Luzerne County elections

Today is one of two best days of the year for political junkies like me. Local elections are not as sexy as the selection of a president or governor but I have never missed an election since I became 18 years old a long time ago.

Turnout will probably be low in Luzerne County as there aren't any competitive races. I'm sure Jill Moran will be re-elected and Maryann Petrilla will become the next Controller. But I won't vote for them.

The Controller is supposed to keep an eye on the rest of the county government and should be independent. Steve Flood was certainly independent and became a pain in the neck to to his fellow Democrats. He united the local party in their desire to rid of him and Petrilla's list of donors reads like a who's who of area Democrats, including the sitting commissioners. So I will vote for Eric Knappman because he is not part of establishment and is not beholden to them. Plus I think his financial planning background will be an asset in managing the pension fund.

As I've said before jobs like Prothonotary and Register of Wills are clerical positions that should not even be elected positions. Same goes for Jury Commissioner who's only official duty is to once a year hit the print button on a computer to get a list of prospective jurrors. Well if we have to vote for these offices here are my picks. The Register of Wills race is easy since the only name on the ballot is the incumbent Democrat Dottie Stankovic. She has stepped on the toes of the local party leadership and they ran a challenger against her in the primary. But her legion of polka fans came out for her and she won easily. I hate to see anyone be unopposed and the Republicans didn't even put up a token candidate. But Dottie has shown a streak of independence and will get my vote. The Prothonotary race is the only one that has had any kind of debate with Republican Carolee Medico-Olenginski accusing her opponent of rarely being in the office. Then last week it was revealed that someone else was signing Moran's name to deeds when she wasn't around proving Carolee's point. Legal or not, it was pretty stupid thing to do and shows a serious lapse in judgment. I'm for Carolee. Jury Commissioner? I'll skip that one.