Idiot watch

An update.

Remember the guy that was driving around Pittston last year with a sign on his truck that said "If your (sic) in America and can’t speak English, get the Fuck out."


Well I'm sure it will not shock you that he is suing the cop that cited him for disorderly conduct and anybody else that he thinks that might have deep pockets. He was never prosecuted because the charge was dropped but claims his right to free speech was violated for receiving a ticket in the first place. I agree with that. The police should have never cited him for expressing his opinion even if he used a swear word.


If he left it at that I could be on his side but he alleges that the ticket resulted in damage to his vehicle, including a shattered rear window, slashed tires, a creased bumper, a broken mirror and scratches and dents. He also alleges he suffered an attempted knife attack by a woman and was forced to install security lights on his house. I never heard or read a report of this assault. Hughestown Mayor Paul Hindmarsh said he doesn’t think the retaliatory acts cited in Decker’s complaint were related to the citation.
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“I think it was a personal issue he had with his neighbors, to the best of my knowledge.”

A commenter on my last post about Joe the pickup owner made a great point:


...the real humor in the sign is that those who can't speak English would not be able to read his message and follow directions. At the very least, "Joe" should have listed his declaration in Spanish.


Si tu en América y no pueden hablar Inglés, obtener la mierda a cabo.

GOP Picnic Tomorrow

The event is at the beautiful Harteis Farm in Dallas. Details at the Luzerne County GOP website.

Moses is the official greeter at Bob's farm.

Palin as poetry

I have enjoyed Sarah Palin's last 2 Quiter from Wasilla speeches along with most comedians, cartoonists and other Democrats. Some of my Republican friends have also enjoyed the spectacle but for different reasons. Has anyone ever seen her birth certificate?



This video is for my blog buddies Dave and Mark

It's about more than the kids

The Legal Intelligencer has a devastating story about the Juvie Brother's that details their misconduct that goes beyond the Cash for Kid's scandal saying that was just the tip of the iceberg and only the most blatant example of the corruption overseen by the two judges. In addition to Billy D'Elia former Judge Michael Conahan had a long history of links to organized crime figures. A lifelong friend of Conahan's, Tom Pendergast, said that he set him up with no show and delivery jobs that he was nervous about taking and walked away from the extra "work."


It also goes into the allegations of case fixing of auto accidents and tax assessment cases involving Bob Mericle. In addition, as The Legal first reported in March, multiple sources have said the federal government is investigating whether Luzerne County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Toole allegedly took a payment from Powell.

It also identifies Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey as the "bagman" who would collect the "finder's fee" from local attorneys after a favorable judgement.


And former Controller Steve Flood was the object of Conahan's ire.


Flood, according to Stretton, attended a party after his election to the controller's office in 2001 with other political types. Conahan was there, Stretton said Flood had told him, and so was at least one prominent attorney from the area.

At one point, Conahan saw the attorney, Stretton said, relaying Flood's story.

"Conahan turned to the lawyer and said, 'Hey ... how about that $10,000 you owe me for the settlement last week,'" Stretton said Flood told him.

"That's what got him suspicious about these guys," Stretton said. "He walked out and, after that, they became adversaries."

Another source said Flood related the same story.

Four years later, in 2005, while Flood was running a re-election campaign, he and Stretton were sitting together when the phone rang.

Flood answered.

A prominent attorney from a major firm was on the other line.

"Conahan just called and said if we give one penny to your campaign, we'll never win another case in the county again," Stretton recalled the attorney telling Flood.

Ciavarella: "I never took a dime for sending a kid away."

WNEP has an interview with former Judge mark Ciavarella where he apologizes for his conduct then contends that he didn't do anything wrong in his dealings with juvenile defendants.


"I mean, I had the greatest job in the world. It was the best job anybody could ever have and I screwed it up. I the one who did it. I have myself to blame for that, nobody else. I'm sorry that I brought such shame to the bench. There's a lot of good people who sit on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas who don't deserve to be tarnished by what I did. Unfortunately they do get tarnished for that and that's wrong. They didn't do anything wrong. I did, they didn't," the former judge added. "I pled guilty to an honest service fraud, pled guilty to some tax matters. I did not plead guilty to cash for kids or quid pro quo or extortion."

Watch the whole thing, it's really something.

Wil Toole for Controller

CV: Wil Toole, a former Pittston City official, is planning to run as an independent candidate for county controller. Toole said he plans to file his nomination papers as an independent candidate by the end of July. If he gets enough signatures to appear on the ballot, he will join Republican nominee Walter L. Griffith Jr. and Democratic candidate Bob Morgan on the November ballot.

Toole flirted with a run for the Democratic nomination in the spring and applied for the job in 2008 when Maryanne Petrilla became Commissioner. Rapid Edward never got around to filling the post. He was spotted at a Pittston Area School Board meeting in April circulating petitions and has a LTE in the Voice offering suggestions to improve county government.

Put controller on several county boards


At the end of July, I plan to file my nomination papers as an independent candidate for the office of county controller and it is issues such as these that have promoted me to leave retirement and take an active role in county government. I have attended many meetings of the county commissioners as well at the retirement board and during these meetings, I have offered several suggestions to help resolve various fiscal and procedural problems and neither my appearance nor suggestions have ever been mentioned in reports of the meetings. Again, I find this lack of coverage very disheartening. How can I muster public support for these suggestions when no coverage is afforded my efforts?


PittstonPolitics.com has an archive of his recent activities. If he makes the ballot it is not good news for Bob Morgan having a longtime Democrat from Pittston in the race.


So far Walter Griffith is the only candidate with a website up.


Update: The Yonk informs us that Wil Toole also has a website.

YouTube weekend

The Luzerne County GOP now has a YouTube page. There are 4 videos of the recent Lawn Party at the Westmoreland Club that I was unable to attend. They seem a bit overdressed for a "lawn party" and why is the action inside?

In this clip we we can see State Senator Lisa Baker and Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta singing a duet of "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights." Well, not really but we can always hope.

This week's Luzerne County investigations

Feds seeks terminal construction records


What outfit is investigating the Airport is not clear.


FBI subpoenas WVW business records

Just add it to the list. W-B Area, Pittston Area, Vo-Tech, LCCC and more to come.


Chief deputy sheriff accused of harassment


At least we know he was in work that day.



The theme song for all Luzerne County government agencies.

YouTube weekend

Saint Ronny warns that Medicare will lead to slavery.

YouTube weekend

Cyndi Lauper is returning to Penn’s Peak!


We got tickets to the show in Jim Thorpe. If anyone else is going let me know. Maybe Dana will show up and buy me a beer.

Lisa is not running for Lt. Governor

According to the story by Bill O'Boyle in the TL today State Senator Lisa Baker is not running for statewide office.


Baker’s name has been mentioned in talks and on Internet blogs as a potential candidate for the lieutenant governor’s post.


I have done a search of PA bloggers recent posts and can only find one mention of her moving up and that was from moi.

Get well Senator Lisa

Plus she is going to be Governor some day.


I'm glad I can create a groundswell for a candidate. If a Republican is going to be in the Governor's office she would be my choice.

Idiot watch

A Wilkes-Barre man was arrested on Monday after he shot his microwave oven. It's not clear if the microwave was the target or if he doesn't like it when the Hot Pockets come out so hard that you can't chew them.


If you have warrant out for your arrest the best thing to do is take a nap at 1 AM when you are shitfaced and behind the wheel of a car.


I don't know if this is a typo but the CV reported that a hooker wanted $102 for her services at the Mohegan Sun casino in Plains Twp. Why the extra two bucks? The parking is free.


Then there is this.


A woman commanded her Pit Bull to bite a guy in South W-B then pointed a gun at him and when he tried to get it away from her she bit him. Maybe we need a vicious people ordinance instead of a vicious dog ordinance.

Note: I've tried to teach my last 3 Golden Retrievers to attack on command without success. The last training tool was to whack a mannequin in the crotch with a tree branch while yelling Nixon. It didn't work.

Joe Sestak for Senate

Congressman Joe Sestak was in Luzerne County over the weekend. Bill O'Boyle and Mike Sisak had a chance to chat with him and he laid out his case for taking on Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary. He earlier described Specter as a "flight risk."
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Specter was a Democrat when it helped him win office in Philadelphia then switched to the GOP to win a Senate seat. Now he is a Democrat again because he knows he can't beat Pat Toomey in a Republican primary this time. I'm no fan of Toomey but at least he knows what he believes in and I can respect that.

Rapid Edward, Bob Casey and the President are in Specter' s corner but the idea of Arlen Specter as the Democratic nominee for US Senate makes me and many of my friends in the blogosphere and elsewhere in Pennsylvania want to throw up.

Some choice quotes:

“I’m getting in this because Pennsylvania voters need a choice, a choice of someone who will vote for them and their values.”


“I believe changing parties is not the change Pennsylvanians need for the future. We also need a senator who is in this for Pennsylvania and not for saving their legacy.”


"If you run on principle, politics will take care of itself.”

“But he actually voted with President George Bush four out of five times. This country has seen an economic collapse; good families have lost jobs and health care benefits. We need a senator that will fight for them and those key issues.”


"It's about Pennsylvanians, it's not about your job," Sestak said of Specter. "We Pennsylvanians have lost too many jobs in this recession to worry about his job security, particularly since he voted with President Bush on the economic tax policies that sent us over the precipice into this recession."

Michael Steele coming to Wilkes-Barre

My friends in the Luzerne County Club GOP tell me that RNC Chairman Michael Steele will be in town September 9th. The time and venue are being work out.

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The local Republican party is staying busy this summer with a party scheduled this Thursday at the Westmoreland Club and a Family Picnic set for August 1st. Register of Wills candidate Gina Nevenglosky will be hosting a meet and greet in Hazleton on August 30th and Senator Lisa Baker has a clam bake coming up on August 13th.

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The details are on the County GOP website.

Chris Doherty for Governor

Borys is reporting that Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty is looking at running running for Governor of Pennsylvania next year. He won both nominations in the primary so with his reelection as Mayor being assured he can concentrate on moving up the ladder.
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Shooting for the Guv's spot is a bit of a surprise to most of us but Dan Hirschhorn of pa2010.com called it last week. I've sounded some false alarms about Doherty running for Congress in the past but this sounds like the real deal. State Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney confirmed that he is raising money for a run and has been polling statewide.

Other Democrats looking at the race are Tom Knox and Jack Wagner . GOP contenders include Tom Corbett, Jim Gerlach and Pat Meehan.

They're out to get me

Just before the 2007 election Mike Savokinas got some press with the age old claim that his signs were being stolen. The police were called and nothing became of it but it was a news story for a day or two. At the same time Sheriff Barry Stankus was getting beat up in the press because he had a part time job and failed to list it on his financial disclosure form. The timing of two events cast a cloud over Stankus and Savokinas won the election. After the election it was revealed that our new Sheriff was working on the railroad after he took office and has reportedly given that up.

Recently the FBI has been called in to investigate the discovery of drugs in 2 Sheriff's vehicles because DA Jackie MO punts every allegation of local wrongdoing by the political class. Savokinas said "It's not uncommon to find drugs in a police vehicle." The initial investigation of the incidents was bungled and will probably not amount to anything.


Now another drugs in the car incident has come to light and he almost blames his political enemies. The fact that the government is still locking up people for drug offenses for over 50 years and it has been ineffective in deterring drug use is another story.


CV: Luzerne County Sheriff Michael Savokinas won't "point fingers" or "name names," but he's convinced political enemies "planted" drugs in a department vehicle for the third time this year...

Savokinas said the recent drug discoveries also smack of a plot to destroy his reputation while he worked as a police officer in Avoca. Former Avoca police Chief Edward Lukowich pleaded no contest last year to criminal charges for spreading claims Savokinas sold drugs from his family's restaurant, Savo's, in Pittston.


TL: Though Savokinas did not implicate anyone, he said there were several confrontations with influential county figures who he said might want to see his reputation damaged.
“It could be a multitude of a couple different things … to force me out of office, to ruin my name so I never win another office politically. I don’t know why.” he said.
Specifically, he noted George “Nipper” Nowakowski, whom he defeated in what he termed a “bitter” 2007 Democratic primary race for his current office; former Republican Sheriff Barry Stankus, whom he beat in the general election; and Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla.


“From that point on, I got calls from Maryanne Petrilla,” he said. “She said, ‘You’re done politically,’ and from that point on, it’s been downhill ever since.”


Petrilla calls him a liar.


Maryann said she never made such a comment. “Obviously, he is not being truthful with the public at all, because there was never, ever a situation where I threatened to ruin Mr. Savokinas’ career.”


A comment on an earlier post about this subject:


Gort:

You forgot to mention that Savokinas was set-up by the former Police Chief of Avoca. You probably don't have the balls to publish this comment.

Thanks for your input Mike.

Carney and Kanjo have some bucks

The 2nd quarter campaign finance reports for Federal candidates are now available on the FEC website.

In the PA 10th CD Sophomore Chris Carney(D) has $300,000 cash on hand pulling in $228K from PACS and $124K from individuals. No Republican challenger has emerged yet. I hope they find a couple of a couple of candidates soon so we can have as much fun as the 2008 primary between Hackett and Meuser. Maybe this guy will take a stab at it.


Paul Kanjorski (D) has better than $600,000 in the bank with a big chunk of his latest take coming from banks, insurance companies and labor unions. His prospective opponent is Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta who reports $4,000 cash on hand and $263,000 in debt from his last 2 failed campaigns to become the Congressman from the 11th CD. Barletta only raised about $3500 and loaned his campaign $48,500.

Hardball

Hardball is back on MSNBC at 3AM replacing The Ed Show. Love him or hate him Chris Matthews has one of the best political shows on TV. I'm a night shift worker so I notice these things.

Mayor Jim on the mend

Gort,

Thank you for your kind words regarding my recent hospitalization. By way of update, I was released from the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital shortly after noon on Monday. I had been taken by ambulance the prior Tuesday morning, and I was the subject of a bypass operation later that morning. Six bypasses later, I began the recovery process. I am quite glad to be home.

My most sincere thanks go to the professionals of the Kingston/Forty Fort Fire Department for all they were able to do for me on Tuesday morning. Also, I cannot thank enough the men and women of the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital for the first-rate and compassionate care they provided. They were tremendous.

Thank you as well to the hundreds of people who sent well wishes with calls, notes, cards, text messages, facebook postings, and gifts. Every one certainly meant a lot.

I'm looking forward to a complete and successful rehab and being back on the job as soon as possible.

Again, many thanks to all.

Jim Haggerty

Huber Breaker

Responding to my critics. This comment was left on my Pile of Junk post:

First you endorse Republican Baker as a future Governor; now you want to tear down the Huber breaker; one of the few remaining edifices of our coal mining heritage. I think it is far more important to put money into preserving an important piece of history as opposed to investing in entertainment venues such as the arena (which you support) and sports complexes, etc. etc. I thought you were a history buff???

Yes, I am a history buff but I'm not a fan of boondoggles. Spending $10 million or more to restore the Huber Breaker is just not possible right now. The state is looking at a $3 billion deficit and Luzerne County hasn't balanced the books for as long as I have been blogging and then some. Even if the money was available to restore the breaker I doubt that it would be a crowd magnet just like Steamtown has very few visitors.

If you want to see a coal breaker the Eckley Miners Village has one and they are begging for money to fix it up. An entertainment venue such as the Wachovia Arena attracts people, it makes money and has transformed an abandoned strip mine into the most vibrant retail hub in the area.

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As far as what happens to Lackawanna County Stadium I think the best thing to do is repair it. Again, because of budget restraints a new park is not in the cards. But for the most part I don't give a shit since the clowns up north chased the Phillies farm team out of town and replaced them with the Yankees AAA club. We could build them a new stadium and they will still move the the team to Newark or somewhere else.

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I didn't endorse Lisa Baker for Governor but just made a prediction. I would probably vote for the Democrat in any future hypothetical race. In today's environment she wouldn't win the GOP nomination because she isn't sufficiently nuts about taxes and social issues.