Eddie Day Pashinski for State Represenative

Eddie Day had his annual brunch that attracted about 300 people at Genetti's. He brought in some of the heavy hitters in state and local politics like Bob Casey, Matt Cartwright, John Yudichak, Mike Carrol and Guido Sarducci.

In the warm up Yuddy sang Eddie's praises since he rarely does it himself. He recounted the  many infrastructure and economic development projects he has done the hard work to make it happen. He had a nice quip about how he shows up with a piano and his own  Paparazzi. Matt Cartwright also praised him and noted that he is sharing campaign space in W-B. He said "I've had worst roommates but at least he cleans up after himself."  All those losing lottery tickets and empty cans end up in the trash.

Senator Bob Casey continues to impress me. He gave another fiery address about the ACA and his opposition to the Trumplican agenda.


When it came time for Eddie to speak  he told us about he is working with his Republican colleagues to get help for grandparents raising grand kids. He lamented that that the Republican Party has been hijacked by extremist who want to divide us on race, sex, etc. He said they want to divide us because there are "more of us than them."   He decried the money in politics and  defended public schools, labor unions, Social Security and Medicare. He doesn't want to go back to the days of the coal barons and celebrated the gains made on job safety, the 8 hr.workday/ 40 hr. week because of collective bargaining. And then he went on and on and on so I had to leave because I already missed kickoff.

He never mentioned his opponent.

Scott Wagner in Luzerne County

GOP Governor nominee Scott Wagner had a rally at the Woodlands Wenesday night and had a nice turnout. State Senator Lisa Baker was the MC and she kept the program rolling along limiting the under card to brief statements. Many people think she should run for Governor.

The state rep candidates warmed up the room. Sue Henry started off with her usual good humor saying :“It’s really good to be behind the microphone again.”.  I'm sure she is happy that the Red Sox are running away with the AL East. She then made her case for property tax reform.

I want to thank Sue for being so generous to me when she was on WILK, she always gave me a good time slot, :07 after the hour and entertaining us on WRKC 88.5 FM. My favorite conversation  was when we decided to nominate David Yonki for Jury Commissioner . I have always cast a write-in vote for the Yonk in every election since.

Justin Behrens and Frank Scavo also joined the bandwagon on taxes. John Chrin (R-NJ)  said something about socialism.

The red meat was thrown out by Pennsylvania  GOP Chair Valetino  DeGiorgio. He mentioned Maxine Waters and Nancy Peolsi which got of few boos in the audience.  He repeated the ALLEGATION that immigrants get welfare. And Socialism! He forgot George Soros.

Scott Wagner started his speech talking about his humble upbringing and some flashes of humor admitting he didn't have the best smile and can sometimes be abrasive. He talked about touring areas hit by the recent flooding recent and accused Tom Wolf of using it as a photo op. He backed teachers in his education plan but panned union bosses. Wagner wants to sell the liquor stores to fund education. He also made fun of Wolf's "honky jeep." He denied wanting to tax retirement income claiming his opponent is using 7 seconds of a long speech out of context.

 He talked about his plan to combat Pennsylvania's opioid epidemic. Emphasizing treatment, education  and surprisingly suing pharmaceutical companies. Then he attack Wolf for vetoing a bill he sponsored claiming he did it because he has taken money from the PAC Fairness PA saying Governor Wolf is just as bad as the drug dealers. He also said "If you want a guy who enables those who makes money killing our kids, taking contributions of $1.2 million please reelect Tom Wolf. Because I'm not your guy."

He then said he could get things done because he has relationships with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and told us what a great guy John Yudichak is. 

Wagner unveils 'first real plan' to tackle opioid epidemic

Oppose the Funeral Tax

Sue Henry has a famous name and a bumper sticker issue in her challenge to Eddie Day Pashinski. Her issue is eliminate property taxes but HB 76 does no such thing.It just moves taxes from the wealthy property owners to working people.  The response should be to oppose the expansion of the sales and income tax such as a NEW TAX on Funeral Services of 7%.. It will also tax food and clothing for the first time.

 No one wants to see a senior lose their  home as we are told  but I've never seen any data to support the allegation that seniors lose there home more than other people that fall behind on their taxes. In fact people over 65 and the disabled get a rebate up to $650 to offset the tax. I would like to see it applied up front so they don't have to wait for the money after they paid the bill.

I'm getting to be a senior and know how much a funeral can cost since I have had  to plan a few. I read obituaries all the time that ask for a donation to a Go Fund Me page to pay for the funeral service, burial and marker. Sadly, many of the deceased left us way before they should have because of overdose, murder, car crashes, etc. Young people for the most part don't have Life Insurance and the family should not be burdened with an additional cost such as a sales tax.

Never trust a politician that doesn't pay her parking tickets

Pic from here

Attorney General  Kathleen Kane  has been mired in controversy since she took office. She has burned through  staff members including about  57 press secretaries. Our own Joe Peters didn't last long. It's been one thing after another from not prosecuting a corruption case in Philly to leaking Grand Jury information. She can't manage and her office is a mess. 

Now multiple sources say she will be charged with a crime tomorrow. 

When I wrote a post about her not paying her parking tickets many  said that was not important and was the oldest attack in the book.  Sue Henry on WILK thought it was important and it even made it to the afternoon show.

I think that every elected official should obey the law and pay the fine when they commit a minor infraction. Especially someone who is charged with the duty to enforce the law and prosecute those who do not follow it.  The Ticket thing just smacks of an old arrogance of 'I'm important and only the little people have to do that, not me.' It should have been a warning siren. 

Pennsylvania exit poll

We were the 186th and 187th voters in our local polling place out of  about 1000. What a terrible turnout. On the way in there was only 2 poll workers and Plains Twp.plus  incumbent Commissioners Robert Sax and Jerry Yozwiak. I have long said that the only poll workers that matter in a local race is the candidates themselves.

 But in this case they were not going to persuade me. They both voted to kick back $3 million of slots money back to the Mohegan Sun to pave the parking lot over the last few years. Then they asked for $1 Million  of slots money to finance an upgrade to the Woodlands. I voted for Barry Kresge.

Being the contrarian that I am I usually vote no on retaining a Judge but in this case I actually voted Yes for State Supreme Court Justices Ron Castille and Max Baer and No on the other 2. What persuaded me was the Tea Party groups and Sue Henry said they opposed them because they blocked the Voter ID law. It should be trashed as it's a solution in search of a problem that will keep people from voting. For all the jokes we make about dead people voting in Pittston it just doesn't happen. Absentee ballots are another matter. All my life I have heard the lament that enough people don't vote (like today) so they want to make it harder. Elections are a bad way to pick appellate judges see Choose Judges on Meirt

Kathy Bozinski reported "that for the first time ever our reporters were told it's illegal to take generic, non-invasive shots inside polling places, and were turned away, or told to shoot through a window. I can't count how many live shots I've done inside the polling place... Is this something new?... We've learned its a regulation that is decided by the County Solicitor, and for apparently the first time, he decided to invoke it for this election."  I saw Pete from the TL at our polling place tonight taking photos and I snapped a few.

The Luzerne  County Website has  a link for election results that looks pretty good. You can tailor the races you are interest in. The thing is they had to go to a vendor to do something that was done in house and worked flawlessly until last spring.  Another waste of money. I like Walter Griffith but the pissing contest that he got into with Lenny Piazza that the county manager Bob Lawton  overreacted to  is costing us money and aggravation

And another ballot screw up

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One less Democrat on W-B Twp. council ballot

Cyndi Lauper at the Kirby

I'm not usually a big fan of opening bands but Hunter Valentine really kicked ass tonight getting the audience ready for Cyndi Lauper. I recognized them from the Sue Henry Show on WRKC and other places. Cyndi came on and sang the songs from She's so Unusual (30th anniversary thing) with a few others mixed in. She opened with Money Changes Everything which is a great song.

Before the concert there was an announcement that Cyndi only allows non flash pictures during  the first 2 songs and no video. I thought 'good luck with that.' During the second song tonight Cyndi stopped Girls Want to Have Fun and yelled at the people in the front who paid big bucks to be in the first few rows. It was a rehearsed move. I'm paraphrasing but she said to them Motherfuckers, . How would you like a camera stuck in your face. (She did say MF). That worked as the video and cell phone police moved up and down the aisles and silenced all devices for the rest of the night.

Cyndi charmed the crowd with her stories as always then some nonsense broke in the balcony and she told them to cut the shit.  I can't wait to read the police blotter in the morning.

My favorite Cyndi song was not played.






After the concert I was milling around while the girls went to the bathroom. Some security type told me to go along and I tried to explain that I was waiting for my wife and my girlfriend.

Winter

 The groundhog said winter will end early then we got a blizzard so my right wing friends must be right that global warming is a hoax and Al Gore is fat.

I left a case of Yuengling Lager on the porch and it didn't freeze but is just the right temp. Now I'm going to grill some lamb chops but won't post a picture of the end product as I don't won't to annoy the Yonk.

 My new Toro snowblower works as advertised. It doesn't clog and even throws slush making life easier on my back. Thanks to ZEN for the recommendation.

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Now I'm nestled into the Gort42 command bunker listening to the Sue Henry show on WRKC.

YouTube Weekend

Sue Henry put this in my head

YouTube Weekend

A message from Sue Henry: I am going to make Christmas fun again with some alt tunes on WRKC at 3 today. It's all for you!!!!! 

I'm touched.

Listen live here.

One of my XMAS favs

YouTube Weekend

I was on WILK yesterday with the Lovely and Talented Mrs. Sue Henry. (back off Joe) We discussed Blogfest, the Toohil video, Aaron Kaufer and writing in David Yonki for State Rep.

The Tom Marino  almost Macaca moment with a tracker also came up and much to my surprise Steve Corbett sent me an email inviting me to call into his show to discuss it. Unfortunately I had another commitment and wasn't able to chat with him. Is Corbett mellowing out on bloggers? 

Sue is also the GM of Kings College radio station WRKC 88.5FM and has a show every Saturday 3-6PM. She asked me if I had a request for this week's show.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron

 

 

YouTube weekend

Listening to Sue Henry on WRKC. I asked her to play this song.




Lyrics 


I got bored so I'm making my millions
When you're conservative you get a better break
You're always on the right side
When you're conservative

Upcoming events

Tonight is the Wilkes-Barre Township Fall Picnic at the American Legion, 54 Chestnut St, W-B Twp from 6-10PM.

Tomorrow you can catch Joe Valenti of Pittston Politics on Joe Holden's Sunday morning show along with Kristen Cook, Editor of the Wilkes University Newspaper, The Beacon and Sue Henry of WILK. It'll air Sunday morning on WBRE at 11:00AM and WYOU at 11:30.




Blogcon was a big success and the Fearsome Foursome are planning next year's event join them on Wednesday at

Rodano's

53 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania starting at 6PM.

NEPA Blogcon Meetup 2: Electric Boogaloo


It's a meet up! Hang out, have some drinks, network, tweet about stuff, maybe even some hugs!!  pants required. Squirrels with light sabers will be there.

We can discuss NEPA BlogCon 2012, what we liked, disliked, and what we hope to see next year.


Conservative Voter Rally  

Saturday, October 20, 2012  11:30am until 3:30pm

 

 

Genetti Ballrooms Inn & Suites

1341 N Church St, Hazleton, Pennsylvania

 

Special guest speakers include: Lou Barletta (U.S. Congressman), Sam Rohrer (Pres., PA Pastors Network), Tarah Toohil (PA House of Representatives), David Madeira (The David Madeira Show), Bob Zaruta (Pres., Luzerne Co. Young Republicans), and Laureen Cummings (Candidate for U.S. Congress).

Organizations supporting & participating in the event: God in Government, Luzerne County Young Republicans, PA Pastors Network, 94.3FM "The Talker," First District Republicans, Victory Bible Church, The Voice of John (pro-life movie), Citizens Alliance of PA, and Tea Party Patriots.

Tiffany Cloud (Host of Storm Politics on WYLN-TV) will serve as Emcee for the event. Pastor Ron Radtke (Victory Bible Church) will lead the gathering in prayer.

 

Youth in Politics Sunday October 21st 5-8PM

The Luzerne County Young Republicans will be hosting our second annual Youth in Politics event! Youth in Politics is a celebration of the accomplishments of young people in politics. Last year's event was a huge success and we anticipate this year being bigger and better.

This year we will present the Young Republican of the Year Award to District Attorney, Stefanie Salavantis. The award will be presented by last year's winner, State Rep. Tarah Toohil.

We will also be presenting the first annual P.J. Stebbins Award. P.J. Stebbins was one of the founding members of Luzerne County Young Republicans. He passed away earlier this year and the YRs plan to honor him on a yearly basis by presenting an award in his name to a young person who has shown dedication not only in the political arena, but also in his or her community. This year's award will be given to fellow Young Republican, Aaron Kaufer.

 

S

 

 

 

Kathleen Kane taking more hits

Borys noticed that Kane is talking out both sides of her mouth on the Employee Free Choice Act also known as card check.

Tuesday, things got more complicated. As a guest on a live call-in program on the Pennsylvania Cable Network, she had an exchange with a caller. Ms. Kane: "So, Pat, your question is, am I a supporter of card check?" PCN host: "He's not on the line, but that sounds like his question."
Ms. Kane: "That sounds like your question. I am not a supporter."...
Friday, her campaign issued a statement saying she's proud of her husband's success and she's "pro-union because it's in my blood and because I believe that America does best when it has a strong, growing middle class."
The statement also said she supports the Employee Free Choice Act, and as attorney general would defend the right to organize unions. It was a contradiction of what she seemed to say on PCN.

Her family's trucking company is non union.

Vote Vets will be having a conference call about the AG race later today.

Recently, the campaign of Kathleen Kane has demeaned the service of Patrick Murphy in the US Army, by claiming he has not been a prosecutor, despite the hundreds of cases he tried in the Army. Further, she has made an issue of him not taking the Pennsylvania Bar Exam, even though his commanding officer recommended he take another bar, and he was given a waiver from taking the Pennsylvania bar because of his years of service in the military.

TOMORROW, TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012 AT 10AM, veterans from VoteVets.org PAC, which has endorsed Murphy, will hold a conference call to call on the Kane campaign to apologize for the remarks, and set the record straight.

The Pennsylvania Progressive has this: The Kane campaign not only questioned his military service but his fitness to pass the bar. Morrow told me the Minnesota test their opponent took to qualify for the bar was easier than Pennsylvania's and said Murphy took it for that reason. Morrow then attacked Murphy's claim to have prosecuted terrorists.

Also she denies being an executive of Kane is Able but signed FEC reports as an executive of Kane is Able. John concludes The Kane campaign lies. They cannot be trusted and the last thing we need is a liar as Attorney General. I demand a full public apology from Ms. Kane for lying about me.

Above Average Jane points out that Kane may be misrepresenting her credentials.

I googled a few key phrases, such as "specializes in child abuse law" and "specializes in elder abuse law." There were remarkably few results and most of those were not law firms but articles that use those terms.

So it was odd to see that Kathleen Kane, a Democratic candidate for Attorney General, uses that phrase on her campaign website:
As an Assistant District Attorney for Lackawanna County, Kathleen began in the child abuse/sexual assault unit spending several years prosecuting gruesome cases of physical and sexual abuse of children and adults. Simultaneous to the duties of this unit, Kathleen specialized in cases involving elder abuse, prosecuted white-collar criminals, and exposed abuses in Orphans’ Court.

The National Elder Law Foundation states that:

The National Elder Law Foundation is the only national organization certifying practitioners of elder and special needs law. NELF's Certified Elder Law Attorney designation is itself certified by the American Bar Association.

You can search for a certified lawyer by state. Kathleen Kane is not listed, not under Kane or Granahan, on the PA list.

This may be significant. It may not. In the law, as in many things, the devil is in the details. This seemed like a detail.

Then there is parking ticket story that I broke that got a lot of play on the WILK Sue Henry radio show but there may be more shenannigans going on with tickets in Scranton.

Magistrate Alyce Hailstone has also dismissed a bunch of tickets for 2 other Lackawanna County Assistant Attorneys. From Scranton Political Times Message Board

Assistant DA's Michael and Ellen Goffer also don't have to pay parking fines. Ellen Goffer is Kathleen Kane's sister.

The list for Ellen Goffer

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Michael Goffer

Balance: $71.50Balance: $69.00Balance: $69.00Balance: $69.00Balance: $69.00Balance: $68.50Balance: $68.50Balance: $68.50Balance: $68.50Balance: $67.50Balance: $67.50Balance: $67.50Balance: $65.50Balance: $65.50Balance: $65.50Balance: $65.50Balance: $64.00

You wonder who else is getting this treatment.

Puppies and Politics

I was on WIlK with Sue Henry a few days ago and she suggested that I rename the site Puppies and Politics in order to appeal to a wider audience. I've been finding out that just about everybody that is interested in local politics reads my drivel so that is unnecessary. She mentioned that we have a really cute puppy and unknown to Sue he is 6 months old today. Sue is a class act, whenever I have been on the radio with her she gives me time to state my case unlike some of the other hosts. She mentioned the Cory O'Brien story that I broke last week and gave me time to explain how I got it. Now if she could just teach those kids on WRKC how to pronounce Wilkes-Barre. It's berry not Burrrrrhhhh.

We celebrated John Quincy Adams birthday today by giving him a bath. He celebrated yesterday by ripping off Mrs. G's steak from the grill. I will never hear the end of that one.

More Puppy pictures can be found on my Facebook page.

Ptolemy was not impressed by all the hoopla.