The LuLac Edition #310, Sept. 24th, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: MAYOR TOM LEIGHTON AT NAACP MEET THE CANDIDATES MEETING SATURDAY (COURTESY OF WILKES BARRE ONLINE) AND JUDGE ANNE LOKUTA.

THE RACE IS ON

The local NAACP had a meet the candidate meeting on Saturday. Mayor Tom Leighton attended and gave brief remarks before he had to attend the Marker unveiling for Planters Peanuts on S. Main Street. There are reports that no incumbents or winners of the nominations for Council on the Democratic side were there. That comes from Council candidate in District B, Pete Gagliardi.

MORE MEETS

This Wednesday, the 6th District GOP will host a Meet the Candidates Night at Norm's Pizza.

The 6th District Republican Committee presents:
Start: Sep 25 2007 - 7:00pm
End: Sep 25 2007 - 9:00pm
"Meet the Candidates Night!"
September 25, 2007 at Norm's Pizza.
7PM to 9PM immediately after the 5:45PM meeting of the 6th District Republican Committee.
Please come out and MEET THE CANDIDATES!
Sponsored by: The 6th District Republican Committee, Stephen J. Urban, Chairman, James M. O'Meara, Sr., Treasurer.

THE LOKUTA TRIAL

So Judge Anne Lokuta's trial/hearing started today in Harrisburg. I plan to comment on this everyday and after thinking long and hard, this is how I am going to do it. I am going to take a news report about a piece of testimony, print that and then comment on it as if I were a juror in this proceeding. These comments will be coming from the gut and will not necessarily reflect what the outcome will be. But it will be my reaction, for better or worse as if I were hearing it in the courtroom. It is not meant to be right or wrong, just how I'm reacting.

LOKUTA: DAY 1

After attorney Michael Kostelaba suffered a stroke a couple years ago, his typing skills worsened a bit. But he was still able to return to work as a law clerk for Judge Ann Lokuta.
At first, Lokuta was very nice to him. But then she got "excited," Kostelaba testified.
"She started riding me," he testified. "She was constantly criticizing me."
Then, Kostelaba testified, Lokuta claimed he was making so many typing errors, she had to have another employee, Maureen Gushanas, review his work before giving it to Lokuta.
But then she reprimanded him for failing to put his completed work on her chair as she claimed to have told him in the past, he testified. She denied telling him to have Gushanas review his work, the attorney testified.
"She chastised me," he testified.
Kostelaba is testifying in Lokuta’s trial on a slew of misconduct charges before the state’s Court of Judicial Discipline.
Testimony will continue throughout the week.

REACTION:

I'm sorry the Attorney had a stroke but apparently that did cause him a problem in being less capable than he was. I can speak from experience, after my injury in an accident, I could no longer do the physical things required of me by being a Media Account Executive. I couldn't go out on TV shoots, and could not stand for long hours making a presentation. I was told that the accident limited my effectiveness and was told to look for other work. I was an employee. There were expectations of me and my performance for the good of the organization. I could not meet them. Was I chastized? More than that, I was stripped of my prime accounts and led toward the door. I know government, especially at the Luzerne County Courthouse is different than private industry, but Judge Lokuta, as an employer should have had expectations of accuracy, stroke or not in having the work completed. If you ask me, the Judge asking someone else to help him was more an act of compassion than chastisement. In the real world, you work for a boss and if your boss hurts your feelings, get another job.

Senior Judge Patrick Toole Jr. testified that Judge Ann Lokuta wasn't "shouldering" her fair share of court cases when she took the bench in 1992.
"She was not producing the same amount of work as other judges," the Luzerne County's former president judge testified Monday.


REACTION:

So Senior Judge Patrick Toole complained about her work load. Is there any documentation that he disapproved of her lack of work ethic in 1992? As President Judge, did he call for an investigation, is there something in her Employment file to justify his testimony? Or is it hearsay?