Pennsylvania 10th CD air war/update

The latest ad from the Chris Hackett was a standard issues contrast spot with the last frame saying that Chris Carney is more liberal than Obama with both their pictures on the screen at the same time. I thought it was effective although I''m getting tired of Republicans using the word liberal as a pejorative. I would post it if it was available (get on the stick Mark).



A few days ago the Carney campaign and the DCCC started went on the air with a couple of attack ads that get personal about his companies recent history of late tax payments.


To be fair to Hackett the last time I saw him he explained that they were the equivalents of nuisance taxes for businesses and he was disputing them on the merits. After all 16 grand is not going to break him or his companies. But he paid them late and that is fair game.

His camp reacted strongly to the Dems spots.


Dallas, PA – Yesterday, Chris Carney's campaign stooped to a new low launching an untrue negative attack ad against challenger Chris Hackett.
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Just like the Washington politician that he is, Carney has now obliterated his promise on primary election night, when he then said, ""I offer my congratulations to Mr. Hackett and look forward to a campaign that focuses on the issues that really matter to the families of northeast and central Pennsylvania." (Carney, WNEP, 4/23/2008)
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First, Carney repeatedly rejected numerous debate offers. Now, he engages in personal character attacks. So much for a "campaign that focuses on the issues."
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"Now that Chris Carney's liberal record has begun to be exposes, he has officially hit the panic button. I guess he no longer believes his campaign's own made up poll numbers," said Hackett campaign spokesman Mark Harris. "Chris Hackett has spent nearly twenty years creating jobs in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. Now the best Carney can do to try to save his seat in Congress is smear Chris Hackett. It's a disgrace, and our district deserves better."
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Harris continued: "Regardless of Carney and his liberal allies' personal mudslinging, rest assured that this election will be about the issues. The voters of the Tenth District do not want a liberal congressman who votes to raise taxes, increase wasteful pork spending, oppose off-shore oil drilling, expand corporate welfare, and support taxpayer funded abortions. That's why they are rejecting Chris Carney."


The Carney people are sticking by their guns.


FACT CHECK: HACKETT'S HYPOCRISY


Hackett Owes Taxes:
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The Scranton Times Tribune (6/11), reported that Hackett's company One Source Staffing owed tens of thousands in back taxes. Hackett's $16,915state tax lien filed Aug. 12, 2004 is still listed as outstanding at the Luzerne county courthouse.
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Hackett claimed to pay the state of Pennsylvania $13,615 on August 2,2007 the same month he announced his Congressional bid. Hackett also waited until he had secured his party's nomination on April 22,2008 to settle the bulk of his tax liens four and five years overdue?finalizing a $7,946 federal lien from 2003 on April 23, 2008 and a$14,966 state lien from 2004 on May 1, 2008.
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Politico (7/23) reported that Republican House candidate Chris Hackett touts his experience as a certified public accountant who knows a few things about numbers and balancing the books. But since 2000, court filings and newspaper accounts show that the Internal Revenue Service and tax authorities in NewYork and Pennsylvania have filed nine liens against businesses owned by Hackett.
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Hackett Hires Illegal Immigrant, and doesn't pay taxes:
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The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (4/8) reported that Hackett admitted to hiring an illegal housekeeper. "Hackett said he fired his housekeeper after learning the woman was an illegal immigrant. He didn't notify the authorities because, he said, he didn't feel he was required to do that."Chris Hackett's own advertisements have the temerity to tout "Hackett's strong leadership against illegal immigration..." (Hackett TV SPOT "Best")Was his strong leadership hiring an illegal immigrant and not paying the taxes? This is clear evidence that Hackett believes in one set of rules for himself, and another for everyone else. People are tired of that kind of politician.
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Hackett was sued to pay his taxes:One Source was sued by the Williamsport City and School District Mercantile &Privilege Tax Office for not withholding the right amount from workers.After the office performed an audit, the realized that One Source (previously Workforce Solutions) did not properly withhold taxes for certain employees.OneSource owed $1,170 for withholding, plus another $117 in penalties and another $102.60 in interest.Oddly, One Source agreed to pay the $1,170 but refused to pay the penalty and interest, forcing the locality to sue. The locality won the case, and then One Source settled the suit.

The Carney spot has this tag line:


Hackett on Taxes: You pay 'em so he doesn't have to



Talk





Chris Hackett: Mistakes Happen (PA-10)

Rumors and gossip

I sit here in my little corner of Luzerne County and throw out some speculation and it gets all kinds of attention. If any of it's wrong I will post a correction, after all I don't want to violate any of Bernie's ethics rules.

My previous post about Joe Peters running in the 10th CD was picked up by Stanley at Keystone Politics in KP's Delegation '08 Blog but LVDem is not impressed by him noting that he got creamed in his AG run. The Yonk thinks he will cruise to victory but I doubt that my friend. 2008 is going to be another big year for the Democrats. His biggest fan is Bill Fitz who considers himself the kiss of death in these sort of things. He also posted it at PAWaterCooler.com which is hottest new PA website according to the Politico. Christopher Hackett, of One Source Staffing Solutions, has also been mentioned as the "true conservative" considering a run. But after the Mueser brothers catching flak about giving to Democrats his $5000 donation to Luzerne County Democratic Commissioner Greg Skrepnak will need to be explained. But just like Pride Mobility, One Source has to pay to play.

In the 11th CD it seems that Scranton Times columnist Chris Kelly reads Gort42 and cites my Chris Doherty post -without attribution: While supporters decried Judge Munley’s decision as a bitter defeat, it was the best possible outcome for Mayor Fife (Barletta), who some fans have dubbed “St. Lou.” His enhanced martyrdom will be invaluable next year when he’s running against Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty for the congressional seat now occupied by Rep. Paul Kanjorksi. GrassrootsPA points out a story of the the chairman of National Republican Congressional Committee knocking down Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta's door to get him to run against Kanjo. Lou is so coy. Another rally in support of Lou's law is planned for Nanticoke this Sunday. And just to add to the fire:

I drove past Senunas' Bar in W-B yesterday afternoon ...and spotted John Yudichak having a drink with Jim and Evie McNulty. I have a tendency to read into things, but I know Big Jim has done work for him in the past, and he's up for re-election next year ... but why meet at a bar that's not in his district or near South Scranton, where McNulty lives and has his office. Yudichak has always had ambitions to run for higher office, and I wonder if he's thinking about running for ether state senate against Musto or congress against Kanjo. It would be really interesting (and good for Kanjo) if both Doherty and Yudichak ran.

10th CD update

Candidates are dropping in and out of the race for the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District. The big news today is that former New Jersey state senator John Scott has withdrawn from the contest.

That leaves 4 announced candidates, Chris Hackett, Shavertown, owner of One Source Staffing; Dan Meuser, Harveys Lake, president of Pride Mobility Products; Donald Ely, Sunbury, a retired schoolteacher and minister; and Paul R. Swiderski, Harding, self-employed. Previously Joe Peters and Tom Marino ruled out a bid and Vince Sweeney is still thinking about it.

There is still time for someone else to jump into this thing and a commenter gives us a heads up to another prospective candidate; I heard that Amber from Club 10 will enter the race. She is raising funds Thursday night in the VIP room.

The announced candidates have websites in various stages of development.

Incumbent Democrat Chris Carney's site has just been given a makeover.

Paul Swiderski was the first of the challengers to pop up on the web. The best feature of it is his campaign blog.

Dan Meuser has his bio and sketches out some policy positions with a promise of more content to come.

This one is my favorite so far. Don Ely has bullet points saying what he is for and against without any explanation of his positions. I'm sure he will expand on them later. Some of what he OPPOSES caught my eye; Law of the Sea U. N. Treaty, U. N. Taxing of Americans, North American Union and the ever popular The Whole Liberal “Hate America” Agenda.


Chris Hackett is a slacker in this category with only a Coming Soon. But he got some press this week with the Pocono News and The Wayne Independent covering his announcement tour. And the DC publication The Hill has this blurb:

Republican candidates hoping to unseat vulnerable House Democrats by and large are sticking by their party’s line in opposition to the children’s healthcare bill President Bush vetoed earlier this month....if GOP congressional hopefuls are fearful that backing Bush and the House Republican leadership against the SCHIP bill will hurt their campaigns, they aren’t showing it in their public statements.

In Pennsylvania, businessman Chris Hackett, one of two top Republican contenders running against Rep. Chris Carney (D), cited Carney’s vote for SCHIP as one of several that “don’t reflect the values of the district in any way, shape or form.”

Asked if the president was right to veto the bill, Hackett said, “Absolutely, yes.”

Ace TL political reporter Bill O'Boyle has the spin from the NRCC and Carney's office on the race.

Ken Spain, press secretary at the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he’s not surprised by the large field.


“Chris Carney’s record of voting for tax hikes and runaway spending has made him an easy target so it should come as no surprise that he has attracted stiff Republican opposition in this race,” Spain said. “Every day that he allows himself to serve as a rubber stamp for this wildly unpopular Democrat-led Congress, he provides more incentive for Republican challengers to line up against him and send a message to Washington.”

That drew a response from Rebecca Gale, spokesperson for Carney in Washington.

“Congressman Carney is proud of his record as a fiscal conservative,” Gale said. “The NRCC is just grasping at straws since their first-tier candidates have already backed away from challenging Congressman Carney.”

It's good to see Hackett address the issues in the news. I've asked the other candidates to tell us what they think of the SCHIP bill but for some reason they are being shy. I disagree with Hackett on this issue but he his willing to take a position and defend it.

Luzerne County update

“Next year is not what I am ruling on.”- Judge Ann Lokuta


Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla is promissing cuts in next year's budget but Judge Lokuta doesn't buy into it. Walter Griffith and Ed Chesnovitch have been drilling county officials in the hearings on their request to borrow $16 million to cover last year's bills and she has let them question the officials dealing with this mess.

It would be helpful if Sam Diaz and Sam Guesto testified on how the county got into this bind in the first place.

Petrilla wants to cut 20 percent from the county’s 2009 budget


Judge Lokuta will decide if county can borrow $16 M


Judge grills Petrilla on ’08 deficit


The latest version of the Life Transiition plan claims that $1.8 million will be saved in 2009 with the acceptance of an early-retirement incentive plan by 127 county employees. The last time they tried this the county hired back many of the so called retired employees through a temp agency. I have yet to see an accounting or progress report that documents any money that has been saved. The temp agency that the Bond Brothers (Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid) used was One Source Staffing Solutions owned by 10th CD Republican candidate Chris Hackett who gave his first ever political contribution to the Bond Brothers reelection committee.



Musto chosen to fill county judge vacancy


Joe Musto, brother of State Senator Ray Musto, will serve out the term of Judge Michael Conahan on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas who supposedly resigned last year. Conanhan has moved on to being a senior Judge presiding over bench trials that everyone who pays attention knows who will win. The rumor mill says that Conahan is in deep doo doo because of his actions involving PA Child Care. Musto was appointed to the bench in 1993 by Governor Casey but lost the following election to Conahan. I think we got that one wrong.

The big bucks

The Supreme Court ruled a few years ago that money equals free speech (Buckley v. Valeo). Some people have a louder voice than others.

Pennsylvania has very few restrictions on the amounts that can be given to a candidate for any office. A story today in the TL by Jennifer Learn-Andes spells it out:

Big money for Skrep, Dem mate to end ’06

Some of the names that gave big bucks to the incumbent Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid (the Bond Brothers) jumped out at me:

Developer Robert K. Mericle was the top donor, giving $10,500 to the campaign. Other representatives of his company, Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, gave another $7,000.


How many times has he asked for a tax break from the county or the school district and local government where his next project is located?

Christopher Hackett, of One Source Staffing Solutions in Wilkes-Barre, $5,000

When the Bond Brothers came up with the Life Transition Plan to give a golden parachute to long time employees to get them to retire many of them were hired back to "ease the transition." They used a temp service. Guess which one.

There are many more examples but you get the idea.

PA 10th CD update

Chris Carney has now attracted at least 5 Republican challengers.

Don Ely, a retired school teacher and minister from Northumberland County is the only one who has officially announced his candidacy for the nomination. Davis Haines of Tunkhannock is someone I've never heard of but he knows State Rep. Tina Pickett and showed up at her picnic. As predicted self described Homeland Security expert and statewide loser Joe Peters has been on the hustings. Greg Skrepenak's (D-Luzerne) buddy Christopher Hackett of One Source Staffing Solutions got some nice press in the Williamsport paper. He emphasized his opposition to illegal immigration, which is standard fare for a Republican, but that is dangerous territory for someone who runs a temp agency.

And the eventual nominee Dan Meuser had a nice interview with Townhall. He bobbed and weaved about Iraq and other foreign policy issues and takes a couple of swipes at Bush. He's against increasing taxes, promotes free trade but doesn't want to screw with Social Security.

I think Meuser will be the nominee because he has the most money, even if he gives some of it to Hillary and other Democrats. The GOP is going to be playing defense in 2008 and having a candidate like Don Sherwood that is willing to buy a seat in Congress will be a great help.

Chris Hackett for Congress, the interview

Chris Hackett is the owner of One Source Staffing Solutions since 1990. He has a degree in accounting from Wittenberg University in Ohio and is a long time resident of Shavertown in Luzerne County.

Why Congress?

I think Congress is an environment where I think I can make a significant impact. I'm running because of my disappointment with the current direction of our government. They have become too invasive in our individual lives and the approach to spending is deplorable.

There is an old adage in politics that says challengers don’t win elections, incumbents lose them.I think Don Sherwood proved that. Why do you think Carney deserves to lose?

I think Carney does deserve to lose because he doesn’t reflect the values of the 10th congressional district very effectively. When you look at some of the votes that he has cast during his time in Congress they have been inconsistent with the rhetoric he put forth during his campaign. I don’t think they necessarily reflect the values of the district.

Give me an example?

I will give you several. One is the card check vote which allows unions to organize employees without a secret ballot. This would remove a fundamental right that workers have to a secret ballot which is protection from coercive actions by union organizers. I think the most recent example is the S-CHIP legislation that takes dollars out of Medicare and uses them to provide health insurance to illegal immigrants. Taking away the states rights to verify that they are a US citizen before they can be offered those benefits. Some of those kinds of things really fly in the face of the district.

Big thing in the news was General Petraeus said when asked if the war in Iraq is making us safer he said he didn’t know. He back tracked later. What do you think?

I think the war in Iraq has made us safer. What I would point to is lack of attacks in this country during the most recent time frame. I actually believe we are safer because we have taken the fight to these Islamic fanatics first hand.

In you latest press release you used the phrase Islamofascist terrorism. What does that mean?

My view is that this war is not just a war in Iraq. This a war against an ideology, much like the war against the Soviets. That was an ideology that they were trying to force on other countries. Here is the relationship I would draw for you. If you look at the parallels between the cold war and the war we are currently fighting they are very, very similar. In 1945 World War II ended. In 1947 because Europe wasn’t getting back on it’s feet we rolled out something called the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was a self serving vehicle which was perfectly appropriate and well orchestrated, it really helped Europe get back on it’s feet. We saw what was happening in Eastern Europe with of many of those countries becoming Communist so we started the containment process. So in 1947 we rolled out the Marshall Plan. In 1950 there was a war in Korea that was a containment activity and the war in Vietnam was a containment activity. The war in Afghanistan was an effort of containment. I don’t know if most people understand but we actually backed Al Qaeda against the Soviets in trying to maintain Afghanistan’s independence. During the cold period it took us 50years to win that war. And I dare say we were effective in winning that war. But there was many different pieces and again that was an ideology that these people, these communists, were trying to force on the rest of the world. It was a way of living, away of life, and we appropriately had a long term thought out strategy on how we were going to win it. It think that’s what we really need to be effective against these Islamist fascists. I’m sure you understand that the goal here is putting in place a theocracy. That is the goal of these Islamic extremists, to use a theocracy much like what was in place in Afghanistan before we unseated that terrorist regime. They oppressed the people, they ruled through fear, it’s no different than any other Dictatorship and that’s what we are fighting against. We’re not fighting against Iraqi’s or Afghan’s but we’re fighting against an ideology. These people are out to get us. They have articulated a one hundred year plan that they have to try to beat us. So they’re not looking at this as a short term fight, this is a long term conflict.

How about the domestic reaction to 9/11 such as the Patriot Act? Do you support the Patriot Act?

Yes. I think the Patriot Act was an appropriate response and I think one of the things we do is to continue to be aggressive in how we fight against this enemy.

The Military Commissions Act. One of things that bothers me is that the Government can declare somebody an enemy combatant and hold them without habeas corpus. Do you favor that?

I favor an aggressive approach in trying to deal with our enemy and I do believe we should be as aggressive as possible. This is in fact a war and we need to deal with it as such. .

Specifically, do you favor holding an American citizen without access to the courts?

Correct me if I’m wrong but they are not holding American citizens, are they?

Jose Padilla

That’s true he was held, but has since been convicted and is awaiting sentencing. The reality is we have to hold enemy combatants. The Military Commissions Act gave broad authority to the President to designate someone is an illegal enemy combatant, which was the designation issued to Jose Padilla.

Even they are a United States citizen arrested in the United States?

Yes.

You say you are Pro-Family, what do you mean by that? Nobody is anti-family.

I disagree with you, I think some people are anti-family. I think there is no more important unit than the family structure and defining that as a mother and father is very important to me. I think from an educational perspective the students that clearly do best are in good solid family situations. I’m pro-family, I’m pro-life and I’m very interested in using that as the building block for our society. I believe that what our society stands on.

On the pro-life issue. Some say that you were pro-choice before?

No.

Always been?

Always been, I was raised Catholic and I think some people like to misinterpret things for their own purposes.

What about abstinence only education?

I think the important thing is that the government not be involved in providing birth control because that is not the role of government. There are good reasons that abstinence makes sense. I think we must continue to educate kids, as the media as well as rock and rap have a promiscuous tone and demeanor which is often less than positive. I think providing the other side of the story is useful and important.

Gay marriage, for or against?

Opposed.

Gay adoption?

I would oppose that because of the sanctity of mother and father relationship.

Plain equal rights for gay citizens?

What does that mean?

You can’t be fired because you’re gay? Many states allow it.

I think that’s an interesting point because I think states have rights to do what they like. But I’m not for any form of discrimination, but I would also suggest no single group should get any preferential treatment, period.

You run a temp agency and temp agencies are notorious for hiring illegal aliens. What do you do prevent to prevent that?

I think that’s an absolute mischaracterization of the flexible staffing business and I think the tone of that is insulting. Please also note, I own 3 other businesses - Professional Recruiting, Insurance Brokerage and Administrative Services. That having been said I will answer your question. We have been using the Homeland Security Pilot Program to verify that someone’s name ,ssn and date of birth match. We are one of the 8000 companies in the country to use this system to make sure that the people that we hire are not illegal aliens.

Nobody is for illegal immigration.

I disagree with that. There are lots of organizations that are for it. Look at the ACLU and their efforts to fight the most recent rules of the Department of Homeland Security to enforce no matches within the Social Security Admin database.

What do you think of Lou Barletta’s approach?

I give Lou a lot of credit for taking a stand and trying to get something done. Whether in fact it’s the right thing or wrong thing isn’t for me to decide but I applaud him for taking action and trying to deal with the problem in a proactive fashion.

DO you think he is trying to usurp the powers of the federal government?

That’s a very interesting question because the premise that lies behind it is that the federal government has the right to regulate these things through the commerce clause. I think there is a question to where states rights are and being a federalist and recognizing the states should have more of the rights that have been taken away from them since 1937. States should have the latitude to be more aggressive in dealing with theses issues.

You made a contribution the Luzerne County Democratic County Commissioners then got a county contract. Do you want to address that?

I would be happy to. I brought you a list because I thought you might want it, these are the contributions made to the Skrepnak/Vonderheid committee. Chris Hackett gave $5000 on 12/15/2006. There are some other people you might recognize that also contributed on the same day - I think the total was $161,000 for that day. My point is that I was a supporter of Todd Vonderheid and I think many Republicans supported Vonderheid. Our effort was to have better county government. I think if you got hrough this list you will find that most people don’t do any work with the county and just wanted better government - like me. Vonderheid came from the Chamber and really understands business and he would try to run the county as a business and be more frugal with the taxpayers money. I think his efforts went well from that perspective. We have work with the county but the contract that you are talking about started at the end of 2005 and was finished in April 2007. To suggest that this $5000 contribution was something that we paid to get the contract is an illegitimate, politically motivated conclusion. But I want to be clear, I also made contributions to Todd when he was initially running in 2003, as well as a fund raiser in early 2006. Each of those contributions was $1,000. But I think it is disingenuous to say we got this business because of the any contributions - the county does have a formal bidding process and the rates we bid are clearly very, very competitive. Please remember, the 19% mark-up on the wages we paid also had to cover FICA, FUTA, SUTA and Worker's Compensation costs, payroll processing as well as the cost of carrying the receivables - we were paid over 200 out for some of our invoices. Clearly this was not the "sweetheart" deal that some would suggest. We did bill at a 30% mark-up for a couple employees because they were a much higher worker's compensation category.

People want to know how you voted last time?

I think we all go into the voting booth and pull the levers that we think are right. And I think we have a right to maintain our privacy on how we vote. I think who I vote for is my business and nobody else’s business.

The Stephen Colbert question. Dubya, a great president or the greatest?

I think that history is going to show that a lot oft he things that George Bush is doing today particularly in the war against terrorism are going to be correct. I will tell you have I have some real problems with the spending. I absolutely oppose earmarks.

Ed. Note: At this point my recorded malfunctioned so I will paraphrase his answers.

On college football Penn State and ND are my two favorite teams- but I also like Ohio State - I think Jim Tressler is a class act.

I asked some questions that were provided in the comments on an earlier post.

Has your company ever employed any illegal immigrants?

We comply with all laws regarding employment and as it relates to verifying ability to work in the US we go much further than most employers. The law requires employers to obtain certain acceptable documents to prove someone is able to work in this country. It is up to the judgment of the individual looking at the documents to assess validity. If they look reasonable, they must be accepted, as a business opens itself up to claims of discrimination if they reject prospective employees based on the exercising of this judgment.

As I noted before, we are part of a very small percentage of employers that use the Homeland Security program to verify a match of the Social Security Number, Data of Birth and Name. Aside from identify theft, this gives us a very high degree of certainty that the individual is eligible to work in the United States. We started utilization of this program over two years ago.

You are stating that you are pro life- are there any exceptions you would accept for a woman to get an abortion?

Yes. Rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

Do you favor making English the official language of the US?

Yes. But I think it is important to understand why I feel this way. One of the reasons our country is so prosperous is we share a common language, common currency, all states have property rights and we all follow the rule of law as a basis for interaction. If you don't require a common language, it decreases efficiency, and keeps those who don't learn English in low paying positions. Think about the jobs available to an individual who only speaks a foreign language - it is very limiting.

You have been a successful businessman but you have never donated any significant amount to the Republican Party…

My wife Ramah and I have tried to make a difference in a different way. We've focused on contributions to non-profits, much of it anonymous, as a way to positively impact our community. As you know the United Way is an organization we have been very involved with and continue to support. I feel by trying to earn the seat representing the 10th congressional district, I can further make a contribution to our community.

Have you made other contributions to Democrats and if you have to whom?

I made a $500 contribution to Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton because I thought Tom McGroarity wasn’t doing a good job. Mayor McGroarity was anti-Chamber and was generally an obstructionist and I would have supported almost anyone to keep him from gaining an additional term. The City of Wilkes-Barre is still digging out from his mismanagement.

He was asked about the war and he said that he wanted to concentrate on winning the war instead of getting out.

Regardless of whether it was right to get into Iraq I think we have a moral obligation to stay until the country is secure. We don’t want to leave behind a haven for terrorists. Additionally, military doctrine states you must have security before you can have an orderly and safe withdraw - it would put our troops at significant risk if we simply attempted to cut and run.

Do you favor raising the CAFE standards?

No. Let the market determine that. I also favor drilling for oil in ANWAR as a way to enhance energy independence.

Please expand on the following.The Wilkes-Barre Chamber, the biggest culprit when it comes to keeping wages down in the area.

I can't understand how anyone can make this argument. If we look at it from a supply and demand perspective; the Chamber's strategic plan and core mission calls for the recruitment and retainment of businesses in NEPA. If the Chamber brings in new businesses, and they hire Associates, the supply of available workers decreases and there is upward pressure on wages. Therefore, the best way to depress wages - if you could actually believe that was the intent of the Chamber - the simplest way to do it would be to not attract new business to the area. Clearly, this flies in the face of the facts as evidenced by the number of industrial parks the Chambers in the region have developed to provide a fertile environment for new businesses to locate.

Ask him about his vision for the future, and how he will create something other than part time jobs.

I very much appreciate this question, as it will give me a chance to address a common misconception about what we do. Our business recruits and places individuals from CEO's of public companies to hourly Associates. We've had assignments where people earn $100,000 doing computer engineering and were on these assignments for 8 years. We currently have 200 software trainers making $14-$17 per hour and many of these assignments have been ongoing for two years. 95% of our work is FULLTIME and we are a bridge to our client's payroll for 100's of people per year. Additionally, the majority of our "part-time" work is medical staffing and these tend to be nurses working full time at other locations who are looking for some additional hours.Regarding my vision for job creation. I have worked with many companies who have considered making our region the home for a new location. I often meet with these companies via my involvement with Penn's Northeast or the various chamber organization. I review the labor market makeup and help them decide if our market has the right workforce given what they are willing to offer in terms of compensation, benefits, working conditions, hours and necessary skills. I feel the development of the new medical school in the Scranton area, the by-pass around Selinsgrove, and keeping interstate 80 from being tolled is critical to the future of our region.

119th forum recap

As promissed here is the report from Gort42 Special Correspondent Austin Smith Ford who attended the LWV forum with the 3 Democratic hopefuls for the 119th State Represenative seat being vacated by John Yudichak.

His report:


The League of Women Voters hosted a debate last night between the three Democratic candidates for State Representative from the 119th district. Gort knew I would be going and would have a lot to say so he asked me to prepare a guest post.

The candidates are Gary Zingaretti, Bob Morgan and Gerald Mullery. I had reached out to each of them as soon as I realized that John Yudichak would not be running for the seat again. Eventually I volunteered briefly for Justin Behrens before he dropped out of this race. I have friends who are supporting Morgan, my grandmother has a Zingaretti sign in her yard and at one point I thought I would vote for Mullery on a friend’s recommendation. So I was there without a horse in the race.

One thing that surprised me was that the candidates all took care to position themselves to the right. It was as if they were apologizing for having a “D” after their names, claiming it is mostly because their parents were doing it. I wonder if they realize that this district has one of the highest percentages of Democrats outside of Philadelphia. No matter who wins this seat, they leave themselves open to a challenge from a populist progressive. Especially if that challenger can expand the electorate by speaking to issues that traditional media isn’t covering.

Before the candidates got there I wrote a question about taxation. It stated that property and sales taxes are regressive and a burden to working class families so what, if anything, can be done about it?

Morgan was the only one to answer correctly, that we need a more progressive income tax even if it takes an amendment to our constitution. He added that we can eventually eliminate property tax.

Zingaretti believes that, to lower property tax, we must have economic development first. That we should expand the number of items that sales tax applies to and bring it lower than 6%. With the working poor loosing almost a third of their income on taxes, I believe economic development is dependent on reducing property tax.

Mullery wants to know where the gaming revenue is that was supposedly going to lower our property tax. Yeah where the hell is that money anyway? We gave those casinos low taxes and plenty of incentive to make a killing suckering us out of money and didn’t get our tax relief. I think we threw good money after bad.

Mullery also stated that progressive tax is unfair. That is real bad news for the poorer 98% of us. If our federal government agreed with him we would be paying much higher tax rates and getting much less from our government.

Often, it is mentioned that, our state’s constitution bars a progressive tax with its uniformity clause. But the federal government and other states that have graduated taxes have similar clauses. Uniformity requires that the law applies the same way regardless of geographic location among other things but if they wanted a flat tax to be part of our constitution why didn’t they say so? What we are left with is that the working class people are paying a higher percentage of their income into property tax and sales tax than our very rich.

But less about what they didn’t talk about and more about what they did.

The issue of the state pension crisis came up at several points and I think all of the candidates had real solutions to it. Mullery noted that we should start by not hiring one more person under the current system. Morgan went a step further in saying that we need to role back the pension for legislators but not for teachers or state employees. Zingaretti agreed and pointed out that taking the new pension plan away from teachers would result in an uphill legal battle so it is out of the question.

He feels that we need to move away from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. This sounds pretty smart to me. Instead of guaranteeing a pension we promise a certain amount that the state will contribute. Again this is all for people that we hire going forward and wont effect anyone already teaching or working for the state.

On library funding Morgan and Zingaretti both see it as part of our commitment to education whereas Mullery expressed his support for libraries but qualified it with something to the effect of, only when our state can afford it.

Public education is the best investment our state can make. A national study showed that we get back 17 dollars for every 1 we put into educating. That is only a ten year turn around too. A similar, more recent, one in New York State showed that their return is closer to 27 dollars. If these numbers hold up at all, we need to be pumping cash hand over fist into our schools not waiting till we can afford it.

On another topic Mullery supports term limits and serious campaign finance reform. He even supported a limit on how much money can be spent for a campaign. Hells yeah, this would help force candidates to get out and talk to people more about specific policies instead of raising more money for TV adds that make you look like a nice guy but don’t reveal any of your ideology.

Morgan mentioned that we need more controls on lobbyists. He said we have legislators getting paid to lobby the governor. I didn’t know that but I did know we have some of the weakest campaign finance reporting laws in the country.

When they were asked about the budget impasse they all had some ideas on the budget. I didn’t take notes on the impasse part because as ridiculous as the delay was it is still more important that the thing works, which for the most part, it doesn’t.

Mullery believes that we need to cut way more than the 1% of spending like we did with the most recent budget. He talked about the 20% of our budget that is reserved for discretionary like he couldn’t wait to find stuff to cut. The other 80% is the money they have a more specific plan for when they write the budget. He believes we need “sheer fiscal responsibility.” I don’t see how his brand of fiscal conservatism is responsible and I argue that it has led to this state to conserving more problems than cash in the past.

Zingaretti pointed out that much of the discretionary spending is used to keep our kids in school and that makes us money in the long run (DING!). He believes the state should ask its agencies to prepare budgets, not based on how much money they got last year, but a 10% cut.

On gas drilling it was Morgan’s turn to answer first and he feels it will be a boon to our economy but that we must do it right to protect the environment. He and Zingaretti agreed we need higher standards than we had with coal mining back in the day. Zingaretti again offered some operational specifics like properly staffing DEP agents at the well locations and charging those costs to gas companies who are making a profit.

It is a great idea to internalize the costs, but I wish there was someone on stage to rail against the privatizing of this effort. If we are going to rape our land in a risky move to pick up a few bucks can’t we put all of the profits into our state instead of a portion? We could still involve the free market but it would be subservient to our democracy instead of vise versa.

Mullery is opposed to a moratorium on drilling because we need the jobs so desperately. If I can light the water in my tub on fire, I’m moving. I don’t care how awesome my job is.

There was a question about infrastructure and some of the candidates talked about the proposal to toll I80. Mullery did not. He said we should maintain our current budget and infrastructure. Which is impossible, over 20% of our bridges are in substandard conditions and at the current rate we will still be over 20% in five years. PennDot did a study and said they need $400 million to ensure we don’t have a collapse.

Morgan wants 40% of the money from gas drilling in Marcellus Shale to go towards infrastructure in the communities affected by it. Zingaretti would not move forward with another proposal to tax I80 and would also use money from gas drilling. He believes we need to privatize our interstate highway system (facepalm).

All of the candidates noted that Pennsylvania’s small businesses are paying a tax of 9.9%. That is good for second highest in the nation. In post game questioning Morgan noted that 71% of companies doing business here are not paying that tax. Many of them achieve this by incorporating in Delaware where it is easy and cheap. I didn’t realize it was that bad.

There were some opening and closing arguments, wherein the candidates touted their experience and reputation. There are some differences in experience but I don’t think it would be a big factor in their overall performance as a legislator. They all seem like great members of their communities.

I was very pleased that we heard some distinctly different policies and some new viewpoints. There were a bunch of people covering it and if there papers hit their mark, the voters will probably know a bit more about these candidates then they usually do when there isn’t an incumbent. In that regard the evening was a win for everyone.

I am surprised to report I might vote for Morgan. I tore him up in his last effort to become controller for what I felt was a conflict of interest. Zingaretti and I had a great, although quick, conversation about local government reforms including the forthcoming home rule charter and we saw eye to eye on a lot of them. He is hesitant to fight for a more fair system income tax though and that is a big issue to me. Regardless I will tell my grandmother to keep the red sign in her yard and I will probably not endorse anyone to my friends. They will be shocked.

Another big issue for me is healthcare. Nobody mentioned tonight that there are a couple million people in this state without care. That the states are more empowered to deal with it even considering the restrictions in the recent federal bill. We will either fight like hell for a real solution or continue to see our care decline in quality and rise in costs.

I also had a chance to speak with Rick Arnold the lone Republican in this race. I asked him about how the Democratic candidates are talking up their conservative credentials and asked if he was impressed. He avoids the labels and says that in this district we are cut from the same cloth of traditional values and real character. “It is about the people not the party.”

About our income tax he feels replacing it with a progressive one would be unconstitutional. He wants to cut wasteful spending and create a better business environment. That we have a huge amount of red tape and fat to cut although he wouldn’t be casual about supporting the elimination of state employee jobs.

He seems like a pretty genuine guy who I happen to disagree with on everything he said. I wonder if he will give on of our conservadem candidates a run for their money.


The CV and TL covered the event

119th Democrats find middle ground

As three Democrats sought to separate themselves in the chase for the 119th Legislative District seat, a longtime finance man embraced business, another called himself a Blue Dog Democrat and a third declared himself "quasi-Republican" when considering economic development.



House hopefuls talk issues

Morgan, Mullery and Zingaretti are scheduled to debate again during the Meet The Candidates Night hosted by the South Valley Chamber of Commerce at 7 p.m. May 10 at the Luzerne County Community College’s Educational Conference Center.

I chatted with and exchanged emails with Jerry Mullery a few days ago. I said I was disapointed with him and he thought it had to do with his CV interview about a teachers union questionnaire that he refused to answer. That wasn't it. I was talking about the Taxpayer Protection Pledge promoted by Grover Norquist.

He emailed: So, I've received literally dozens of questionairres from just about every PAC, special interest group and lobbyist you could name and I've told them all to "go to hell I'm not for sale" and the one I sign causes you disappointment. That, in and of itself, is disappointing.

I suppose I could make like every other pol in the mix and continue to make promises I know we cant keep. I've chosen to be honest. I also know that the people I've spoken with when I've gone door-to-door are taxed out. That is why I signed the Pledge.

As I told the voice and as I'm telling you now, I will represent all the taxpayers if elected. What better way to show that then to sign a pledge protecting them.


On the phone I asked him if he knew anything about Norquist and his association with the Club for Growth. He admitted he didn't know anything about him but signed the pledge anyway.

Norquist is best known for this quote, "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," he says, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." He's also a good friend of Jack Abramoff, even helping him with his work for some Indian tribes' that landed him in jail.

I asked him how he would close the budget gap next year if he would handcuff himself by ruling out tax increases. He railed about the the size of the legislature and the associated cost. I pointed out that cutting the legislature would not close the budget gap and would take years to implement anyway and asked him "what programs or agency's would you eliminate to close next years gap? He said he would get back to me. To be fair no politician I have ever talked to, Republican or Democrat, has ever answered that question.

He later sent me an email:

You asked how we close the deficit gap. I will go through each line of the proposed budget before Tuesday's debate, but I am certain it can be done. After the 101 day budget impasse and all the fighting, we cut spending a whopping 1%. 1%. I repeat ... 1%. We can do much, much better. And, we have to (the $2+ Billion in federal funding is gone next year and the "fiscal tsunami" is coming the year after).

Government waste must be stopped.

On gas drilling Mullery supports a moratorium on drilling in state parks and has a family connection to Moon Lake Park so he doesn't want the place destroyed.

Morgan claims he is only "Real Democrat" in the race



BoB MORGAN ONLY DEMOCRAT IN THE ROOM
Bob Morgan only candidate defending Democratic principles

Bob Morgan, Democratic candidate for the 119th District State House Seat, left the House Candidate's Debate the only Democrat in the race. At the debate held Tuesday April 20 held at King's College, one opponent said he was “often accused of bring a Republican” and yet another declared himself “quasi-Republican.”

Morgan, Fairview Twp, was the only candidate who stood up for Democratic principles and repeatedly pledged to put the people of the 119th District ahead of partisan politics.

In the debate, hosted by the League of Women Voters, Morgan was the only candidate committed to dramatically altering the state’s tax system. Morgan said that he would work toward eliminating the use of property taxes as the major funding source for schools and local communities in Pennsylvania. He also expressed support for a Constitutional Convention to deal with fixing the Pennsylvania personal income tax to create a graduated income tax similar to the Federal system. Morgan said “For too long we have created a tax structure that penalizes part-time employees, students and working seniors while preserving a tax structure that benefits corporations. One of my opponents has proposed cutting the corporate tax, while I have advocated restructuring the income tax and property tax systems to benefit the great majority of our citizens.”

Morgan also addressed the upcoming pension funding crisis and placed the blame squarely on the State Legislature for the 2001 pay hike and 50% pension increase. “We must remember that the Legislature voted to increase their own pay and benefits at 2 a.m. in the hopes we wouldn’t notice. We now have to solve that crisis.

“It is time to remember we serve the people when we are in Harrisburg, not the powerful. For too long our citizens have felt their elected representatives do not work for them, to that end I have pledged to be a full-time representative, I will not have any outside business interests. ” said Morgan. The remaining candidates chose not to make this commitment.

In addition Morgan expressed strong support for increased education funding for our schools and libraries.

Congressman Chris Carney-the interview

I had a chat with Freshman Pennsylvania 10th CD Rep Chris Carney and we were joined by his ace press secretary Rebecca Gale. We discussed some of the important issues of the day like who will win the World Series, growing up in Iowa he is a Cubs fan. Being a Phillies fan I feel his pain. He also likes the Packers and seeing number 4 in a Jets uniform is killing him.




Give me the short version, Why should you be reelected?



I’m very proud of the record we have been able to amass in the first term. The kind of things we have been able to accomplish as a freshman are very remarkable. We can start for example with education benefits we were able to get for the guard and reserve to put them on par with the active duty side. You are probably aware that the guard and reserve prior to this legislation had an education benefit as long as they were in the military. Over the last few years our guardsmen and reservists have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes 2, 3 or 4 deployments so they couldn’t actually use that education benefit. So if they come home and want to get out they would lose that education benefit when they separate. This legislation extends the time they can use their education benefits up to 10 years after separation. That’s the kind of thing that lives up to promise this country made to our men and women in uniform. Second of all, you end up creating an excited, dedicated and disciplined workforce out there. And that’s we need to do to keep the economy strong, vibrant and growing. It’s a win, win for everybody. The Made in America tax credit that is in the Ways and Means committee that provides tax incentives to make sure that manufacturers don’t leave the U.S. rather they stay here and keep jobs here. That’s very important. The child pornography bill that just got passed that goes after child predators, both the producers and consumers of child pornography looking to dry up the source and the demand. You bring common sense to the job. But more to the point it’s the way that you govern to me makes a lot of sense. I’m a very bipartisan as it turns out. You’ve probably heard this story before but after I was elected I had to build up my staff. I had to interview a lot of people but the one question that I did not ask was what is your party affiliation. I asked what you could do for the United States and depending on that answer and others determined whether I offered them a position. And it turns out that we have a staff that is half Republican and half Democrat which to me is the right may to govern. Frankly, I grew up in broken home. My Mom is a Republican and my Dad is a Democrat. In fact when I ran my Mom became an Independent. She wouldn’t become a Democrat all the way. I grew up in a home, and Mom and Dad are still around, and talk about things with them all the time. I grew up listening to both Mom and Dad’s conversations on politics so I understood the validity and fallacy of both arguments eventually. If you synthesize those arguments you can accomplish a lot more. I’ve always been one to believe that we have to get away from the partisanship that has paralyzed Washington all these years. There was a time you could be a Republican or a Democrat and disagree on principle on things and actually have honest intellectual disagreements on how you should proceed on policy. But at the end of the day you were friends and you understood that you were working for the good of the country. Now it’s blood sport, now it’s not about policy but sticking a shiv into somebody’s ribs and we have to get away from that.



You talked a lot about being bipartisan and reaching out to Republicans but how do you reassure Democrats that you are one of them?


The fact of the matter is that most people are reasonable on what we have to get done. The far left attacked me, I’m not liberal. They ran newspaper, radio and television ads against me. So frankly if the far left and the far right are attacking you- you are probably in the right spot actually.

Let’s talk about some of those attacks. When you voted against the hate crimes bill some people said you promised that you would vote for it and made the accusation that you lied to them.


Of course they did. I didn’t promise but said that I would consider the bill very carefully. As it turns out what we ended up with a piece of legislation that creates special categories for certain people. When you create special categories you excluded people, why shouldn’t young mothers be included in a category or special protections under the law. All crime is hate crime. By the same token I voted for ENDA, the employment non-discrimination act. That’s important.



How about the FISA bill, particularly the retroactive immunity clause?

They need to read the bill first of all. It doesn’t give retroactive immunity. What it does is to require the telecoms to come before a court with the papers to prove that they were asked by the administration to do the surveillance. Second of all, it allows the government to go after the administration even after they are out of office. This a situation where people need to pay closer attention to what the bill does.


There is a provision of the Military Commissions Act that says the government can declare a United States citizen an enemy combatant and hold them without habeas corpus.

When you suspend the constitution you have to be little bit nervous about that. I swore a couple of times to protect and defend the constitution both as a military officer and as a member of Congress. You can hold people in this country by charging them under the 5th amendment and charge them with a crime and they get due process. American citizens should not be deprived due process.

So do you favor repealing that provision of the act?


As long as there is a legal way to cover them if they are an American citizen they get full rights as an American citizen.

Is that a yes?

That’s a yes. When we ignore our own rules we hurt ourselves as a nation. We hurt our ethic, we hurt what we stand for in the eyes of our people and the eyes of the world.

Recently a federal judge ordered the release of some people from Guantanamo Bay.


The Uighurs

There was no evidence that these people were terrorists. Should the Guantanamo Bay prison be closed?

It should be made smaller. There a number of people there who are very bad guys. I’ve been to Guantanamo, I’ve been to the cages and face to face with these people. And there are definitely people in there that were hell-bent on doing destruction to the U.S. But frankly a significant portion of those people were simply caught up in the sweep when we went into Afghanistan and they were taken off to an area and detained. And they may or may not be involved with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda or any anti-American activity and now they have been sitting in Guantanamo for 5 or 6 years. We create a situation where we have enemies incarcerated. Some of these guys were brought in on a C-130 aircraft. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a C-130?

Many times.

So you know that that control wires run on the inside of the fuselage. Some of those guys tried to chew through the wires. So they are dedicated to our demise or their own demise. So there are some bad guys in there and some of them need to be kept. On the other hand those who innocent or you find anything to charge them with and no actionable intelligence value we really have to start repatriating them.


Let’s talk taxes and budgets. Do you favor a balanced budget?

I absolutely do, I’m a blue dog.

How about a balanced budget amendment to the constitution?

I think we have to consider it. We are at a point now where we have to pay for 2 wars, we had to give emergency supplemental appropriation’s at least twice since I’ve been in. We have to be able to respond to economic contingencies like we have now. So a balanced budget would have to take into account a lot of things. For example, would it require that the Dept of Defense budget become a discretionary not a mandatory part of the budget? That’s something we have to answer. In concept yes but we have to see what the legislation actually says. To do a good job of making huge cuts in the budget you would have to go after the defense appropriated and I’m not comfortable doing that especially since we are involved in the wars that we are involved in right now.

To get to a balanced budget you will need to either raise taxes or cut spending or a combination of both.

I want to cut taxes on the middle class and close the loopholes for the very, very wealthy. I think that makes a lot of sense and I think that would have a huge impact in alleviating the crises we are in right now.

How about cutting spending?

Absolutely we should be cutting spending. I chair the Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight of the Homeland Security Committee so I’ve gotten some pretty good glimpses into how the government is procuring things that it needs to do it’s job. The fact of the matter is that we don’t have a good procurement corps at all. This is not the sexy kind of glamorous stuff that really hits the news but this is the nuts and bolts of government. This is stuff that we don’t do well. So what the DHS has done is to go out and hire contract personnel to be their procurement officers. Well guess who they procure from? Those are things we got to do to reduce spending overall. But we also need to spend smartly. We need to spend money that will give us a return on our investment. I think it makes a lot of sense to improve our transportation infrastructure. I think it makes sense to put more toward educating our population. Under this administration we have slid many, many places in comparison to the rest of the developed world in terms of educational achievement of our public school students. We got to better than that. So if we are going to spend money spend it in a way that gives us a return on that investment.

With at least a $500 billion deficit and growing you’re going to have to take an axe somewhere. Is there a specific program, department or agency you would eliminate?

What I would like to see, going back to DHS, is a reorganization of the department. You could collapse some of those organizations into one. You should pull FEMA out and give it Cabinet level status like it had under the Clinton Administration. Well it wasn’t a cabinet level organization.

You mean when it worked, right.

When it worked, yeah. That’s the kind of thing we can do. We could be a lot smarter about how we organize the government and that will take a few years. You know as well as anybody that in Washington that turf wars are the most bitterly fought.

Our friend Local Values has a question on the pay go rules. The AMT patch actually violated the pay go rule and even Steny Hoyer voted against it but you voted for it. Any comment.

The pay go rule? Which one, what time? It was also part of the sweetener package in the last bailout. It did comply with pay go because they did identify the pay for in the next budget. The pay for was identified in the first one but was not identified in the bailout bill which is one of the reasons I voted against it. Values guy is wrong.

He’ll be glad to hear it. He has all the poll results on his side bar and you are leading in all of them. I wonder why we don’t see Hackett's internal polls? The last time I talked to him I think in June or July he said he hadn’t polled since the primary. I’m sure he has polled since then.

I think it’s very interesting that they won’t release their internals if they are running so strong. If Mark Harris is to be believed they should be out loud and proud with their poll results. The polls we’ve seen like the Lycoming and F&M shows us pulling away. When they blame the methodology of the poll for the result that a pretty spurious argument.

I read your contrast with Hackett on immigration in the CV. The one thing it didn’t address was your thoughts on the Hazleton Act.

I understand the Mayor’s concern that the city is responsible for illegal immigrants but you’ve got to live up to the constitution. Judge Munley said look you can’t make federal policy as the Mayor of Hazleton.

The Supremacy clause.

Yeah. So we have our nation of laws and if we are going to change the rules we have to do it in the legal system. And I know that Lou Dobbs really likes Lou Barletta but if we are going to do this we have to do it in a sane way that makes sense.

I haven't talked to Hackett lately and he won't agree to another interview. It's like he wants to debate you but he won’t debate me.

It’s not even a debate it’s just a discussion, right?

I don’t know why. Maybe he didn't like some of the questions I asked him last time. I don’t understand it. I don’t play gotcha, if you say something and say don’t quote me on that I won’t. The same with him.

I have a question from a reader on corn based ethanol, How is it affecting food prices?

I think it’s having a negative effect on food prices. It’s causing an increase in food prices and feed prices for our dairy farmers. But we have an opportunity here, we can have ethanol produced from other sources. You saw that we could get Ethosgen in Dallas some federal money to continue their R&D of switchgrass. No one eats switchgrass as far as I know but it produces a lot of sugars for ethanol. And they have figured out a way to 100,000 gallons of ethanol per acre out of switchgrass. That’s pretty good and that’s the kind of R&D we should be doing. This is part of the larger issue and I’m going to get a little expansive here. This is my vision for this area. We have always been part of the energy heritage of America, this part of the world, this part of Pennsylvania, steam and coal and now we can use the alternatives. We drive along and see the windmills on the ridge tops, I love seeing that. It’s exactly what we ought to be doing. We need to be doing geothermal, that’s critical. We need to be doing the switch grass and the ethanol. Up in Towanda for example they are doing a lot of work for the military making long life small batteries with a lot of power but they are also producing affordable film that you can embed into the siding of your house or roof shingles so your house becomes an electric generator when the sun is shining. That’s we got to be doing, there is no reason that we can’t be the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy. We’ve got the talent here, we’ve got the resources and now finally, thank god, we have the political will to move in that direction. I think that’s is where we oughta go. The opportunity that will afford the region by creating green collar jobs, new technologies and weaning us off of oil and fossil fuels to the point where we can have reliable sources of energy that are renewable. We can do that here and there is no reason we can’t. You can’t tell me that Brazil is smarter than us. They are using their sugar cane crops to fuel their cars.

How about Nuclear?

I strongly favor nuclear. A lot of folks in my caucus and my party disagree and I’m not one to often cite France as an example of what we should be doing .

McCain really likes France, when I saw him at the Kirby he kept talking about the French.

But the point is that they made the decision that they were going to be as free from foreign oil as they could be. And by the time they are done about 80% of their electric needs will be generated by nuclear power. I think we ought to do that. The fact is that the reactors themselves are basically scram proof and the technology is much safer than a Three Mile Island or a Chernobyl or anything like that. They were old technologies. In Europe they have able to recycle the fuel so in the end there is 95% less of the fuel and radioactivity than the old systems. It’s not a complete perfect but it’s a 95% solution.

The Presidential race, we really haven’t heard much from you.

I support the Democratic ticket. I really like Joe Biden, he campaigned for me back in 2006. He is a genuine guy, I really love that he says what is on his mind and he’s a skilled politician but very genuine in what he is saying. I love the fact that he goes home at night to be with his family. I’ll tell you what, if I where closer I would do that too, but it’s little hard to drive up to Dimock from Washington every night .

Maybe we need an Amtrack link.

We are working on that. We are working on getting train service all over the eastern seaboard.

Bellas fired

Or suspended, it amounts the same thing.

WEST PITTSTON - The Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority suspended Executive Director Allan Bellas without pay today after Bellas rescinded a promise he would resign amid "trouble" stemming from a federal corruption investigation.

His legal problems appears to be part of one the property tax give away programs to local businesses that promise to bring "good paying jobs to the area because of our work ethic." The rest of us make up the shortfall in tax revenue every year. The TL has more about Tax Incremental Financing. A source familiar with the investigation said Bellas has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and is expected to be charged soon with accepting money in connection with some official action. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not know if the alleged wrongdoing was related to Bellas’ position on the authority, the Wyoming Valley West School Board or some other entity.

He also served on the LCCC Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2007.

So I will go out on a limb and predict that he will be charged with just one crime leaving us to wonder what else he did like many of the other people snared so far. I want trials for all these people detailing who paid them how much and when.

His wife, Nancy Bellas, is the Democratic nominee for Luzerne County Prothonotary and could probably now kiss that off.

I have been predicting for months that Republican Carolee Medico Olenginski would win the election and fair or not this probably made her case about corruption.

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.