The LuLac Edition #416, Feb. 8th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: LUZERNE COUNTY COMMISSIONER STEVE URBAN, OUR LULAC 1968 LOGO, CHELSEA CLINTON AND GOVERNOR ED RENDELL.

CHELSEA DISSED

A distasteful comment about Chelsea Clinton by an MSNBC anchor could imperil Hillary Rodham Clinton's participation in future presidential debates on the network, a Clinton spokesman said.
In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson on Friday excoriated MSNBC's David Shuster for suggesting the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to celebrities and Democratic Party "superdelegates" on her mother's behalf.
Wolfson called Shuster's comment "beneath contempt" and disgusting.
"I, at this point, can't envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network," he added.
MSNBC said Shuster, who apologized on the air for his comment, has been temporarily suspended from appearing on all NBC news broadcasts except to offer his apology.

Chelsea has had it rough with the press. She came into view when she was an awkward teenage girl just out of the tweens. Her parents to their credit made her off limits to press coverage but that didn't stop the ignorance of certain people. I remember a Scranton area political wannabee who kissed so much butt to get his picture with the Clintons in the early 90s when the trio was in town for the funeral of Hillary's father. The guy comes into the newspaper I was working for at the time and proudly displays his trophy. He gets the publisher to even run it in a prominent place. Temporarily. Then he blurts out, "God that kid is ugly!" The publisher who had a daughter the same age threw the guy out of the office and the picture never appeared. Being in the spotlight when you don't want to be is tough, tougher on a kid trying to grow up. Schuster should not be banned for life from TV, but his choice of words was symptomatic of the way campaigns are covered these days. Anything for a quick hit. Good for MSNBC for taking a stand.

THE URBAN WARRIOR

Minority Luzerne County Commissioner Steve Urban is taking Wilkes Barre Mayor Tom Leighton to task. Urban says Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton misleads in a recent letter asserting that three city projects are in jeopardy because of Tim Grier’s challenge of a proposed Luzerne County bond package. The county has $1.7 million sitting in the bank for the three projects – an intermodal transportation hub, an affordable housing program and transformation of a Public Square bank into a restaurant. While the development of downtown Wilkes Barre is admirable, once again private businesses like a restaurant are being funded by taxpayers dollars. Do you think Abe's Hot Dogs or Martz Trailways got tax breaks? Nope, they were built on the risk of private enterprise. The money to fund the three projects came from previous bond borrowing. The money has been available to the city since county commissioners voted in December 2006 to approve the expenditures, Urban said. The city was given 18 months to draw down the funding but has not done so to date. Urban said Grier is not holding up the intermodal, the bank building redevelopment or South River Street neighborhood housing projects. Urban says there has been a commitment since late 2006 and the city hasn't drawn down any money yet. Must be waiting for the right palms to grease I suspect or maybe a crony just doesn't have their act together to bid on the work just yet.


GAMBLING 80/20

How about those state gaming revenues coming to our area from the success of Mohegan Sun? (I'm proud to say I've never set foot in Alabama or the Mohegan Sun casino!) There are 80 million dollars in requests but there is only 20 million dollars to distribute. It might be a good idea to improve the infrastructure like roads and bridges around here, libraries, and parks and recreation. Things the public can use. Maybe some police protection. But please, let's stay away from funding shyster businessmen with their hands out feeding at the taxpayer trough. Enough is enough.

RENDELL'S BUDGET

Governor Ed's budget has been compared to a buffet and we know the big guy loves his pizza and cheesesteaks. There is much to like about the governor's spending plan for fiscal 2009. He wants to boost spending for health care, education and public safety, which sounds great and should be applauded.
The concern is that Rendell's proposed $28.3 billion budget is too ambitious. Given a likely recession, this isn't the time to reach for that extra helping of $1 billion more in spending. Many say there should be some cuts to offset a downturn.
But things could be worse. For all the partisan budget wrangling in Harrisburg last summer, including a one-day government shutdown, Pennsylvania's finances are in good shape.
The state is projected to finish the current budget year in June with a surplus of more than $500 million. At least 24 states are facing deficits, including New Jersey's shortfall of roughly $3.5 billion. A surplus like that hasn't been seen since Tom Ridge's administration.
Because of the surplus, there are no broad-based tax increases in Rendell's proposed budget. Rendell does call for a dime-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax to help pay for health care. And he's still pushing his energy independence fund, to be paid by monthly fees averaging 45 cents per home. Again, Rendell sees alternatives like raising user fees instead of taxes.
Rendell wants to spend an additional $291 million on education - a 5.9 percent hike. The commitment to improving education could well be the legacy of Rendell's two terms, along with the pluses and negatives that will come from legalized gambling. The governor is keeps fighting for his program to expand access to health care and prescription drugs. Republican legislators who will oppose sensible plan will do so at their own electoral peril. Rendell has been a persuasive advocate of community development and its seems like he's done it in all the right places. The surplus is proof positive of the way an economy should be stimulated, by bringing people's quality of living up with good services rather than giving them a meaningless tax cut they'll waste on a short term consumer good that will be a memory in a few years. Go Ed!

SAVING THE PAVILLION

Lackawanna County commissioners filed a lawsuit Thursday in county court against Housing and Redevelopment Insurance Exchange, Foxco Insurance Management Services Inc., and local insurance agent Dominic Verrastro, citing breach of contract, insurance bad faith, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence on the part of the defendants.

The county and the insurance entities have been embroiled in a dispute over coverage of the pavilion roof, which collapsed under the weight of heavy snow in February 2007. An insurance claim was not filed until Jan. 17 and subsequently denied on Jan. 29. This might be a problem and you have to wonder who was advising the Commissioners at the time this happened. I mean it's common sense, weather ruins part of your house, you file a claim, right? Why wasn't a claim filed and who was responsible? Majority commissioners Mike Washo and Corey O’Brien, in cooperation with minority Commissioner A.J. Munchak, filed a civil action citing Pennsylvania’s Unfair Insurance Practices Act, Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law and Insurance Bad Faith. Attorney Larry Moran filed the action on behalf of the county. Mr. Munchak said his fellow commissioners told him the civil suit was the best way to go. About time A.J., where were you last year with your partner Atty. Cordaro? A financial guy and an Attorney ignoring an insurance claim! That is a first in Western Civilization!

1968

Forty years ago this week the 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were celebrated in 1968 Grenoble, France and opened this week. Thirty-seven countries participated. Norway won the most medals, the first time a country other than the USSR had done so since the USSR first entered the Winter Games in 1956.
Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy won three gold medals in all the alpine skiing events. In women's figure skating, Peggy Fleming won the only United States gold medal. The games have been credited with making the Winter Olympics more popular in the United States, not least of which because of ABC's extensive coverage of Fleming and Killy, who became overnight sensations among teenage girls.
The year 1968 marked the first time the IOC first permitted East and West Germany to enter separately, and the first time the IOC ever ordered drug and gender testing of competitors...... Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C., during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley......On the state level Congressman Richard Schweiker won the GOP endorsement for United States Senator, Frank J. Pasquerella was given the nod for State Treasurer and Warner Depuy was picked to be the Auditor General candidate. All three faced no opposition in the spring primary......In Wilkes Barre's 6th District, (now the 121rst) Robert McGinley was endorsed by the Republican party to run against State Representative Bernard O'Brien. McGinley later became a Democrat and served in the McLaughlin administration years later.....in Pittston at St. John the Baptist Grade School, for the first time, 8th grade and 7th grade classes could use the makeshift library (in the hallway between the classrooms) to pick out books on a coed basis...and this week in 1968, the Temptations held down the number one spot in the nation and LuLac land with "I Wish It Would Rain". Check out this YOU TUBE video and the choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbiLZS_HFx0.