The LuLac Edition #719, Feb. 10th, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: COULD THIS BE ONE OF THE CAST OF HUNDREDS OF SECRETARIES UNDER THE LUZERNE COUNTY COURTHOUSE DOME? A 1980 PHOTO OF EXETER NATIVE MICHAEL SMITH, LINDA RHODES REPRESENTING THEN STATE SENATOR JOE RHOADES RUNNING IN THE U.S. SENATE PRIMARY, FRANCO HARRIS OF THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS AND THIS BLOG EDITOR. THE NEXT PHOTO SHOWS FRANCO GETTING MOBBED AS HE WALKED IN THE DOOR AT GENETTI'S, BISHOP JOSEPH MARTINO AND SCRANTON NATIVE AND PENNSYLVANIA U.S. SENATOR ROBERT P. CASEY, JUNIOR.

THE BISHOP AND BOBBY

Bishop Martino has in his sights a very peculiar political target. The Bishop has criticized Scranton’s own for cooperating with … evil” by refusing to back legislation to block U.S. tax dollars from flowing to foreign family planning groups that refuse to renounce abortion. In a Jan. 30 letter to the senator, the Bishop also calls on Mr. Casey to live up to his Catholic faith and “oppose abortion and other clear evils, including contraception.” The Casey family and contraception? I mean does the Bishop (an out of town jasper with obviously no knowledge of what we’re about) know that Senator Casey is a staunch pro life advocate? Does he know that the Senator’s late father, Governor Robert Casey defied his sitting President, Bill Clinton by asking to speak to the Democratic Convention on the rights of the unborn? Does he know the elder Casey paid a steep political price for his stance? Does he know the late Governor’s autobiography is titled “Fighting For Life”? (An obvious homage to not only his comeback from a major illness but his belief in the Pro Life movement? The Bishop reminds me of these out of towners the local Chambers bring in to “coach” us on how to have a better economy with high paying jobs. They leave with the only high paying job while the rest of the poor slobs in LuLac try to get by on $28,500 a year working two jobs! Of all the people to pick on, why Senator Casey? Hey Bishop Martinto, the guy is on your side!! Has been, is now, will be! See Bishop, Senator Casey is not only the “Catholic” Senator, he’s elected by Jews, Methodists, Buddhists and hold on to your miter there, even atheists! Senator Casey, like his entire public service oriented family, takes his job as a representative of all the people seriously. Unlike you Bishop, Senator Casey answers questions of the local, state and national media. In person. Not on paper, not on a CD boom box but in the flesh and blood. Bob Casey is not your enemy. His stance on international issues should be no concern of yours, unless you want to kick in a share of your annual appeal and send the dough to Third World countries prohibiting birth control and have those citizens there multiply like rabbits so that they’ll all die off of disease and starvation before their 25th birthday. See, I think Bob Casey is a good, huge target to take the attention off of the church closings you announced last week. Or maybe you really want to debate this point in public with the Senator. He’ll show up and the two of you can hash out this problem. But you can’t do via CD player. Have your people call my people and we’ll set it up.

FRANCO FOR SENATE?

The recent news on the statewide blogs tell us Franco Harris, former Steelers running back might be interested in running for the Senate against Arlen Specter in 2010. The blog Harrisburg Politics broke the story, here’s the link. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/
Anyway, let me tell you my Franco Harris story. In the 1980 primary, State Senator Joe Rhoades was running for the Democratic nomination along with the likes of former Philly Mayor Bill Green and a few other heavyweights. Rhoades was a good candidate but thought it would be a good idea to have Franco Harris campaign for him. The campaign made a stop at Genetti’s in Wilkes Barre. His wife, later to become the Secretary of Aging under the Casey administration blew into town with Franco. Their mission was to campaign for the Senator. They failed. Everyone there was present to see Franco. An old high school class mate of mine, Mike Smith showed up with a football to be autographed. The place was bedlam and it took a little scolding from Harris to let Mrs. Rhoades speak on behalf of her husband. Linda Rhoades gave her speech and when it was over, everyone lunged toward Franco. I write this as a cautionary tale. People may want to meet and greet Harris and he might get huge crowds like Lynn Swann did in his 2006 run against Governor Ed. But Harris has to someway blend his football persona with the passion he has for statewide issues. He endorsed President Obama, worked for him and is pretty lucid on the issues. But he has to separate number 32 in order to be taken seriously as prospective Senator Harris. My suggestion would be to charge an autograph fee donated to a campaign or a charity. Direct Joe Fan to a website, get him to register to vote. But make it clear your mission is handling the problems of the future of the nation and the state instead of reliving the past for fans who remember you for something that was only a portion of your life.

DEBIT STIMULUS CARDS

A caller to WYOU TV's Interactive Newscast Monday suggested that a true stimulus package would work if the government issued debit cards to taxpayers to stimulate the economy. I think it's a good idea, kind of like my proposal to give every working, taxpaying American $200,000 grand and a $20,000 coupon for a new car. And if no one is familiar with how to effectively use a debit card, I'm sure there are a few people at the Luzerne County Courthouse who will give you some pointers.

SECRETARY’S DAY

My heavens, local florists must have a field day at the Luzerne County Courthouse on Secretary’s day. In the Times Leader the other day, the paper printed the names and salaries of all the court officials. There had to be at least 80 secretaries and executive assistants on that list. Even for a behemoth operation like a court system, do they really need that many secretaries? While the Times Leader did a great public service by printing the list, I’d like to know what they do all day, is there a quota they have to meet in terms of workloads, are they clocked in by a Kronos time clock that makes sure they are working the proper hours and is there an overlap in the work they do? And I'd like to know how many words per minute can they type? Is there a system to know who does what and is there an evaluation process the secretaries need to go through to justify the position? All of these aforementioned things are done in private business. After reading the list, I came away with more questions than answers. Maybe they can hire this kid under the Dome.