The LuLac Edition #1391, Dec. 2nd, 2010

PHOTO INDEX: CONGRESSMAN ELECT LOU BARLETTA, STATE SENATOR LISA BAKER OF THE 20TH DISTRICT AND OUR 1966 LOGO.

BUDGET BLUES

Last year when Tom Cooney was being anointed as the new Luzerne County Commissioner one of the reasons people gave for his appointment was his business acumen. Cooney also said his firm had contracts with the County. Now all of a sudden he tells us he has to recuse himself from voting on the budget because his company does business with LCCC. So it leaves one Democrat, Mary Anne Petrilla and one Republican, Steve Urban to make a decision. Oh what Ed Wideman and Frank Crossin could’ve done with this situation! It is not within the realm of impossibility that either Petrilla or Urban may say no. Or yes when the other says no. One more saga in the history of Luzerne County Government and Politics with the emphasis on Politics. Last year a source told me that the Commissioner’s job was set up for a person who totally disintegrated during the interview process. So there was a scramble that would make Fran Tarkenton blush and Conney got the job. I never believed it until this week.

SCRANTON EPIC BATTLE

The showdown between Mayor Chris Doherty and Scranton City Council had to come and it is upon us. Doherty wants to finally bring the city out of its “distressed” status in his third term in office. Council Chair Janet Evans is promising to fight the Mayor on his budget plans. Naturally the guys in the middle are the Fire Fighters. The public service union is hopping mad and coming hard at Doherty. So you have the makings of a battle royale . The Firefighters, like police are a sacred cow in terms of trying to cut them. But Doherty has never had the unions as a total ally. So the way this shakes down is going to be interesting. Can a Mayor reject public safety and defend that as an issue? And can the Council defend its override of a Doherty veto if it gets the Electric City out of its distressed status? I can just see the political consultants doing battle on this one.

BAKER’S CHOICE

State Senator Lisa Baker was the first area Legislator to reject the annual pay hike due the lawmakers by announcing she will give that raise back to the Treasury. Baker first elected in 2006 made the move. It will be interesting to see if other area legislators follow her lead. Honestly I hope all of them do, except for Scranton’s Ken Smith. I think he should take that raise and advance it toward taking care of that tax bill. Or maybe sending some dough to those workers who thought they were going to get some type of unemployment compensation.

BROWN NOSER

Speaking of unemployment compensation, how about Mass. Senator pretty boy Scott Brown saying that unemployment compensation issues for displaced workers should be relegated to the back burner because we to create jobs. Teddy Kennedy must be rolling over in Arlington! I mean Senator Brown, there are 5 unemployed for every job in America right now. Do you want to make the statistics look pretty? I heard my buddy Tarone on WILK the other day talking about his layoffs and how unemployment was a crutch for him at times. I’ll buy that. I think there is inequity in the system, I mean why should a $30.00 an hour season workers get a full claim when there is an expectation he’ll be called back the next year? There is need for reform but this is the worst recession since the Depression. Money used for people on unemployment is for things like eating, paying rent or mortgages, school clothes for kids and maybe, just maybe a treat or two along the line. Maybe Scott Brown can get a role in a Christmas movie next year, like “Scrooge Comes To D.C.”.

LOU’S GOODBYE

The Times Leader reports that U.S. Rep.-elect Lou Barletta will resign his position as mayor of Hazleton on Dec. 14. Barletta, 54, was elected to Congress as the representative from the 11th Congressional District, defeating 13-term Democratic incumbent Paul Kanjorski of Nanticoke. When Barletta resigns as mayor, Council President Joseph Yanuzzi, also a Republican, is expected to be appointed to fill Barletta’s unexpired term, which runs until the end of 2011. The city’s mayoral position will be contested in the 2011 primary and general elections, with a newly elected mayor taking office in January 2012. The 2011 race for Mayor will be interesting. Will Yannuzzi be a caretaker or will he go after a term of his own? Yanuzzi is very popular and has been Barletta’s wing man since he got on Council. More on this as it develops.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT


HEATING UP

Something very significant happened at the Wilkes Barre Area School Board meeting this week. Gone were the 8 to 1 votes, the 9-0 votes on issues. Joe Moran was elected board chair but not by much. The Times Leader reports that Wilkes-Barre Area School Board narrowly elected Joe Moran as president tonight, with the 5-4 vote following what has increasingly become a common majority/minority line
The board unanimously elected James Fisher as temporary president to oversee the state-mandated annual reorganization meeting. When Fisher took the seat from outgoing President Teresa McGuire and asked for nominations for president, Phil Latinski nominated Moran and Lynn Evans nominated Maryanne Toole.
Fisher, Moran, Latinski, McGuire and Gary Polakoski voted for Moran. Evans, Toole, Robert Corcoran and Christine Katsock voted for Toole. Polakoski then nominated Fisher as vice-president and Evans nominated Katsock. The vote split along the same lines for Fisher with one exception, Corcoran voted for Fisher.
Will there actually be debate at the School Board meetings? Will there be fireworks? Perhaps more transparency with such a close vote. I remember the Wyoming Area School Board of the 60s, 70s and early 80s. It was 5 to 4 or 6 to 3. And God forbid if someone quit and you’d have a 4-4 stand off. This might be the first time in over 30 years that there will be a Majority and Minority on the Wilkes Barre Area School Board.

1966

Barbados achieves independence....Kurt Georg Kiesinger is elected Chancellor of West Germany......British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith negotiate on the HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean....... U Thant agrees to serve a second term as U.N. Secretary General...In Pennsylvania water companies get a 2% rate increase by the Public Utility Commission and in Wilkes Barre City, Council Chairman Robert Brader says that he does not anticipate putting an earned income tax into the 1967 budget. Republican Ethel Price joined Brader in saying that there would be no reduction in public services without the inclusion of the tax that was spearheaded by Mayor Frank Slattery and in 1966 the number 1 song in America and LuLac land was believe it not an instrumental rendition of “Born Free” by Roger Williams.

A novelty song by Peter and Gordon also made the top ten.

And a song by Bobby Vinton highlighted the angst of the Vietnam War. His song was “Coming Home Soldier”