The LuLac Edition #48, August 9th, 2006

PHOTO INDEX.......... The blog author with my mom, Mary Yonki, Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the United States, Senator Rick Santorum, Stanky from Stanky and the Coal Miners who must be glad it wasn't one of his polkas Santorum had in his TV ad and former President Clinton yucking it up at a rally with Senator Lieberman.


ELECTION NEWS......Senator Joe Lieberman loses in his re-election bid. The Connecticut Senator and former Vice Presidential candidate was defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night by a slim margin. Democratic party regulars, at least some of them, are siding with Liberman's foe, Ned Lamont in their support in the fall election. Lieberman vowed to fight on and run as an Independent. Connecticut voters usually embrace independent candidates. The man Lieberman defeated in 1988, Lowell Weicker ran for Governor in 1990 and was elected as an independent. However, in the 1970 race where Thomas Dodd Senior was defeated in the primary, Dodd running in the fall as an independent ran third, Democrat Joe Duffy ran second and Lowell Weicker won that seat with 42% of the vote. There is pressure for Lieberman to back out among Dems but it is too early to tell at this point if he'll take that advice. Two striking things abiout this election, Democrats who are desperately trying to win control of the U.S. Senate have to question why they would go after one of their own in a safe seat and how telling of the times we live in when the brother of the chairman of the Democratic party worked for Liberman's opponent, Ned Lamont. That would never happen under the old Democratic party of Kennedy and Johnson.
Jim Gibson, of the Colorado Democratic Leadership Council (a centrist Democratic organization that supported Liberman's stances in the past,) was upbeat about the Senator's prospects.
"Senator Lieberman's narrow loss means that the story of this primary election will quickly fade. National Democrats - and the press - will now turn their attention to the races that will really matter. Come November, everyone recognizes that this Connecticut seat will stay blue.
Lieberman's message that voters are sick and tired of polarization and partisanship is sure to resonate with the general electorate. That, combined with Lieberman's independent criticism of Bush's conduct of the war, will be more than enough to get him across the finish line. "

THE ELECTION THAT WASN'T....Marc Holtzman, former Congressional candidate in the 11th district in 1986 had a bid for Colorado's Governor's GOP nod nipped in the bud when his petitions were declined because he did not get enough valid signatures. Holtzman was to be a contender in that race until he failed to get the required number of signatures to get on the ballot to succeed current Governor Bill Owens.

SANTORUM POLKAS THE NIGHT AWAY………The latest Rick Santorum TV spot is very good and very effective. It shows the Senator at a Polka Dance being first complimented, then shoved out of the way on the dance floor by a polka loving, polka dancing senior citizen. The ad is funny, effective and puts a human side to the Senator. These spots are running frequently and the Casey camp would do well to reprise the 2004 ad of Casey’s daughters talking about their dad. Casey’s lead is pretty solid but a little counter punch on the TV airwaves wouldn’t hurt.

ROMANELLI MAKES THE MOST SENSE WHEN IT COMES TO CITY REDISTRICTING PLAN..... It seems like the most sensible statements and actions on the proposed Wilkes Barre city redistricting plan is not coming from any Democrats or Republicans but from a member of the Green Party. Let’s recap this first though: The leader of a drive that seeks to alter the city’s redistricting plan so that council members are elected at large said she’s confident enough signatures have been gathered to get the question on the November ballot. Ann Bergold wanted to get more signatures than needed because she expects there will be challenges. To be valid, the signer has to be a registered city voter, and has to contain the said voter/petition signer’s address.
However, even if there are enough valid signatures, there’s no guarantee the referendum will make it to the ballot as supporters of the initial redistricting plan approved in 2001 have vowed to challenge the new proposal in court.
Carl Romanelli, a member of the Green Party, said the party has already hired a lawyer to fight the ballot question on the grounds it seeks to pre-empt the 2001 referendum before the referendum is implemented. The Pennsylvania Home Rule Law says a referendum must be in effect for five years before another referendum seeking to change it can be placed on the ballot, Romanelli and other supporters of the original plan say.
The threat of still another court battle is the latest turn in the long, convoluted road over the redistricting plan. The 2001 referendum shrank council from seven to five members, with all council members being elected by district. Previously, council members had been elected at large.
Court challenges delayed implementation of the referendum and the last municipal elections were held under the old system of seven members elected citywide. . In 2004, a state appellate court upheld the validity of the 2001 vote.
Council waited until May of this year to approve new districts. Then, two weeks ago, word came of the petition drive to again change the redistricting plan. The new plan calls for the number of council seats to remain at five, but voting would be at-large instead of by district. People close to current city council incumbents have been circulating petitions to overturn the last referendum. If the new district plans stays intact, council would eliminate two seats.
The latest issue on the voting realignment is expected to first go before the county Election Board, which must decide whether to place the question on this year’s ballot. The director of the county’s election bureau, said if any party is unhappy with the board’s decision it could appeal the ruling, which would mean another go round in county or appellate court.

COMMENTARY: This city council court fight is a public education in how politicians are so willing to grab onto strings to maintain their power. After the 2001 referendum passed, the city Democrats went crazy because the reformers pulled one over on them. Fact is the city Democratic organization was asleep at the wheel and was stunned when enough voters registered for the change. My feeling is the vote for the referendum was a cry for help from city residents who were sick of having the same, old tired do nothing council members. No new blood has been infused in this council, many qualified, funded candidates have tried like Guy Izzo and Walter Griffith, fully funded with multi media campaigns only to be shunned by the Democratic machine and its cronies. It is amusing to say the least to see the desperation in the local party’s latest petition drive. Oh and not to worry, they’re not passing the petition out for themselves, they are doing it for their own good. Kudos to Carl Romanelli for his clear thinking and articulation on this issue. His input and energy in these local endeavors is the area where he should bestow his public service talents.

CLEAN SWEEP IN DISARRAY...............The group that led the fight to oust lawmakers over their pay raises of 11 percent to 54 percent is trying to dissolve, the victim of internal divisions. Five board members of PACleanSweep have asked a Lebanon County judge to dissolve the nonprofit group, saying the 10-member panel is hopelessly deadlocked.
PACleanSweep was founded by Annville businessman Russ Diamond to find candidates to oppose incumbent legislators, especially those who voted for last summer's raises, which the lawmakers later repealed. Diamond is trying to ride the wave of voter backlash to the governor's mansion.
Diamond said the group accomplished its purpose in the primaries in May.
The group started to unravel in March, when Diamond decided to try to run for governor as an independent. When several board members confronted him about what they considered a conflict of interest, Diamond tried to remove them from the board.
Now it seems the group that did so much to raise awareness of the payraise is going to be disbanded due to interoffice rivalry.

NIXON GONE 32 YEARS AGO TODAY…….If you are the ghost of Richard Nixon, you have to be pissed. Nixon of course resigned from office and headed back to sunny California 32 years ago today. He resigned because he obstructed justice in the Watergate case and tried to undermine the Constitution. Big stuff right? Well he did not lie to get the country into a war which has slaughtered and maimed 2500 people, he did not authorize spying on the whole country, just a select few.
President Bush's admission that the NSA has been wiretapping hundreds, perhaps thousands of Americans without any judicial authorization, exposes the latest, but arguably the most egregious, undermining of our civil liberties in a generation. The Bush administration's defense of this program has strained all conceivable boundaries of legal credibility and the president's steadfast refusal to curtail this program now raises the issue to the level of a legitimate constitutional crisis.
Given the domestic spying, the environmental purging, the high gas prices and the endless violations of the Constitution in the conduct of the war, the current occupant of the White House makes Richard Nixon look like a piker!!!! Happy trails Dick!!!!! And rest in peace wherever you are. You weren’t as bad as the guy we have in there now!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!! Friday August 11th, my mom celebrates the 46th anniversary of her 39th birthday. I love you, you’re the best!!!!!!!!!!!