Poor Skrep

I think the life story of Greg Skrepenak would make a great TV movie. Local boy with athletic talent goes off to a Big 10 school and excels at football then has success in the NFL making big bucks. After his 5 year professional football career he returns home wanting to do good establishing a foundation to spread around his wealth to worthy causes. Then he got involved in local politics and the All-American Boy becomes an admitted criminal who is now apparently broke. This is a tragedy that Shakespeare could have written.

Liz Sichler busted

Until she resigned as the the Vice-Chair of the Luzerne County Republican Party in 2008 Sichler was best known for her hard nosed approach to politics with a particular talent for challenging the nominating petitions of candidates that she opposed.

According to the TL story she was running a Bernie Madoff type ponzi scheme until it unravelled and is now accused of embezzling $2 million from her title search company and the people who trusted her to do the paperwork to buy a new home.

She was a top operative of State Representative Karen Boback before all of this and succeeded in getting James May kicked off the the ballot in 2006. In 2008 she was one of the leaders of the Boback campaign that turned back May's primary challenge then quit politics a few days after the primary after the news broke that the Secret Service was investigating her activities.

Liz was a big contributor to various Republican candidates before she ran out of other peoples money to throw around. She tossed $825 to Karen Boback before the 2008 election and in the 2008 federal elections she dropped 8 grand to her favs including $4600 for Lou Barletta and $3200 to Dan Meusers losing effort.

Note: I'm back

I'm not dead yet

I want to thank the staff at the W-B General Hospital for fixing me up and all my friends for the well wishes in the comments, emails and phone calls. I'm resuming my normal activities today with some behavior modifications to prevent a recurrence. We should be back to our regularly scheduled programming in the next few days.

Please stand by

It looks like your humble narrator has developed a bit of a health problem. I don't want to go into the gory details but it appears BP has had some sort of drilling operation going on in my stomach and it has sprung a leak. Hope to see you in a few days.

Weekend update

I skipped blogging this weekend to do other things. But that doesn't mean that I don't have a few things on my mind.

I got a Happy Memorial Day message from Pat Toomey and other politicians today. I'm happy that I got a day off from work so I could grill burgers and dogs but I don't think that is the purpose of the holiday. Remembering our war dead is solemn thing and I have to agree with Another Monkey that the best way to honor them is to stop adding to the list.

The latest news from Corruption Junction is that Clerk of Courts Bob Reilly has resigned. He is working on his plea agreement as is Pat Patte. Those two have been around forever.

The really big news was on Saturday night when Roy Halladay threw a perfect game for the Philladelphia Phillies. It was only the 20th time in history that 27 batters came to the plate and they all made an out.The way the Phillies are hitting right now every pitcher has to throw a perfect game.

More to come.

Thom Greco

30 and counting.

Thom Greco is famous for opening food and beverage businesses in Wilkes-Barre with much fanfare only to see the ventures fail shortly afterward. There have been so many I'm not even going to try to list them all.

His latest project is a pizza place at the site of the former Grogg Shop on the corner of N. Main and Union Streets that recently was Gage Restaurant. In the past it was Hacienda Restaurant, Heartbreaks, Harrigan's Irish Pub, Bazookas, Martini Ristorante and Bar, Aprilia's Restaurant and Nono's Restaurant and Bar.

He is presently operating Oysters in the Genetti Hotel and The Mines. Greco also owns residential and commercial rental properties and has been talking about building a fiber optic network using the steam heat pipes for years but that hasn't gone anywhere.

Now he has been snared in the Corruption Junction investigation signing another one of those very vaguely worded plea agreements.

TL: Court documents filed in federal court Thursday said Greco failed to report to authorities his knowledge that an elected official had solicited and accepted a gratuity in exchange for official action. ...Greco, 53, of Wilkes-Barre, had this information between April 2005 and December 2009, court papers say. The court papers do not identify the public official or provide any further details regarding the crime.


Disclosure: I actually worked for him for a short time at the Station nightclub and hotel complex that is now one of the biggest eyesores in Wilkes-Barre. I took the first job offer that came along to get out of that gig. But he came out of that alright when the Luzerne County Commissioners (Skrep, Vondy and Urban) bought that pile of junk but now don't have the money to clean it up. He was partners with the Kornfeld family of The Woodlands fame in that venture. When it went sour he sued them and actually had their cars seized and towed to settle his claims. Guess who towed the cars?

Corruption Junction

A few months ago Capitol Ideas referred to Northeatern Pennsylvania region as "insanity with borders" when talking about all the scandals that have surfaced. Hard to argue with that but it's not exactly a catchy phrase.

I came up with the Juvie Brothers to describe the evil that Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella engaged in but the papers settled on "cash for kids." I can't argue with that, at least the scandal hasn't been tagged as some sort of -gate, such as bonusgate. That is just lazy.

So I propose that the ongoing corruption investigation outside of the Juvienile probe in Luzerne/Lackawanna counties be dubbed Corruption Junction.

If you can up with something better you will win a Gort42 hat.

PA only number 8 ????

I can't say that I agree with this but it is state rankings not by county. Those of us that live here in Corruption Junction (Luzerne County) know better.


Website ranks Pennsylvania among top 10 corrupt states

The Daily Beast is using old data from just Philadelphia and doesn't take into account our own Juvie Brothers and the rest of the cast of characters of school board directors and municipal officials not to mention the Bonusgate corruption in Harrisburg.

I will have to slip an envelope to Sights on Pennsylvania for pointing out this story. I'll stuff it with 10% of my ad revenue.

Commander Carney's BBQ

CARNEY TO HONOR VETERANS AT WEEKEND BBQ

Invites Veterans and families to a Memorial Day Weekend Cook Out


DIMOCK, Pa. — Congressman Chris Carney (PA-10) will honor local veterans, their families and this year’s Academy Nomination recipients with a Memorial Day Weekend Barbeque at the Elk Lake American Legion on Sunday.



“Memorial Day is time for our community to come together to thank our veterans and their families for their sacrifices and service to our country,” said Congressman Carney, a commander in the Navy Reserve. “I am always honored to host veterans, military families and other residents of our community at my hometown American Legion and hope that we all take the time to celebrate the tremendous dedication of our veterans and their families.”

In addition to veterans and families, Congressman Carney is extending the invitation to the 2010 Academy Nomination recipients and members of the community who wish to show their support. Free food and beverages will be served, with Congressman Carney manning the grill. The cook out will take place from 12 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 30, 2010. All veterans, active duty soldiers, National Guard and Reserve members, their families, and members of the community who wish to honor them are invited to attend. There will be media availability at the event; press are encouraged to attend and circulate the invitation.



This year’s Academy Nomination recipients are:



· Paul Strein (Clarks Summit) – attending West Point

· Kenneth Seamans (New Milford) – attending West Point

· David White (Athens) – attending West Point

· Cameron Benner (Middleburg) – attending the Naval Academy

WHO: Congressman Christopher P. Carney, Members of the Susquehanna County American Legion
WHAT: Memorial Day Weekend Cook Out with Veterans and families
WHERE: Elk Lake American Legion in Susquehanna County, Elk Lake Road, Montrose, PA
WHEN: Sunday, May 30, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm

I have attended this event in the past and it's a lot of fun. The best part is meeting the kids that are going to the service academies. They are the probably the toughest schools in the country to gain admission and their families are rightfully proud of them. Plus you get to make fun of Chris wearing an apron.

The drawbacks are is it is out in the boondocks (but it is not too hard to find) and it's next door to Dimock so you don't want to drink the water.

State Represenative races in Luzerne County

It's refreshing to see that the 6 State House seats in the county will actually be contested this fall. In 2008 none of the 5 Democratic incumbents faced a Republican in the general election much to my chagrin. This time out we have a full slate on both sides plus a couple of Libertarians thrown into the mix.

As usual the incumbents will be well financed and so far the challengers have little or no money but that could change in the next few months. It's not like there are not people in Luzerne County willing to toss some of their spare change to GOP candidates. 10th CD Republican candidate Tom Marino's FEC report shows more than $30,000 in contributions from people in the county and many of the same names show up on the lists of contributors for statewide Republican candidates. The trick this time is to get those people to actually support the local candidates unlike past elections and to be fair some of them of them have actually been bankrolling the Luzerne County GOP operation over the last few years.

The top target for the Republicans has to be the open seat in the 119th District where Gerald Mullery won a spirited Democratic primary easily but spent all his money doing it. Rick Arnold
doesn't have any money either and to make it more interesting there is a Libertarian Brian Bergman.

Tarah Toohill surprised some people by getting just 800 votes less than longtime 116th State Rep Todd Eachus in their respective unopposed primary elections. Eachus has about $185,000 cash on hand and Toohill has about $2000. Blog buddy McGruff has done his best to tie Eachus to the bonusgate scandal and other transgressions. Who knows, lightening may strike in this one.

In the 121st Eddie Day Pashinski has about $30,000 going into the fall and his Republican challenger James O'Meara didn't raise a dime at the last reporting deadline but that will change if you want to have desert with him.

Mike Carroll has pleasantly surprised me with his desire to overhaul the campaign finance laws (there aren't many) of Pennsylvania and reform the redistricting process. Forget the the bat thing. He is opposed in the 118th by Terrance O'Conner who wants to solve the fiscal crises of the PA by repealing the sales tax on ammunition. Carroll has $26,000 cash on hand and O'Conner didn't report anything.

One of my favorite State Reps has always been Phyllis Mundy. She has been a champion for senior citizens and the rate payers of NEPA Blue Cross and lately has been trying to stop the rape of our environment by the gas drilling companies. Her Republican opponent is West Pittston Mayor Bill Goldsworthy who I don't know much about but he seems to be a good guy. The Libertarian in the race will make Goldy's life more complicated. Tim Mullen is a third party candidate I can root for. I have long advocated that the minor party's like the Greens, Constitutional and Libertarians, etc. concentrate on local elections that they may just win instead of running candidates for President, Governor and Senator that don't have a chance. Build a bench folks. As far as money goes Goldy and Mullin don't have any and Phyllis has about $67,000.

CasablancaPA vs. Tom Corbett

Somehow I have been dragged into this argument between Republican Governor candidate and PA Attorney General Tom Corbett versus the website CasablancaPA. Was it something I said?

Big Dan tells me that Corbett is trying hack into my site without much success and sends along this video evidence.

NEPA Blogs

I finally got around to listing a few local political blogs on NEPA Blogs. DB Echo and Michelle have a bunch more that don't deal with politics.

They are:

Pure Bunkum

Valley Scanner

Carbon County Insider

Loreley's Musings

I'm also editing the Gort42 blogroll.

I'm deleting these site because they haven't updated in months. If you start writing again let me know.

Scrappled

I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake

The Scranton Guardian

Checking the Balance

Political Pike

I'm adding

Valley Scanner

and

Carbon County Insider

Hollenback Dog Park open

Here's to you, Fido: Wilkes-Barre's newest park goes to the dogs, literally

A year and half later my friend Valerie got her dream of a dog park located at Hollenback Park and it was done without a penny of tax money.

Way to go Val! Quincy will be down to see your crew.

Seperated at Birth

Is it just me, or does Tom Corbett look just like Leslie Nielsen? -NCFE

They are both clowns.

Sallie Mae

Lou Barletta and Paul Kanjorski yesterday sent out press releases about the loss of 100 jobs at the Sallie Mae student loan processing center in Hanover Twp.

Barletta

100 Sallie Mae jobs lost because Kanjorski chose Pelosi politics over employees

Kanjo

Kanjorski Statement on Sallie Mae Jobs

This is an easy shot by Barletta because he has never been put in the position of weighing a
parochial interest against the greater good of the country. Yes, Kanjorski voted for Health Care Reform that also changed the way the student loan program is administered. On a stand alone vote Kanjorski was one of the few Democrats that voted against it. But governing is about choices and compromise then voting for the greater good.

I have to say that they are both wrong on this issue. The US Government supplies the money and guarantees the loans so the lenders don't have any risk and are just middlemen. It's just more Corporate Welfare. Cutting out companies like Sallie Mae means more money can actually go to students to pay tuition instead of interest.

Saddling our college grads with a mountain of debt has to be one of the most self defeating things we do as a nation. As one of my political hero's, George McGovern, once told me about the post WWII GI Bill it paid for itself 10 times over because the taxes collected from the higher salaries of a college educated workforce far exceeded the cost of the program.

Congrats Tom Corbett

Republican PA Attorney General Tom Corbett achieved one of the rare feats in politics with his subpoena of the twitter account of the blog CasablancaPA. He united bloggers of all stripes in condemning the move. The reaction of Democratic bloggers was predictable but many PA Republican bloggers also thought that it was a boneheaded action. One thing about bloggers is that we close ranks when one of our own is unfairly attacked.

CasablancaPA should also send a thank you card to the Guv wannabee for making it the most visited sight in Pennsylvania this last week.

Democratic Governor nominee Dan Onorato pierced his thin skin with this statement:


“When I get attacked—whether on anonymous blogs, in campaign ads or in editorials—I respond on the facts, which Corbett has not done in this case,” Onorato said. “Moreover, while it is fine to note the motivations of a critic, it is not acceptable to attempt to bully them into silence—and that’s what Tom Corbett appears to be doing: petty and abusive bullying of a critic. Part of being an executive is dealing with the criticism that comes with making tough decisions.

“This is another example of Tom Corbett politicizing the Attorney General’s office to benefit his campaign,” he added, “the same Harrisburg-insider tactics that Pennsylvanians are tired of and that I will end as governor.”


Corbett withdraws Twitter subpoena


Friday Morning Coffee: The Civil Liberties Edition.

Then they came for the for the Bloggers

When I read the first reports that PA Attorney and GOP Governor nominee Tom Corbett was going after a website that is critical of him with subpoens and all the power of his office I dismissed it. I couldn't believe any politician could be so fucking stupid! But what my friends in the blogoshere tell me is he is that he is that FUCKING STUPID.


CasablancaPA is the site in question


CasablancaPA today received notice that Gubernatorial Candidate Tom Corbett has subpoenaed Twitter for identifying information about our Twitter account.

It is unknown whether Blogger has received a similar subpoena; we have received no such notice.

Capitol Ideas figures it out.

The subpoena for Twitter can be found here.

Blog, Email and Facebook maintenance

I have received so many messages over the last few weeks via email or Facebook that I'm sure I haven't replied to all of them. Please forgive me and resend your missives if I haven't got back to you. I cleaned up the email this morning and will tackle Facebook later tonight. Also the blogroll has some dead sites that need to be deleted and a few new ones will be added. I will be updating NEPA Blogs with our new local scribes over the next day or two.

Barletta looks to the fall

I had a brief chat on the phone today with 11th CD Republican nominee Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. I didn't record the conversation so his answers are paraphrased but certainly not taken out of context.

After last nights results you must be feeling good about your chances in November.

Five months is an eternity in politics so there is no telling what will happen but I certainly like the numbers. 51% of Democrats voted against Paul Kanjorski and think that is a good indicator. I was surprised by the votes that Brian Kelly got and realize that people may not have bought into his message but just didn't want to vote for Kanjorski or Corey O'Brien. I will be looking to sway his voters and the independents that couldn't vote in the primary. Last time I was supported by many independents and Democrats. I can get those voters again.

.

How is fundraising going?

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We got some online donors overnight and being part of the Young Guns program has helped a lot. We will have enough money to compete in the fall.

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I love that picture of you and your grandson Gabriel voting with you.

.

I think it looks like he is telling me who to vote for. You'll be happy to know that I am teaching him to be a Yankees fan. Having a grandchild really makes you think about what government and politics is about. Our responsibility is to leave a better country to him than what we found. Just like our parents did.

State Committee results

5 of the 9 people who provided their pitch to the readers of Gort42 won a spot on the Dem and GOP State Committees and the other 4 came darn close to winning.

I attribute it to the Gort Bounce.

The top 3 male and female vote getters get to attend the meetings and spend their own money for the privilege. Winners in bold.


Member of the Republican State Committee

(WITH 189 OF 189 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Stephen J. Urban (M). . . . . . . 10,240
Linda J. Urban (F) . . . . . . . 8,018
Margaret E. Phillips (F) . . . . . 7,588
Renita Fennick (F) . . . . . . . 7,066
Kathleen M. Dobash (F) . . . . . . 7,054
David Baloga (M) . . . . . . . . 5,667
Harry Haas (M). . . . . . . . . 5,533
Frank J. Mazza III (M) . . . . . . 5,495
Moderno Rossi (M). . . . . . . . 5,081
Bill Lewis (M). . . . . . . . . 4,884
T. Lynette Villano (F) . . . . . . 4,704
Art Bobbouine (M). . . . . . . . 2,340
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 299




Member of the Democratic State Committee

(WITH 189 OF 189 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Michael J. Cefalo (M) . . . . . . 15,005
Thomas M. Shubilla (M) . . . . . . 14,489
Paul J. Maher (M). . . . . . . . 14,014
Lesa Gelb (F) . . . . . . . . . 12,477
Rebecca Sammon (F) . . . . . . . 11,649
Cassandra I. Coleman (F) . . . . . 11,618
John Bolin (M). . . . . . . . . 11,400
Sabrina A. McLaughlin (F) . . . . . 11,305
Jane Waitkus (F) . . . . . . . . 10,435
Lucille Maziarz (F) . . . . . . . 10,120
David J. Popiak Sr. (M). . . . . . 8,835
Michele Mahovich (F). . . . . . . 8,454
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 452