The LuLac Edition #1599, May 16th, 2011
PHOTO INDEX: GOOD BAD AND UGLY POSTER.
CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS/LOW LIGHTS
THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
As campaign 2011 winds down, on this day before the big day, we share with you a few of the highlights and low lights of the last few months.
THE GOOD
CANDIDATES: Anyone who puts themselves out there for public office deserves a pat on the back. Except for serving in the military, someone going before the voters and asking for support is truly an honorable thing that must be respected.
AD REVENUE: The radio, TV and Billboard advertising people are the big winners in this election cycle. Newspaper too but not as much as the aforementioned three.
NEWSPAPERS: All of the area newspapers did incredible work in trying to sort this election out. The Scranton Times Tribune did its best to cover the Lackawanna County races while in Luzerne County both the Times Leader and the Citizen Voice did a great public service with their videos, special sections and candidate editorial board interviews. In Hazleton, the Standard Speaker and WYLN TV 35 did a very good job covering a hot mayor’s race that will determine the successor to Congressman Lou Barletta.
FIRST TV AD COUNTY COUNCIL: GOP candidate Blythe Evans III.
FUNNIEST AD: Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O’Brien as Napoleon.
TALK RADIO: The Talk Radio Station of local record, WILK did its very best to make sure those who wanted to be heard were heard.
MOST CREATIVE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: The Jennifer Rogers team asking their FaceBook friends to change their profile photo and put instead a Rogers for Judge sign.
BEST MAIL PIECE: Jim Haggerty’s direct mail piece that personalizes the families he is targeting.
BEST ELECTION DAY ON LINE BANNER: Molly Hanlon Maribito's "Find Molly" banner on line pointing to where she is on the 16 candidate Judicial ballot.
BEST RETRO PIECE: Mayor Tom Leighton’s direct mail piece “The Leighton Ledger” which hearkens back to a time when candidates gave a voter a laundry list in an easy format that can be saved or carried.
WELCOME BACK: The reemergence of Gort 42 just in time for the primary.
THE BAD
NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING: You can’t help that but the Lackawanna County Race for Commissioner is getting down and dirty. Allegations that go back for years against Jim Wansacz at a Steelers game as well as repeated attacks on Corey O’Brien just might backfire on these two. In Luzerne County Council’s race, the negative campaigning has come by way of e mails and FaceBook postings. There has been no out and out paid media attack on any of the County Council candidates but certainly there have been rumblings.
JEFFER’S JOB: Brian Jeffers being forced to choose between his State job or running for Commissioner was totally unfair and politically motivated.
CALORIES: There’s been a lot of consumption of beer and hot dogs at the countless rallies in LuLac land. There’s going to be a lot of SlimFast sales in June. MISSED OPPORTUNITY: I just missed Judicial candidate Paula Raddick knocking at my door as she campaigned in North Wilkes Barre. She did leave a nice note though.
THE MYSTERY POLL: Earlier in the campaign a phone poll was taken on the Wilkes Barre Mayor's race. Charlotte Raup did not commission it and Tom Leighton denied any knowledge of it. The big mystery is who bought and paid for it and what were the results? Or was it someone's campaign strategy yardstick. We might never know.
THE UGLY
If you don’t vote……you get what you get.
LULAC MEDIA
Here’s where we’ll be in the next few days:
Monday May 16th: Topic A: WYLN TV 35, 5:30PM and 11:30Pm on Service Electric Channel 7 Wilkes Barre.
Tuesday May 17th: WILK Morning News with Webster and Nancy on WILK and Fox TV: 7:00 to 8AM.
Tuesday May 17th: WYLN TV 35 Election Night coverage, 8pm to 11pm, Service Electric Channel 7 Wilkes Barre.
Wednesday May 18th: WILK Radio, Sue Henry Show, 9:30 AM to 10:00AM.
posted by David Yonki @ 10:43 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Dave: No matter how this election turns out, you have been an incredible source of information and commentary in this very crucial election in Luzerne County. Your skills are head and shoulders above the rest.
Trump dropped out because he had gotten enough free publicity for his TV Show if not his ego, not to mention the distinct probability of a loss. Huckabee, well I think thats just Huckabee. Trump played the public. Huckabee can just go on playin the guitar...
Lookin forward to your local election coverage. Good work with LuLac during the primary. You must be as busy as Mel Keiper Jr on draft day!
JP
South Abington
I don't agree with your categorization of Haggerty's personalized ads, particularly the ones talking about home rule, as good.
I for one didn't support it, and seeing something thanking my family for bringing home rule to Luzerne County rubs me the wrong way.
The personalization is good, but I think linking his candidacy to home rule is a mistake.
I think people who didn't support it (like me) will be turned off, people who did support it won't care, and that there are some who see the County Council election as chaos and even if they supported Home Rule, they now have buyers remorse. I don't think the opposite is true where there are many anti-home rule people who are now supporters.
We shall see how tomorrow turns out.
From the Times Leader,
John Adonizio, Michelle Bednar, Stanley Knick Jr., Tim McGinley, Michael McGlynn, Thomas Rovinski, Fred Stuccio and Wayne Wolfe.
Adonizio said he has teamed up with the seven candidates and knew a mailing had been sent, but he said he was not sure of the specifics.
McGlynn also verified the formation of a team but said he would have to do more research before commenting on the mailing.
McGinley said he does not have a “clear answer” on the matter at this time.
Yonki, this is the Red O'Brien ticket you referred to in your Sunday 1595 edition. I'm not voting for any organized ticket!
David,
I am a regular reader of your blog. As a Luzerne County Council candidate I find the concept of a regionally controlled council as irresponsible. Everyone running should have as their goal the best interests of the county. It should never be about some region exercising political power over council. Having our new form of government work is a win for the county. It is important for council to to be free from influences of any type be it special interests or regional politicians. The residents of this county can ill afford a board controlled by the unions or local politicians. If any group has to control council it should be a group of independent thinkers.
Lets hope that the voters do their homework and elect eleven members (Democrat and Republican) to council who value the interests of the whole over their personal interests. The residents of our county will not stand for a "business as usual" council.
Thanks for reading,
hwskene
Hey HS SKENE, does that go for the phony Times Leader endorsement also? Get Real!
Sorry Harry but 5:26 AM got you on that one. You can't take one endorsement and then scoff at endorsements in general. Besides, the TL endorsed you and for the life of me, I can't understand why? Other than have one political job with a row officer, what have you done for the txpayers on your own. In your own words, you told the TL interview view that you don't attend meetings. You also don't offer suggestions so why should you be edorsed and a bigger question, why should anyone vote for you?
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