LU LAC Edition #4-May 14th, 2006

News of the Day…………The Times Leader endorsed Lisa Baker for the 20th District State Senate seat over Jim Haggerty, Kingston’s Mayor. The editorial was very kind to Haggerty citing his savvy, polish and experience but at the same time acknowledging the paper’s disputes with him over police reports. In backing Baker, the newspaper heralded her connections to Harrisburg as a member of Senator Lemmond’s staff and Governor Ridge’s local office. It did say that she was not quite the personality Haggerty was but that her low key presentation didn’t seem to bother them. Russ Bigus and David Maderia also got very kind comments also but not the nod from the TL.

Representative Don Sherwood getting a boost from all people President Bush. Bush has done recorded phone messages for the Congressman who has primary opposition. Sherwood was mired in a scandal last year with a 28 year old woman who claimed physical abuse. The duo came to a cash settlement of 5 million dollars which prohibited the young lady from speaking of the incident and affair. Apparently, that settlement didn’t stop others from talking. The Bush phone calls were targeted toward likely primary voters.

Speaking of primary election voters, it appears that this year’s election will be another low turnout. Primaries are known for getting out the political junkies and hard core party loyalists and voters. But with northeastern Pa. losing 107 years of combined Legislative experience due to retirement, the furor over the payraise as well as the novelty of the new voting machines in two counties, it was thought that more interest would prevail this year. But published reports tell us that voter apathy might be the winner this Tuesday.

Lisa Baker got a final push from Senator Charles Lemmond this week. The Senator sent out direct mail pieces on behalf of Baker. The money for the mailer ($10,000 plus) came from Lemmond’s campaign warchest. With the dominance of TV and Radio advertising, direct mail has taken a back seat to those ad giants in terms of political campaign clout. But the Baker piece as well as the Eddie Day Pashinski mailers were really eye catching. The mailer from the Luzerne County commissioners on the new machines was pretty impressive too.

COMMENTARIES………..The Times Leader editorial for the 20th Senatorial race to me is puzzling. They seem to tout Mayor Jim Haggerty’s qualifications and just stop short of saying he’d be an aggressive, qualified, charismatic advocate for the 20th district. Instead, the endorsement sticks with the same mold of a low key, connected political insider like Lisa Baker who is the closest thing to a clone of Charles Lemmond. Could it be the Leader let its personal gripe with Haggerty get in the way of giving him their all out support???....Say what you want about Don Sherwood, the guy is not running away from President Bush like other GOP lawmakers seem to be doing. The Cynthia Ore scandal seems to have given Sherwood a wake up call. There is no way to predict how his constituents will react, especially Republican woman but bringing in the President, at least with targeted hard core Republicans shouldn’t hurt………I’m amazed at the published reports talking about voter apathy in this election. There are so many local choices to be made that will have an impact on our everyday lives. During the last Presidential election, everyone seemed to have an opinion. You would think that in a local legislative race, more people would be taking an active interest but apparently not. The comments made in the paper like some idiot who said, “I don’t care for all of these candidates” to the braintrust who said, “I’m interested but don’t have the time” gives you an indication as to why people care more about American Idol than their government. Vote!!! Please!!! But if you don’t, please SHUT UP when things don’t go your way in the governmental sense.

MEDIA WATCH………WILK gearing up for Election Night coverage Tuesday at 8PM. Sue Henry and Corey O’Brien host. Look for the station to “imbed” various staffers in key campaign races. That is going to be interesting, as well as entertaining………The Luzerne County Commissioners took to the radio airwaves this weekend regarding the new voting machines. Kathy Bozinski’s voice was heard in the commercial.

HOT RACES TO WATCH….117th Legislative District. This race is a virtual toss up. There are so many candidates with such concentrated support that a few votes might tip the balance. Like the 113th race, this campaign has two tiers of candidates. In the top tier are Karen Boback and Edmund Sichler from Harvey’s Lake and Randy Tomasacci from Hunlock Creek. Boback has strength virtually by being the only woman in the race and could benefit from gender voting. Like Boback, Sicher has mounted an aggressive advertising campaign. Randy Tomasacci brings campaign experience to the forefront, serving on the Northwest Area School board as well as making a run for County Commissioner in 2003.
Michael McCormick, Eugene Stavitski, Stanford Davis and Tim Carroll are mounting grassroots efforts that will divide the vote among all tier candidates. Tim Carroll, had to go to court to get on the ballot since his name was removed because of a challenge to his candidacy. Carroll got back on by winning a decision in the State Supreme Court. Carroll has been campaigning relentlessly since getting back in the fray. Another candidate, Iraq war veteran James May did not fare so well in court. May, who’s name was taken off because of a paperwork error has been mounting an aggressive write in campaign. With the new voting machines and the ease in which a write in can occur, May might garner more support than expected.

UPCOMING………PREDICTIONS ON ALL THE LOCAL RACES……….COMING TUESDAY MORNING, OUR PICKS.!!!! Wednesday morning, will it be “Egg on our face, or a Steak and lobster omelet with champagne?” We'll see!!!

ONE MORE NOTE……….From our man Bill, and the rest of us at the LuLac Political Letter, a very Happy Mother’s Day to Mary Elizabeth Pribula Yonki, (mom) and my sister, Sandra Marie Antoinette Yonki Barnett, Anna Waskie (my mother in law) and Alexis Edwards (my sister in law).
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee-
Calls back the lovely April of her prime.~William Shakespeare