The LuLac Edition #1379 Nov. 21st, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: "SCRATCHING OUR HEADS" OVER THE SPREADSHEET.

FIGURING THE SPREADSHEET

The hottest e mail going around this weekend among local politicos is the scoring spreadsheet the Luzerne County Home Rule Committee used to make their grades on applicants. Apparently you could get a high score of 15 if one person voted for you. My score was 15 thanks to Commissioner Mary Anne Petrilla. That is heartening and appreciated since I only met the Commissioner for the first time last Spring when we were panelists on WYLN TV’ 35’s Primary Election Night coverage. I am not the best spread sheet reader in terms of speed but it is apparent that the top 3 candidates got their scores from a majority of Home Rule Committee members. Not reading into that, not making a judgement, as they say on the radio, “I’m just saying”.
The top three according to the spreadsheet I got were:
Mike Giamber, he got 69 votes and all them came from Committee members Ciarufoli, Hefron, Kersey and Morelli.
Attorney James Bobeck: his totals came from Commissioner Tom Conney, and Home Rule Committee member Ciarufoli, Hefron, Kersey and Moreli.
Peter Gagliardi: My buddy (and that statement alone will doom any chances he has to go further in this process) got what seems to be the only bi partisan support of the panel from the top tier. Home Rule members Ciarufoli, Hefron and Morelli picked Gagliardi but he also had the bi partisan support of both incumbent Commissioners Steve Urban and Mary Anne Petrilla.
What this mean, who the hell knows?
People on the side of Home Rule No are saying the Committee members stacked the deck. People who are Pro Home Rule are saying this was the fairest process they could devise. Giamber has been active in the Home Rule Yes movement so the votes he got were from people most familiar with him. Bobeck got a nice cross section and Gagliardi seemed to get the most even amount of votes. I can make a prediction here, one of these three top tier candidates, if we are only judging by the numbers won’t be picked. Not to sound sexist here but they can’t pick three guys in the age range of 35 to 56. A woman will have to be picked and I see that being Susan Shoval who had a respectable vote total in the low 40s. That all being said, a lot depends on interviews that are going to be public. And if any of these top 3 sound and look like jackasses, then all bets are off.
Disclaimers: I went to grade school with Mike Giamber and Giamer recruited me to be the moderator for a Home Rule Information Session at Kingston High School. I was given a dinner certificate for my time and efforts that evening.
I went to college with Peter Gagliardi. We both were class mates at King’s College and were Government majors. Later Pete and I were co workers at the old Call Center on South Main Street in Wilkes Barre from 1999 to 2002. Pete and I occasionally have lunch where I regularly chastise him for being so damn Republican.
I have never met Attorney Bobeck or Susan Shoval.