The money primary: Meuser files early

The FEC reports are not due until January 15th but the Meuser for Congress committee report is now online and it shows some interesting numbers. Total receipts are $523,276 with $267,745 coming from individual contributions and only $5,500 from PACS compared with the $500,000 that incumbent Chris Carney has pulled in from the special interests. The difference is that Meuser loaned his campaign $250,000 which is not unusual since Chris Hackett loaned his campaign $118,000 and if I remember right Don Sherwood spent $2 million of his own money in his first race against Pat Casey. I wonder if any of those "loans" were ever paid back to the Tunkhannock Strangler.


Fun with numbers.

Of the 206 contributors to Meuser, 72 gave the maximum amount of $2300 and Hackett pulled in the max from 48 of his 79 contributors as of his September report. It must be nice to have that kind of loose change. I'm waiting for the 4th quarter reports from the other campaigns to get a better comparison.

Dan Meuser has a loyal workforce as 21 0f his contributors list Pride Mobility as their employer and have kicked in $29,700. And he has a supportive family with 12 people with the last name Meuser contributing the maximum of $2300. Nothing wrong with that, if you can't convince your family and co-workers to support your effort you have already lost.

6 Hackett's have pitched in the max for him. I couldn't find anyone named Carney making a donation.

Some other names contributing to Hackett include Republican stalwarts such as Bob Guzzardi and few people named Sordoni.

Meuser also has some familiar Republican names backing him such as Charles Flack, Bob Cordaro, AJ Munchak and former PA Attorney General Earnie Preate. This one surprised me, Jennifer Sherwood of Tunkhannock gave $1500.

Meuser is also showing some bipartisan appeal with long time Luzerne County Democratic lawyer John Moses kicking in $500 and multi-party real estate developer Robert Mericle who gave $10,000 to the present Democratic Luzerne County Commissioners this last time around giving him $2300. Mericle also gave money to Paul Kanjorski but so did Meuser.

The Pike County Courier : As far as the money race goes, Meuser said things are going well considering he did not start until after the November elections since he did “not want to take a dime away from any of the Republican candidates.”

When I looked at Meuser's FEC report I spotted 70 contributions totaling $$135,150 just in the month of October which was before the local election.

Of course I asked the Meuser campaign about that and they were good enough to respond:

Gort-

Fundraising has been going extremely well. We have been humbled by the out pouring of support from friends, family, and republican activists that have contributed to this campaign, both in dollars and in their most precious commodity- time. Our campaign is one that continues to grow both financially and at the grassroots level. The quote you refer to is true, we did not hold any fundraisers until after the November elections. The last thing we wanted to do was take a penny that could have gone to local candidates.

Quite frankly, we did the opposite! We contributed thousands of dollars to help. Some of our supporters did send checks during October and we are grateful for their support. Our limited fundraising in this quarter still has us on track to raise the dollars we need to defeat Chris Carney in the fall.
.

The PAWaterCooler.com had this to say:

Some familiar names make an appearance in the disbursements.

Over $19,000 in payments to Hallowell, Branstetter and Long, and another $30,000 to State Street Strategies.

Both are owned by payraise architect Mike Long and SSS is operated by Ray Zaborney.

Update: Meuser's FEC report has been taken down with this explanation.

Tone deaf

With all the proof of financial mismanagement in Luzerne County such as the debit card misuse and a never ending unbalanced budget these geniuses come up with more ways to spend money or forgo revenue.

Officials want to hire consultant to review purchasing policies

I think hiring the army of consultants the last few years has contributed to this fiscal mess. We elected the commissioners to set policy and they hire people to manage our money but they're going to bring in people from outside to explain to them what is right from wrong ? You can write all the policies you want but if they are not enforced they're worthless. So the response to the ethical lapses and lack of basic math skills is to spend more money. Incredible.

In middle of this mess the local Chamber of Commerce shows up looking for a handout.

Chamber requests $3.5 M in loan forgiveness

I haven't looked at the merits of the proposal but boy is the timing bad. The county can't pay this years bills plus things aren't looking good for next year and these guys want to renege on paying back some loans. Only in Luzerne County can a Democratic politician resign his office to head up the local Chamber then come back to that same body to ask for a sweetheart deal.

Other Debit Card news:

Deputy Warden Sam Hyder has not provided receipts for all his charges and was ordered to pay back anything he can't document but he wasn't fired, Yet. Skrep backs him for now but I think he will be thrown under the bus in an attempt to save the rest of their asses. The rest of the Magnificent Seven also some explaining to do.

Some people came out to protest what has been going on:

Protesters insist Skrep resign

Taxpayers Demand Resignations in Luzerne County

And one guy is going to file a criminal complaint. W-B: Joseph Naperkowski said he wants justice for Luzerne County taxpayers.

He plans to file a private criminal complaint against the seven officials using county-issued debit cards this morning with Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas’ office.

Lupas will either blow it off or kick it down the road to the PA Attorney General who has already said that he won't investigate because of the Secret Service investigation. And what about that probe by an agency of almost universal acclaim in the investigation of financial crimes. This quote didn't make me confident.

WILKES-BARRE- The U.S. Secret Service field office in Philadelphia has requested a copy of the debit-card internal audit being conducted by the Luzerne County Controller’s Office, county Controller Maryanne Petrilla said Wednesday...Just because the Secret Service is investigating the debit-card usage, it doesn’t automatically mean the case will lead to criminal prosecution, Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Robert Slama said.

“A lot of times we can suggest best business practices, set up a system of checks and balances, internal audits, impartial review and other general business accounting practices,” Slama said.


Forget the Secret Service and the Attorney General the agency that matters in this is the IRS.

I think it's pretty simple. If the people who had the debit cards in 2006 and charged personal expenses to it without declairing it as income on that year's 1040 will have to answer to charges of tax evasion.

Holiday greetings from the mean one

From the backwoods of Luzerne County I received this message of peace.

ENJOY YOUR CHRISTMAS, IF HILLARY'S ELECTED IT WILL BE YOUR LAST!!!

By Mean Old Man

I'm angrier than Britney Spears in a rehab center over the fact that this may be the very last year that all God fearing Christians can celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! When the Lezbo-Nazi Hillary Clinton becomes President next year you may as well not bother fetching the ol' ax to chop down your Christmas tree or sifting out the tree lights from the attic because Madam President will have declared anyone caught celebrating the sacred holiday of Christmas to be considered an insurgent. Damn!!!!

And don't even attempt to put decorations in your windows or lights on your house--you'll probably be arrested for wasting energy (after all, the commie hippies need all the electric power they can muster for all those PETA, MOVE ON.ORG and Greenpeace meetings). Al Gore will probably be Secretary of Energy, selling his goofy environmental book and video (no doubt, a mandatory purchase); oh well, what more can you expect when a woman takes power. As I told the Missus, if the computer savvy college boy liberals hadn't stolen last year's election from our Sainted Sen. Santorum, ol' Rick would be leading this year's pack of GOP candidates and would have been our next President. Damn!!!

Women today have it too easy and they have gotten lazy. In my day a woman knew her place and it wasn't in the White House, unless one was "lucky" enough to be dating FDR. And speaking of Mr. Big Government, none of this crap would have happened if FDR had been man enough to keep his wife Eleanor in the White House kitchen where she belonged. But instead he was a henpecked sap who kept his mouth shut while she raised up a whole army of commie women who were hell bent on taking over and ruining all of the fun for the true women. Even my wife Thelma Jean was taken in; for years she was happy using the ol' wringer washer--you threw the clothes in and when they were done you took 'em out and ran 'em through the sprockets to wring the water out. Sometimes your fingers would get caught in the sprockets and it hurt like hell--sometimes the little woman would even lose a finger or two, but she loved it!!! And it sure was a lot better compared to heading down to the creek to beat clothes off of rocks!! Then some Commie invents a washer that does the whole job on its own (putting women on the road to Bon Bon Avenue in Lazytown) and every woman wants one. Damn!!! I wouldn't have even bought her one except for the fact that she probably would have cracked my skull with her trusty pie roller, had I refused. Of course, all of that mushroomed into her wanting a electric oven (as if the trusty ol' coal stove wasn't good enough), a self defrosting fridge and on and on. I drew the line at an electric can opener and still bear the scar on my forehead for that dumb decision!! Thanks a lot commies!!!

The whole country is going to go down hill once Hillary is President. Every woman is going to be wearing those Chinese Commie pant suits and cutting their hair short. Hey, just because Hillary and her spawns wanted to be born as men and weren't ain't my fault--they should complain to God; though that would be a hard sell since they don't even believe in God!!!
So all you Commies enjoy this Christmas; I'm sure that next year Hillary will probably come to your place with Bin Laden, Castro and Kofi Annan and you can all sing "Happy Days Are Here Again" as they're tearing down your Christmas tree and ticketing you for illegal use of electricity. As for me, I'll be sitting next to the fire with my trusty rifle sipping on a Steg, lighting up a Lucky Strike and listening to "Silent Night" by the great Andy Williams; throwing in a little John Philip Sousa for good measure. Hell, with the shape my country's going to end up in, we could all use some real American music!!

Now to show the goodness in my heart I am announcing the gifts that Thelma Jean and I are buying for some of the citizens of Bloggerville.

GORT: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF KARL MARX

DR. RICK: THE HARDCOVER VERSION OF HILLARY CLINTON'S "IT TAKES A VILLAGE"

ABOVE AVERAGE JANE: A PAIR OF HAND WOVEN POT HOLDERS (COURTESY OF THELMA JEAN); EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ONE WHILE WORKING IN THE KITCHEN (WHERE THEY BELONG)

All you remaining commie know nothings can wait for the rest of the list (I'll let you in on a little secret), DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!!!

Have fun you heathens; enjoy your Christmas; enjoy your electric power; and ladies, enjoy your long hair and dresses before it all comes to an end next year; twirphead morons!!! Damn You! I hate you all!!!!


PEACE ON EARTH AND GOODWILL TOWARD MEN.

An idea

For all the training that various Luzerne County officials have been taking to the tune of $100,000 or more maybe a few bucks could go into some basic education. I propose that all Luzerne County officials be required to attend a remedial math class. Two plus two doesn't equal a $90 million bond issue.

Luzerne County Debit Cards

A guest post from Paul Stebbins Jr .a recent canidate in the 120th State Rep district. He wrote it as an LTE to the CV but I'm sure they will chop it up. Here is the whole thing:


Dear Editor;
As we watch the snow fall I wondered about an article that was written on December 10th about Commissioner Skrepenak defending Sam Hyder's Job. I reread the article just to make sure I had my facts straight before I came up with an argument and here goes. Commissioner Skrepenak serves both on the Prison Board, as head of the Commissioners and also on several other posts. Why do our elected officials do such? Now with all the flap surrounding the debit cards whose name continually comes up? Your name Commissioner Skrepenak. He was quoted as saying "For future training, whatever will save the taxpayers money." After four years you have finally figured that out, congratulations. So here is how I will help Commissioner Skrepenak. I looked at the place where Sam Hyder stayed in Canandaigua, NY and went online to check prices. I was rather intrigued to know that online I can stay at a Super 8 in the same city for an average cost of 68.00 a night and breakfast is included. There's also an econolodge for 72.00 and a motel for 56.00 a night. I'm aware that a Super 8 doesn't seem like a great place but this wasn't his vacation, he was on taxpayer dollars. Instead Sam Hyder stayed at The Inn on the Lake at a nice average cost of 164.00 a night. Don't believe me , spend five minutes online like I did and you'll be amazed or disgusted. I don't know if 42,000 dollars means little to the Commissioners or not but that pays for a Children and Youth worker's salary or someone who actually contributes to the welfare of Luzerne County. Thanks Commissioner, Sam Hyder and anyone else that couldn't take the time to research and save taxpayers money. Now I hope you enjoy Mr. Grier's challenge because you brought this upon yourselves. Maybe now someone will resign or be fired because your failure to act over this says more than your empty "we're going to save the taxpayers money," routine that we keep hearing from you.

Paul Stebbins Jr.

Protest on the Courthouse lawn

From Walter:

Dear Fellow Taxpayers,


Please be aware that there will be a Rally on the Luzerne County Courthouse Lawn on Dec 17th at 9 AM to make the Luzerne County Prison Board remove Deputy Director Sam Hyder from his position. This is a Rally that will be very important to the integrity of the government in Luzerne County. Sam Hyder is one of the seven people that have abused his power asdeputy warden and has used his County issued debit card for purchases that were not authorised by his department supervisor. This is a direct violation of County Policy and the taxpayers must rally for accountability by having the Prison Board fire Sam Hyder. Please be prompt as the Prison Board meeting will start at 9:15 AM and we need to be there to show that the taxpayers will not allow this type of insubordination in our county government. I understand that Sam Hyder is in the process of getting his people together to make sure he has support there for himself. Let's all show the County Government that we are going to voice our displeasure with this type of behavior.

Bloggers in the news

Or in this case on the newscast.

Tonight the LuLac Political Letter had the opportunity to be part of the WYOU TV Interactive Newscast at 5, 530, 6 and 11PM. We were speaking about the financial mess in Luzerne County. Fellow guest, Kevin Lynn and I tried to sort out the story with help from WYOU TV viewers, e mailers and callers. It was a great opportunity and I'd like to thank the good people as well as Anchor Candace Grossklaus for keeping order in the spirited debate. Thank you to WYOU for their hospitality.

I only caught the 11PM edition because David didn't let us know he was going to be on TV until after the 6PM show and I usually don't watch local news anyway. Being in the presence of Candace Grossklaus may make him rethink his Geena Davis obsession.

Another Monkey wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the CV about the passing of Al Scaduto the author of the comic They’ll Do It Every Time but the the CV butchered it. That's why we blog my friend.

The Pike County Courier had a nice roundup of the republican 10th CD candidates that had this interesting tidbit at the end.

Aside from the parties’ national committees, the internet and blogosphere has also been keeping close tabs on the race, with sites likes grassrootspa.com and blogs such as gort42.blogspot.com sometimes picking up more hits than the candidate’s own Web sites. For more on the primary race, please visit www.pikecountycourier.com .

A big thank you to reporter Nick Troiano.

Show Your Blog Space Day

PSoTD has assigned homework to his blog buddies today. This a glimpse of my messy world complete with a Golden Retriever mouse pad, head phones for YouTube jamming and a picture of my bride in her wedding dress. I actually did tidy up a bit by throwing out the empty beer cans and losing lottery tickets. And just to confirm the stereotype it's in my basement and I occasionally blog in my pajamas but I don't like Cheetos. I need a better chair and hopefully Santa will bring one.

I love Cindy

We have seen Cindy Lauper in concert 3 times and I can say she is one of the best showman I've ever seen . She opened for Cher in one of her farewell tours and stole the the show and both her shows at the Kirby were both professional and fun. Just a great entertainer.



Every time I post this video the evil Viacom Company gets it deleted. So I'll keep posting it and the lawyers for Viacom will get richer. Yes, Viacom is evil and I don't even have words to describe Comcast.

YouTube weekend

The 9th of Beethoven:

They had the money

Skrep is in panic pass mode trying to find a way to pay the 2007 Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) but it didn't have to come to this.

A TAN is taken by almost all local governments to bridge the gap between ongoing expenses and the time when property taxes start rolling in. Why they can't budget for this drop off in cash flow is another question. Most local governments pay off their TANS well before the end of the year but not Luzerne County and every year they push it off to the end of the year then borrow more money just to fund last year's payroll and other expenses. It's been going on forever.


Back to my original point. The county tax bills go out in the spring and many people like us pay them early to get the 2% discount so they had the money in the coffers to pay it off by June. In 2003 Commissioner Steve Urban and then-Commissioner Tom Makowski voted to borrow roughly $9 million for a new county-owned juvenile facility. It was never built because Skrep and Vondy outsourced a government function at an outrageous price with a 20 year contract to boot. Some people think that this bond issue is so loosely written so the Commissioners can bail out PA Child Care, the owners of the Pittston facility. But anyway they had the $9 million from that bond in the bank but instead of holding on to it for an emergency like this one they spent it on other things. Just think if they just hung onto the money they could have used it to pay off the TAN.

This is just the kind of thing that I have been objecting to for a long time. Borrow money for one purpose then spend it on another, it's not right. Tim Grier read the law and found out that they have not been following it.

More snow on the way

The hyperactive weather forecasters are predicting a blizzard this Sunday but that doesn't bother some people.


WHY IS EVERYONE SO DAMNED WIMPY DURING A SNOWSTORM?!?!?!?!

By Mean Old Man

I'm happier than Michael Jackson at a pre school that we are about to have a blizzard this weekend! Of course, all the namby pamby liberals are hurrying to their BMW's to go to the grocery stores to stock up on milk and eggs and bread. God, what a bunch of sissies!!!
In my day we had real snowstorms; you'd wake up in the morning and the white stuff would be up to your window on the second floor. And then you had to dig a path out to the 'ol outhouse to do your business. By the time you got back into the house you were shivering and your whole body was numb from near frostbite--and if you complained about it the old man would crack you across the face. It was tough, hard and bitter--and we loved it!!!

And we didn't have fancy snow blowers to remove the stuff either. Back then you grabbed the trusty shovel and dug out with nothing but your ol' arms to depend on. I remember one time my old man told me to clear a path for the milk man and I snuck in the back to sneak a Lucky--of course, he caught me and laid a shiner on my eye the size of Montana! I remember continuing the shoveling and seeing the blood dripping on the white snow. Ol' Pops told me to make sure not to get any of the blood on the sidewalk or he'd shine up my other eye just for good measure! Pops was the greatest; I miss him a lot.

And what is it with these little liberal twirpheads running around in snowsuits??? In my day we were lucky to have a coat and a stocking cap. And you'd come inside and the snow on your clothes would melt and you'd be dripping like a faucet. Then Mom would start screaming about her floor and wack you one with her trusty pie roller. It hurt like Hell, but as Mom said, "at least it takes your mind off of the cold weather". Ol' Mom always knew best! Not like the fascist commie Moms of today, what with their fancy child seats in the back of the car and all the sissie stuff designed to ruin the fun of being a kid.

All the Commies with their environmental mumbo jumbo have ruined the great weather we used to have. They send up their rocket ships to the moon and we get droughts in the southland and rain in the north (where we don't need it). I remember Winters where it snowed everyday--a foot of snow everyday!! Sometimes kids would get lost and wouldn't be found til next Spring!! And we had to walk to school whether it snowed or not--five miles back and forth (with no commie snowsuits to wear); We loved it!!! Nowadays it's different; kids have those fancy school buses to cart them a quarter mile and they have no appreciation for the pain of being a kid. My stupid grandkids even get my geeky sons to drive them to school--can you imagine that?!!!!!!!!! The only way Ol' Pops would ever drive me to school was if he kicked my butt for cussing and I landed in the schoolyard! Damn!!!

So, all you commies out there, enjoy the blizzard. Maybe you'll come to appreciate the hard winters that I used to have to deal with. Maybe you'll forget to go to the store and starve for a day (unless you're stocked up on Chinese commie rice); and maybe, just maybe, my stupid sons will lose at least one of my grandkids in the snow and I can have a peaceful Yuletide. As for me, I'm lighting up a Lucky, popping open a Steg and listening to the soothing sounds of Lawrence Welk while Thema Jean cooks some venison stew. Enjoy the snow; I hate you all!!!

Winter time

I'm beat after shovelling and snow blowing all day and I have a bad feeling that all I accomplished was to make room for the next snowfall. The way to have some fun after the storm is to fire up the grill and cook some lamb chops with my secret mustard/garlic sauce then pass out in the recliner.

PA 10th CD news

Swiderski makes it official. From a press release:

Local Small Business Owner Officially Announces Candidacy for Congress

EXETER TOWNSHIP, PA - Paul R. Swiderski, MBA, a self-employed accountant and small business consultant has officially announced his candidacy for U.S Representative in the 10th congressional district. I filed the appropriate papers with the Federal Election Commission in October, but I decided to delay the campaign by two months because my wife and I recently had a new baby. My family and I decided that it was best to wait until we were accustomed to our new life changes before kicking off the campaign, said Paul.


I am running to represent the people of the 10th Congressional District. Our elected officials generally don't represent anyone except their own interests, which solves none of the problems we have here in NEPA, elsewhere in the U.S. and overseas. Politics as usual needs to end, and if we are going to make any changes we need to begin electing into office individuals who truly care about the people they are supposed to represent and people who are serious about restoring America and fighting to protect traditional values.

Millionaires trying to buy their way into Congress, large corporate executives, and politicians who have been in office way too long are out of touch with the people they are supposed to represent. They don't live the same way as the voters in the district do. They don't experience the same problems that most people in the district do. They certainly can't relate to the voters and therefore cannot effectively represent the people.

Among the candidates competing for the opportunity to take back the seat lost to Chris Carney last election, only I can relate to, in all respects, the people, values and issues impacting the people of the 10th Congressional District. I am neither a millionaire, corporate executive, nor an experienced politician. I am merely a small business owner in NEPA who has the same concerns as most of the people in the district. The need for affordable quality health insurance, lower gas prices and home heating costs, lower taxes, and accountability in government top the list of concerns.

With an education from Bishop Hoban High School (now Holy Redeemer) and a B.S. degree in accounting from King's College, Paul has his roots grounded firmly in the soil of northeastern Pennsylvania. Aside from being a businessman, Paul enjoys spending time outdoors hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and foraging. He is also a proud Christian and family man: fortunate to be the husband to the most beautiful wife in the world and blessed with three wonderful children, ages 6, 2, and 5 weeks.

Interview update: I will be meeting with Paul just after the New Year and Dan Meuser the week before. As we get closer I'll put up an open thread for your questions.

Luzerne County is up against the wall

Tim Grier is not going to give in and he shouldn't even after Luzerne County Commissioner Chaiman Greg Skrepnak said this through his mouthpiece.

TL: Speaking through county Public Information Officer Kathy Bozinski, Skrepenak said he is confident the county “did everything it possibly could to reach out to Tim Grier and try to resolve this issue.”

I can't find a link but I'm sure I read that Grier said that he has not been contacted by Skrep. The crux of the problem is twofold. Skrep and company wants to borrow $93.5 million to fund a bunch of wish list projects in Wilkes-Barre and elsewhere without providing the details. The other part of the new bond is to fund this year's deficit and pay off a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN) that is due by the end of the year. I always thought that a TAN was to to bridge the gap for a couple of months before the property taxes come in then the taxes would pay it off. In this case it looks like the Commissioners had no intention of paying off that note but wanted to push it off to the next year. Now Plan B has to kick in.

Now the big worry is paying off the TAN or the county will have to shut down. They could go to the court and get permission to take a loan that would have to be paid off in 10 years but they want to bury it into yet another bond issue that stretch out the the payments over 20 years.

The county is now scrambling to find $10 million to cover the 2007 tax anticipation loan and they just might do it. Or maybe not because the numbers don't add up.

Budget and finance says $3.2 million is left. Other officials have other figures.



The Debit Card thing is just a symptom of the disease. I'll return to the Debit Cards but we need a moniker for this scandal that doesn't end in gate.

The Ron Paul Blimp

I have feeling this might be a hoax. From the Bostonist:

Republican presidential candidate and Internet sensation Ron Paul doesn't need Oprah. He doesn't need connections to the hot-shot politicians. He just needs a blimp.
Ron Paul's supporters are sending up a blimp for an East Coast tour from North Carolina, through DC and New York, to Boston. According to the flight plan on the Ron Paul Blimp site, the balloon will launch Wednesday in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and then travels north, flying over Boston, Worcester, and New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, December 16, the website for the Ron Paul Blimp Tour organizers says the blimp will dump tea into the harbor at 7:00 pm.

If this is true the other candidates will have to respond. Will John McCain take to the air in a F-18 Hornet and try to shoot it down? Guilliani may talk into a hot air balloon until it rises into the sky. Huckabee could resort to a biological airborne weapon generated by eating a couple of burritos and pickled eggs which Romney will respond to with an attack ad saying that he doesn't eat Mexican food. Will someone wake up Fred Thompson and point it out in the sky?

Here come the Feds

Secret Service will review county’s debit-card use

Some county officials have admitted to debit card misuse, but they insist it was accidental.

If these guys had as many this many "accidents" with their vehicles I'm sure their car insurance would be cancelled. Well maybe not if you're driving a county provided Chevy Tahoe that you take home at night and even when you're on vacation.

From the TL: "I’m going to talk with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and confer with the FBI to come up with an investigative plan. If the information warrants it, we will move forward with the investigation.”-Robert Slama, special agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Philadelphia.

I would also suggest that the Internal Revenue Service be called in to look at this because it's obvious that these people were using taxpayer money to fund their personal expenses. The out of town trips are bad enough but how do you account for a dinner at Top of the 80's near Hazleton or Patte's Sports Bar in Wilkes-Barre?

It's about time that the Feds take a look at the shenanigans that have been going on around here for as long as I can remember.

They paid it back

“We got a jail full of people who just wish they could pay back what they took,” Commissioner Steve Urban .

And we're supposed to be satisfied that the personal expenses charged to the county are OK because when they said it was some sort of mistake? This reminds me of the guys that were running ADELPHIA that got caught using company money to fund their lifestyles that the feds decided was income tax evasion. Sorry Greg, once you lose the public trust you can't get it back.

Skrep must be reading the blogs... “Members of the media, particularly the electronic media, have continued to beat the same horse.”

And we will will continue to beat the "dead horse" until you resign. Walter said on WILK that there will be a rally before the next commissioners meeting at 9AM December 17th. See you there.

Pictures speak louder than words so multi-media Markie of Merritville aka Wilkes-Barre Online sums it up.

Here's a video for the Mean Old Man

You miserable prick.





Link

Tradition

We did it again because it's a tradition. The annual trek to Helen and Ed's Tree farm to murder an unsuspecting Spruce tree and drag it home to be abused by hanging all sorts of lights and ornaments on it was a treat. We took the dog and my sister and surpisingly decided on the first one we checked out and we were out of there in record time.









Now the hard part starts as I'll be required to drag box after box of collectable ornaments up from the basement but we'll get some help, sort of.

This is the raw product and if you're interested I'll post a photo of the finished one.







Now for a collision of YouTube weekend, Christmas traditions and my friends celebrating Hanukkah:

YouTube weekend

Please don't watch this until 30 minutes after eating. From Talking Points Memo , a roundup of the latest Republican Presidential candidates TV ads.

It's all Tim's fault

“It’s not about me,” ...“It’s about the issues.”- Tim Grier

Officials ask citizen Tim Grier to withdraw challenge to bond borrowing to avoid layoffs, cuts.

SHUTDOWN CONSIDERED

It's all Tim's fault that every year the Luzerne County Commissioners have to borrow money to pay last years bills. It's all Tim's fault that they borrow money for one thing and spend it on another in violation of state law. It's his fault that they hid the looming deficit until after the election, violating the Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) policy of regular budget updates.

And who's fault was it to let a few select people pay for their personal entertainment expenses with a county debit card?

DebitCardmissoner Greg Skrepenak has threatened to shut down the Luzerne County government if Grier doesn't back down saying the latest bond issue is needed to pay back last years tax anticipation loan which will lead to all sorts of dire financial consequences.

But there is an alternative before drastic measures have to be taken if the county will go to the courts and ask to borrow the money to cover this years shortfall. That process allows a 10-year repayment schedule; the county wants a 20-year repayment schedule.

“There’s no reason to stretch it out,” Grier said. “You have the option to go to the courts.

Is that correct?”

Sam Guesto responded, “That’s correct.

”“There you have it,” Grier said.

So the short term crises can be avoided and all this borrowing can be more defined hopefully with proviso that if you don't spend it on the original project the money must be returned.

PA 10th CD news

Senator Rick Santorum Endorses Dan Meuser for Congress

Former United States Senator Supports Conservative Businessman

Former United States Senator Rick Santorum today endorsed Dan Meuser for Congress
in Pennsylvania’s 10th District.

In a letter to Republican activists throughout the 10th Congressional District, Rick
Santorum praised Dan Meuser’s conservative values and his leadership on conservative
issues.

“Today, our party finds itself at a crossroads. We need to elect conservative leaders who
can go to Washington D.C. and stand up for our values. We need leaders who will stand
tall in the war against radical Islamists, stand up for the rights of the unborn, fight to
make tax relief a priority for our nation, cut wasteful spending, and protect our borders,”
Senator Santorum said. “The people of the 10th District will have the opportunity to elect
such a leader, and that is why I am proud to endorse Dan Meuser for Congress. “
Senator Santorum praised Dan’s position on the War on Terror and his support for our
brave men and women in uniform.

“I know that Dan understands that America is in the midst of a great global conflict, and
that he will stand with our troops in our fight against radical Islamists,” Senator Santorum
said. “Dan will be a Congressman our country can count on to support policies that
protect America and the troops can count on [him] to support them as they advance the
cause of freedom.”

Dan Meuser noted that Senator Santorum’s endorsement was the latest in a string of
conservative endorsements for his campaign.

Meuser said, “Senator Santorum is a national leader whose conservative policies I
embrace and I am excited to have his leadership, vision, and passion on my team.”


Dan Meuser is a conservative businessman who, over the past 20 years, helped transform
a small company into the leading manufacturer in mobility products in the world. The
company now employs more than 1,000 employees in Northeastern PA. His experience
of growing a small business into an international leader coupled with his conservative
values prepares him to deal with the challenges facing our nation. Dan lives in the Back
Mountain region of Luzerne County with his wife Shelley and their three children.

Update: I forgot to mention that one time prospective candidate Joe Peters also has endorsed Meuser.

Former Prosecutor and Homeland Security expert Joe Peters today endorsed Dan Meuser for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 10th District.

“Dan Meuser is the type of leader Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania desperately needs now,” Peters said. “Dan is a conservative who shares the values of the people of the district, including protecting innocent life and the 2nd Amendment and he is the candidate that can win back the 10th Congressional seat.”

More bonds or maybe not

“I’m tired of being the scapegoat, and things are going to change around here. Everyone else is going to be accountable, too.” -DebitCardmmissioner Greg Skrepenak

County Budget Finance Chief Sam Diaz is predicting the sky will fall because Luzerne County might not be able to issue yet another bond because taxpayer Timothy Grier, of Wilkes-Barre, filed complaints with the state Department of Community and Economic Development to stop commissioners from borrowing $80.05 million to fund capital projects and the county deficit.

Tim's response:

Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, in regards to a possible county government shut-down, is quoted in one of today’s local papers as stating, “We have a very serious issue.”

All of the issues in county government are serious; Mr. Skrepenak is one of MANY at the Luzerne County Courthouse who are apparently just now figuring that out. Sadly, I believe that Commissioner Skrepenak and the rest of his cronies think that this is some type of game, as they continue to treat this issue as a matter of politics rather than policy. While American soldiers continue to die overseas for a government they believe in back home, Greg Skrepenak and political hacks like himself throughout Luzerne County continue to betray those individuals and their families.

Commissioner Skrepenak and the friends he hired ignored a policy the commissioner himself helped to create; they deceived us and bilked us out of tens of thousands of dollars so they could live like kings while the taxpayers were treated like peasants. These morally bankrupt individuals continue to remain unapologetic and refuse to acknowledge the gravity of their mistakes.

Have I made mistakes in life? Certainly. Not a one of us is perfect. The best we can do is get up every day and try to be the best we can be. Mr. Skrepenak, Mr. Hyder, Mr. Brace, and the rest of the crew at the Luzerne County Courthouse apparently get out of bed every day trying to figure out how to rip the rest of us off.

The petitions I submitted to DCED are clear. Deny the county’s requests to borrow as they stand, demand that the county follow the law and tell us what it intends to borrow the money for, and force the county to follow the guidelines for borrowing unfunded debt which are clearly established by the legislature.

Interestingly, just as Commissioner Skrepenak refuses to accept responsibility for the debit card fiasco, he is now trying to side-step my request. In another comment to Citizen’s Voice staff, Mr. Skrepenak claims, “We’re confident we can dispute any argument made.” I realize he is being told by his handlers, “stick to your guns, admit no shortcomings, give them nothing,” but Commissioner Skrepenak’s continued allegiance to those who paid for his campaign rather than to those who pay his salary may ultimately prove to be his downfall.

Mr. Skrepenak fails to understand the simple fact that if he follows the law, in this case the Local Government Unit Debt Act, I will withdraw my petitions. In fact, Commissioner Skrepenak, if you had done this from the beginning, it would not be such a grave issue today. I never would have had to file a complaint. This is now the quickest way to resolve this matter. There is no need to ask Commissioner Urban or anyone else to help you come up with a solution. The solution already exists; you continue to exacerbate the problem by trying to skirt the law.

I encourage everyone in Luzerne County to call on their state legislators and firmly, but politely, demand that this problem be rectified immediately and correctly – by the DCED forcing the county to follow the law. Contact information for state house and senate representatives can be found here:

http://www.house.state.pa.us/

http://www.pasen.gov/index.cfm

Luzerne County Debit Cards

It's really getting hard to keep up on this. Everyday brings another revelation, another headline and even more outrage.

There is a danger that this will overshadow all the other mismanagement such as the ballooning debt and failure to balance the county budget year after year and hiding it until after the last election. The sweetheart deal with PA Child Care for a juvenile jail in Pittston that is subject to a state audit that says the county may lose state reimbursements because of the way the lease was written. Declaring "emergencies" so they can avoid the bidding process to make improvements at the county prison and supposedly fix county owned bridges. How's the bridge repair going? A county owned bridge on Cleveland Street in Plains was damaged during the flood in November 2006 making it impassable and it's still not fixed! And on and on.

Yesterday it was revealed that Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak used his card to pay for hotel rooms for his kids that went with him to the conference of the PA County Commissioners in York. He said it was a mistake because he thought he used his own credit card to make the reservations. I used to be in the hotel business and whatever card you use to guarantee the room doesn't matter as you have to provide a form of payment when you check-in. So I'm sure when the desk clerk asked how he was paying he produced the county card and didn't offer another card for the kids rooms that had to be paid for separately. I listened to Corbett interview him on WILK and he denied that he even had a credit card. But then he told the TL he can’t say for sure how much he overbilled the county until he finishes reviewing his personal credit card receipts.

More questions have arisen about the star of this show Luzerne County Deputy Warden Sam Hyder about training in Lancaster and a couple of fact finding trips to a New York prison. Then it was revealed that he uses a county owned 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe that he takes home even when he is on vacation. Predictably, he has lawyered up.

And he should:

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett should make his determination “in the next week of so” whether to launch a criminal probe into alleged debit-card abuse by Luzerne County officials, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Someone is willing

We write our bond issues generically, so that we spell out the key specifics, but we have got some latitude as to what we can do and what capital projects can be undertaken, because as you know, the capital needs vary...There is economic development dollars included in there, so the projects can vary, and they change.”- Luzerne County Chief of Budget and Finance Sam Diaz

From what I've been reading in the papers that shouldn't really not be allowed. Any bond issue is supposed to spell out what it is paying for with specifics about the project like what is going to be built and how much it will cost with an assurance that the project will outlive the bond. These guys keep borrowing more money without telling us upfront what it is supposed to be spent on. Remember that they borrowed $9 Million to build a new Juvie detention facility then later decided to go with a lease arrangement at an outrageous price that is being investigated by the state. Then instead of holding on to the money for the long pro missed new jail or just returning it they pissed it away on other projects. I'm sure someone can make a case for the projects that were funded but that's not what the money was borrowed for.

I just became aware that a ordinary citizen can object to such nonsense and one extraordinary citizen did just that. From the CV:

Wilkes-Barre gadfly Tim Grier on Monday drove to Harrisburg to lodge an official complaint to stop Luzerne County’s plan to borrow $80 million.

The deadline to file a complaint with the state Department of Community and Economic Development about the plan is today at the end of the business day in Harrisburg.Grier says the state should reject the county borrowing scheme because it violates the state Local Government Unit Debt Act. He complains the county would balance this year’s budget with “unfunded debt.” He said the county failed to give “a clear description” of construction and property projects that would be financed. He said the county also failed to obtain “realistic cost estimates” of those projects.

Gadfly? I expect better from Michael Buffer in the CV. I'm not sure what that even means but it doesn't sound complimentary. Tim did us all a favor by voicing his objections.

A correction

On Saturday about 5PM I said "I also extended an invitation to Dan Meuser but he hasn't got back to me yet" about scheduling an interview. That wasn't a fair statement since I sent the email about 1PM that day but didn't give him time to respond before I posted. The first thing Monday morning his campaign got back to me and we are working out the details. My apologies to Dan Meuser and his campaign staff.

What?

I just checked the list of Pennsylvania's Most Influential Political blogs on blognetnews and somehow Gort42 is ranked number 2 this week after being out of the rankings for a few weeks. I can't argue with Jane (happy blogoversary my friend) being ranked number 1 but I seriously doubt that this little blog is more influential than some of the others on the list as follows:


1 Above Average Jane
2 Gort42
3 Suburban Guerrilla
4 The Pennsylvania Progressive
5 TONY PHYRILLAS
6 POLICY BLOG
7 West Chester Unplugged
8 Young Philly Politics
9 The Carbolic Smoke Ball
10 Booman Tribune
11 Keystone Politics
12 Comments From Left Field
13 Lincoln Blog
14 Lehigh Valley Ramblings
15 Pawatercooler.com
16 Pennsyltucky Politics
17 PSoTD
18 malcolmxpark.org
19 Is this Life?
20 Attytood

Many must reads are missing from this list. I'm sure I won't be ranked next week.

Another work of fiction

With all the outrage over the Debit Card scandal the fact that the latest Luzerne County budget doesn't add up has been overlooked. This year's plan has an eerie resemblance to last year's nonsense with even more invented revenues. Last year the budget called for $4 million from land sales that never happened and this year the figure is $6.3 million. Last year the county was supposed to get $3 million from beefed-up tax collections and they inflate that to $14 million from collection of unpaid property taxes for 2008.

With $7 million of iffy revenues built in the the 2007 plan they need to borrow about $20 million to cover this year's shortfall although the official figure is $14.9 million. 2008 promises to be worse and the Bond brother will be going back to the county credit/debit card to fund the next shortage. But that won't prevent the DebitCardmissioner and his new sidekick from borrowing even more money to fund the wish list such as a new $100 million county prison.

From the TL: Jenkins Township resident Charles Hatchko said the Shiites and Sunnis get along better than Skrepenak and Urban. Hatchko generated applause when he said he is reviving the fight for a home rule form of government, in part due to the county’s undocumented debit card spending.

Another resident questioned why the $14.9 million deficit was not fully disclosed before the November election.

Home rule has to be revisited.

Queer eye for the blog guy

So many comings and goings in the local blogosphere. The going included LV Dem throwing in the towel at Politics: Lehigh Valley Style. He might be still active at Keystone Politcs but either way I will miss his insights. Froth Slosh B'Gosh hasn't updated in a while and may not be back. Dr. Tara has also disappeared. Danny Bauder is hot and cold with My Take taking yet another break. Beale's Bites went dark again but a few other media sites have popped up and I'm awaiting the return of Ignorance is Bliss.


On the plus side Dr. Rick is active again at The American Check-Up and PAWaterCooler that just celebrated it's first blogoversary. Congrats Alex. I had to fix a few links because Chis decided to screw with us and change his format. So we have a new and improved GrassrootsPa link. The True Democrats of the Lehigh Valley had a change of heart a let a Republican in and are now known as the The Lehigh Valley Political Blog . Julian is a great addition to the discussion. What has happened to the PoliticsPA press release feature?

New stuff. Regular commenter Eddy has started his own blog at The Angry Republican and some guy that has the time to listen to the radio all day gives his thoughts at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Watcher. Update: I almost forgot that one our original NEPA bloggers has returned to the fold, Michelle is back at mhryvnak.net.


Then there is the tried and true. My old friend Above Average Jane is keeping up on the commonwealth and other things. The Lu Lac Political Letter has been asking questions about the latest Luzerne County scandal with more to come. PSOTD is always asking questions about something. Mayhem In The House Of Jacq is a life blog that we can all relate to. Randy at Penn Patriot is a sharp guy that has always been willing to help me out, thank you my friend. Kat has challenges. Slobby is hot and cold, get on the stick, will ya:) She who hunts whales has been caught up in some sort of Internet meme ting. Breaking Heynabonics News!!! comes from Jennifer .On the policy front E-Robin can run circles around me. Joe is another balance. Bernie is Bernie.

Capitol Ideas has been a good friend and so has Pennsyltucky Politics.

And just keeping up with the YouTube weekend we have multi-media Markie of Merritville with this tribute to the Washington Generals, aka, The Luzerne County Republican Party:

Swiderski for Congress

Paul Swiderski, candidate for the Republican nomination in the 10th CD of Pennsylvania has just agreed to do an interview with me. I also extended an invitation to Dan Meuser but he hasn't got back to me yet. I talked with Chris Hackett a few months back and hope to do it again. After the primary I hope to sit down with Congressman Carney if Rebecca lets me.

I will be meeting with Paul to discuss boring stuff like issues. I hope to talk with all the candidates before the primary. If anyone has any questions they would like me to ask Paul please leave them in the comments or send me an email. Be nice folks and please keep it clean.

YouTube weekend

It will be another light and lazy weekend. I'll just surf YouTube and share what I find just like last weekend.

The Ukelele's have become one of my favorites thanks to Carl and Miss C, damn you both.

I hope to take my bride to the land of my ancestors and catch a show.

Only this band can take a soppy love song and make it funny





The Ukulele Orchestra of GB - You Dont bring me Flowers

Pay it back

In the latest twist in the Luzerne County debit card scandal County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak has ordered officials who made purchases using county debit cards payback all the money then submit receipts to get reimbursement. Not a bad attempt at damage control along with throwing "Sapphire" Sam Hyder (thanks Corbett) under a bus.


Some people have come to Hyder's defense saying he is being made the scapegoat because he used his card to buy some drinks at a Las Vegas establishment that specializes in young women displaying liberated sweater puppies and was part of the group that paid $896.88 to dine at a French restaurant, that's a lot of snails and crepes. But I don't buy his color of the card confusion excuse and he may become the sacrificial lamb in the attempt to get this off the front pages when there should be wholesale slaughter in this affair.

This should be taken a step further. After the county gets it's money back any county bigwig that can't fully account for the charges without a really good explanation should be fired or in the case of the DebitCardmissioner himself, resign.


Taking my advice from yesterday District Attorney David W. Lupas has requested a review by the state Office of Attorney General.