The LuLac Edition #1741, September 4th, 2011
PHOTO INDEX: LUZERNE COUNTY COUNCIL CANDIDATES EILEEN SOROKAS AND BLYTHE EVANS III EQUIPPED WITH HIS WALKING SHOES.
LA FIESTA THE SCENE
If you are a candidate running for any office in Lackawanna County, you can bet there will be over 100,000 people to meet this weekend. The Italian festival has been a mainstay during Labor day for many years. Look for all the candidates running for Commissioner as well as municipal offices to make the scene.
UTILITY CLEAN UP
It seems that many residents impacted by the Hurricane Irene storm are livid about the reaction time offered by UGI. There are some people who are being served by UGI who still, one week, late, do not have their power back. After this is over, I think someone on the State level should have an investigation as to why this utility was late to the party in fixing the problem. It seems to me that there was no emergency plan in place. Worse yet, the website was not active and there was hide nor hair of any UGI spokesman updating the citizens and customers like PPL was doing. I think the least UGI should do is offer those affected a pro rated bill as well as a $300.00 bonus for the aggravation, trouble, lack of information and terrible customer service.
EVANS/SOROKAS ON THE MOVE
County Council candidates Blythe Evans III and Eileen Sorokas have been front and center at events this summer pounding the pavement in search of a win on the County Council. Evans running as a Republican and Sorokas running as a Democrat have made the summer scene glad handing and seeking support. As a candidate Evans is very engaging and personable while Sorokas, well known in the county has been boning up on County issues. I might have mentioned this before but Sorokas has a “bible” that she has put together on the Charter, the costs coming from the Transition team as well as other pertinent information that will enable her to hit the ground running if elected in November.
MORELLI’S LETTER
And Rick Morelli penned this letter to the area newspapers this week:
Dear Editor,
As Luzerne County moves into 2012 there is a lot to be hopeful about regarding the many new changes. With the “Kids for Cash” scandal now behind us, the Luzerne County courthouse will have six new judges which can change the face and improve on the image of the Luzerne County Court System. Along with the changes in the courthouse, Luzerne County government will be rebuilding its future under a new home-rule charter.
One of the things that does not change though is the separation-of-powers between the judicial court system and the executive (County Manager) and legislative (county council) branches. There have been times in the past where the working relationship between these branches has not been the best. In fact, years ago our own judicial court system sued Luzerne County because their budget was cut more than what they have liked. I am optimistic that issues like that will be handled differently in the future.
One of the first issues that will need to be worked out with all of these branches is should the judiciary voluntarily have the court employees follow the new county personnel and ethics standards so that all county employees play on the same playing field. I personally feel that there are a lot of positives of having all county employees following the same rules.
The Home Rule charter requires the adoption of a personnel code to establish merit-hiring standards, including a process to objectively rank job applicants, and an ethics code to provide penalties, sanctions and remedies for charter and ethics violations. The Home Rule Charter defines in Sections 7.03 and 9.03 that all county employees which include the judiciary and office to court administration follow the new personnel and ethics codes
As stated in the Citizens Voice on August 15th, 2011, Luzerne County President Judge Thomas F. Burke Jr. said the state Supreme Court and state Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts supervise the county court system and would have to approve a decision to comply with the personnel and ethics standards established by the home-rule government. He noted the charter and the home-rule government can't violate the separation-of-powers doctrine and independence of the judiciary.
In that same article, Jeffrey Malak, solicitor for the commission that wrote the charter and for the home-rule transition committee, said the new government can impose standards and restrictions on court employees as long as they "do not interfere" with judiciary's ability "to hire, fire, and supervise" court-appointed personnel.
There is obviously no clear answer to this debate but I believe the best way to handle this debate is for the newly elected county council and county manager to open up lines of communication immediately with the judiciary courts come January of 2012. With the combination of the Home Rule Government and six new quality judges, Luzerne County has the potential for major positive change. The key is for all branches in the county to be on the same page, communicate and to work together for the taxpayers of the county rather than for the self interest!
Rick Morelli
Home-Rule Transition Committee
Candidate for Luzerne County Council
posted by David Yonki @ 12:02 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
About Blythe Evans, either you or Doc Joe need to give him some advise on how to dress. Holy shit what a walking disaster.
I realize this is off topic but since you are a fairly local blogger and PA resident, I wanted to make you aware of a FREE, educational, Constitution Day Workshop called “Everything You Wanted to Know About Obamacare (But Didn’t Know Who To Ask”) being held on Sept 17th at DeSales University from 1pm-5pm. Questions/info and registration at: http://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Coalition-for-Health-Care-Reform/events/27077301/
I read in todays paper about the anniversary of the almost forgotten Avondale Mine Disaster and the deplorable condition of the Washburn Street Cemetery in West Scranton where many of the victims are buried. Perhaps another visit from Hillary Clinton would cause a cleanup since the last time the cemetery got any attention was when her father was buried there in the 90s!
I'm not much on visiting cemeterys,
but maybe its time the Sec of State paid a visit.
"Jeffrey Malak, solicitor for the commission that wrote the charter and for the home-rule transition committee, said the new government can impose standards and restrictions on court employees as long as they "do not interfere" with judiciary's ability "to hire, fire, and supervise" court-appointed personnel."
I think the above says it all. We have a county paid solicitor who doesn't have a clue. Just read the above statement he made and you will see that nothing the new Charter does can take away the separation and power to administer the court system from the Court in Bank. That's the way our government is set up and there has always been a separation in powers. This is the same attorney who ruled that the Study Commission could violate their own rule when they appointed one of the "citizens" to the group and that "citizen" was a sitting member of a county Board making her ineligible to be on the council. He said it would be OK if she resigned from the Board but the Rules state very clearly that NO Board, Committee or Authority member can ever APPLY to be on the Study Committee. He ruled against the written rules of the County Study group so how are we better off? Rick Morelli was a part of the group that approved the naming of that person to the Group. Phonies all!
Dave,
UGI like every utility in the US only keeps a maintenence skeleton crew on the payroll. Why pay people to sit around waiting for something big to happen? When something big does happen regional utilities send folks into the disaster area to help - sorta like a labor pool.
Customers want the cheapest rates they can get and this is one of the ways they get it.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This poster wrote a comment Sunday that I chose not to run because it was a critique on a candidate's fashion sense. We all can't be paragons of GQ and she wanted me and a mutual friend to advise the candidate of her perception of his sartorial shortcomings. Since I did not think it was relevant, I did not run the comment. I have run her second comment today heavily editing it which will no doubt infuriate her. But I hope she keeps reading.
Your BiSexual Female Fan has left a new comment on your post "The LuLac Edition #1741, September 4th, 2011":
I ran into our mutual friend at the college last week, i'm taking a night class. I told him i had given up your site because of your heavy handed editing and not publishing remarks. He told me you had lightened up your hand, obviously you have not. I followed your previous instructions and I did not say anything negative about *****' body habitus, I simply pointed out his ******* attire. edited
I would hope you reconsider and post my previous comment along with this one.
I will continue to read and attempt to comment for a little longer.
P.S. what I could do with that cane would make your cute little head spin.
David, good decision to not post the negative comments. People can see and judge how they may but try doing the door to door and by the end of the day you wish you had good walking shoes. I'm impressed that in today's world of easy polictics, a candidate has the energy to do all the things necessary to get elected. I'm going to vote for this guy simply because he's working at it. Who is on the council won't mean a darn thing and their lack of power makes them all but useless. Thank you voters.
To say appearance doesn't matter is just naive. Best example Kennedy/Nixon debate. To stifle debate on any aspect of a candidate is kind of how Saddam Hussein kept getting reelected. Nice to see Yonk maintains his fascist slant and wants to keep honest debate off the table. When one decides to run, ALL is fair game. Every candidate knows that going in. I was on the fence about whom I believe we are discussing. Still am, but his lack of self respect is an important issue. If one doesn't respect him/herself they don't respect others.
Are ya kidding me? Apperance not important. I guess to this area where donning a pocket t-shirt is considered dressing up, but in reality it does matter. If Hilary Clinton was a semi-attractive woman she would have been president.
I think it is said to stifle debate on any aspect of a candidate, relative to what the moderator believes is relevent. Maybe we should just let yonki cast our votes too.
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