The LuLac Edition #297, Sept. 1rst, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: HAND CARD FROM THE 1979 ELECTION FEATURING THE TEAM OF CROSSIN AND BROMINSKI AS WELL AS TREASURER CANDIDATE MIKE MORREALE. (MORREALE IS RUNNING FOR AN EIGHTH TERM THIS YEAR AS TREASURER.) THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO FROM LATE 1969 FEATURES CROSSIN AND WIDEMAN NOT STANDING NEXT TO ONE ANOTHER. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, GOP COMMISSIONER ETHEL PRICE, DURYEA MAYOR JOHN SALEK, FRANK CROSSIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, THOMAS BURKE AND COMMISSIONER E.C. WIDEMAN.

CROSSIN'S REVOLT!

THE START

By the summer of 1978, Frank Crossin had had enough. He was closing in on his 12th year as a Luzerne County Commissioner and was feeling the frustration of not having the power he was duly elected to wield. Crossin was a State Representative who got gerry mandered out of his Legislative District in the 1960s. When the Democrats needed a formidable candidate to run at the County level in 1967, he had all the credentials they needed. A successful businessman who was a former NBA player for the Philadelphia Warriors, Crossin was wooed by County Chairman John Doris. The Dems had been out of power for virtually half a century and 1967 was a year seen as an electoral opportunity. The Majority GOP team led by Chairman James Post had forced reassessment on the County. Plus, Post had made some very inflammatory remarks about the new tenants at the newly formed, government funded Keystone Jobs Center. Party regulars, people not interested in the political process who were appalled by the remarks as well as taxpayers were not happy. The Republicans were not united because Post’s team mate, William Goss was making deals with the Democratic Minority commissioner, Ed Wideman. Wideman at one time was a former member of the GOP. Despite the statewide control of Republicans, the local Democrats made great gains in voter registration thanks in part to the loyalty local residents felt to the national Democratic Party that embraced John Kennedy as its nominee in 1960. Kennedy’s death in 1963 had a huge impact on Democrats in this area. So 1967 was a year that screamed for reform and a Democratic win. That had not happened in decades. With all that in the mix, Doris still needed a star though on his team. Ed Wideman was a businessman who was articulate and very persuasive one on one. But he did not suffer fools gladly and frankly was a bit abrasive. The Dems needed a guy who could reach out to the public but at the same time come across as a competent steward of the County. Frank Crossin was that man and Dr. Doris got him to agree to run with Wideman for the County Commissioner slots. On the trail, the dark haired, athletically fit Crossin was a hit. Male voters talked sports with him, female voters thought he was well put together if not sexy and traditional voters were impressed with his family man image.
The general election of 1967 saw the Democrats control the Courthouse for the first time in years. Frank Crossin was the top vote getter, Republican Ethel Price finished second, Wideman third and Post fourth. The party also captured the Recorder of Deeds office with Frank Castellino winning over the storied Antolik family of Nanticoke, Shickshinny resident Bill Curwood capturing the Treasurer’s office, Peter Paul Olszewski capturing a Judgeship and Joe Tirpak running a credible, if losing race for the office of Sheriff. All was in place for a Democratic take over in the county. Christmas 1967 was a joyous time for local Democrats. After the holidays, the marching orders would be given and a new regime would reap the benefits that electoral power could bring.
Then, it happened. A few days after Christmas, the architect of the Democratic resurgence, Dr. John Doris died suddenly. The best
laid plans were now being laid to rest with Dr. Doris.



GOVERNING

The new year of 1968 brought the inauguration of the two new Majority Commissioners. As was the custom, the high vote getter, Frank Crossin became Chairman of the Board of Commissioners. After years in the wilderness, the Democrats wanted to acquire the spoils of the patronage wars. The political world was watching to see who would get the higher paying administrative jobs in the Courthouse. During the first month, two high ranking members of the GOP were awarded jobs within the new administration. Robert Edgerton was named Director of Property and Supply (which was the forerunner to the County Administrative Director job) and Thomas Gerritty was appointed head of the Assessors office. Democrats across the county were shocked and outraged. What happened was Commissioner Wideman immediately formed an alliance with Commissioner Price to form a 2 to 1 vote that would hire these individuals. No one could deny that they were qualified and brought a certain amount of competency to the positions, but the rank and file of the party were not thrilled that Wideman broke away from his running mate in the first month of the new administration. Wideman had formed an alliance before with Majority Commissioner Bill Goss under the GOP regime. The Democrats never complained then because he was giving GOP Chair Jim Posts fits, but to go against the top Dem vote getter Frank Crossin was unthinkable. (By the way, with the Goss-Wideman alliance, Wideman was regarded as a brilliant political strategist by the Dems while Goss was demoted by the GOP to a nomination for County Treasurer in the ’67 race.)
The new Democratic team got off on the wrong foot and when no one in the party stepped in to intervene, things got worse. Plus, the Democrats at that time began to fragment in trying to find a new county Chairman. There was the Senator Murray wing of the party that prevailed and named Pittston Mayor Bob Loftus as its Chairman. Loftus was not about to intervene in the fight between Crossin and Wideman mainly because he had his hands full trying to maintain a semblance of party unity. The Commissioner’s meetings now featured a pattern that soon became familiar to county Democrats. Wideman and Price voted together on big issues, essentially shutting Crossin out on the decision making process but let him remain Chairman. Crossin, the high vote getter in effect became the defacto minority commissioner. In the elections of 1971 and 1975, Crossin and Wideman ran as a team. The ’71 election had Crossin first, Price second, Ed Wideman third and Robert Warren of Hazleton fourth. The 1975 election continued the pattern with Crossin first, GOP Controller Steve Yanoshak second, Wideman third and Union Leader Robert Leonardi a close fourth. Leonardi had strong union ties, was chair of the United Way campaign during the year of the flood and almost came within shouting distance of catching Wideman. Still, the Democrat team prevailed, held together by the will of the party leaders. But the duo that ran with great promise together in 1967 barely spoke, and had people separate them in photo ops so that they were never photographed standing next to each other. The only exception to that rule was a primitive 1975 TV ad that featured Crossin and Wideman on the Courthouse steps, squinting into the sun and facing the opposite way of one another. The ad was intended to remind voters that the two were the Democratic team but in reality, it showed just how deep the schism ran between the two.
It didn’t help that the majority of the Wednesday morning Commissioners meetings found their way to the local TV news. It was not uncommon for both Crossin and Wideman to exchange pointed remarks. A memorable time was when Crossin got a rare majority vote with the help of Steve Yanoshak. Wideman growled at Crossin’s ear to ear grin saying, “Those teeth, those god damn teeth, I’m getting sick and tired of looking at those teeth of yours!”.
The strained relationship caused problems for the rank and file county workers. After years of trying to achieve stability in their jobs, county workers now found themselves trying to appease both Commissioners. Normally that would be an easy thing to do, a Democrat was a Democrat. But now the District Chairman gained more power and began to complicate the job process by manipulating the Commissioners. It turned out that the District Chairs had more control over the workers than the Commissioners. Two Chairs in particular, Frank Faye of Hazleton and Jerry Clapps of Exeter began to cause a great deal of mischief under the dome. It was not uncommon for some county worker who crossed Clapps or Faye to find themselves in jeopardy. The District Chair would approach Wideman with a story of disloyalty and urge him to join forces with a minority member to fire the worker in question. Wideman never acquiesced to the request but was not above dangling the possibility in front of the county worker. The concerned worker would then go to Crossin to see if he could run interference with Party Chairman Bob Loftus so they could save their jobs. In this scenario, Crossin wound up as the hero because even though Wideman never bought into the nonsense, he (Wideman) strongly allied himself with Clapps and Faye. In the meantime, Crossin benefited because it seemed like he was running interference with Loftus (who had little to do with day to day Courthouse operations even though that perception was there) to help the rank and file save their skins. Crossin did his best to engender loyalty to himself, and was not above literally turning his back to county workers who crossed him in favor of blatantly supporting Wideman. Crossin didn’t care if people played both sides against the middle, that was politics but he never wanted the disloyalty rubbed in his face. It was said that at this time during County government, despite the division between Crossin and Wideman, the party was never stronger. Dan Flood in Congress was at his peak bringing millions of dollars into the Valley for the Agnes recovery, Senate Martin Murray was President Pro Tem of the Pa. State Senate, Governor Shapp, himself a political outsider had a strong relationship with the County leaders and Voter Registration was up. The party was in great shape but on the employee level, there was a great deal of wasted energy by employees scrambling to defuse rumors of disloyalty to the separate entities of both Crossin and Wideman. The energy used to just do the jobs they were appointed to far outweighed the political machinations it took to get them.
As the years went by, rank and file Democrats became annoyed with the political shenanigans and began to think that maybe being the Majority Party in Luzerne County was not all peaches and cream.
The year 1978 would foreshadow “chinks” (sorry no pun intended) in the Democratic party armor.



MAKING THE BREAK


1978 was not a good year for the Democrats. Nationally, the Carter Presidency was stalling in fits and starts. Statewide, the Democrats were coming off a disastrous and mean spirited primary for Governor that saw Ltn. Governor Ernie Kline defending the outgoing Shapp administration, Bob Casey of Scranton getting pummeled by Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty and a Ltn. Governor candidate who drove an ice cream truck named Bob Casey of Johnstown winning the nod for second spot by trading on the name of the Casey running for Governor. In addition to all that, the Shapp administration in its second term was under fire for various forms of corruption including the indictment of its Attorney General. In Luzerne County, rumblings of unhappiness came from under the dome. Frank Crossin in particular was not happy with his political lot. Always the high vote getter, Crossin was continually outflanked by his partner Ed Wideman. The only game the ex cager could play was defense and after 12 years, he was getting tired of that role.
After much soul searching, in late 1978, Crossin decided to make his move. He enlisted a former football coach and Mayor of Swoyersville, Edd Brominski to run with him, as a team in the next election. Dr. Doris would have given his blessing to this pairing. Crossin was an established incumbent, Irish, a basketball star as well as having a respected family business known to many. Brominski was an ex football star turned coach, an educator, who drove a gold Corvette and had as his namesake and political Godfather, the President of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, Bernard Brominski. It was not an idle threat, it was a powerful ticket to be reckoned with and if the local Democrat party had any sense, news like this would rock its very foundation.
However, the local Dems reacted the way an entrenched entity is prone to react, it believed its own press. If Crossin and Wideman had won three times before as a team they reasoned, why couldn’t they do it again? The party leaders said they would endorse the incumbents, Crossin and Wideman as per usual. And as per usual, the party expected them to win. But Crossin, in a ballsy move turned down the endorsement and announced that he and Brominski would buck the leadership of the party and run as a team. The Democrats responded not with retribution but with what they thought was a logical solution. The party would endorse Ed Wideman alone and hope that voters by habit or instinct would pair the two as they did for twelve years. It was an assumption built on sand.
Crossin’s announcement was first met with skepticism because he was not fielding a full slate in the County. If he wanted to control the party, why not fill all the row offices on a separate ticket. Precisely because he wanted to win, Crossin was not about to oppose long time, entrenched Democrats who had impressive voting records of their own. Instead, he hoped to curry favor with those row officers who might give him a vote in the primary. If he opposed them, he’d get nothing. His lone entry as a running mate for a row office was for the Treasurer’s post. Bill Curwood who was elected in 1967 was opposed by Pittston businessman Mike Morrealle. Morreale threw in his lot with Crossin but did not shy away from any Wideman supporters either. Still, Morrealle’s name was on the election handcard with Crossin and Brominski. Morrealle’s connection could give Crossin an impressive turnout in the heavily Democratic third district.
The fifth district was controlled by the garage man Jerry Clapps. No one knows why or how Crossin got Clapps on board for his team. Some say it was sheer political opportunism on the part of Clapps, others say it was Crossin’s persuasive skills, and still others say Clapps was tired of Ed Wideman’s promise to fire his enemies but the Commissioner, being sensible and aware of employment lawsuits, never following through. Clapps, it was said was tired of being placated by Wideman. When Clapps came on board, Frank Faye of Hazleton followed and all the Democratic committee people began to see the possibility of actually voting against the endorsed team. County Chair Bob Loftus never really came out strong for either ticket so his power was neutralized. While the political ground troops started their move, the advertising team kicked in for Crossin and Brominski. Full page ads started to appear in the local newspapers (back in the day when politicians actually used newspapers as a viable entity) to great attention. The ads showed Crossin and Brominski, standing back to back in remnants of three piece suits. Wearing no suit coats, shoes shined, pants creased, ties askew and vests unbuttoned, the two candidates struck a dynamic pose looking into the camera. Dressed in long sleeve shirts, the sleeves were rolled up. Clearly the message was these guys were ready to work. The ads were a sensation and translated easily into the limited TV buy the team did. In the meantime, the county Democrats featured a head shot of Ed Wideman in their ads. Functional but not inspiring.
Things were rolling now and it appeared the team of “Chink & Bromo” as it was referred to was making great strides. Then, it happened. On May 6th, Jerry Clapps dropped dead of a heart attack Before his death, Clapps was madly trying to get the other county chairman to join him in supporting the team on a county wide basis. Observers wondered just what impact his death would have on the race. There were two schools of thought, that the party, now rid of the diminutive gas station owner could fill the void and stop the Crossin effort or two, that a sympathy vote would help Jerry’s “last slate”. The theory was that a lopsided win in the fifth would help Crossin more than Wideman. Clapp’s son Bob went around the district asking committee people to pull this one out in memory of his dad. On election day, the whispering campaign that started in the fifth district was now at a full shout throughout the county. “Win it for the little guy” was the common phrase used. Or “this is what Jerry would’ve wanted.” In a way, the Dems were running against the established leaders and used the gas station owner as a symbol of the working man. Crossin and Brominski, two successful fellows outside of politics were not inclined to argue the point and let the campaign continue to urge voters to do this in memory of the party stalwart, Jerry Clapps.
On primary election night, Jerry Clapps’ son ran around the Courthouse saying that “my dad is smiling down from heaven”. More than a few people said, “Jerry Clapps, in heaven?” Crossin not only freed himself from the Democratic Party on this night, he was the Democratic party. An old time party wag said, “If anybody wants anything at all from the party, they’ll have to kiss Chink’s ass!” Ed Wideman conceded and Bob Loftus said to Crossin and Bromo, “I was with ya all along” as did legions of Dems who saw the handwriting on the wall.
That autumn, the team of Crossin and Brominski trounced Frank Trinicewski and Red Jones in the general election. Frank Crossin had finally liberated himself from the County Democratic party that nurtured and supported him as a candidate but refused to let him govern as a public official. He had made political history and changed the Democratic party in Luzerne County forever. Alas his time to savor the moment in the sun would be short. His time in county government would be cut short by a battle with leukemia that not many people knew about. Toward the last months of his life, Crossin began to wear a hat in the winter, something he had never done before. But other than that deviation, no one knew the severity of the illness. In January of 1981, Frank Crossin died of the disease and left a legacy of “what ifs?’ If he had lived, would there have been a Trinicewski/Phillips administration? What about the career course of his son Frank Junior? (His son, Frank Junior went on to a distinguished 18 year career as County Commissioner.) What about the ultimate political fate of his running mate Edd Brominski? All of these questions are just speculation now. We can make up all of the fiction we want about the “what ifs”. However, what is a fact is that before he died, Frank Crossin took on his own party, then transformed it. He became the true Chairman of the County Board of Commissioners, unchallenged and never to be outmaneuvered again. And that fact is etched forever in Luzerne County political history.