The LuLac Edition #1589, May 11th, 2011

PHOTO INDEX: OUR "WRITE ON WEDNESDAY" LOGO.

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

OUTRIGHT REPUDIATION

Newspapers have always had an opportunity to voice their opinions on politics and the people involved in it. We are used to seeing sharp edges and tough statements but rarely do you see a wholesale condemnation of the actions of a majority of a school board. That happened on Easter Sunday when the Citizen's Voice published this editorial that was to say the least highly critical of the hiring practices of the Wyoming Area School Board. To say the newspaper didn't pull any punches is an understatement. The Voice not only kicks ass, it names names! This is extraordinary and breathtaking in its absolute and well placed condemnation of the Wyoming Area School Board.
Voters in the Wyoming Area School District will have an opportunity to send a message to their ethically challenged school board when they go to the polls next month.
In one of the more brazen political acts of the past year, a majority on the Wyoming Area board voted in October to promote two board members' wives from part-time to full-time secretarial positions.
While John Marianacci and Dave Alberigi, the two board members who directly benefitted from the pay raises that went along with their spouses' new full-time jobs, won't be on the ballot on May 17, two board members who voted in favor of the promotions will be.
Nicholas T. DeAngelo and Toni Valenti are both seeking Democratic and Republican nominations for re-election to four year terms.
We urge every voter in the district to withhold support from DeAngelo and Valenti.
Only when the public takes a stand for good government, fairness in hiring and ethical standards will Northeastern Pennsylvania finally shed the culture of cronyism and nepotism that has long weighed down our public institutions.
That culture directly contributes to the more pernicious corruption that has landed numerous judges and school officials in federal court over the past two years.
Those who see no problem in using their elected offices to benefit themselves, their families, their friends and political allies are undoubtedly more likely to excuse or indulge in the type of illegality that has tarnished this region's reputation nationwide.
But the arrests of six officials from Luzerne County's public school districts have apparently made little impression on DeAngelo, Valenti and the three other Wyoming Area school directors who helped Marianacci and Alberigi turn public service into private profit and compromised the integrity of an entire school district.
If Wyoming Area voters are serious about stopping their district from being used as an employment service for the friends and relatives of the politically connected, they must say so at the polls on May 17.