Controller threatened online

Some genius using the handle "WBYup" has been leaving inflammatory comments on the Times-Leader and Citizens Voice websites over the last few weeks and Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith has had enough.  The jerk is just probably blowing smoke and thinks he/she is being funny in a sick way but the threats have been referred to DA Stefanie Salavantis by Griffith and Brian Shiner.

TL: One comment that appeared on The Citizens’ Voice website read: “I wish you and Walter were dead!” on Dec. 28th. The comment has been deleted. WBYup also said Shiner was a “DOG” and promised to “tear into” several county council members “like you cannot imagine” if they run for re-election this year. 

This is not an isolated incident. On the 12/19 CV story about Jim Brozena retiring WBYup had these enlightened insights.

WBYup •  GIBBONS ... another incompetent! JOE, you'll be the first FIRED when LAWTON gets back on his white horse and rides into the sunset!....Driven away by the corruption and the incompetence that followed! Namely LAWTON and the Council of Cowards

 

arwalt  • The area hates honest people.

WBYup  • That's why GRIFFITH goes after all of them!

 

WB Yup also elevates the discussion on the TL website with these comments on the 1/3/12 story about County Councilors possibly seeking reelection.

...If we even have elections ths year! The cowgirl from Noxen might not have it together for a few more years!

 

....And, if only two are elected that will vote to fire Lawton 

 

... Well, that will put the vote count at 6-5 and we'll be delivered from the carpetbagger!

 

....his comment must bother you, must be all the folks liking it? Well, get this - people HATE Lawton, and plenty of folks here don't like outsiders! Hire a good manager from here not some washed up government-to-government paycheck grabber like Lawton!

 

And in a true spurt of eloquence we get this on the 1/3/12 CV story about budget maneuvers. 

WBYup   ....Don't worry, I'm running against Walter.

 

 ....Nope, never ran for office before, but its time! You have to be voted out, screwball. Get to work and stop using county computers to blog, greaser

 

... Walter is a FLITHY DOG and I need to let folks now it!

 

 .... It's gonna be a dirty campaign ... One that really gets at Walter's personal life too.

 

.... I will beat him like a DOG!

 

....F U

 

... Yeah GREASE MONKEY go back to the garbage, you MUPPET!

 

... EWWW GRIFFITH DOESN'T BATH! I just ran into him and he stinks like bad BO!!!

 

... He was talking to that COW from NOXEN at Penn!

 

 .... Griffith's got a face that only a .... Naw, his mother doesn't even love it! What a dog!

 

... Lawton will wind up in jail like Skrepenak. I can't wait to visit him in prison! I'll gladly take him a bar of soap. They will like his big mushy backside there!

 

... F U ... See you at the polls with a baseball bat pal!

 

Wow. If I ever let comments like these to stand on my blog I would get a well deserved browbeating from my regular readers. I say that WB Yup is a "genius" because both papers use the DISQUS system that requires commenter's to sign in with an email address so it's not that hard to figure out what computer they came from. It's just a matter of time before we learn who posted them.

 

 

 

 

A Major Award

Tiffany Cloud is the hostess of Storm Politics on WYLN in Hazelton which has become one of my favorite public affairs programs on TV. She also wrote the great book Sleeping with Dog Tags . The thing about Tiffany is that she welcomes all comers and has a great discussion with people she disagrees with that doesn't turn into a talking head shouting match like you see on the cable news channels.

In the latest episode she handed out the Lightening Bolt Awards. Cloud, Storm, Lightening the weather metaphors are endless. May I suggest the Snow Job Awards for next year.

The winner is  Yasue Bengali, a Japanese immigrant to the US who recently became a citizen and explains how great this county is as only an immigrant could.

The honorable mentions of other people who have appeared on her show is a mix of Democratic and Republican office holders plus those that will be elected in the future or never at all.

Some Bolts went out to Aaron Kaufer, Matt Cartwright, Tarah Toohil, Stefanie Salavantis and Lou Barletta.Young Republicans Bob Zaruta and Jen Rinehamer and Young Dem Thom Shibula along with the happiest man I know, Casey Evans.

In December of last year I was her guest on Storm Politics and David Yonki has also been on the program and we came in 9th. I think she gives us too much credit for the election results but I'll take it. To answer her question of why anyone would push the liberal agenda in these economic times is simple. Austerity doesn't work. You don't cut spending when the economy is down and if anything the government's goal should be to get the unemployment rate down to 4%. The US government is borrowing money right now at a negative interest rate when you factor in inflation. Borrow more and put people to work! She said the conservatives are being outsmarted by these 2 lovers of the left. Hah!

The highlight of this clip is at the 2 minute mark.

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........

Youth in Politics dinner

A big congratulations to Bob Zaruta and Jen Rinehimer along with the rest of the Young Republicans of Luzerne County for putting together such a successful event. Getting such a big crowd for a YR gathering  in a historically Democratic County is a credit to their hard work.

Many moons ago I was an officer in the Young Democrats of Luzerne County and I'm a big supporter of both the YR's and YD's. They are our future leaders. Everybody involved in political campaigns think they are the grand strategist like David Axlerod or Karl Rove but first you have to understand the nuts and bolts of a campaign like making the phone calls and knocking on doors. Young Dems and Reps are the training ground.

Now for commentary on the event with a minimum of snark.


Bob Zaruta took on the "myth" that young people are all Obama liberals. The old joke is there is no such thing as a young Republican because they are all born middle aged.

Luz County YR Prez Bob Zaruta

The best part of the night was th PJ Stebbins award. PJ was a regular commenter on Gort42 and many other places even announcing his run for State Rep on this site. PJ was the hard working foot soldier for many campaigns that all political types can learn from. Aaron Kaufer  received the plaque from Suzie Stebbins.

Aaron Kaufer and Suzie Stebbins

The Young Republican of the year baton was passed from Tarah Toohil to Stefanie Salavantis. I asked Toohil some questions and it was interesting what she didn't say or deny. Read between the lines. More on that later. A reporter asked me a few days ago for the name of her campaign manager and didn't know. She told me tonight she doesn't have one. Bad move.

Feel free to add this pic to your binder of women.

Tarah Toolhill and Stefanie Salaventis

I can't make the LWV forum with Aaron Kaufer and Phyllis Mundy at Wyoming Sem on Tuesday because Mrs G. would rather to see the Aussie Pink Floyd Show at the Kirby that night. I recruited John Lombardo to be the Special Gort42 correspondent that night. He has been a regular contributor to PittstonPolitics.com and has made his English teachers proud. He is a an articulate young man.

John Lombardo and Sara Czernaikowski

More pics on my Facebook page

Joe Peters said something about being on TV.

Gort42 and Joe Peters

Tim Holden goes negative, Cartwright hits back

Congressman Tim Holden put a poll in the field last week that has apparently shown he is in real trouble. I haven't seen the numbers but judging by the reaction of the Holden camp they have gone into panic pass mode.

Hired gun Campaign Manager Joe Trippi who's claim to fame was the 2004 Howard Dean Presidential campaign has put out one of the most dishonest ads I've seen tying Cartwright to the juvie brothers scandal because he gave some money to Callahan and Ciavarella years before the 'kids for cash scandal' broke. It's interesting that the successor group of the Dean campaign, Democracy for America, has endorsed Cartwright.

Joe has to make a living and this line of attack helped Stefanie Salavantis become the Luzerne County District Attorney so he has some good local researchers. We will see how that works out.
So Cartwright gave $1375 to Ciavarella's retention effort just like many other lawyers which raises the question should judge's be elected or appointed after a vetting process. Judges on Merit has more to say on this subject. Conahan may not have been selected after a background check.


Instead of what is going out we should take a look at what is coming in.

DWT has a summery:

Holden, a Blue Dog has taken $688,999 from the finance industry and $414,997 from Big Oil and Gas. Holden has taken even more money from AgriBusiness and he's scooping up checks like mad this year to fight off his first serious electoral challenge ever. [One of the company's eager to keep Holden in Congress is AT&T, which has given House Republicans $896,121 thisyear and House Democrats $443,750. $5,000 of that went to Holden.

The Pennsylvania Progressive tells us about Holden's voting record:

He did not vote for the Affordable Care Act, voted against organized labor, for wars and their funding, for the National Defense Authorization Act, for the PATRIOT Act, FISA wiretapping and against homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure.

A Statement from the Cartwright campaign calls Holden a liar:

Holden Barely Holding On
Desperate TV Ad Not Just A Distortion - It’s 180° from Truth



MOOSIC, PA – With three weeks left until the April 24th Primary Election, Tim Holden has resorted to mud slinging. Perhaps the poll he conducted last week showed poor numbers, and he acted out of desperation. One thing is for sure, however, he forgot to do his homework.
Holden’s TV ad attempts to link Matt Cartwright with the notorious “Kids for Cash” scandal that plagued Luzerne County back in 2008, by citing old campaign contributions from the Munley, Munley and Cartwright law firm to the judges involved. (The firm has supported dozens of Democrats in the past 25 years.) But Holden’s “guilt by old association” tactic was done without knowing enough about the county or Matt Cartwright.
In the wake of the scandal, Matt Cartwright spearheaded the Juvenile Defense Lawyer Project in Luzerne County to ensure that juveniles were treated fairly by the courts and judges. In fact, in a Times-Leader article on June 11, 2010, Cartwright was “recognized for his leadership of the Juvenile Pro Bono Defense Program, which was created to guarantee pro bono counsel for juveniles that had been adjudicated by former President Judge Mark Ciavarella in the event their cases were retried.”
If anything, Matt Cartwright was a hero in cleaning up the criminal mess that these judges created.
“Tim Holden spent the past 20 years in Washington, and this is what he decided to talk about,” said Cartwright. “Of course, it is not surprising that Holden does not want to discuss the facts that he voted to create the Halliburton Loophole and against Health Care Reform. Further, in 2001 and in 2002 he voted with President George W. Bush more than any other Democratic member of Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation.”
Matt Cartwright is a Democrat, running for Congress in the 17th Congressional District, which now includes parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton Counties, as well as all of Schuylkill County. Cartwright is running for Congress to bring jobs to Northeast Pennsylvania, and make sure that corporations and wealthy Americans pay their fair share of taxes.
http://www.cartwrightcongress.com/
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR

Luzerne County government

In the recent election the Luzerne County GOP did well. Dick Hughes will now be a judge and Stefanie Salavantis kept hammering the kids for cash scandal topping Jackie Mo in the District Attorney race showing what a ton of money and a savvy media campaign can do.

The race for the new County Council was the most unpredictable yielding a somewhat surprising result with only 6 Democrats winning seats in a county with a big Dem registration edge. There will be 4 Republicans and an Independent rounding out the newfangled 11 member body. Kingston Mayor and study commission chairman Jim Haggerty told me before he wrote the new charter that he wanted to try to minimize the influence of campaign contributions For the most part each candidate ran a solo effort with a few alliances that at times crossed party lines but didn't work out. My good friend David Yonki said that name recognition would be a key in this race because of the crowded field predicting that Urban the Elder and Urban the Younger would top the poll. It was good to see that the CV quoted a real political expert in addition the Captains Obvious college professors. I would add that the Independent Rick Williams TV spots raised his name recognition contributing to his win. I expect (hope) that party loyalty will be put on the back burner and our new Councilors will do what is best for us all. It will be interesting to see what alliances and deals that will be made in the coming months and years.

Now the hard part.

Members get applicant details

The first job of the new council is to hire an unelected county manager but this story tells us that they can't even agree on the ground rules on applications.

In other news the present Commissioners have decided to spend $1 million to tear down the Hotel Sterling after pissing away $6 million trying to save it. The place was wreck even before the recent flooding.

Another boondogle on the horizon is the Market Street Square property that the county bought from Thom Greco for $5.8 million in 2006. They voted to sink another $2 million into the place to clean it up that will let the county put a senior center and the tourism bureau office in the station. $7 million plus for a senior center and tourist office for this place ? Another property that should be bulldozed and start from scratch. I worked at the Station years ago and it was an eyesore and hazard even then. There was some entertainment value when Greco and the owners of the Woodlands owners the Cornfelds got into a pissing contest that resulted in some expensive cars getting towed all over town.

Greco and Greg Skrepenack should enjoy the show on TV.

Big upset

Stefanie Salavantis defeats Jackie Musto Carroll for Luzerne County District Attorney.

Stefanie J. Salavantis (REP) . . . . 31,776
Jackie Musto Carroll (DEM). . . . . 30,811

Wow!

Luzerne County DA

Stefanie Salavanits campaign has tried to make the Luzerne County DA's race into a referendem on the kids for cash scandal. It seems she is not running against the present DA as she is running against Mark Ciavarella trying to tie or smear her for his association to him.

It just may work.

Peter Paul (PPO-2) lost a rentention vote because of this and the Luzerne County Government looks different after the kids for cash scandal.


I have never seen a slash and burn campaign like this locally.


Another hard hitting commercial:

Robocalls

Another way to annoy people with unwanted telephone calls. I've only received 2 so far, today it was from Joe Sestak asking me support Democrats on Tuesday. The one on my machine on Friday was a real hoot. A woman's voice saying Jackie Musto Carroll did nothing to stop the kids for cash scandal and even worse denied it even happened in a radio interview. She ends by saying it's time finish cleaning up the courthouse. Pittston Politics got the same call and observes It, however, did not have a “paid for” disclaimer. A violation of election law.

The call came from a number in Utah 801-410-7248. I did a google search to try to find the owner of the number but I couldn't nail it down. Reading the reverse lookup sites it appears to be from a telemarketing firm that ignores the do not call registry trying sell some product or other.

Candidates on the air

I had to cut yesterday's post short to deal with yet another minor domestic crises. The only reason I was even watching the local news is to see what candidates for local office had ads running. Yesterday's 6PM newscast had 3 political spots. The first was from ASCME asking Lou Barletta to support President Obama's job plan, that's not going to happen. Judge candidate Jennifer Rogers had the 2nd and the last was for DA Republican hopeful StephanieSalavantis that has the local blogosphere buzzing. See Joe V and the Yonk. Today there were a few more on the Noon broadcast including one for Luzerne County Council candidate Rick Williams.

I will highlight some of them in future posts.

Tonight I'm looking forward to game 2 of the World Series and will be cooking that All American dish, meatloaf. I took the night off from work after being poked, prodded, wired up and getting electric shocks in my leg by a Neurologist then went to the dentist for more fun. This aging process stinks.

Stefanie Salavantis for District Attorney

Like most political junkies I hate unopposed elections so I was glad to see that Jackie Mo will have an opponent in November.

CV: Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll will have competition in the November general election.

Stefanie Salavantis, a Republican attorney from Kingston Township, won the Republican nomination with 713 write-in votes in the primary election May 17, according to Luzerne County Election Bureau officials, who counted the write-in votes today... Musto Carroll garnered 311 write-in votes on the Republican ballot.

I was surprised that the local GOP couldn't recruit a candidate after the success they had in the 2009 row officer races and go the usual route of gathering signatures on petitions but better late than never.


I haven't found a website for her but she has a Facebook fan page.