The LuLac Edition #1278, Aug. 26th, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: MAYOR LOU BARLETTA AND CONGRESSMAN KANJORSKI, HOME RULE COURTHOUSE LOGO (BY PITTSTON POLITICS.COM) AND OUR 1966 LOGO.

"POTENTIALLY" BIG

Congressman Paul Kanjorski did something dangerous in his re-election bid for Congress today. He used the word "potentially" in announcing a major jobs project for this region. Here's what he said today:

Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA-11) announced that the U.S. Department of State (DoS) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) are looking for a location to build a new facility to train about 10,000 diplomatic security trainees annually, and property in Luzerne County is receiving serious consideration for the site. If the local site is chosen for the project, the facility could bring 1,000 jobs to Northeastern Pennsylvania and greatly impact economic development locally through the creation of new jobs and growth of small businesses. Currently, such training occurs at 19 different locations throughout the country and DoS is looking to consolidate these efforts into one facility. Today, Congressman Kanjorski led a tour for officials from DoS and GSA around the location under consideration in Conyngham Township. The potential property was bought years ago by Earth Conservancy, which Congressman Kanjorski helped found. Congressman Kanjorski had the foresight years ago to realize that one of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s greatest resources is its land. Now that land is available for use and DoS is seriously considering developing it for a new training facility. Earth Conservancy works to restore and reuse mine-scarred land for recreational, industrial, and residential purposes.
“Northeastern Pennsylvania is under serious consideration for a project that could bring 1,000 jobs to Northeastern Pennsylvania and significantly promote economic development throughout the area by benefiting local businesses,” said Congressman Kanjorski. “Since I first joined Congress, one of my top priorities has been to save and create jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Especially during these difficult economic times, it would be particularly advantageous to have such a boon for area residents and our local economy.”
Congressman Kanjorski added, “Since I helped start Earth Conservancy in 1992, the organization has done a tremendous job working to reclaim mine-scarred land in the area and put it back to use to help with economic development in Northeastern Pennsylvania. This project would highlight exactly how Earth Conservancy has been so successful. By preserving this 2,300 acre parcel, Earth Conservancy has made it possible to locate a large job creating project such as this one. I am pleased that that property is now available for use, and I greatly hope that the Department of State will choose to build its training facility there.”
“As one of the founders of Earth Conservancy, Congressman Kanjorski has always supported the organization’s efforts to revitalize the environment and economy of this region,” said Mike Dziak, President/CEO of Earth Conservancy. “This project would only help further Earth Conservancy’s goals which are to reclaim mine-scarred land and ensure that it can be put back to use to help foster economic development locally. Congressman Kanjorski has worked diligently with Earth Conservancy on these goals, and now he is working to bring a substantial project to the area to use the land as we envisioned. We are grateful for his support in getting the Department of State to consider this area for such a large project. The location of this training facility in the area could help to bring much needed jobs and economic development to our regional community and would reclaim a large area of mine-scarred lands.”
What This Means for Northeastern Pennsylvania
If DoS and GSA, which is responsible for providing workplaces for federal employees and managing federal properties, choose to build the training facility in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the region will reap the economic rewards. The training facility would bring up to 1,000 permanent jobs to the area, plus between 350-550 construction jobs just for the initial phase of the project. DoS would need to hire many new jobs at the facility for buildings and grounds, range operations, emergency medical services, administrative, custodial, vehicle maintenance, security, telecommunications, and food service. The training facility would bring about 10,000 trainees to the area each year which would greatly benefit small businesses, hotels, and restaurants as they would receive an exponential increase in business. Currently, DoS books about 25,000 hotel rooms each year for existing training programs.
Finally, DoS would likely need to contract and subcontract with many local businesses particularly during and after the construction to help create the facility and provide services to it.
About the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC)
The FASTC would provide up to 10,000 students with state-of-the-art training to effectively and efficiently train DoS’ Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) employees. DS is the security and law enforcement arm of DoS and works to protect people, property, and information at U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world. In the United States, DS protects the Secretary of State, who is currently Hillary Clinton, conducts visa and passport fraud investigations, and provides protection for some visiting foreign dignitaries.
A May 2008 report to Congress identified the need to create a consolidated facility, rather than have 19 locations spread throughout the country, to improve training efficiency, decrease operating costs, and ensure that the training facility meets current agency standards.
The training facility would include classrooms, simulation labs, administrative offices, a fitness center, dining facilities, on-site emergency medical and fire services, driving tracks to replicate normal and emergency driving conditions, mock urban environments including streets buildings and facades designed to simulate a variety of urban scenarios, firing ranges, and storage facilities.

There was a key connection in this press release. Hillary Clinton. The Congressman was a huge backer of the Secretary of State in her run for the Presidency. The Congressman is on a first name basis with former President Clinton. Maybe Kanjorsi can afford to be a Kamikaze Candidate in this race with all of his connections that can bear some fruit. We shall see in the days ahead.

LOU WORRIES

In the meantime, Mayor Barletta has a concern about a Kanjorski proposal in his backyard. From the Mayor's camp: Today, Lou Barletta, mayor of Hazleton and candidate for Congress, said he will fight against Paul Kanjorski's proposal to bring a military-style training camp to Conyngham Township, a quiet community that will have to get used to “chases, machine-gun fire and bomb blasts” that will take place at the facility. (Washington Post, 2/23/10). There would be about 500 bomb blasts a year at the site, according to published reports about a similar project proposed for Maryland.

HOMEWORK

The Citizen's Voice reports that the home-rule charter has been filed with county officials and will be on the Nov. 2 ballot for voters to accept or reject - now the Luzerne County Government Study Commission is looking into ways to reach the broadest audience. Last week, commission members dropped off a copy of the charter and a report of their findings with Luzerne County Chief Clerk Doug Pape, who certified it and sent it to the county's Director of Elections, Leonard Piazza III, to pass on to the Bureau of Elections. The remaining legal requirement is to deliver to the county clerk's office a sufficient - but unspecified - number of copies. The study commission has a $25,000 appropriation from the county to print the charter, commission Chairman Jim Haggerty said. The commission is still figuring out how many copies, where to have them printed and where else to distribute them. Haggerty said they should be put in all the libraries; study commission Treasurer Rick Morelli suggested having copies in all the municipal buildings, too. Commission members Frank Conyngham, Veronica Ciaruffoli and Richard Heffron are looking into having the local newspapers print copies; finding a printer through a state cooperative program is also an option.

Home Rule is going to on the ballot. Again. The voters of this county have to get moving and read this thing. The Home Rule Charter people have to get out in front of this and control the message because right now there is a strange coalition building of the most vociferous critics of county government and the county status quo corps. Voters who are interested in this are going to have to school themselves and see what these charter people were working on the last year.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


1966

The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California..........Here's how it sounded:

In Pennsylvania state wide GOP coffers are filled during the summer months with mini fundraisers set up in various counties for the GOP ticket of Lt Governor Raymond Shaffer and his running mate Raymond Broderick….in the Third Legislative District, Representative James Musto highlights his activity on behalf of miners with black lung disease in the state. He seems to be a lock for re-election against his opponent Republican Sm Daley and 44 years ago today the number 1 song in LuLac land and America was "Mr. Dieingly Sad" by the Critters.