Municipal Races 2017- Part Deux

Walter Mitchell

The Voice of God was reaffirmed as the President for Life of The People's Republic of Bear Creek Village winning 98.82% of the vote. He was so sure that his apparatchiks would deliver an unanimous vote that he was on a cruise on election day visiting his offshore accounts. The lone dissenter will be sent to a reeducation camp in Nescopeck Pass.

Walter Mitchell (R)  84
Write-In                      1


Hazelton City Council

The incumbents were not reelected. Jack Mundie and Professor Obvious finished last in a six person race for 3 seats. My guy just missed. John Keegan and I are joined together as fellow bloggers who will argue about about everything then go for a drink. He is really good at research and would be an asset to any organization. Allison Barletta won a seat, where I have heard that name?

 

David Sosar (DEM)		880
Tony Colombo (DEM)		1,243
Jack Mundie (DEM)		831
Allison Barletta (REP)		1,439
Jim Perry (REP)		1,139
John Keegan (REP)		1,031
WRITE-IN		46

Plains Township

Plains is a good place to live. We have first class fire and ambulance service and the road Department always responds to me in a day or 2. Trash bags are 50 cents. No wonder that all the incumbents won. 4 Year Commissioner Robert Sax (DEM) 1,088 Jerry Yozwiak (DEM) 992 Barry C. Kresge Jr. (REP) 524 Mike Mikie Mike Timek (REP) 507

Meuser at the Grotto

Tens of people came out to hear former PA Revenue Secretary and unsuccessful 2008 PA 10th CD Republican candidate give his pitch for electing him to the 11th CD seat being vacated by Lou Barletta.

Luzerne County GOP Chair Ron Ferrance did the intro saying we need someone in Congress that will support the President. Other notables in attendance were State Rep. Karen Boback, Bear Creek Village Mayor Walter Mitchell, the next DJ in the back mountain Brian Tupper, Old Forge School Director Frank Scavo and Luzerne County candidate Marc Dixon.

Meuser tied himself firmly to Trump and Barletta.

Meuser said he was a conservative problem solver who wants to get behind the President's Make America Great Again (MAGA)  agenda. Tax reform, repeal Obamacare, strong military, border security, term limits and drain the swamp (DTS) , etc. He said he was urged by Barletta to run for Congress if Lou ran for Senate. The way he explained it was almost like a Quid pro quo. 

I was surprised by how much he discussed the nuts and bolts of the campaign. Everything from yard signs to money. Meuser said he was outworking the other candidates and claimed the support of 8 GOP county chairs. He said he will need $750,000 to win the primary.

He took some shots at Democrats saying the Republicans are the party of the red, white and blue who's favorite holiday is the 4th of July while the Dems celebrate April 15th. Senator Casey has gone extreme left and brought up Nancy Pelosi. 

At the end someone asked him about combating the lies that politicians tell. Meuser said he would give them a pass the first time but would lose his support if they did it again. Then he went on about draining the swamp and MAGA.

Maybe he should read this fake news article:

Trump's Lies



 Updated July 21: The president is still lying, so we've added to this list, and provided links to the facts in each case.

                                                  

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

 

Prothonotary forum tonight

The League of Women Voters is hosting a forum for Luzerne County Prothonotary candidates tonight at Wilkes University’s Stark Learning Center, Room 101 from 7 to 9 p.m. Stark Learning Center is located on River Street between Northampton and South streets in Wilkes -Barre.


The candidates are Democrats Gerald L. Mullery, Nancy McGinley Bellas and Alfred Akulonis Jr. and Republicans Carolee Medico Olenginski and Walter Mitchell.

I can't make it tonight but if anybody attends please give us a report in the comments.

Republicans to endorse today

The Luzerne County Republican Party make its endorsements based on the results of a county-wide poll of all committee people. Chairman Terry Casey said.“We want to conduct this endorsement process in an honest, open, fair and transparent way, just as we promise to govern in Luzerne County. Ours is a simple message: we want to restore honesty and integrity to the county courthouse and we’re starting by conducting an honest and open primary in our own party.”

I'm going to make some predictions. First the easy ones. There are only 2 Republicans running for the Court of Common Pleas, Dick Hughes and Michael Pendolphi, so that is a no brainer and Gina Nevenglosky is the only candidate for Register of Wills in the primary.


Carolee Medico Olenginski and Walter Mitchell are in the running for Prothonotary and I think that former Prothonotary Carolee will get the nod.


The hottest race shaping up seems to be for Controller. To get the nod a candidate has had to be a registered Republican since Feb. 16, 2008 so that rules out Edd Brominski. The contenders are Alice Coffman, Walter Griffith, Nanda Palissery and Bob Sypniewski. My reading of the tea leaves tells me that Nanda Palissery will be the anointed one.


You can read the POLIICIES & PROCEDURES FOR ENDORSEMENT if you are interested.


UPDATE: I got them all right.

As predicted Hughes and Pendolphi were backed for a seat on Court of the Common Pleas and Nevenglosky was backed in her uphill battle to be the next Register of Wills.

Former Prothonotary Carolee Medico-O got the nod over President for Life of the breakaway Republic of Bear Creek Village Walter Michell with a vote of 75 to 55. I still think that Carolee will sail through the primary and be returned to the Prothonotary's office in the fall.


The battle for the endorsement for County Controller was closer than I expected with Nanda Palissery edging out Walter Griffith 51-39.

I was stuck by how many Do Not Endorse votes were cast in each race.

Overall only 132 of the 272 Republican Committee people returned a ballot and they still don't have a full compliment in the county. Maybe I should run for Republican Committeeman in my little burgh because we don't have one.

Petition challenge

I'm surprised there are not more. Past wannabe Commissioner Bill James made some objections to wannabe Prothonotary Walter Mitchell's nominating petitions and financial disclosure forms.

Bill claims he has altruistic motives

“Things brought questions into my mind, and I just had to step forward.”

James has pointed out some problems with Mitchell's paperwork including an incomplete financial disclosure.

Mitchell did not give complete financial disclosure because he cites as sources of income “various insurance companies” but does not give any names or addresses. It also states that Mitchell’s signature only appears on one of the 20 separate nominating petitions he filed, and that he fails to give the name of the office he seeks. James is asking for eight of the 20 petitions to be invalidated because Mitchell does not list the electoral district on them, the document states. As a result, Mitchell would only have 233 signatures, falling short of the required 250.

It looks like Bill James is backing Carolee Medico in her quest to recapture the office. I think Carolee wins the Republican primary going away and will probably cruise to victory in the fall so this challenge may be unnecessary. According to the TL Lance Strange from Lackawanna County is the point man for Mitchell's camp and thinks this is a desperate tactic.

"We are not going to speculate to exactly who is behind the challenge,” Stange said, adding Mitchell’s campaign “will be moving forward with a vigorous defense.”
In the end, Mitchell will be on the ballot and win the upcoming election, Stange said.

W-B Area School Director candidate Christine Katsock is challenging James Susek right to be on the ballot. Katsock states Susek did not file a required statement of financial interest before the March 10 deadline. If Christine keeps running for office she may eventually get elected to something.


The best petition challenger around for the last few years has been Republican Liz Sichler but her title search company Priority Search Inc. has seemed to have adopted the same business practices as Bernie Madoff. So she is unavailable for comment.

Who's running for what?- Controller, Prothonotary and Government Study Commission

More to come on these races in the coming days as I have already written about them. They will be the focus of my primary coverage.

Past prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski and Bear Creek resident Walter Mitchell will vie for the Republican prothonotary nomination.

Five candidates filed for the Republican controller nomination: Edward Brominski, Swoyersville; Alice B. Coffman, Sugarloaf Township; Walter Griffith, Wilkes-Barre; Nanda Palissery, Dallas; and Robert Sypniewski, Dallas. The winner will face the lone Democratic contender, Bob Morgan, of Mountain Top.

Study commission contenders are: John Adonizio, Hughestown; Veronica Ciaruffoli, Larksville; Frank E.P. Conyngham, Kingston Township; Darlene Duggins, Wilkes-Barre; James Thomas Gaughan, Courtdale; Walter Griffith Jr., Wilkes-Barre; Ray Gustave, Swoyersville; Jim Haggerty, Kingston; Richard “Kick” Heffron, Dallas; Christopher C.J. Kersey, Kingston; Paul P. Krombel, Conyngham Township; Charmaine H. Maynard, Sugarloaf Township; Rick Morelli, Sugarloaf Township; Jeffrey Niemiec, Wilkes-Barre; Jack Schumacher, Kingston; Frank Sindaco, Wilkes-Barre; Phillip Struzzeri, Jenkins Township; Edward Transue, Dallas; Robert Whammer Wanyo, Forty Fort; and Joe Wizda, Freeland.

Lists from the TL.


Update: I forgot to list the Democratic candidates for Prothonotary. They are Alfred Akulonis Jr. of Duryea; Nancy McGinley Bellas of Kingston; and Gerald J. Mullery of Newport Township.

Luzerne County Prothonotary

I'm surprised that there only 2 Republican candidates seeking to replace poor 'used and abused' Jill Moran who had to resign because of her agreement to cooperate with the US attorney's investigation into her business dealings with the Juvie Brothers Conahan and Ciavarella and her law partner Participant number 1 Robert Powell.

.

The Mayor of the breakaway Republic of Bear Creek Village Walter Michell (above) was animated about the lack remorse and a "toxic sense of perverted entitlement" in the "Democrat party" that has run the Luzerne County government into a ditch. Echoing Howard Beale he said "We can't stand it and we're not going to take it anymore."

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Former Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski (right) stressed that "experience does count." Unlike Moran she stated that she worked overtime when she held the office and increased revenue from the office during her tenure citing that the copy machine alone produced $21,000 in a year when it previously took in zilch. She paid tribute to former Democratic Controller Steve Flood saying he was our watchdog, "He said they were crooks and he was right."