Luzerne County Judges

We will be electing 6 new Judges of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas next month. There are 7 candidates and I have met 6 of them. They are all good people that will replace the disgraced Juvie Brothers Conahan and Ciavarella. LuLac tells about them: These convicted Judges were sneaky, conniving, vindictive, powerful and ruthless bastards. Ask a former Judge named Lokuta. I don't want to open the whole Lokuta thing again but me and the Yonk agree that she was fucked over by Conahan and the Judicial Conduct Board that had a few of his acquaintances sitting in judgement of her. She was not convicted of a crime and probably deserved a kick in pants but overturning an election is extreme.


5 of the 7 candidates secured the nomination of both the Democratic and Republican party's in May. I hate cross filing for Judge and School Board because these are political positions and we should decide in the general election not the primary. The convential wisdom is that the 5 who got double nominations will win although anything can happen. That's why we have elections.

The double five are:

Jennifer Rogers

Lesa Gelb

Mike Vough

Joe Skarosky

Fred Pieratoni

That leaves the odd man (person) out. The race for the 6th spot is between Rebublican Dick Hughes and Dem Molly Mirabito

This is a tough call for me. I have had a few discussions with Hughes and Molly. They both came to Blogfest and the lawyers I know highly recommended them both.

My solution to this delimma is to bullet vote for Mirabito and Hughes.

End of the line for Lokuta

It was along shot that the US Supreme Court would hear case the case of Judge Ann Lokuta and yesterday they made it official.

U.S. Supreme Court denies Lokuta a hearing

I have linked to many stories of the last few years documenting the raw deal Lokuta got from the Court of Judicial Discipline and the appellate courts. She complained to the CJD in 2006 about Michael Conahan, alleging wide-spread corruption including case-fixing, mob ties and the improper placement of juveniles in a privately owned juvenile detention facility. Her allegations turned out to be true.


Remember that she was not convicted of doing anything illegal and her chief accusers are admitted criminals led by Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey who is in jail for being a thief and "poor, poor pitiful me" disgraced former Prothonotary Jill Moran. One of the people that sat in judgement of her was Richard Sprague who was a lawyer for Robert Powell who was one of the people paying off the Judges. Powell is a law partner and business partner of Jill Moran. Powell, Moran, Conahan and Ciavarella are also business partners as well as Pat Judge.

This is another miscarriage of justice and cries out for reform of our judicial system.
Judges on Merit has been pushing to change the way we select statewide judges advocating a vetting process and appointment system for appellate court judges. The present system of electing judges has some serious problems. The judicial elections are usually under the radar races decided by party affiliation and who can raise the most money from the lawyers that will later appear before them. I would go further and appoint the judges of the county court of common pleas. Do you think Michael Conahan could have a survived a background check after his implication in the Empire drug ring?

Pizzella sentenced to a Time Out

Another house arrest for an admitted criminal. I hate to bash a judge because you never know when you might end up in front of one but this sentence is ridiculous.

CV: U.S. District Judge James M. Munley ordered Pizzella to serve two years of probation, including five months on house arrest, after a federal prosecutor detailed Pizzella's cooperation in at least seven different investigations. Pizzella must also pay a $10,000 fine.

Pizzella has been singing to the FBI ratting out fellow Wilkes-Barre Area School Board members Brian Dunn and James Height and has provided information about the carpet guy plus the overcharging by Intellecom. The TL story says he was feeding the FBI information about Luzerne County Judges when he was Ann Lokuta's tipstaff.

His attorney conceded Pizzella “can in some respects annoy people” by being brusque. That is an understatement. Judge Munley cited Pizzella's cooperation and "spotless reputation" in deciding not to send him to jail.

Spotless reputation? Are we talking about the same person?


Pizzella, a former Plains Township police officer and township commissioner, has been accused of spousal abuse, punching his father and threatening to kill his daughter. In 1980, police accused Pizzella and a friend of hiring a hitman to break the legs of a political rival.


Pizzella also claims he is in poor health. It seems to be a problem with all the people who have snared in probe here in Corruption Junction. Judge Toole also claims he has a bad back, it must be contageous.


Judge Munley said: “We condemn the conduct. What he was engaged in is outrageous. It’s a throwback” to days when public officials routinely behaved that way, “and it will not be tolerated any more.”

If you don't put people in jail what is the deterrent Judge Munley?

On background I have been told that Frankie Kneecaps will not be allowed to watch Nickelodeon or The Disney Channel while he spends the next 5 months sitting on his duff. As an additional punishment he won't get a graham cracker after recess or a chocolate milk.

The judges

We have 2 new members of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County. Bill Amesbury won both party nominations in May and Tina Gartley came in second on the Democratic side virtually ensuring their election in the fall. Yet another reason to get rid of cross filing in judicial and school board races in the primary when the fewest people vote. That is not a shot at Gartley or Amesbury as I think they are good people. It is a shot at the Wilkes-Barre Area School Directors who recently selected an accused criminal as Board President but that is another subject.


I will give props to our esteemed jurists for selecting the only Republican on the bench, Tom Burke, as the new President Judge. Burke just won his retention vote despite my urging of a no vote on him and PPO-2 on principle. My lawyer friends tell me he is one of the best people on the bench and will hopefully continue the efforts of Chet Muroski to clean up the mess. I still find it hard to believe that these guys didn't know what was going on in Ciavarella's courtroom. Muroski says he went to FBI about the shenanigans going on in the courthouse but Ann Lokuta was the only one to put it in writing. For her efforts Michael Conahan orchestrated a campaign to remove her from the bench that the Court of Judicial Discipline has upheld in an apparent case of CYA.

Luzerne County Courthouse happenings

Luzerne County Human Resources Director Doug Richards resigned effective December 4th then was fired because he wouldn't spill the beans to Maryanne Petrilla about a dodgy contract with a New York temp agency that doesn't seem to have an address. The Feds raided his office after he was escorted out of the courthouse but tried to take records with him before he left the building.


Judge Michael Toole has unexpectedly decided to take a vacation for a few weeks. That's a bit odd because President Judge Chester Muroski is screaming for help to clear the backlog of cases because the bench has been short a few judges the last year or so. Maybe he just needs a break and it has nothing to do with all the rumors swirlling around him the last few months. Florida is nice this time of year for a boat ride after you get there on a private jet. It looks like like Chet has help on the way because Ann Lokuta will soon be restored to the Court.



A first. Former superintendent of the Pittston Area School District pleaded guilty to taking a $5,000 bribe for helping a contractor obtain work in the district and was sentenced to 13 months in prison reported to the Fort Dix federal correctional institution in New Jersey. The poor bastard, I wouldn't wish anyone having to spend time in New Jersey no matter what they did.

Peter Paul Olszewski Jr is unemployed

With 93% of the precicnts counted it looks like that Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr has been not been retained as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. No Luzerne County Judge has even lost a retention race before, this is history. Even Conahan and Lokuta won retention.


No. . . . 30,844 56%

Yes . . . . 24,715 44%

Although I advocated a No vote as a reflex to what has been going on and out of habit I really can't say anything bad about PPO-2. He was a good District Attorney and he slapped around his incompetent successor from the bench after he dropped the ball on paperwork and procedure in the Hugo Selenski case. But that picture on the front page of the CV sunk him. Even though he lost this job I'm sure he will land on his feet and will not worry where his next meal is coming from.

Judge Burke hangs on with a Yes vote of 34,261 61% to No 21,697 39%. Normally a Judge wins retention with 70 or 80 percent of the vote.

PA State Supreme Court race

I don't pay much attention to the statewide Judge races because the candidates run on their bio's and promise to be tough on crime with an emphasis on locking up all the drug dealers. But then every politician promises to lock up all the druggies and we all know that policy has worked out well over the past 50 years. Their campaigns are financed by the lawyers that will appear before them but they assure us that that will not influence their rulings. What a bunch of hooey.



Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts make a good case for scrapping the present system and going with merit selection of Judges. Their blog JudgesOnMerit.org documents the problems with electing appellate Judges.



The Democratic nominee for the one open seat is Jack Panella
from Northampton County who presently serves on the Superior Court and was on the Court of Judicial Discipline that dropped the ball over the allegations about Luzerne County criminals Conahan and Ciavarella . They were busy with the Lokuta witchhunt orchestrated by Conahan.




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His opponent is Joan Orie Melvin from Pittsburgh who also serves on the Superior Court. Her website tells us that she has been a lifelong Republican. Her faith is the cornerstone of her life. She comes from a family of nine children raised with the principles of God and Country. Her sister is State Senator Jane Orie who helped her get the endorsement of the Pennsylvania Teamsters that didn't turn out so well. The Pennsylvania Progressive has the details.
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Melvin was in town last month and said of the Juvie Brothers scandal "This is surreal. It is right out of a Charles Dickens’ novel."
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In her previous visit to Wilkes-Barre in May she gave a long rambling speech to the local GOP faithful. In that speech she listed as one of her selling points was the upcoming redistricting after the 2010 Census telling the partisan crowd that they needed a Republican on the court to rule in favor of Republicans in any challenges to whatever plan emerges.

So much for Judges being above politics.
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Now Capitol Ideas points out that the state GOP is running a banner ad on GrassrootsPA on her behalf.

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"Tired of Barack Obama, Ed Rendell, Arlen Specter and big government Democrats ruining our nation?" the advertisement asks in yellow block capitals set against a bright-red background. And in case the message wasn't subtle enough, there's a Soviet-era hammer-and-sickle inside the "O" in Obama's last name. That oughta rally the base, eh?

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My friend Danny gave me the heads up and says


She's using a hammer and sickle for the "O" in Obama in her new web ad. Disgusting. And the best part is that it's paid for by the PA GOP.

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Comparisons to Communists or Nazi's used to be out of bounds in American politics but the Tea Bagger crowd does it all the time and now it is somehow Okay. It's one thing for a bunch of people who are ignorant of history and political philosophy to engage in this kind of nonsense but a State Supreme Court candidate should know better.
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The thing that we want in our Judges is to be impartial and not take political sides no matter what party they belong to. She flunks that test.
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I will vote for Panella.

This guy has balls

I spotted this LTE in the CV written by an attorney that recently started practicing in Luzerne County. Under the previous regime of Conahan and Ciavarella he would never win another case in this county again. We will see if things change.


Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. claims he saw nothing, heard nothing and knew nothing about the injustice occurring in the courts of Luzerne County. I don't believe him. I do believe that he would do anything to save his $157,000 a year job, as would his fellow judge, Tom Burke.
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Terrorists at Guantanimo Bay had more rights than children did in Luzerne County. How would you feel if it were your child who was lied to, tricked and unjustly sent to kiddie concentration camp?
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Olszewski and Burke claim they did nothing wrong. "It wasn't me, It was them. I didn't know. How could I know?" Just men had a duty to discover the truth. Olszewski said the hearings took place a half a mile away in another building. How could he hear? How did an advocacy group over 100 miles away in Philadelphia hear enough to file lawsuits on behalf of more than 500 children? How did the FBI know enough about it to raid juvenile probation? Olszewski says if he knew he would have told the FBI. If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, oh what a party we'd have.
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I was a judicial law clerk in Schuylkill County. In my experience, what went on in the courthouse and in many of the cases was common knowledge among the judges, staff members and law clerks. Even then, almost 10 years ago, stories were coming out of Luzerne County from lawyers and litigants alike, that the judges were crooked, that the cases were fixed. It was not until I started practicing in Luzerne County that I realized that most of the gossip was true.
Peter Paul Olszewski and Thomas Burke have failed us. They have failed to protect us. They have failed to protect our children.

Now it is election time and they want you to know them as "Peter Paul" and "Tom." After they win retention they're back to being "Your Honor," and we the people are back to being nobodies. In this lawyer's opinion, Judge Olszewski and Judge Burke do not deserve to be retained as judges.
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Attorney Joseph A. Woitko
Beaver Meadows

The question I keep asking is how does everybody know what was going on in Lokuta's courtroom but nobody knew what was going on in Ciavarella's? Zen want's to know why the District Attornerys David Lupas (now Judge) and Jackie Musto Carrol and their staffs did not notice a gross disparity between the offense and the punishment that was meted out?

And how about the Probation Department and the Public Defenders?

PPO-2 answered my question a week ago and the TL has Tom Burke's defense today.


"I can tell you categorically I did not have a single incident where a lawyer came to me and said, ‘By the way, there’s something you should look out for because there may be abuses,’ ” Burke said. “We can look back now and say if there were more checks and balances, maybe these abuses would have been discovered sooner.”

Olszewski answers my question

Luzerne County Judges Thomas Burke and Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. are up for retention to the Court of Common Pleas this year and they are feeling the heat of the fallout of the Juvie Brothers scandal that may result in them losing the yes/no vote. That has never happened to a sitting judge in this county in my memory.

A few days ago I asked how does everybody know what was going on in Lokuta's courtroom but nobody knew what was going on in Ciavarella's?

His response is in the CV today:

Not only were the vast majority of Judge Ciavarella's juvenile court proceedings closed to the public, they were conducted at Penn Place, located approximately ½ mile away from my courtroom in the Luzerne County Courthouse. Furthermore, during my 10 years on the bench, not a single parent, prosecutor, police officer, probation official or judge ever complained to me that Judge Ciavarella routinely denied juveniles their right to counsel. Nor did I know that he accepted "finder's fees" or sentenced juveniles illegally.

PPO-2 has been beat up in the local press and talk radio the last few days over that frat boy picture with Conahan and Ron Bellitiere that was anonymously provided to the local papers. Fair or not a picture is worth a thousand words.

Knowing that he is in trouble Olszewski is now in full campaign mode with a website up and filed a finance report with the PA Department of State indicating that he is raising money.

The website is:

Vote Yes to Retain Judge Peter Paul Olszweski, Jr.

The hompage lists 10 reasons to vote yes including a bunch of awards that he won and winning death penalty convictions when he was District Attorney that more than likely will never be carried out. Overall I think that PPO-2 was a pretty good DA especially when you compare his record to his incompetent successor.

There is not much on the campaign finance report yet and it includes a couple of errors such as listing his party as Republican and listing the office he is seeking as being in the 14th Judicial District (Fayette County).

I have always resisted the guilt by association argument. Heaven knows I've had my picture taken with some unsavory characters over the years. How much this hurts his chances remains to be seen. I always vote no on these questions no matter what is going on but I'm just a contrarian bastard.

Luzerne County Judges

This was supposed to be a comment over at Lu-Lac.

The question that I have is how does everybody know what was going on in Lokuta's courtroom but nobody knew what was going on in Ciavarella's?

Lokuta was right

The big headline today is that the Juvie Brothers have been hit with a 48 count indictment including racketeering, extortion, bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax violations. The details of the indictment haven't yet been reported on the US Attorney's website or in the press. Senior Judge Edwin M. Kosik rejected Michael Conahan's and Mark Ciavarella's plea agreement last month charging them with only 2 crimes and agreed with many of us that 7 years for taking bribes to lock up kids wasn't enough jail time for these 2 crooks. The maximum sentence is 25 years and the judge said the plea called for less jail time than normal sentencing guidelines. Reading his order he was especially miffed at their conduct since the guilty plea.

The Legal Intelligencer detailed many of their other crimes in a story in July and drops this bomb today.

A detailed complaint was filed against former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan with the Judicial Conduct Board in 2006, alleging wide-spread corruption including case-fixing, mob ties and the improper placement of juveniles in a privately owned juvenile detention facility.

When asked who might have filed the complaint, several sources speculated that Lokuta had written it. Lokuta denied authoring the complaint.

Asked who had, Lokuta replied: "One of my staffers."

I think Ann may have had some input in writing the complaint. The JCB that voted to remove her from the bench also allowed Conahan and Ciavarella to testify against her. Conahan's business partner, Pat Judge, was one of the people who sat in judgement of her. Her fate is in the hands of the State Supreme Court.

Ex-judges hammered with 48 counts

Ex-judges hit with 48 counts

"Robert Powell had bills to pay"

Witnesses back Lokuta claim of conspiracy

Lokuta: Conahan was courthouse king


Sandra Brulo said she was called into Ciavarella's chambers and Ciavarella handed her the phone, saying "the boss" wanted to talk to her. "Judge Conahan began screaming at me and accused me of being responsible for the ramping up limits. He said Robert Powell had bills to pay and that the ramping limits were limiting the admissions," Brulo said in the statement.


I've always thought that Judge Ann Lokuta got railroaded and Michael Conahan orchastrated her removal from the bench. Now 4 witnesses have made statements suporting her claim.


In addition to Brulo, statements were provided by Patricia Benzi, a security guard at the courthouse; Carolee Medico Olenginski, former county prothonotary; and Joseph S. Novak, a plaintiff in a civil case before Lokuta.

In her statement, Benzi said she was once asked to deliver an envelope from Billie D’Elia to Lokuta. Benzi said she gave the envelope to Lokuta’s secretary, Maureen Gushanas. Later that day, Gushanas returned the envelope to her and told her


“You tell him my judge isn’t like the rest of the judges!”

Tangled web

Dunn tied to Powell


Judge Mike Toole the Next to Fall


Like Ann Lokuta said it's a

Incestuous criminal cauldron


Culture of corruption

Experts: Convictions spark more evidence


Where will it end? Many people tell me that they hope every elected official goes to jail. All these guys helped each other out.

Lokuta wants decission tossed

HARRISBURG – Saying it would be “easier to unscramble an egg than to extract untainted testimony” from her misconduct trial, former Luzerne County Judge Ann Lokuta on Monday filed a legal brief urging the state Court of Judicial Discipline to dismiss or reopen her case.

In her brief she blasts the disciplinary court’s chief judge, Richard Sprague, accusing him of a conflict of interest because he was the lawyer for PA Child Care owner Robert Powell. Powell has been named as one of the people that was paying bribes to the Juvie Brothers, former Luzerne County Judges Conahan and Ciavarella. I think she has a good case and at the least she deserves a new hearing.

Lokuta gets a break

HARRISBURG – The state Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a stay of the Court of Judicial Discipline’s ruling that removed judge Ann Lokuta from office and directed the Secretary of the Commonwealth not to place her judicial seat on the May ballot.


Lokuta has contended all along that charges against her were orchestrated by admitted crook Judge Michael Conahan with the help of the other Juvie Brother Mark Ciavarella and Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey because she was cooperating with the Federal corruption probe. Throw in the involvement of his business partners Jill Moran, Richard Sprague and Patrick Judge in this seemed to convice the state Supreme Court stay her removal from the bench because of after-discovered evidence that was revealed as part of the corruption probe in the county judiciary. The Supremes ordered the Court of Judicial Discipline to determine whether it should reconsider it's decision to remove her and grant a new hearing.

This throws a monkey wrench into the campaigns of the 17 Judicial hopefuls because now there will be only 2 seats up for grabs instead of 3.


Timeline from the CV:

April 2004: A complaint from a former Lokuta staffer leads to an investigation by the state Judicial Conduct Board.

April 2005: The Conduct Board formally informs Lokuta of its investigation.


November 2006: Lokuta is charged with six counts of misconduct by the state Judicial Conduct Board. She is accused of being abusive to court staff and attorneys and late or absent for court proceedings.

September 2007-January 2008: Lokuta is tried before a three-judge panel from the state Court of Judicial Discipline. Lokuta testifies she is the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by former president judge Michael T. Conahan, who was angered because she talked to federal investigators about his handling of case assignments. Conahan used his position to influence other prosecution witnesses, she testifies.

Oct. 30, 2008: The Court of Judicial Discipline finds Lokuta guilty.

Nov. 5, 2008: The court suspends Lokuta without pay.

Dec. 9, 2008: Lokuta is officially removed from the bench.

Jan. 6, 2009: Lokuta appeals to the state Supreme Court.

Jan. 26, 2009: Conahan and fellow judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who also testified against Lokuta, are charged with accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks. They eventually plead guilty and are relieved of judicial duties.

Feb. 3, 2009: Another witness against Lokuta, county court administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., is charged with embezzling $70,000 in court funds. He eventually pleads guilty.

March 3, 2009: Lokuta asks the state Supreme Court to postpone an election to fill her seat.

March 25, 2009: The Supreme Court cancels the election and orders the Court of Judicial Discipline to consider holding a hearing on whether evidence of courthouse corruption involving prosecution witnesses would have affected the outcome of Lokuta’s trial.

Incestuous criminal cauldron

That is probably a better name than Juvie Brothers or Cash for Kids to describe what has been going on in Luzerne County for years. Everybody who is anybody is connected in the courthouse, statehouse, city hall or a local school board be it by a relative, high/law school pal or just did it the old fashion way by giving a campaign contribution.

The headline comes from Judge Ann Lokuta's latest filing in her appeal to the PA Supreme Court regarding her removal from the bench because she was occasionally late for work, sometimes didn't take a shower and was rude to people. By that standard I think many of us might be out of work.


When you look at the cast of crooks that wanted to get rid of Lokuta because she contends that she was cooperating with the investigation I think that at the least she deserves a new hearing. Remember that she was not convicted of doing anything illegal and her chief accusers are admitted criminals led by Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey who is headed to jail for being a thief and "poor, poor pitiful me" disgraced former Prothonotary Jill Moran. One of the people that sat in judgement of her was Richard Sprague who was a lawyer for Robert Powell who was one of the people paying off the Judges. Powell is a law partner and business partner of Jill Moran. Powell, Moran, Conahan and Ciavarella are also business partners.
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It doesn't begin or end with this case as we all know the only way to get a job in local government is to know somebody or pay them off with a campaign contribution. Just about every School District in the country is screaming for teachers but around here you better have a relative on the board or they won't even look at you. And we always lament why our educated young people keep moving away.

Who's running for what?- Judges

With so many county and local offices up for election this year I have to decide which ones to concentrate on. Since the Judge candidates have to run on their resumes and can't comment on current issues I will defer to my colleagues unless something crazy happens. The Lu Lac Political Letter has a roundup of the 17 hopefuls who think that they will look good in black. We will be picking 2 or 3 new jurists depending what happens with Ann Lokuta's appeal. With so many Pittston attorneys in the fray PittstonPolitics.com will also be keeping us updated. Joe Valenti also goes to too many school board meetings and keeps us informed of the races for the boards in the greater Pittston area along with the contests for Mayor and council in the home of the tomato fest.

Tainted witnesses

Luzerne County Judge Ann Lokuta is still fighting her removal from the bench. She asked the state Supreme Court to stop the state from putting her judge seat on the May primary election ballot because she not exhausted her appeals. If her petition is successful it would put the kibosh on some of our wanna be jurists because there would only be 2 seats up for election instead of 3.

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I think she has a good case because Juvie Brother Judge Conahan orchestrated the charges against her and some of the key witnesses were his fellow felon Judge Mark Ciavarella, admitted thief (Conahan's cousin) Bill Sharkey and former and Prothonotary Jill "I was used" Moran. Some of the other witnesses were beholden to the Judges for their jobs or were attorneys that are now under scrutiny for their involvement in the possible fixing of civil cases.

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She claims Conahan went after her because she was cooperating in the federal corruption probe of the Juvie Brothers but couldn't offer evidence to support that claim because it would have jeopardized an ongoing investigation. She also points out that one of the people that sat in judgement of her was Richard Sprague who was a lawyer for Robert Powell who was one of the people paying off the Judges. Powell is a law partner and business partner of Jill Moran. Powell, Moran, Conahan and Ciavarella are also business partners.

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At the very least the Supreme Court should order a new hearing and stay her removal from the bench.

Luzerne County Prothonotary

Republican Walter Michell has announced that he running for Prothonotary and reelection as Mayor of the breakaway Republic of Bear Creek Village at the same time. It's always good to hedge your bets. He is backed by Republican 2008 10th CD candidate and former President of Pride Mobility Dan Meuser.


He wants to improve the prothonotary’s office, especially by making records available online. “Think how much this would reduce daily traffic in and out of the office, save users thousands of dollars in copy fees and time, and allow county employees to focus on catching up on scanning, filing and other vital tasks.” ...He said an advisory committee would also be appointed, made up of those professionals who use the office’s services most – attorneys, title searchers, paralegals and court workers – to offer advice and feedback on how things could be run better.

Former Luzerne County Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski is looking to return to the office. She claims that Juvie brother Judge Michael Conahan had it in for her when she ran for reelection in 2001 and decided to run now that he is out of the picture. That didn't stop her from running in 2005. She was favorite of Fred Williams on WILK and had some disputes with the commissioners over redecorating her office and buying some filing cabinets. I remember that when she showed up for work after she was elected that the courthouse powers that be assigned her parking spot that was giant a pothole.

The only Democrat to announce so far is Attorney Gerald J. Mullery. In a news release, Mullery said his pledge to Luzerne County voters is straightforward and simple: “I will return the values of honesty, ethics and impartiality to the office of Prothonotary and I will ensure the use of technology to provide greater public access to civil records.”

Some of the other interested candidates are reported to be Republican Gina " the cat lady" Nevenglosky and Nancy Bellas, Andrew D. Check and Mark Kijek.

No word from Ann Lokuta.


What the hell is a Prothonotary?

Justice for the juvies

WILKES-BARRE – The Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia announced it will file a renewed petition with the state Supreme Court that asks the justices to review the cases of every child who was deemed delinquent and placed in detention by Judge Mark Ciavarella from 2003 to 2008.

The PA Supreme Court denied their last request for relief for kids that were denied counsel and railroaded through the system. Civil rights attorney Barry Dyller may file a class action suit on behalf of the kids and Joe Lach, a Kingston attorney, said he is also considering a similar suit.

Some other private firms are soliciting business even setting up a questionnaire on the company website and running TV ads. The top dog in the 'The People's Law Firm' has been a contributer to various local and federal Democratic politicians and has been a delegate to the national conventions. The state website has chronological limits but these 2 contributions are curious;

8/31/2001 $300.00 to LOKUTA, ANN H COM TO KEEP JUDGE and

10/16/2003 $300.00 CONAHAN, MICHAEL COM TO RETAIN


Other news links in this saga:

JUSTICE FOR JUVENILES?

Conahan resigns from bank board

Powell may eat words about PA Child Care

Election to be open to public

Activist demands justice for juveniles