Must see TV

Molly and Murphy at the Fall 2011 Blogfest

My friend former Congressman Patrick Murphy has been a regular guest on MSNBC and today he will be hosting a show.






Dear Gort,

As a strong supporter, I wanted to let you know first about a special MSNBC event this Veterans Day weekend. I will be hosting "Taking the Hill" on MSNBC this Sunday, November 10, 2013, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. "Taking the Hill" will focus on military service, progressive politics, and national service. For this special event, we’re partnering with the Wounded Warrior Project by highlighting the story of returning heroes during our program.

The show is airing live from the NYC 9/11 Ground Zero memorial. Please tune in to MSNBC

Luzerne County Young Democrats

Our local YD chapter will be meeting tonight at

Rodano's Pizza
53 Public Sq
Wilkes-Barre, PA

starting at 7PM


At the meeting The Luzerne County Young Democrats will be electing officers, endorsing the Democratic slate of candidates, and launching the new Luzerne County Young Democrats website.

A new website, woo hoo.

According to their Facebook event page a few candidates will also be attending including 11th CD candidate Bill Vinsko, Common Pleas hopefulls Jennifer Rogers and Molly Hanlon Mirabito plus county council nominee Jane Waitkus. I think that all Luzerne Democratric county candidates and those running for municipal offices would do themselves a favor by showing up. These kids give you enthusiasm and boots on the ground.

Many moons ago I was an officer in the Young Dems of Luzerne County organized by Bob Caruso who had the ear of State Senator Marty Murray who gave us office space and some money. The group fizzled out and I went off to see the world courtesy of the US Air Force.

This incarnation is much stronger with my local Plains committeeman Tom Shibula at the helm. He replaced some guy in the last election that I never met although he lives a few doors away. The VP Tony Thomas is the son of a HS classmate who used to comment regularly on this site. Herself is another officer of the the LCYD who inspired this post.

Looking to the fall-Luzerne County Judge

I got it wrong last night as 5 (not 4) candidates won both nominations. Barring some unforeseen scandal 5 of our 6 new Judges of the Court of Common Pleas will be:

Fred Pierantoni
Michael Vough
Joe Sklarosky
Lesa Gelb
Jennifer Rogers

I base that prediction on the fact that almost 10,000 people voted the straight party ticket in the 2009 election and the top vote getter in the Judicial election won with just over 38,000. Dick Hughes is again the odd man out topping the ballot on the GOP side but like 2009 he failed to garner the Democratic nomination. Molly Hanlon Mirabito snagged the Dem nomination so it is down to those 2 for the remaining fitting of robes on the 3rd floor. I have been hearing a lot of carping today that Terry Casey and Luzerne County GOP couldn't deliver the vote for the other 3 Republicans ( Haggerty, McMonagle, Saporito) on the ballot. I think that is unfair as judicial races are strange creatures. Let's see how the Republican candidates for county council do before we make judgements on his leadership. But I do think that they miss the organizational skills of Renita.

Another observation is I really don't like cross filing. The fewest voters have just decided an important election. The same goes for school director races. And don't get me started on state wide judicial elections.