllis Mundy in 2006 and got trounced. Then his "centerpiece" was his opposition to gay marriage and the pay raise. For most of the campaign he was the invisible man and when he did raise his head he attacked Mundy for supporting "abortion on demand, higher taxes, gay marriage and all the other liberal garbage." I think he listens to too much talk radio. After the election he blamed his loss on Lynette Villano and the dysfunctional Luzerne County Republican Party.

There are 2 Democrats running for Mayor of Kingston, Curt Piazza and Stephen Radinski.

Villano out

The TL confirms what I reported a few months ago. Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano is not seeking re-election because she wants to spend more time with her family. Given the results of the last few elections that's a wise choice.

The new Chairman will be Terry Casey, a vice president at M&T Bank. I wish him luck because the lack of an effective opposition in the county hurts us all.

Lynette is not going away and will be serving as the Wyoming Valley coordinator for Lou Barletta in his uphill race to unseat Congressman Paul Kanjorski. I hope she is as successful in her efforts for Mayor Lou as she has been for the county GOP.

Draft Lou Barletta

I heard Mayor Lou on Corbett yesterday hemming and hawing about running for Congress again and said he will finally make up his mind Friday. The suspense is killing me. As a local blogger there would be nothing better than to have a race that would shoot right to the top of one of the most watched Congressional contests in the country. This would almost be as good as the 10th CD.

Trying to help him make up his mind some local Republicans have been gathering signatures on nominating petitions. The local papers give us the details:

Barletta petition signing begins

County GOP joins ‘Draft Lou’ drive

Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano is spearheading the drive. That's good news for Lou because she is such a vote getter.

It's Rose Tucker

WNEP: Luzerne County has a new commissioner and she is a familiar face.
Former commissioner Rose Tucker was named to the post Monday. Tucker, a Democrat from Nanticoke, takes over for Todd Vonderheid who resigned to take a job with the chamber of commerce.

It's no surprise that Skrep got his pick and Rose has always been a team player. Many people were pulling for former state rep Tom Tigue and the other candidates never had a chance. And speaking of not team players Steve Urban and Bill Jones are running against each other instead of the Democrats.

Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano tries to put a good face on it in a CV story. She points out that the Republicans hold 2 of the row offices and expect to retain them. But they couldn't even find candidates to run for judge, district attorney or coroner. Red O'Brien will give Mary Dysleski a run for the money with 2 long time employees confessing to pocketing large sums of money from The Recorder of Deeds office. But I think Barry Stankus should be reelected as sheriff over Michael Savokinas especially if sore loser George "Nipper" Nowakowski mounts the write-in effort that he is threatening to do.

Bill Jones says the county GOP “is in total disarray.” Hard to dispute that. Most people I talk to blame Lynette for the state of the local Republican Party. That's probably unfair as this bunch has been dysfunctiona lfor a long time. And Urban is floating a conspiracy theory that the Dems are backing Jones to get rid of him calling Jones a RINO.