The LuLac Edition #343, Nov. 7th, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: REPUBLICAN BOB CORDARO, DEMOCRAT COREY O'BRIEN, DEMOCRAT MIKE WASHO AND REPUBLICAN A.J. MUNCHAK.

SHAKE UP

With almost all ballots counted, Democrats Mike Washo and Corey O'Brien have unofficially won a landslide victory to take majority control of Lackawanna County.

TROUNCED!!

Election officials have tallied 100 percent of precincts, except for absentee ballots and ballots with duplicate votes. The results are: Mike Washo, 40,195 votes; Corey O'Brien, 40,164; A.J. Munchak, 17,622; and Bob Cordaro, 17,531.

THE NUMBERS!

It can't be said that the Commissioners team on each side were trying to cut each other. Perhaps the most famous of these instances came in 1979 when Chester LaSota, a row officer cut Jim McNulty leaving the then future Mayor a few thousand votes behind. 31 votes seperate Washo and O'Brien and 91 seperate Cordaro and Washo. As I mentioned earlier, it is apparent that the two teams, unlike Luzerne County ran as advertised, a team. The vote totals bear that out.

HOW THEY WON

O'Brien and Washo ran a stealth campaign. They made many public appearances, glad handed, made a striking but dissimiliar appearance, did not buy into any hysteria from the old line Democrats and more importantly, did not focus on specifics. In effect their message was, "we ain't them". The strategy was a great one as the landslide attests.

HOW THEY LOST

Munchak and Cordaro ran an in your face campaign. Usually that's good but in this case, that type of campaigning reminded voters of the huge tax increase, after promises to cut taxes. Voters everywhere have short memories and the duo's claims that they were left a mess didn't seem to matter to the voters who likened the tax increase to a boulder trying to kill a flea. Too much, too fast. As if the tax thing wasn't enough, we had the baby born on the prison floor, Cordaro's friend stalking a Democratic rally and using a racial slur, then having the voters find out this guy was actually in charge of something important, the back taxes issue, Mr. Cordaro's reputation in business, (true or not, there was an incredible whispering campaign against him) and the Yankee acquisition. This seemed like a political plus at first and may well be but Mr. Cordaro's insistance on secrecy concerned some people that a deal was in the works that would cause the team to leave. This issue was aggravated by a lawsuit from Luzerne County and Northeast Baseball's John McGee taking out ads before the election citing the legalities and pitfalls of the deal. Munchak was not blameless either, allowing Mr. Cordaro to be the spokesperson when things were great but then stepping aside and putting Munchak front and center when there was bad news, like from the jail. It was also said that Munchak never got back to "old friends who knew him when" causing an erosion of support that was there for him in 2003. Then there were the TV ads. In 2003, Munchak and Cordaro on election eve ran ads with the wife and kids, crying tears that the Democrats were trying to ruin their family's reputations. In 2007, only Mr. Munchak's family was featured in the key election eve ads. That should not be anyone's business but it's a reality and people noticed the nuances of the campaign and passed on the impression to the less educated but emotional voter. All of the above added up to an landslide loss of epic proportions. And it can be argued that Washo and O'Brien didn't win as much as Munchak and Cordaro lost.

MELTDOWN!!

Now, after all of this, it is said that the Republicans are going to challenge the election. Are they nuts? This is not a Gore/Bush situation, this is a blowout. Munchak and Cordaro should summon up what little dignity they have and walk away quietly. History has a way of making revisions and when the dust has subsided, there will be people saying the team made some good moves like the selling of Montage to private industry and the Yankee deal. Those are good things people will give them credit for when the fever of the election and their reign simmers. But not if they do this!