The LuLac Edition #709, Jan. 30th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: GOVERNOR ED RENDELL, THE LATE SENATOR FROM MAINE MARGARET CHASE SMITH, THE BEATLES, AUDITOR GENERAL JACK WAGNER, WILK'S RUSTY FENDER AND OUR 1964 LOGO.

SUNSHINE!!!

January 30th a new President Judge of Luzerne County will be selected by secret ballot. But unlike the past selections, this meeting will be open to the public. The Judges will meet in a third floor courtroom and bring some openness to the Judicial system in the county. This will signal to the public two things, that 1. Not all elected Judges now on the bench are corrupt and 2. The Court En Banc will now give voters and residents hope that maybe these antics are behind us. Judge Muroski, a former DA and fine Judge for over thirty years has spearheaded the effort to clean things up and make people aware that corruption will no longer stand in the County.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

2 Judges are charged with corruption, the Acting County Controller gets charged with drunk driving and pleads his case with his trousers around his ankles to local police, in Scranton the head of the COLTS transit system is exposed as trying to extort painkillers from his staff and a former Court employee and Wilkes Barere Area School Director Delores Seacrest wants her $1100 a month pension back after it was rescinded. Seacrest plead guilty to forging a Court document to expunge the record of a girl friend’s husband so he could get a teaching job. And folks, this was all in one week. As my buddy Rusty Fender is fond of saying, “YOU COULDN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP”.

THE MILLION MARK

A new survey finds that the number of Pennsylvania residents without health insurance has increased to more than 1 million. That’s a rather dubious distinction. The survey says the uninsured now account for more than 8 percent of all state residents. That's up from 7.5 percent in the department's last survey in 2004. Gov. Ed Rendell is pushing for an expansion of government-subsidized health insurance. But Republicans in the state Senate say his plan is too expensive.

BUH BYE BUCKS!!!

The Rendell administration has told state workers' unions it wants them to agree to cancel a 2.25 percent raise that went into their paychecks earlier this month and to forgo a 3 percent pay increase scheduled for July 1. It also wants to reduce the Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund's reserve from $244 million to $50 million. Rendell said earlier in the week that he expects his new budget could cut as many as 2,000 jobs. Pennsylvania has 78,000 full-time, salaried workers. A union leader for state workers told us that administration officials had mentioned a 30-day "notice of intent to furlough," raising the certainty that some cuts could come well before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.

WAGNER ON THE MOVE

2010 Potential Candidate for Governor in 2010 Auditor General Jack Wagner said that the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, through its county assistance offices, failed to make proper Medicaid eligibility determinations on more than 1,600 Medicaid applicants between January 2005 and March 2008, resulting in $3.3 million in improper payments made on behalf of ineligible recipients. In a press release, Wagner, sounding like a candidate said, "A dollar wasted is a dollar that could have gone to help a truly needy person receive the medical assistance he or she deserves," Wagner said. "With the commonwealth facing widening budget deficits, the Department of Public Welfare must do all that it can to monitor the state's Medicaid program, to make sure all funds are being spent efficiently, effectively, and for their intended purpose. I strongly urge DPW to take immediate steps to tighten its administration and oversight of this vitally important program to ensure that people who are eligible for Medicaid benefits will be able to receive every dollar they're entitled to for their care." The audits are the first Medicaid eligibility audits completed by Wagner's department. Many of the improper eligibility determinations were due to DPW's failure to verify recipients' age, disability and family relationship requirements, and to promptly review recipients' financial and other eligibility information. Wagner's auditors found errors in 1,648, or 14.1 percent, of 11,698 Medicaid cases selected randomly from 513,128 Medicaid cases from 79 county assistance offices in 53 counties. Medicaid, which is known in Pennsylvania as the Medical Assistance program, is a federal health care program for low income children and families, disabled individuals, elderly and chronically ill adults. It is funded jointly by the state and the federal government, and is administered by DPW. None of the errors mentioned in Wagner’s report came from Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

1964

France and the People's Republic of China announce their decision to establish diplomatic relations. U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith, 66, announces her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. was a Republican Senator from Maine, and one of the most successful politicians in Maine history. She was the first woman to be elected to both the U.S. House and the Senate, and the first woman from Maine to serve in either. She was also the first woman to run for President of the United States on a major party ticket and to have her name placed in nomination for the U.S. Presidency at a major party's convention (1964 Republican Convention won by Barry Goldwater). She was a moderate Republican, included with those known as Rockefeller Republicans. When she left office, Smith had the record as the longest-serving female senator in United States history, ranking 11th in seniority among the members of the Senate, a distinction that has not been surpassed. One of her quotes is "When people tell you that you can't do a thing you kind of like to keep trying". At the GOP convention in San Francisco Smith received one vote for the nomination. That prompted squeals from the women in the crowd………in Pennsylvania, a Democratic battle for the U.S. Senate nomination ensues when State Auditor Genevieve Blatt signals her intentions to run in the Democratic primary against Supreme Court Judge Michael Musmanno………in Scranton Mayor William Schmidt proposes a redevelopment of the Lackawanna Avenue section of the downtown. Seems like that Avenue has been under construction and renovation forever, doesn’t it? And this week, the number one song in LuLac land and America was a two sided hit by the Beatles. From Swan Records, “She Loves You” and “I’ll Get You”. This was one of three labels the Beatles were signed with, VeeJay, Capitol and Swan. Coming up on the anniversary of the Ed Sullivan show, Feb 4th, a special LuLac remembrance of what the Beatles meant to Americans, pop culture and politics.