The LuLac Edition #1812, October 27th, 2011

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT



2011 Wilkes Barre Mayor's Debate featuring Betsy Summers, Lisa Cope and Tom Leighton. (Photo from Times Leader.)


Pope Benedict XVIth.


Our 1972 logo.

WILKES BARRE MAYOR’S FORUM

The three candidates for Mayor of Wilkes Barre squared off Wednesday night at Wilkes College for a debate/forum hosted by the Times Leader. Each candidate gave their pitch as to how they would lead the city. Challengers Lisa Cope4 and Betsy Summers advocated better services for the neighborhoods, an end to nepotism as well as greater fiscal transparency. Mayor Leighton predictably did what incumbents usually do. He touted his accomplishments in the last 2 terms referring to the revitalization of the downtown, the good credit rating the city has due to his leadership as well as future projects that need to be completed. Leigthton said that he would like more time to finish the good work that was started. This forum was not a tea and cookies affair with the ladies taking second place. Betsy Summers slammed Leighton on the state of the city neighborhoods and sarcastically stated the Mayor needed to tour those areas to see the problem first hand. Cope savaged the Mayor on the nepotism issue as well as the lack of transparency in city government. Cope also outlined a plan to make sure absentee landlords lived up to their responsibilities and said as Mayor she would confiscate their business licences until they put their properties up to code. But what got the candidates ginned up as well as those in attendance was Leighton’s stance on the security system installed in his house in 2004 as well as one put in then City Administrator J.J. Murphy’s home. Leighton said he had every right to protect his family against physical threats and as he was in the middle of the statement, various residents in the audience said loudly that he should personally pay for it. Prior to that, the three candidates responded to questions about the Hotel Sterling, the tax base, as well as recreational facilities in the city. The consensus was that the beleaguered Leighton did well under pressure and responded to the heat in an even keeled manner. Leighton will not budge on the security system issue saying that it was needed to protect his family. Summers was intense in her presentation that a change was needed and read her thoughts with visibly clenched hands. Lisa Cope, sporting a new hair cut inexplicably did not make a closing statement but thanked the Leader and Wilkes for sponsoring the Forum.
Will this one and only meeting have an impact on the Mayoral Election? The fact that there was no coverage of it on local TV will only allow voters who weren’t there to see what the News stations present. But more than 200 people showed up for this event. That is huge because attendance at these things typically never top 100. Obviously there are people interested in this race. If those 200 talked to 20 friends about it and they in turn did the same that can translate into a high turnout. That turnout may not be kind to the incumbent. The people who are behind Leighton are going to say he was brilliant. Some will say like all leaders he has some flaws but that the city should not be entrusted to the two candidates being offered by the GOP(Lisa Cope) and the Libertarian party. (Betsy Summers). After the heat of this debate one thing is still certain, there are 3 camps of politicos pushing their respective candidate for the Mayor’s chair. The vote will be split three ways. The victor will be determined by how many voters defect from Tom Leighton and the Democratic party. It is possible for Leighton to be beaten but that will only happen if voters pick only one of the two challengers overwhelmingly as the alternative. If that happens the win will be razor thin. If that does not happen and Cope and Summers evenly split, Leighton will be re-elected by a plurality, not a majority. All that said, there are still 13 days before Decision Day. And that my friends is a lifetime in politics.

MAYORAL QUOTES

The Citizen’s Voice Andrew Staub had an article in their paper yesterday interviewing the three candidates for Mayor. What struck me were the following quotes:
Mayor Tom Leighton: “We've come a long way, and it's taken 7½ years to build up," he said. "If the wrong person sits in the mayor's seat, what has been done over 7½ years can come crumbling down within a week." A week Mr. Mayor? I mean you’d have to have some dandy incompetent to destroy it all in a week.
Lisa Cope: "I'm not exactly sure what to do," Cope said, "but I think we can try to give them some sort of initiative to move back to the city." This was in regard to enticing people to move back to the city. Never, ever say I’m not sure what to do, even when you don’t. It’s politics not truth or dare.
Betsy Summers: "”If we have low taxes, maybe we can work on encouraging more of a community effort to keep our city clean”. How can lower taxes keep a neighborhood clean? People in Wilkes Barre and NEPA are slobs. You clean up your area and some slob comes and drops their McDonald’s bag and wine bottle in your driveway. Look at those spring clean ups where scouts bag garbage on a Saturday and by Sunday night someone’s davenport is on the side of the road. Great community spirit but a little naive. We live among slobs of all ages and government can’t do anything about it.

A ONE AND A TWO…..

So we’re hanging out going over our day this afternoon. The dog and Mother in Law are squared away and all of a sudden the phone rings. The voice on the other end asks, “If the Election were held today, would you vote for #1. Stefanie Salavantis or #2. Jackie Musto Carroll. So even though I’ve met Stefanie Salavantis and think she’d make a great DA maybe in two or three decades, I pressed #2. The phone then reverted back to its original message and questioning. So I revert back to my original answer and not satisfied, it asks the question again. That’s when I hung up. The poll call reminded me of one of my crazed old girlfriends, if they didn’t get the answer they wanted, they just kept asking the same question again and again.

O’BRIEN/WANSACZ ADS UP

If you are following the political commercials in LuLac, last week we referenced GOP candidate Bill Jones’ spot running on the tube. This week the O’Brien/Wansacz team has two spots up that revert to the age old staples of political advertising. The first features playful kids watched over by politico adults assuring you that if you elect them, your kid’s future will be just as bright as the chosen one’s brood. (Note the black and white shot to emphasize the previously bitter primary rivals breaking bread together). The second spot is the Diner shot. With the fabled “Glider Diner” as a backdrop, an old codger and a young un look at the TV while O’Brien and Wansacz look soulfully into each other’s eyes like two guys thrown together in a foxhole and talk about, what else, the future? As a political junkie, I love the commercials and this time of year. Here are the spots:




THE LIBERAL POPE

So how about Pope Benedict siding with the Wall Street occupiers? The basic sentiment’ behind the protests is in line with Catholic social teaching and the new document on global finance. That was issued on Oct. 24 by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. A debate over the authority of the document, and the requirement (or not) of Catholics to support it, is now being articulated by prominent Catholic writers and scholars.
The document calls for
A “world political authority” to manage “the growing interdependence between states and regions of the world becomes more and more obvious as well as the need for answers that are not just sectoral and isolated, but systematic and integrated, rich in solidarity and subsidiarity and geared to the universal common good”
A “central world bank” that regulates the flow and system of monetary exchanges similar to the national central banks
Many conservative Catholics writers, who often defend the Vatican against critique, have suggested that the council either lacks the authority to compel Catholics to support it, or that the media is misrepresenting the full vision of the document. Meanwhile, liberal Catholics who tend to emphasize the church’s teachings on social justice are heralding the document as proof of the church’s solidarity with global economic protests and those who are suffering during this time of economic downturn.
So like everything with the Roman Catholics, the teachings, even of the Pope are open to interpretation. The Conservatives who hail the papacy for preserving birth control, and sanctity of life are wary. The liberals who want women ordained and priests to marry are absolutely thrilled that the ermine Prada ward robed Benedict is really a left wing hipsters in a Pope Pius XIIth throwback uniform. Interesting times in the world I’d say.

MEDIA MATTERS

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

"Saturday Night Live at the Oldies" Halloween weekend show 10/29/11 at 8 PM EDT features interview with Charles "Tex" Watson of the Charles Manson 'family' from Mule Creek State Prison Ione California serving a life sentence, in 1st ever phone chat - 2-years to arrange. Watson murdered actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and 3-others August 8th 1969 in Benedict Canyon where the infamous scenario "Helter Skelter" was coined. You can hear Saturday Night Live At the Oldies this Saturday from 7pm to midnight on WILK AM and FM with ABC News on the top of the hour.

STORM POLITICS

This week on WYLN TV’s Storm Politics, three candidates for Luzerne County Council chat with Tiffany Cloud. Jane Walsh Waitkus, Tim McGinley and Gene Kelleher. Storm Politics airs on WYLN TV Thursday 9:30pmp, Sat 5p, Sun 11a, Mon 830p, Tues 900p.

L.A. TARONE SHOW

L.A Tarone’s guest this week on WYLN TV 35 is current Luzerne County Commissioner MaryAnne Petrila. The L.A. Tarone TV show can be seen on WYLN Thursday 9:30PM, Saturday 12:30PM, Sunday 8:30AM, Monday 9:30PM and Tuesday 8:00pm.

ECTV

ECTV Live Host Judge Tom Munley will welcome Veterans advocates Joe Albert and Joseph Sylvester as guests for the week of October 31st. Along with co-host David DeCosmo they'll be discussing Veteran's Day and services available to those who have served in the Armed Forces. The program airs daily at Noon and Midnight on Comcast Ch19 in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

SUNDAY MAGAZINE

1972

Following a visit to South Vietnam, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger suggests that "peace is at hand."……….The Airbus A300 flies for the first time…….The Black September group hijacks a Lufthansa Boeing 727 over Turkey, demanding the release of 3 comrades still held for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games......President Richard Nixon approves legislation to increase Social Security spending by US$5.3 billion in the Commonwealth U.S. Senator Hugh Scott says that the foreign policy of a McGovern administration would be a disaster for the country and called for the re-election of President Nixon……….and in Luzerne County Flood Victims Action Council advocate Min Mathesson continues to hold weekly meetings with flood victims to make sure there are no crime problems where flood victims are housed in mobile home parks. Mathesson also calls for inspection of the heating units of the government supplied trailers as winter sets in………….and 39 years ago the number 1 song in America and LuLac land was “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley.