2017 Election results-Luzerne County Controller

The top  race in Luzerne County was for the Controller position between incumbent  Michelle Bednar (D) and former Controller Walter Griffith (R). I was surprised that no other Republican ran in the primary considering Walter's baggage about the wiretap thing and his aggressive style.

In an interview with the Citizens Voice he promised to be a kinder, gentler Walter. Yeah right, the Walter I know is at his at his best when he is being a pain in the ass. I mean that in a good way. The message from his campaign was that he would be a watchdog, not a lapdog. So much for the kinder thing.

Michelle ran the campaign on her accomplishments without running to the press every time she found a problem but worked for a solution.  She refused to criticize her opponent when given the chance. From the CV:  Bednar declined to offer an opinion on Griffith, who resigned as controller in 2013 as part of a plea agreement in a wiretapping case.
“I would leave that to the voters,” she said. “That’s their choice.”

The Result:

Bednar       24,458  54%
Griffith       20,609  46% 

Blogfest Fall 2017

The Bloggers and the Blogcon Squirrels

Another great Blogfest was held at the River Grille in Plains. In addition to the political types NEPA Blogcon joined us for their after party. There is always a prize for the person who traveled the farthest and this time it goes to PA Lt. Governor candidate Aryanna Berringer who came all the way from Pittsburgh. Aryanna is no stranger to our area, she lived in W-B a few years ago.


Two 11th Congressional District candidates also traveled a bit. Democrat Alan Howe from Carlisle made another appearance in the area and Republican Andrew Shecktor left the wilds of Berwick to
join us.




 Many Luzerne County hopefuls were there. Both Controller candidates, incumbent Michelle Bednar (D) and former Controller Walter Griffith (R), worked the crowd. County Council Democratic nominees Wendy Cominsky, Matt Vough mixed it up with Republicans Marc Dixon and Greg Wolovich. Municipal candidates included Luzerne Mayor candidate John Cordara (D?), incumbent Dallas Twp. Supervisor Liz Martin (D) and Plains Twp. Commissioner nominee Barry Kresge (R).
Plus W-B City Councilman Tony Brooks (R) and State Rep Jerry Mullery.

The NEPA Blogcon group were a lot of fun and added energy to the gathering.

Local TV coverage

Bloggers meet political candidates in person

Michelle Bednar for Controller 2017

Incumbent Democratic Luzerne County Controller had a nice gathering of supporters at Bentley's on Friday. It attracted a nice crowd including a few Republicans including District Attorney Stephanie Salavantis. The Democratic Party heavyweights State Reps. Eddie Day Pashinski , Jerry Mullery and State Sen. John Yudichak sang her praises. Her campaign team touted her accomplishments including weeding out incorrect homestead tax breaks wrongly granted to some Luzerne County property owner. Her opponent Walter Griffith  had received the break on two homes and an auto repair business he owns.

Democratic County Council candidates Wendy Cominsky, Matt Vough and John Gadomski  offered their support and Republican Chris Perry showed up. Perry has been to almost every event D or R I've been to. He is running hard.

Other notables were Judge David Lupas who is up for retention and George Brown who should have been the Mayor of W-B. I asked Judge Lupas about mandatory minimums and he gave me a  lawyers answer saying they could act as a deterrent but Judges should be able to fit the punishment to the crime.

                                          


Luzerne County sending bills to recipients of incorrect homestead tax break

Looking to the Fall- Luzerne County Controller

.
The headline race in Luzerne County will be the contest for Controller. Incumbent Democrat Michelle Bednar is being challenged by former Republican Controller Walter Griffith.
I hope I'm wrong but this one may get a bit nasty. Both candidates have been friends for many years and I would hate to see that. My advice to supporters of both candidates is to stick to issues and qualifications. Skip the personal attacks

Another update from Walter

"I never denied that I did something wrong and I paid my fine as well as served my probation, and resigned from the job that I loved doing for the people of this County I think I left my guard down and was very stupid in allowing them the opportunity to get me out of office. I think it was truly an honest mistake that cost me dearly financially and emotionally and I am truly sorry for my mistakes."

 

Harry Haas, Carolee Medico, Walter Griffith, Stephen J.A. X. Y .Z Urban, The Judge, Charlie Lemmond

Walter is back

A photo from Griffiths campaign in 2009

To the surprise of no one former Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith has announced he wants his old job back. Walter was elected to the office in 2009 but resigned in 2013  after he was charged with illegal wiretapping and sentenced to probation. “I think it’s a valid concern for people to have about me resigning my position as a controller,” he said. “If I made a mistake, I made a mistake.”

I expect a few other Republicans  will enter the primary to take on incumbent Michelle Bednar.

This race should be one of the most hotly contested in 2017. Many of my Republican friends are telling me they won't support him this time.

From his FB page:

Today I'm officially announcing my candidacy for Luzerne County Controller. I will be circulating Nominating Petitions to have my name placed on the ballot for the Republican party nominee in the May 16th Primary election. If you would like to sign my petition please let me know as soon as possible. Please remember you can only sign 1 petition.
Thank you and please share this with all of your friends.

I'm surprised he didn't send me a press release, he's pretty good at that.  I will have more on this next week.

Former county controller convicted of obstruction wants the job back

 

Update

 

Walter Griffith responds:

 

 Ben I want you to know I respect your post. I also want everyone to know the circumstances that led to my removal. Everyone knows that the entire courthouse wanted me gone because of my uncovering the poor practices of the administration. I did not "Wiretap" anyone I recorded the Chairman of City Vest in my office at 7 PM because I was there alone. I placed him on speakerphone and was not aware that this was a violation of the law. I simply wanted to have a source of reference for myself of what was told to me regarding this very important audit of 10 million dollars of Federal Funds. I never released this recording to anyone and no one ever knew I had the recording. The FBI issued a Warrant for all the information that I had regarding my audit of this money and under the threat of Contempt, it was provided to the FBI ONLY. I was not aware that I was doing anything illegal or wrong. The County Power-brokers wanted me removed from office, plain and simple as was evident by the plea agreement. The taxpayers of this County are all smart enough to see that and will support me in my effort to finish the job I started. Thanks for listening and I appreciate your time.

Walter is still a pain in the ass

Former Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffirh will not go away He had to resign in a plea deal with the AG over the recording thing. He made a big mistake in that one.


So now that he is back to being an ordinary citizen he is asking questions. Some people don't like that. The story by Jennifer in the the TL today has Walter  blasting the Retirement  Board with a worry about his !st amendment right to free speech.

Walter endorses Carolee

Gort


I am supporting Carolee for Controller. We need someone that understands our government and Michelle Bednar is a nice person but doesnt know how the COunty Government is used against the Taxpayers. Carolee will stand firm for the people and wont be intimidated by the Players of COunty COuncil or County Manager. The function of Independent Watchdog is first and foremost before audits and Carolee knows this because she has lived the corruption in our county,

Walter Griffith Jr

Luzerne County Controller

Nice profiles in the TL.

Bednar says she empathizes with taxpayers

 

 Medico Olenginski says she’ll stand up to powerful

 

Walter Griffith would probably would have won  reelection easily as I think he was most popular politician in the county. But in his quest to expose corruption he put his heart ahead of his head and had to resign because he recorded some conversations without asking for permission from the people being recorded. Don't mess with Judd Shoval. I was disappointed with Walter when I asked him at the Spring Blogfest  if he had recorded the conversations and he told me NO. Then he plead guilty to the charge. Walter Mitchell was a good choice as the interim Controller.

Now the choice in upcoming election is between Michelle Bednar and Carollee Medico
Olenginski.

 Michelle Bednar is the tax collector for Cunningham Twp and Carollee is/was the Probationary of Luzerne County. 

 To put it mildly Carolee doesn't play well with others. See my archive.

  Carolee told me she is not planning any events before the election but Michelle is campaigning hard.  

She has a Meet and Greet at

The Red Mill
340 S. Main St., Pittston, PA
Sunday, October 20th, 2013
2 p.m to 5 p.m.
with Master of Ceremonies,
State Representative
Mike Carroll

 

New software and an end to a tradition

 “The tradition is gone. It ended the minute computers came out,” board solicitor Mike Butera said of the courthouse gatherings.


Jennifer tells in the TL that Luzerne County will no longer have the traditional gathering in the courthouse rotunda on election night awaiting the results. County Election Director Marisa Crispell-Barber will be switching election night tallying from the courthouse to the county’s Penn Place building...Crispell-Barber told the board it makes more sense to keep her staff and equipment at Penn Place where the election office is housed.

Yes it does cost a few bucks to do it at the courthouse but former Director Leonard Piazza not only pulled it off without a hitch but actually wowed people with the setup he put together.  And he didn't make careless mistakes like not talking to the other county that had an overlapping school board race that resulted in a expensive do over. I like former Controller Walter Griffith but the pissing contest that he got into with Lenny that resulted in Piazza getting fired did a great disservice to us all.

In the May primary election the county website crashed and Though he was sorry to learn about the website issues, county Election Board solicitor Mike Butera savored the action from a seat in the rotunda. “This is great, just like the old days,” Butera said. So what is it Butters? In May he liked the rotunda gathering and today he doesn't.

The website had never crashed in the previous elections including the 2012 Prez contest when many more people were looking for results.

Now those problems should be over because the county bought some off the shelf software. 

 

County Election Director Marisa Crispell-Barber said she originally ruled out purchasing the “Clarity Election Night Reporting” program from Florida-based SOE Software Corp. because the company gave a prior election director (shot) a quote of $54,000. She negotiated the price down to $7,000 annually for three years.

“I think the public will be happy, and the implementation of this software should resolve any issues experienced with website traffic.”


The program allows the public to search for results by candidate, precinct or race. Maps, charts and graphs are available to put results in perspective, and reports can be downloaded in various formats — all options not available on the county website, Crispell-Barber said.

We will see if it works.

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.

Add caption

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

 

Walter Griffith for Controller

From the inbox:

Walter L. Griffith, Jr. announces candidacy for a second term as Luzerne County Controller.

Dear County-Wide Neighbors and Friends:

I hereby announce that I shall be seeking a second term as your Luzerne County Controller.

When I announced in 2009 that I was going to be a candidate for the office of county controller, I made a promise to all taxpayers that I would represent their best interests as an independent monitor of the county’s fiscal activities.  I also promised, when need be, to challenge government officials’ funding proposals, to share questionable activities publically and to complete audits in a timely manner in order to maintain the integrity of the county’s revenue and disbursement processes.

You, the citizens of Luzerne County, spoke “loud and clear” in 2009 that you wanted an independent and candid overseer as Luzerne County Controller and elected me to work for you for the next four years.

The results of your confidence have been noteworthy!  In regard to monetary matters in general, accountability has been markedly improved.  Specifically, overpayment of contracts have been curtailed, a policy for the fueling of the county fleet of vehicles has been instituted, and employees being paid double for services provided has ceased.

As I undertake this election initiative and thereby seek your ongoing trust and support to continue as Luzerne County Controller, please be responsive to requests for your signatures in support of my May 2013 candidacy, and to the extent you are able, please contribute to my campaign fund (details to be announced) in order for me to address all the requirements and expectations of the election process for me to remain in your service.

I am so very proud to have been given the opportunity to represent you, the residents of Luzerne County, during this four year term and look forward to your expressed confidence in me this May to remain your Luzerne County Controller.

Respectfully and appreciatively,

WALTER L. GRIFFITH, Jr.

From Walter's website:

The ability of Walter L Griffith Jr to be an effective County Controller was the thought process when Commissioner Steven A Urban endorsed Walter L Griffith Jr for County Controller in 2009. Steven A Urban was the Luzerne County Commissioner and stated ” Walter Griffith would be an effective County Watchdog”

6th District get together

The Luzerne County 6th District Republican Committee has an end of the year party tomorrow. This should be the kickoff event of the 2013 local elections.

There are 4 seats on the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board up for election  next year and candidates can cross file so this would be a good event for any prospective Republican or Democratic hopeful to attend.

County wide there are 5 spots up on the County Council with 2 Republican incumbents and Controller Walter Griffith is running for reelection.  Plains Township will be electing 2 Commissioners.

Details on the Facebook page

6TH DISTRICT REPUBLICAN END OF YEAR HO-HO-HOLIDAY SOCIAL !

Enjoy Holiday music and a good home cooked meal ! ! !

When: Sunday, December 30, 2012
Where: Wilkes-Barre Twp. Fire Hall
150 Watson St., Wilkes-Barre Twp., PA.
Time: 4pm-7pm


 

Luzerne County salaries

The Luzerne County Council is kicking around the idea of giving raises to some non union employees that haven't had one in 5 years. The proposal is to give them $1000 across the board although some council members want to base the raises on merit. The problem with that idea is that the county doesn't have an employee appraisal system (surprise) and it may take 2 years to fully implement one. Raising salaries in this fiscal climate will go over like lead balloon but people have to live. Most county employees do a good job and deserve a cost of living increase.


The salary of the Controller is also on the table. It has been $35K for as long as I can remember and is well below what the compensation should be for such an important position.  Present Controller Walter Griffith says he is OK with the salary.

I'm reminded what Wil Toole said in the 2009 election: I'm going to tell everybody here a dirty little secret if you really want to know the inside of politics in Luzerne County. The salary of elected officials have been kept low to keep good people out of government. 

That's not a knock on Walter as he has done a good job with limited resources and most of the row offices have been eliminated by the charter. The new Division heads are to be paid between $75,000 and $90,000 per year.

2013 Luzerne County elections

5 seats on the Luzerne County Council and the Controller's spot are up for reelection next year. Democrats Elaine Madden Curry and Linda McClosky Houck and Republicans Harry Haas and Eugene Kelleher along with Independent Rick Williams were the bottom 5 of 11 elected in 2009 so their seats are up this time. The other 6 seats will be decided in 2015. I haven't heard that any of them are planning to run again or bow out but it's early and I'm sure there will plenty of candidates in the primary on both sides. I can think of a few people that came up short last time that will give it another try and a few others are making some noise.

Controller Walter Griffith told me he is definitely running for reelection and I don't see anyone taking him on in the Republican primary but anything can happen. Walter has taken some criticism over audits but I would argue that he is still the most popular politician in the county because he continues to be a pain in the ass. His 2009 Democratic opponent Bob Morgan said he is not looking for a rematch but I've seen him at all sorts of political gatherings the last few months. People change their minds. The other candidate in 2009 was Wil Toole of Pittston who can't be counted out. Former Commissioner Steve Urban is also threatening to run.

The day after

I was up late so I feel like the guy pictured above.

The President was reelected and I have been reading some apocalyptic things on right wing blogs and Facebook. Relax people. We lived through 8 years of Bush and you will survive 8 years of Obama. The late Bob Novak once said something that has stuck with me. The President doesn't run the country, the people do. The economy will improve no matter who is President, it's called the business cycle. The Republicans should have won this election but they nominated a candidate that didn't believe in anything except he wanted to be President. Romney switched so many positions in so many elections you couldn't trust him. That and the steady stream of lies from his campaign. See Mitt's Mendacity Vol I thru XLI.

Pennsylvania made history by electing the first Democrat and woman as Attorney General.I hope she digs into Tom Corbett's handling of the Sandusky investigation.

Senator Bob Casey beat back the coal guy 54%-47%.  he spent a big chunk of his own  money on  a losing cause. Coal and Oil are not our future.


No surprises in the local races for Congress. Tom Marino won 2-1 and Matt Cartwright gathered 60% of the vote as predicted. Gene Stilp ran a fun campaign but you still need money to win. Lou Barletta will continue to defend us against the Barbarians at the Gate

The incumbent state house member were returned for another term.

The photos of Tarah Toohil probably helped her as we all have done things we are not proud of.  It was dirty pool by someone who wanted to hurt her but the Democratic candidate or party had nothing to do with it.She won 67% of the vote.

Rick Arnold got a late start and it wasn't enough to beat Jerry Mullery. Mullery improved his performance from 2010 winning 61%-39%.

The 120th HD race was near and dear to my heart. Phyllis Mundy has been a friend for some time and is my xxx favorite legislator. Aaron Kaufer became a pal and ran a great campaign that gave Phyllis the run of her political career. In the end Kaufer got more votes than any other challenger over the last 20 years but came up short. He will be back. Phyllis won 56-44 improving on the 53% she got last time.

Now the speculation begins about the 2016 Presidential candidates. I predict that Hillary won't be one of them because President Obama will appoint her to the Supreme Court.

On to the 2013 local elections. Walter Griffith is running for reelection as Luzerne County Controller and Bob Morgan may take him on again. Steve Urban is also making noise about a Controller run. Some seats on the Luzerne County Council will also be up.

Tom Pizano to retire

Luzerne County interim Election Director and Clerk of Courts Tom Pizano will retire on Monday.

This is a big surprise especially since the election is just over 6 weeks away and he was picked to run the Elections Bureau after Leonard Piazza got canned in April. Pizano is a former controller and county commissioner who was brought back into the county government by convicted criminal Bob Reilly.


I don't want to jump to conclusions like some of the people that comment on the TL and CV websites. I don't have a formal comment policy but I would delete many of those comments if they appeared on this blog because they are accusing him of crimes without any evidence. His friends say he is dealing with health issues.


This may have nothing to do with his decision to go back to his farm to grow pumpkins and azaleas but the Voice filed an open-records request asking for copies of his emails. The county is stonewalling saying he is a judicial employee and "Mr. Pizano email can contain DNA and RNA records" and a "Pizano email can contain a record identifying the location of an archeological site or an endangered or threatened plant or animal species if not already known to the general public."


I'm not sure what to make of that last sentence.


The county had no problem providing the CV with former elections chief Leonard Piazza's emails . They document the pissing contest he had with Controller Walter Griffith over time clocks and a turf battle with new county manager Robert Lawton which led to Lawton giving him the boot. I like this reference to Griffith "He can be a real pain!" I've been calling Walter a pain in the ass for years. shttp://gort42.blogspot.com/search?q=pain+in+the+ass


A nationwide search has been underway for the next director of elections but only received 6 responses.

Blogfest post game report

A big thank you to Gene Rooney and staff for the outstanding service as usual.

We walked by the pink bus with long lost blogger Zen to find Pope George Ringo and Forrest Gump had set up a forward observation post at the bar, their natural habitat. Harold and Michelle set up the NEPA Bloggers display. They do a great job promoting the event.

17th PA CD candidate Matt Cartwright came early to work the crowd and was there when Gene Stilp assembled his big Medicare wheelchair. I asked Matt if he had one, he replied "The dog ate it." He left before his opponent Laureen Cummings showed up. Her campaign Manager James O'Meara came early and stayed late.

Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith had a nice chat with his 2009 opponent Bob Morgan. Bob said he is not looking for a rematch in 2013 despite what Luzerne County Dem Chair Bob Boyer tells me.

A couple of candidates from outside Luzerne County came  because " I know that bloggers are now part of the political conversation and you guys are read by people in in my district."

10th CD candidate Phil Scollo with his campaign manager Will Sherry made it and  are running hard against Tom Marino. Who knows what will happen, that is why we have elections.. In 2006 no one gave Chris Carney a chance then Sherwood was exposed as  the Tunkhanock Strangler. 111th HD candidate Jeff Dalander has an uphill race against long time incumbent Sandra Major in Wyoming County. Good to see him.

My 2nd favorite back cracker turned radio loudmouth Dave Madeira charmed the crowd as did fellow blogger Betty of Pure Bunkem. Blogger Big Dan was there along with health blogger Karin.

The 120th HD candidates Phyllis Mundy and Aaron Kaufer worked worked their magic.  Lou Barletta was stuck in Washington but sent the lovely and talented Renita Fennick to represent him. Tom Marino was somewhere and sent no one.

State Rep Mike Carroll didn't like my baseball bat comments but he is a leader for reform of PA government. Take redistricting away from the politicians and campaign finance reform.

The Young Democrats and Young Republicans were out in force. Tom Shibula and Bob Zaruta are our future leaders that brought along a posse including Alex Milanes, Mike Szu and others.

116th HD candidate Ransom Young told me he wants to run a clean campaign. He was there with his wife and PR person Jana.Tarah Toohil was a no show and didn't send a surrogate. 

GOP Party stalwart Lynette Villano brought a few people.

I'm sure I have missed mentioning some people because there was so many.

 Professor Milburn Cleaver lurking in the shadow smoking a pipe. 

Bible Buck, Karla Porter, Bill Goldsworthy, Justin Vaculla, Angie Fanelli, Jane Waitikus, Bill Urbanski, Terri Stella and many more.

Let me know if  I left you out.

I'm not hotlinking this post because it would days to do it. Blogger is telling me that there are too many labels.


The bloggers report.

Fall 2012 Blogfest another huge success

 The Lu Lac Political Letter 

 Pittston Dispatch

 

NEPA Blogfest packs Rooney's in Pittston

 

Luzerne County finances

I started off blogging about Luzerne County government and politics but haven't written much about it lately. The Yonk  reminded me that I was a unrelenting critic of the games that the Bond Brothers played with numbers that put our county into the hole that it is in. Thankfully convicted criminal Greg Skrepnak and Todd Vonderheid are no longer Commissioners.

As a result of the Juvie Brothers and other scandals the people decided it was time to change the form of government and passed Home Rule. The new county council hired a professional manager after a nationwide search. This new form of government is not perfect but it is a big improvement over the old system of 3 Commissioners and a myriad of elected row officers.

Luzerne County Manager Bob Lawton is getting high marks from the people I have spoke to in county government. He is trying to clean up the mess. I don't agree with all his decisions on some non budget issues such as firing Leonard Piazza as Director of the Election Bureau.

Some of the dead enders will still try to hang on.

Deputy runs office, prothonotary gripes

 

4 seats on the new county council will be up in 2013. I urge all interested candidates to attend Blogfest on September 21st to give your pitch.  The Controller's spot is also up and the only name I've heard on the Dem side is Bob Morgan. Incumbent Walter Griffith is definitely running for reelection.

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