More acrimony in Plymouth

Over the weekend it was announced that the DA won't pursue the removal of  Plymouth Councilman Bill Dixon. That came as bad news to Borough Coordinator Joe Mazur after he got the council to hire a $200/hr. lawyer to get rid of him because of state charges that have been pardoned by the Governor but there is a  federal conviction that has not been pardoned,  yet. Jim Haggerty is working on that.

Now Councilman Cliff Madrack wants a copy of the proposed budget that Mazur drafted but he can't get it. TL: “They said they can’t give me one because it’s a proposed budget,” Madrack said. “Why would we not want to give a copy of the proposed budget to anyone?”
Mazur said he is required to draw up a budget proposal and make it available for public review for 10 days before council votes on it, but not to provide copies.
“He’s not deprived of it,” Mazur said. “He’s a councilman; he can sit there and look at it all day."

This is so petty that it makes me laugh. It would infuriate me if I was a resident of Plymouth.  How hard is it to make some copies?  Madrack told me that Mazur is living in the 1950's. Mazur said "But to put it out on the street, we would run into so many problems that you can never get a budget done.”I don't think he has heard of the internet or a Xerox machine.

There seems to be some bad blood between Madrack and Mazur that I picked up from this story in CV by Michael Sisak last month: Mazur blamed Madrack for the divisiveness on the council, but scoffed when asked whether the borough should be investigating Madrack instead.
"Who the hell cares about him?" Mazur said.

A job in the street department has come open and Madrack want's it advertised in the local papers but  Mazur said he already had a stack of applications.

People tell me  that Joe Mazur is an expert on job applications. He has recommended many applicants for positions as a member of the Wyoming Valley West School Board.

Bill Dixon Victory Party

What was billed as a benefit to offset Plymouth Council member Bill Dixon's legal bills turned into a celebration when his lawyer announced that the DA had declined to get involved in the case.

MC Scott Cannon thanked the people that put together the event and introduced Bill.  He was almost speechless. He thanked everybody and choked up when he thanked his wife saying she "is the reason  I am the man I am today." I know the feeling.

Jim Haggerty  delivered the good news and the crowd erupted in applause.

The challenge to Dixon was engineered by Joe Mazur who is a past Luzerne County Democratic Chairman  but now has been reduced to trying to run a little town of 6000 people. He is not doing it well.

Plymouth Council member  Cliff Madrack ripped into Mazur.

 "He thinks he is in the 1950's. He want's to be the boss. It's easier to say come along instead of do what I say."

http://www.timesleader.com/stories/DA-not-pursuing-Dixons-removal,241524

Breaking News: DA will not remove Dixon from Plymouth Council

In a letter to Attorney Jim Haggerty Luzerne  County District Attorney Stefanie Salavanits said she will not seek the removal of Bill Dixon from Plymouth Borough Council.

The letter states in part:

"Obviously, since it has been confirmed to my office that Mr. Dixon has been pardoned as described herein by Governor Corbett, we have determined that it would be imprudent for this office to pursue Mr. Dixon's removal from his elected position as member of the Plymouth Borough Council via Quo Warranto action.

Preliminarily, I note that in cases where a citizen was duly elected by the electorate (rather than appointed), it has been the policy of this office not to interfere with the will of the voters. We presume the voters make a knowing and informed choice in choosing their representative and therefore, it is not the intent of this office to be used as a political pawn by those unhappy with the candidate's victory, nor to supersede the voters' choice by unseating an elected official thereby. "


More on this to come.

Or as Drudge would say

Developing........

Plymouth residents support Bill Dixon

Plymouth Councilman Bill Dixon is taking fire because he committed some crimes many years ago and his neighbors are planning a show of support.

Love Bill Dixon Benefit

Dixon backers plan buffet fundraiser

 The question is can someone convicted of a felony or "other infamous crime"  hold office. The thing that muddies this is that Governor Tom Corbett granted him a pardon on the state charges but he  also had a Federal conviction that has not been pardoned.  The people of Plymouth can ask the President to pardon him by starting a petition at WhiteHouse.gov 

 This is a clear example of our punitive laws being so destructive. From all the accounts Dixon went to Vietnam in the service of his country and had a hard time when he came home and did some stupid things for which he was punished. Since then he has been a model citizen CV: Dixon and his wife, Janet, raised two children in the borough. He has worked in substation maintenance for UGI, the regional electric utility, for the last 25 years. He has coached youth sports in the community for more than two decades.

A year after he was  elected as top vote getter in 2011 the Plymouth Borough Coordinator Joe Mazur decided to make an issue of his past. 

  We all remember Mazur for his eloquence when he was the Luzerne County Democratic Chairman and said Register of Wills Dotty Stankovic was "a cancer within the organization. " He was also gleeful" when Petrilla defeated incumbent Controller Steve Flood in the 2005 primary.

 That worked out well.

 The DA or Attorney General could remove him from office but it  looks like they will pass on getting into the weeds of Plymouth politics. 

 The Examiner is all over this story.

 

  

Shennanigans in Plymouth and elsewhere

Plymouth council candidate cries foul:

CV: Jacki Rydzefski Levandoski claimed candidates were campaigning inside the borough building as people were voting, and a candidate’s wife was assisting voters who needed help. Levandoski filed a complaint on Wednesday at the Bureau of Elections offices inside Penn Place. She claimed Councilman Stanley Scibek was inside the borough building as people were voting, and his wife, an authorized poll worker, was assisting voters who needed help at the Plymouth Armory.

In my own local voting place at St. Joe's in Plains our new Coroner John Corcoran popped in while I was voting. I don't know what the rules are about a candidate being in the voting place after he has voted for but it doesn't seem right. Campaign workers, signs, etc. are prohibited within 10 feet of the entrance of a polling place. More than one time I've seen a candidate bring in coffee and donuts for the poll workers over the years.

Plymouth Council race

The Peoples Republic of Plymouth, Pennsylvania is ruled by a benevolent Big Brother, the unelected Boro Administrator Joe Mazur. We all remember Mazur for his eloquence when he was the Luzerne County Democratic Chairman and said Register of Wills Dotty Stankovic was "a cancer within the organization. " He was also "gleeful" when Petrilla defeated incumbent Controller Steve Flood in the 2005 primary. Steve rocked the boat and we know that's not allowed.

The town council and Mayor follow his lead and everyone is happy. Well maybe not after a protracted dispute over a new police contract and a lawsuit between the council and Mayor Dorothy Petrosky over scheduling of part-time officers. In the end Plymouth has more police protection and the the only winners in this pissing contest were the lawyers.

The primary election for council was close with 5 Democrats within 150 voted of each other. The results:

THOMAS MCTAGUE. . . . . . . 536
CARL CLEMM . . . . . . . . . . 454
CHARLIE LASINSKI . . . . . . . . 403
BILL DIXON . . . . . . . . . . 383
JACKI RYDZEFSKI LEVANDOSKI 361

The two challengers to the longtime incumbents fell short but gathered enough write-in votes on the Republican side to earn a ballot spot for the General Election.

They are:

Bill Dixon and Jacki Rydzefski Levandoski are seeking seats on Plymouth Boro Council for 4 year terms.

Bill has been a resident of Plymouth the last 26 years and is married to the former Janet Flynn. They have 2 children and 1 grandchild. He is an Army Veteran having served with the 101st Airborne in the VietNam war and has been employed by UGI Development the last 20 years. He holds the position of Lab Technician III at the Hunlock Power Division. He is a member of VFW Post 1425 Plymouth, Kiwanis, and was appointed to the Plymouth Recreation Board. He was active in youth organizations and is a volunteer for Rails and Trails and also serves as an annual fundraiser for United Way for UGI. One of his goals as a member of council is to promote family development and youth activity within the community.

Jacki was born in Plymouth and has lived there most of her life. She is the daughter of the late Verna Rydzefski and Chet Rydzefski . Chet was a longtime street commissioner in the Boro and also a part time police officer.

Jacki is employed as a psychiatric nurse . She is in her 22nd year of employment with Community Counseling Services. She has one son, Joshua. She is a member of Plymouth Alive, Wilkes Barre Dog Training Club, and Therapy Dogs International serving as a volunteer with her dog Blitz in kids reading programs. A goal of hers is to promote a safe, family oriented community. She advocates seeking grants and funds for revitalization and to provide services to the residents . She hopes that this would attract and encourage more families to find Plymouth as a desirable place live.


Jacki Levandoski tells us why the people of Plymouth should vote for her and Bill:


Our current political leaders tout that they are the government that we can afford...Of course we can when we offer the taxpayers very little.

We have little free services... We only at this point have a newspaper program that involves lugging papers to the borough building for a few limited hours weekly. Our current lawn pickup involves paying $1.00 for paper lawn bags then calling them to notify of a pickup. These are bags that can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot at a much cheaper price then they are charging, but Mr Mazur stated that they won't do it for free !

Anything that involves giving to the taxpayers...it seems they claim to have no money...
We have no money according to them ..yet they found it OK to spend taxpayer hard earned dollars to sue our Mayor , rather then use it for something such as a service. In addition, his games that he played with the police contract were ridiculous. He told them he wasn't paying them for pay beyond his specified amt. of hours. Thankfully, those officers continued to provide services to keep the community safe , despite getting 1/2 of their pay. This nonsensical game went on for months..which ended up involving the borough solicitor getting yet again a nice chunk of the hard earned tax payer dollars. A new issue is that now Mr Mazur gets council to approve the appointing of a recycle chief...despite having no recycle program. He told the Times Leader that it was for the new chief to get recycle grants. Funny, I thought that's what a borough admin. is paid for...to seek and write grants.

I want to be an active part of the boro government. I am committed to finding and helping write grants that would benefit the community. I will , when elected...create an email acct. that citizens can contact me with their concerns. Right now , we have no web page that is updated, despite many times of asking. I want to see this town move ahead. To have prospective home buyers look to the town as a town that has youth activity ..is safe..is family oriented...We now have our police issue taken care of..which will be helpful in keeping the town safe.. Also...I want to see more accountability of property owners in keeping properties cleaned up .Right now, we have a zoning officer who has been doing a great job in contacting these property owners...but my big gripe is that we are wasting time and taxpayer dollars by having to continually go after those same property owners ever few months..We have to find a way to penalize them. I tend to think that some people too are left off the hook with this. There is an eyesore old school in my neighborhood that has seeming slipped thru. Council told me last year that there is nothing they can do. We have far too many absentee landlords from out of the area who will rent to anyone...which has brought some drug traffic and less then savory characters into the boro.
At a meeting last year, a resident suggested to council a renters tax/fee which I think would be a great idea in generating an ongoing revenue, rather then just looking at burdening only tax payers. Apparently this was never looked in to.

We will be the voice of the people , not the voice of the administrator.