The LuLac Edition #1822, November 4th, 2011

Former Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

BALLOT GHOSTS

They might be firmly ensconced in their new life as federal prisoners but the presence of Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan loom large in this upcoming election. Judicial candidates are asked in interviews and at campaign events if they are thinking of the two disgraced Judges. An entire form of government is being conceived because of their actions. The local Republican party seems to be running against Ciavarella and Conahan. Worse than that, they are attempting to paint current DA Jackie Musto Carroll with the broad brush. They may be gone and maybe someday forgotten, but for now, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan loom large as ghosts on this 2011 Election ballot.

GOING AFTER MITCHELL

A very curious thing appeared on FaceBook the other night concerning the Salavantis/Musto Carroll race for Luzerne County District Attorney. First off it was real fuzzy to read, much like the message. Anyway the release called for the current DA to ask political consultant Ed Mitchell to release his grand jury testimony that he gave this summer. As far as I know grand jury testimony is sealed. As far as I know, a District Attorney can’t get that sealed information if she is not prosecuting the case or it has anything to do with her. As far as I know, what Ed Mitchell had to say in that grand jury should have nothing to do with the current DA’s race. I mean in the summer of ’11 Ciavarella and Conahan were well on their way to jail. What would Mitchell’s testimony have to add to that and why the hell should Salavantis and her people care? On Facebook Salavantis’s moves are being heralded as someone who is tough and determined. There was a football player named “Wrong Way” Corrigan. He was tough and determined but ran the wrong way. See my point here is if I know all this stuff, why doesn’t the Attorney who so desperately wants to be someone know it? Mitchell testified at a grand jury. It was in the newspapers. It was because of his work as a political consultant. Mitchell works for a lot of candidates. My sources tell me the questioning had to do with the activities of retired State Senator Bob Mellow. Bringing Mitchell into this is just plain stupid. Unless of course Bob Harper is going to do another commercial using Mellow as an example of what Jackie Musto Carroll didn’t know or do. I swear to God, before this is over Salavantis is going to be running ads blaming the District Attorney for AIDS, the explosion of the Space Shuttle and the Kennedy assassination. Silly crap. This is already starting to backfire big time.

SUMMERS CANCELLED OUT

Apparently WYLN TV 35 was going to do a news story on Betsy Summers clean up projects in Wilkes Barre Thursday morning. But the interview had to be cancelled because of the unavailability of Republican Lisa Cope. Libertarian Lou Jasikoff said, "WYLN cancelled Betsy's interview this morning that was scheduled at the lot she cleaned up. Why? Because the Leighton Campaign and Sorick Campaign never got back to them. What a shame that neither of the other two candidates want to let the voters know what they are really all about. Both are hoping they can hide till election day and hope their party partisans, partisans who care more about their party than their community elect them. What a shame indeed. Nothing wrong from WYLN. They had to cancel because both Cope and Leighton never responded to WYLN's request to do an interview and WYLN had to cancel because of the equal time law. “

EVANS LETTER

Luzerne County Council Blythe Evans has penned a letter to the newspapers regarding an important issue for him. He has been appearing on Talk Radio as well as going door to door in his vigorous attempt to be elected to the County Council.
I am an independent-thinking candidate for Luzerne County Council. There are many people running for council under the banner of “Independent.” Being an Independent candidate and an independent-thinking candidate are two different concepts.
Independent candidates should be thinking about the environment, clean air and water, solar alternative energy and have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to fracking and natural gas drilling.
I consider the above to be independent issues, set apart from the usual political rhetoric and grandstanding about high taxes and fixing the county budget.
I agree that we have a serious budget deficit, but I do strongly think that as a candidate I have a responsibility to raise awareness about our environment, being mindful of conservation issues during this campaign.
Some people say that these issues have no bearing on Luzerne County or this campaign and that I am wasting my time thinking about this in light of all the bigger problems we face in the coming months.
I remind these people that Moon Lake Park is county-owned land. It could be leased by the county manager for gas drilling. Is this something that we want for our county?
I ask the taxpayers to think long and hard about these issues when they vote on Nov. 8 for county council candidates, “Independent,” or otherwise.
Blythe Evans
Candidate for Luzerne County Council

POWELL SENTENCING

Bob Powell who was the co owner of the Juvenile Detention Center and who was involved in this scandal up to his eyeballs will be sentenced in Federal Court later this morning. We’ll see what Big Bob gets in terms of going away.