Blogfest tonight

The next blogger meetup will be Friday March 30th at Rooney's Irish Pub 67 S. Main St. Pittston, PA 18704 starting at 6PM. There is big bar area with tables off to the side and plenty of free parking across the street where the Tomato Festival is held. It's easy to find just drive north on River Street from W-B and it's on the left. Or south from Scranton and it's on the right.

It looks like we will have a good turnout. So far I have received confirmation from about 20 campaigns for Congress and State House that the candidate and/or supporters will be attending. That includes Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Pastafarians. The statewide candidates have been invited along with local office holders not up for election this year and people interested in running for local offices in 2013. Some national figures have been invited and you never know who just might make it. Last time over 150 people showed up. Our political bloggers from Luzerne and Lackawanna counties will be there along with our readers, commenter's and people who are just interested in local politics.



Since it's inception 2 years ago Blogfest has been described as the best political event of the season.

There are 3 rules to the event.

1. No Speeches

2. You must wear clothes even if it is warm.

3. Agree to disagree but don't be disagreeable.

There is no charge for admission.

Blogger Meet-up is tonight

We hope that you can join us tonight at our Blogger Meet-up.

The Who/What: NEPABlogs.org will be hosting an informal Blogger Meet-up. Come out and meet the NEPA Blogs (dysfunctional) family. ALL ARE WELCOME. There is no admission or cover charge.

The When: Sun Nov. 6, 2011 starting at 5pm. Stay until the cows come home….or last call. Whichever comes first.

The Where: The Metro Bar & Grill in Dallas, 1174 Memorial Hwy (Twin Stacks), Dallas PA, For directions to the Metro Bar and Grill, please visit: http://www.themetrobarandgrill.com/

Some photos from Blogfest

I decided to do a separate post with a few pictures from Blogfest as I was inspired by LuLac's IN FOCUS feature but nothing can top Yonk's Angels. I lifted a few of these from PittstonPolitics.com Photo Bucket. Note to my friend Joe V., we don't have a spending problem we have an unemployment problem.

The turnout was great again despite the crummy weather. A big thanks to Gene Rooney and his staff for another outstanding job.

Libertarian candidate for Mayor of Wilkes-Barre Betsy Summers with an old Young Democrat Bob Caruso. Bob and I were in the YD's a few years back and I consider him one of my political mentors. We had backing from the boss at the time, Senator Marty Murray. My local committeeman Thomas Shibula and Mike Szustak are now leaders in the organization.

Republican nominee for Mayor of Wilkes-Barre Lisa Cope with Democratic Luzerne County Council nominee Michelle Bednar and friend. The great thing about Blogfest is that party labels are left at the door. Everybody has a good time.

Local blogger Karla Porter did a great job during the latest flood crises setting up a Facebook page that kept us up to date while filtering out rumors that were not true. Duke from Dallas can be heard on WILK in the week's he hasn't been banned by Bosco or Sue. Karin Spak does great work with the Fresh Air Fund. My friend Harry Haas is a Republican candidate for Luzerne County Council.

James O'Meara, Sr. is running as a Republican candidate for commissioner in the Democratic
stronghold of Plains Township. It's about time we elect a Republican in my little burgh. Michelle Hryvnak Davies has been the driving force in reviving NEPA Blogs that DB Echo started a few years ago and I have slacked off on updating. Her tech savy and enthusiasm has helped the site become something of a media sensation with radio appearances and a regular gig on WBRE.

Judge candidate Molly Mirabito talks with 11th CD candidate Bill Vinsko with County Council candidate Rick Morelli in the background. Morelli has a big job ahead of him, he helped write the charter and if elected has to make it work.

Mike Vough is a double nominee for the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas but that doesn't mean he isn't out there asking for every vote. Next to him is one of my favorite people in politics, Patrick Murphy. As a Congressman he wrote the legislation to amend the UCMJ to end the DADT policy and is now running for PA Attorney General. The weather was terrible as he was coming up the interstate and could have easily bailed on the event but he kept his promise to me. Thank you Pat. On the end is Bill Vinsko who is the only announced candidate so far for the Democratic nomination in the 11th CD taking on Lou Barletta.
We don't even know what the district will look like yet but he decided to get out there early instead of playing it safe.



I don't have the time to link and label everything in the last 2 posts that I think violates some sort of blogger rule that someone invented without asking any bloggers for input.

My apologises.

Navel Gazing and Blogroll Maintenance

When I took this site off line a few months ago I got many requests to put it up again just because people liked using my blogroll to keep up with our local scribes. You didn't care what I had to say but I had the shortcuts.

I added 2 new blogs to the sidebar and deleted some dead links.



THIS JUST IN

is a blog written by former local news guy Kevin Jordan who briefly ran the Luzerne County Elections Bureau.

Posts from the Fringe

is the musings of my friend James O'Meara, Sr. who is running for Plains Township Commissioner.

Kevin will be happy that I fixed the link to The Valley Scanner so you get his latest post. I replaced the link to The Dave Madeira Show with a link to his daily screed Under the Liberty Tree. Sorry pal you are only getting one link.

Michelle is back. She stopped updating her blog a few years ago and went all a Twitter. We now have some updates on


mhryvnak.net

NEPA Blogs

I finally got around to listing a few local political blogs on NEPA Blogs. DB Echo and Michelle have a bunch more that don't deal with politics.

They are:

Pure Bunkum

Valley Scanner

Carbon County Insider

Loreley's Musings

I'm also editing the Gort42 blogroll.

I'm deleting these site because they haven't updated in months. If you start writing again let me know.

Scrappled

I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake

The Scranton Guardian

Checking the Balance

Political Pike

I'm adding

Valley Scanner

and

Carbon County Insider