Bad company

Luzerne County Judge Michael Toole's Tipstaff Tom Marino got a subpoena on Monday.


Participant 1 in the Juvie Brothers scandal, Robert Powell, payed some cash to Toole for unspecified reasons according to Terrie Morgan-Besecker in the TL. Why would Powell possibly give money to Toole ? Let me get out my crayon.

Toole refused to rule on subpoenas issued by then Controller Steve Flood when he was looking into the county contract with PA Child Care in 2005 then owned by Powell. Toole could have ruled against the subpoenas, but that would have given Flood a chance to appeal to get the subpoenas enforced. Toole was also a guest at the Juvie Brothers Florida condo least once and also ruled on a dispute involving Robert Powell's yacht.

Or it could have been for something else.

In other news the Juvie Brothers are still free to travel back and forth to the condo in Florida and may not be sentenced for some time.

Sentencing date for former judges delayed

Someone once said that justice delayed is justice denied.

Two other local crooks plead guilty this week.

Height, Scarantino to enter guilty pleas

More Nonsense from Holden

Tim Holden is grasping at straws. After going after Matt Cartwright because he gave some money to the Juvie Brothers his hired gun Joe Trippi thinks that being successful in life is a liability. The spot also takes something Cartwright said way out of context. Do Holden and Trippi think that they can get away with lieing like Mitt Romney without being called out on it?


Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XII

In this ad Holden asserts that Matt Cartwright is bored buying new cars and has mansions and Condo's in Florida

The whole quote tells us something different

From Kos: "I've come to the point in my life that either I do it now or I don't do it… I'm 50 years old. I don't get a bang out of buying a new car anymore. I get a bang out of helping people."

I'm also north of 50 and those that know me realize that I can care less about the latest Gizmo. I don't even have a cell phone! Your're slaves to that machine.

Matt hit back on the Juvie Brothers nonsense

Juvie Brothers update

A lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client-Anon


CV: Following the penny-pinching lead of his partner in corruption, disgraced former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan will start representing himself in a series of kids-for-cash civil lawsuits, his departing attorney, Philip Gelso said.


His partner in crime, Mark Ciavarella, has also taken over his own defense of the lawsuits. The recent WNEP interview with him happened as he was leaving the Federal Courthouse in Scranton after he filed a motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit against him. That interview (and other things) seems to have pissed off Judge Kosik who rejected the plea agreements.


In other Juvie Brothers news the Feds are now looking at their bar bills...The agents showed up at the 113-year-old Hanover Township club two or three months ago to review the bar bills of Judge Michael T. Toole, former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and school board member Brian F. Dunn, country club accountant Bob Anderson said in a phone interview.

Judge: Void juvenile convictions

Man of the Year

Martin Carlson


The former United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania was recently honored as "Government Lawyer of the Year" by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. His leadership of investigators from the FBI, IRS and other government agencies resulted in blowing the lid off of many of the criminal practices that have been normal in Luzerne County for as long as I can remember such as job selling and kickbacks for contracts. That is a set of crimes that would have not been possible to bring to light without the uncovering of the Juvie Brothers scheme of selling kids up the river. He is a career prosecutor who has been promoted to U.S. magistrate judge in Harrisburg, Pa and was succeeded in the office by Dennis Pfannenschmidt
who has continued the investigation. Mr Pfannenschmidt will be busy in 2010.

The Times-Leader named Luzerne County President Judge Chet Muroski Person of the Year. I can agree that Muroski has done many things to try to clean up this mess and restore trust in the courts but I can't get by the question of why it took so long. Talk of something being remiss in the courts has been out there for a long time. So far 3 judges have gone down with the rumor that a 4th will soon be charged. Let me ask you this, if you had a criminal or legal matter pending would you want your case heard in a Luzerne County Court?

The Newsmakers of the Year were the Juvie Brothers. Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella
got the attention of Michael Moore, the New York Times, the BBC, the CBS Evening News, ABC's 20/20 and even the TV drama "Law and Order."

Stephen Colbert complimented the Judges on their privatization efforts.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - The Green Mile
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

This also made TPM's Golden Duke awards.

Best Scandal -- Local Venue

Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan not only took kick-backs for sending kids to a private juvenile prison facility where the state or local communities had to pay top dollar to house young delinquents but they sent kids to jail for the pettiest of offenses, good kids who had made minor mistakes, kids who had no business being sent to prison. A few examples make the point: as in their sentencing a 17-year-old for five months because he helped a friend shop lift a DVD from a Wal-Mart; sending a 15-year-old off for three months in their co-conspirators' juvenile camp for mocking a school official on a MySpace page; sentencing a 13-year-old weekend confinement for trespassing in a vacant building - the list is long but you get the gist. These two judges earned not less that $2.6 million running this kickback racket while ruining young lives for their own illicit gain before they were caught red-handed. For me, this local scandal pales all others nominees.

Luzerne County theme song

We have the Bond Brothers and the Juvie Brothers and in honor what is going on with the Sheriffs Department the Chemical Brothers seems like the right choice. I don't think I can even list all the scandals going on right now, maybe the The Yonk is right and the courthouse should just be blown up. Other suggestions for a theme song are welcome.


Out of Control-chemical brothers

Luzerne County finances

I started off blogging about Luzerne County government and politics but haven't written much about it lately. The Yonk  reminded me that I was a unrelenting critic of the games that the Bond Brothers played with numbers that put our county into the hole that it is in. Thankfully convicted criminal Greg Skrepnak and Todd Vonderheid are no longer Commissioners.

As a result of the Juvie Brothers and other scandals the people decided it was time to change the form of government and passed Home Rule. The new county council hired a professional manager after a nationwide search. This new form of government is not perfect but it is a big improvement over the old system of 3 Commissioners and a myriad of elected row officers.

Luzerne County Manager Bob Lawton is getting high marks from the people I have spoke to in county government. He is trying to clean up the mess. I don't agree with all his decisions on some non budget issues such as firing Leonard Piazza as Director of the Election Bureau.

Some of the dead enders will still try to hang on.

Deputy runs office, prothonotary gripes

 

4 seats on the new county council will be up in 2013. I urge all interested candidates to attend Blogfest on September 21st to give your pitch.  The Controller's spot is also up and the only name I've heard on the Dem side is Bob Morgan. Incumbent Walter Griffith is definitely running for reelection.

New row officers staff up

As first reported by Mark Luzerne County Controller-elect Walter Griffith
has selected Frank Pinnacoli to be deputy controller and Thomas Mosca as his new solicitor.

Pinnacoli has a BA in accounting from Kings College and has had a number of jobs the last few years. Price Waterhouse Coopers in New York City, CTSI in Dallas Acton Technologies Inc. in Pittston , Pella Products Inc. in Dunmore. Pinnacoli currently owns NEPA Accounting & Consulting Inc. in Kingston, a business he started with his father.

He replaces acting Controller AJ Martinelli who has to answer questions about his involvement with former Human Resources Director Doug Richards and the Continental Consultants Group. Earlier this year the Citizens Voice had a story about the no bid contract with Continental Consultants and I wrote about it in January. Not even the Commissioners knew what is going on let alone our clueless former Controller and present Commissioner Chairwoman. Why it took 10 months to expose this fraud is something all 3 commissioners and the acting controller have to answer for when all the information was in the public record. This should have been addressed long before the FBI had to figure it out for them. Martinelli also made the Idiot Watch with his spectacular pants falling down “Give me a break” DUI arrest performance.


Sam Stretton will be the solicitor when Carolee Medico Olenginski returns to the Luzerne County Prothonotary’s Office in January. Stretton was her solicitor the first time she held the office and later was the solicitor for former Controller Steve Flood who first blew the whistle on the Juvie Brothers and the 20 year lease of PA Child Care "negotiated" by the Bond Brothers. Primary Controller candidate Bob Sypniewski will be her deputy. Bob has previously said he would put his business interest on the back burner and work full time for the county.

Carolee has yet to name her interior decorator.

Tainted witnesses

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

.

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

.

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

.

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

Juvie brothers update

There are now 3 class action lawsuits on behalf of the children who were the victims of Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella who railroaded them through the juvinile justice system. The suits says the judges and other defendants conspired to perpetrate "what ranks as one of the largest and most serious violations of children's rights in the history of the American legal system.



Luzerne County President Judge Chet Muroski confirmed that the probe involves more than the PA Child Care investigation. This thing is expanding into allegations that civil cases were being fixed.



Judges Peter Paul Olszewski and Michael Toole have been interviewed by the FBI and we wonder if their stays at the condo in Florida has any thing to do with the feds interest.

Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran is playing "Lets make a Deal" claiming that some people allegedly attempted, without Moran’s "full knowledge and consent, to use Moran to facilitate frauds.” Mark Guydish in the TL doesn't buy it. Moran has always claimed to be the unintentional political puppet, not the puppeteer; the piece being played, not the player. It’s a role she took on again this week with the deal struck in the federal courthouse investigation. She didn’t commit fraud, she was used by those committing it. She is the head of the W-Cat company that was suppossed to be building houses in Mountaintop. Some of her partners were the the Juvie Brother Judges and her law partner Robert Powell plus some people that I know that are going to be hurt .


Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey was officially fired after pleading guilty to stealing more than $70,000 of seized gambling money over 10 years. He stopped reporting to his courthouse job on Aug. 20, a day after federal agents served a subpoena on his office for records connected to money seized in illegal gambling cases. During his leave from work, Sharkey maintained possession of a county vehicle and county mobile phone. Ciavarella approved the paid leave of absence for Sharkey. Who the hell is in charge, if anyone, of keeping track of county vehicles?

Conahan's brother in law millionaire psychologist Dr. Frank Vita and forger Sandra M. Brulo are also in trouble.

Juvie Brothers plead guilty

Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan pleaded guilty this afternoon to corruption charges. They face 87 months in prison, according to their plea agreements.

"I plead guilty your honor," Conahan said.

"Guilty, your honor," Ciavarella said.

.

There is more to come as the FBI is looking into the fixing of civil suits and the prisoner furlough program. Plus things that haven't hit the papers yet.

No pension for you

Two ex-judges denied pensions


Former Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are not entitled to their pensions and could be liable to reimburse the state $4.3 million for higher juvenile placement costs it says are tied to the kickback scheme the jurists engaged in, the State Employees’ Retirement System has determined.


Conahan has been collecting 8 grand a month since he retired and Ciavarella was slated to get over $5K but has not received any payments. Ciavarella also tried to cash out his contributions after he was charged but the state pension fund refused his request. Conahan's timing was better and got a lump sum payment of $302,777.09.

.


And the assertion of Robert Powell that he was strong armed into paying the Juvie Brothers all that money in bribes is laughable. They also forced him to invest in the real estate deal with them and Jill Moran in Mountaintop. The fact that Powell was wearing a wire after the Feds pinched him hit the papers this week and I'm sure that my faithful readers will remember that was first reported on this blog in January.


.

The headlines about Bob Mericle and Judge Toole should be coming soon.

Would you loan this guy money?

This one has me shaking my head. Former Judge Mark Ciavarella defaulted on a loan from a bank in Minersville. You have to wonder why a bank would approve a loan to an unemployed person under federal indictment who is a defendant in multi-million dollar civil lawsuits that had previously defaulted on a business loan from Louis DeNaples bank. Miners Bank had previously been used to pay the bribes from Robert Powell and Bob Mericle to the Juvie Brothers.

.

Scooch and his fellow defendant Michael Conahan filed a bunch of motions last week to delay their eventual trial alleging a violation of attorney client privilege, asking for new Judge and a change of venue.

Another day another indictment

SCRANTON – A retired Wilkes-Barre detective was charged Friday by federal authorities with accepting a bribe in connection with his position as a member of the Luzerne County Housing Authority. William Maguire of Mountain Top is the second member of the authority’s board to be charged in the past 10 days.

So now we now know who Jerry Bonner was sharing his ill gotten bounty with but the person with the deep pockets has yet to be named. Maguire is another local politico that has plead guilty to just one charge of corruption.

I know that the US Attorney has a reason for getting a plea agreement from all these crooks but I would like to see a full accounting of their crimes like what just happened with the Juvie Brothers.

What else have they done?

Lokuta wants decission tossed

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

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

Retain the Judges?

.

Luzerne County Judges Thomas Burke and Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. are up for retention to the Court of Common Pleas this year and they are feeling the heat of the fallout of the Juvie Brothers scandal that may result in them losing the yes/no vote. They may meet a similar fate as Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro? In 2005 Nigro lost his bid for retention because the state legislature voted themselves an outrageous pay raise in the middle of the night and the voters took their wrath out on him. They have not been accused of any wrongdoing but Conahan and Ciavarella are not on the ballot and they are. People I talk to are in a throw the bums out mood.

.

PPO-2 has been in full campaign mode with a website up and has been raising money. Judge Burke hasn't raised a dime, doesn't have a website but has been pressing the flesh asking people for their vote and answering every question thrown at him.

.

Olszewski’s trip to the Florida condo has been well documented and just may sink him. I've never heard anybody say a bad thing about Judge Burke and I even had him for jury duty recently and thought he was very fair. Then again I had Ciavarella for jury duty a few years ago and was impressed by him. Shows what I know. But I just can't get by this from a local attorney:

.

Olszewski and Burke claim they did nothing wrong. "It wasn't me, It was them. I didn't know. How could I know?" Just men had a duty to discover the truth. Olszewski said the hearings took place a half a mile away in another building. How could he hear? How did an advocacy group over 100 miles away in Philadelphia hear enough to file lawsuits on behalf of more than 500 children? How did the FBI know enough about it to raid juvenile probation? Olszewski says if he knew he would have told the FBI. If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, oh what a party we'd have.

.

I always vote no on these questions no matter what is going on but that's just me and all my Republican friends tell me I'm wrong to vote no on Burke. As unfair as it may seem to be to these gentleman ( I doubt their judgement and tin ears not their integrity) we have to send a message about what has been going on in the Courthouse and the way to do that is to vote no on retention.

.

So tell me in the comments why I'm wrong and vote in the polls on the sidebar.

.

Tim Holden goes negative, Cartwright hits back

Congressman Tim Holden put a poll in the field last week that has apparently shown he is in real trouble. I haven't seen the numbers but judging by the reaction of the Holden camp they have gone into panic pass mode.

Hired gun Campaign Manager Joe Trippi who's claim to fame was the 2004 Howard Dean Presidential campaign has put out one of the most dishonest ads I've seen tying Cartwright to the juvie brothers scandal because he gave some money to Callahan and Ciavarella years before the 'kids for cash scandal' broke. It's interesting that the successor group of the Dean campaign, Democracy for America, has endorsed Cartwright.

Joe has to make a living and this line of attack helped Stefanie Salavantis become the Luzerne County District Attorney so he has some good local researchers. We will see how that works out.
So Cartwright gave $1375 to Ciavarella's retention effort just like many other lawyers which raises the question should judge's be elected or appointed after a vetting process. Judges on Merit has more to say on this subject. Conahan may not have been selected after a background check.


Instead of what is going out we should take a look at what is coming in.

DWT has a summery:

Holden, a Blue Dog has taken $688,999 from the finance industry and $414,997 from Big Oil and Gas. Holden has taken even more money from AgriBusiness and he's scooping up checks like mad this year to fight off his first serious electoral challenge ever. [One of the company's eager to keep Holden in Congress is AT&T, which has given House Republicans $896,121 thisyear and House Democrats $443,750. $5,000 of that went to Holden.

The Pennsylvania Progressive tells us about Holden's voting record:

He did not vote for the Affordable Care Act, voted against organized labor, for wars and their funding, for the National Defense Authorization Act, for the PATRIOT Act, FISA wiretapping and against homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure.

A Statement from the Cartwright campaign calls Holden a liar:

Holden Barely Holding On
Desperate TV Ad Not Just A Distortion - It’s 180° from Truth



MOOSIC, PA – With three weeks left until the April 24th Primary Election, Tim Holden has resorted to mud slinging. Perhaps the poll he conducted last week showed poor numbers, and he acted out of desperation. One thing is for sure, however, he forgot to do his homework.
Holden’s TV ad attempts to link Matt Cartwright with the notorious “Kids for Cash” scandal that plagued Luzerne County back in 2008, by citing old campaign contributions from the Munley, Munley and Cartwright law firm to the judges involved. (The firm has supported dozens of Democrats in the past 25 years.) But Holden’s “guilt by old association” tactic was done without knowing enough about the county or Matt Cartwright.
In the wake of the scandal, Matt Cartwright spearheaded the Juvenile Defense Lawyer Project in Luzerne County to ensure that juveniles were treated fairly by the courts and judges. In fact, in a Times-Leader article on June 11, 2010, Cartwright was “recognized for his leadership of the Juvenile Pro Bono Defense Program, which was created to guarantee pro bono counsel for juveniles that had been adjudicated by former President Judge Mark Ciavarella in the event their cases were retried.”
If anything, Matt Cartwright was a hero in cleaning up the criminal mess that these judges created.
“Tim Holden spent the past 20 years in Washington, and this is what he decided to talk about,” said Cartwright. “Of course, it is not surprising that Holden does not want to discuss the facts that he voted to create the Halliburton Loophole and against Health Care Reform. Further, in 2001 and in 2002 he voted with President George W. Bush more than any other Democratic member of Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation.”
Matt Cartwright is a Democrat, running for Congress in the 17th Congressional District, which now includes parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton Counties, as well as all of Schuylkill County. Cartwright is running for Congress to bring jobs to Northeast Pennsylvania, and make sure that corporations and wealthy Americans pay their fair share of taxes.
http://www.cartwrightcongress.com/
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR

The Mericle of money

Multi-party Bob Mericle was named as Participant number 2 in the Juvie Brothers bribery scandal that hit the news last January and in August he was charged with being part of it.

He is going to skate.

That hasn't prevented him from greasing the wheels this year as he has always done.

The Pennsylvania Department of State’s Campaign Finance website lists the money Mericle has been spreading around just this year. It's an old habit with Bob.

March 17th he gave $500 to State Rep John Yudichak

May 27th $10,000.00 to State Senator Ray Musto

On July 1st Mike Carroll recieved $2500 from Bob.


The kicker is his May 24th contribution to Bill Amesbury, Luzerne County Judge candidate, on May 24th of $500.

Update: Mericle donated $100 to Democratic Prothonotary candidate Nancy Bellas on April 9th

Nancy, we hardly knew ya

15 down and hundreds to go.

The TL and CV are reporting that Wyoming Valley West School Board President and executive director of the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority Allen Bellas has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and is expected to be charged soon with accepting money for an official action. He also served on the LCCC Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2007 and the feds are also looking at that outfit. If you are keeping score at home that makes it 15 people that have now been charged with corruption in Luzerne County this year.

His wife, Nancy Bellas, is the Democratic nominee for Luzerne County Prothonotary. Not knowing her connections I was surprised that she won the primary against Duryea politico Art Akulonis and the most qualified candidate Gerald Mullery. Now it makes sense or should I say nonsense.

I have been predicting for months that Republican Carolee Medico Olenginski would win the election and fair or not this probably just sealed the deal.

I spent the afternoon browsing Bellas' campaign finance reports that ace Election Bureau honcho Leonard Piazza has posted on the county website and they have many familiar names. She accepted money from Bob Mericle after he was identified as being one of the two bribers of the Juvie Brothers. Other highlights are contributions from Maryanne Petrilla, Bob Reilly, Jim Blaum, Frank Crossin, Murry Uffberg, Bill Joyce, Mike Pasonick, AJ Lupas, Mike Butera and other cast members of the local Democratic establishment.

Corruption Junction

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

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

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

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

Incestuous criminal cauldron

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

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


When you look at the cast of crooks that wanted to get rid of Lokuta because she contends that she was cooperating with the investigation I think that at the least she deserves a new hearing. Remember that she was not convicted of doing anything illegal and her chief accusers are admitted criminals led by Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey who is headed to jail for being a thief and "poor, poor pitiful me" disgraced former Prothonotary Jill Moran. One of the people that sat in judgement of her was Richard Sprague who was a lawyer for Robert Powell who was one of the people paying off the Judges. Powell is a law partner and business partner of Jill Moran. Powell, Moran, Conahan and Ciavarella are also business partners.
.

It doesn't begin or end with this case as we all know the only way to get a job in local government is to know somebody or pay them off with a campaign contribution. Just about every School District in the country is screaming for teachers but around here you better have a relative on the board or they won't even look at you. And we always lament why our educated young people keep moving away.