The LuLac Edition #360, Dec. 2nd, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: THE PROVERBIAL GOOSE WHO KILLED THE GOLDEN EGG AND GUITAR PLAYING GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE.

THE TIPPING POINT

When an institution is challenged over the years, it counts on its strength to beat back the effort to defeat it. For the past three decades, various and sundry reformers in Luzerne County have been trying to overthrow the cuurent three commissioner form of government. Back in 1975, there was an attempt to restructure county government. My uncle, at that time a county employee was very much opposed to any change. He wigged out when he saw me riding in a car with a huge sign on the trunk that said "Change The Charter". Hey, I just got a ride. I remember then Recorder of Deeds Frank Castellino coming to a government class of mine at King's and saying that the current form of government was a good thing and should not be changed. He also added he had kids in college and needed them to graduate so personally it was a good thing for him. My classmates, especially those from out of the area, were appalled but this was retail politics in Luzerne County, then and now. The recent debit card scandal will pass with time, just like the Bernie Olson social services scandal and the county workers taking bets on sporting events a few years back. After it fades into the background the larger qiuestion will be this: how much longer before another effort begins to reform the County Charter which would eliminate row offices and put the county in the charge of either one person or a board of more than three? It is a real possibility since the last time the issue came to a head (2003) there seemed to be a momentum going the way of the reformers. Then the Democratic party did what it usually does to stay in power, it purged itself of the Makowski/Pisano team members, banished anyone from its distant past (Tucker and Trini) and went with the tried and true formula of jock (Skrepenak) and businesss guy (Vonderheid). (Forty years before it was jock (Crossin Sr.) and business guy (Wideman). Skrep and Vondy were fresh faces, Skrep was larger than life and Vonderheid wrote short notes to anyone who bothered to contact him. When asked about the charter, they said, "give us a chance" and vote no on the thing. And the voters bought their line. We said "no" to the changes and bought the coin of the realm with the inprint on the back saying "In Greg & Todd We Trust". Then Todd left and Skrep soldiered on in a campaign that had significant issues. But the voters really aren't into significant issues, they don't have the time or the energy. So Skrep won re-election along with a new team member. And then of course the debit card story broke. Compared to other issues, it was a pebble in a shoe. Small stuff but something that riled the voters. One has to ask, after all the smoke has died down, whether this issue will result in a slap on the wrist to the local Dems or spawn a full fledged reform movement consisting of disgruntled taxpayers, citizens looking for change and a bi partisan formation of people of all parties angry at the way the County does business. If a new Government Study commission goes forward, it will affect an industry in the county that has been untouched for generations. That industry of course is politics. Time will tell on how far this thing goes but it will be really ironic if what topples this form of government was a debit card controversey rather than a larger issue. After all, we've always heard the goose killed the golden egg but we had no idea what the real magnitude of the gander's offense was, did we? Empires larger than the Luzerne County government have fallen from grace on less.

HUCKABEE RISING

America has had a sax player Governor from Hope, Arkansas as President, and now it appears that another musician/politco from the south is making his way onto the natiobnal scene. In the latest Iowa poll by the American Research Group, Huckabee is within striking distance of Mitt Romney, whom he trails 27 percent to 19 percent. Other polls in Iowa, host of the first statewide nominating contests on Jan. 3, also show Huckabee gaining ground. And Huckabee was the star of a recent gathering of conservative Christian voters in Washington, where a majority of those in attendance said he was their preferred candidate for president - outpacing Romney 5-to-1. Internet ballots put Romney ahead of Huckabee in the overall count, but only by 30 votes. But with Huckabee's apparent rise come many questions. In terms of dollars raised, he is near the bottom of the GOP field. He has no national finance director. In national polls and statewide polls other than Iowa, his support is often less than the margin of error. In a recent debate Huckabee sparred with the more well heeled Romney on immigration issues and quite frankly made the former Mass. Governor look small and petty. Huckabee's warchest is just $300,000 compared to Romney's millions. Iowa loves an under dog and look for the Governor to keep gaining ground.

OUT AND ABOUT

Former Mayor of Scranton and political consultant James Barrett McNulty was seen strolling through the Barnes and Noble Bookstore at Arena Hub Plaza on Friday afternoon......MIchael's on River Street in Plains was packed on Saturday morning and the discussion at almost all of the tables was the debit card controversy......and Rob Findlay, a local business owners dispatched some of his workers to clean the leaves up in front of his business since the city of Wilkes Barre DPW workers were not so inclined. Mrs. LuLac has been using her recently acquired leaf blower to take care of the foilage around our property, if she wasn't working Friday perhaps she could've picked up a few bucks helping the businessman's associates out with their clean up project.