The LuLac Edition #2011, April 5th, 2012
Mitt Romney on the trail in Pennsylvania.
ROMNEY COMES A CALLIN’
Mitt Romney took a trip to Tunkhannock this afternoon and spoke before a group of Energy workers. Romney, attired in jeans and a sport coat articulated the reasons why he can save America from that monstrous Barack Obama. Romney told the audience that Obama wanted to cut the military so he could have more money to adopt a more dangerous agenda. Romney also charged that Obama has not done enough to turn the economy around. The GOP front runner also said he would appeal the Affordable Health Care Act, not saying how he would replace it. He also didn’t reconcile how his plan in the Bay State was much different than Obama’s. On the Keystone pipeline, he told the group he’d find a way to get that thing on track fast. Romney’s traveling staff showed a tin ear in handling the event with the media inviting only TV stations to a closed door press session. His team essentially shunned the print press and radio which presumably brought out their heavy hitters for the event. That action makes me wonder if the Romney team even has a clue what the hell a blog is. But I digress. Rick Santorum is taking a four day breather to commemorate the Easter Triduum which comprises of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and/or Easter Vigil or Sunrise Service events commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He’ll resume his campaign on Monday according to press reports.
Len Piazza, Voter Services Head demonstrating that he never was afraid of toting that barge and lifting that bale.
PIAZZA ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE
Len Piazza, the Voter Services Director has been put on Administrative Leave by County Manager Bob Lawton. The Times Leader and Citizen’s Voice reported that this afternoon. The action came after a meeting with lawyers and Lawton this morning. Piazza says that the leave action might be illegal because he essentially works for the Election Board. But if the Charter says the County Manager has a say on all decisions, then I don’t know how a board supersedes that. The Times Leader reported that this might have to do with Piazza auditing Walter Griffith’s 2009 financials from his campaign. Griffith said the County Election Head doesn’t do that and the state handles that job. But would Piazza be breaking any laws or committing unethical acts by taking a look/see? The paper reported that Griffith was looking into Piazza attendance records at his office. Piazza’s office runs 24/7 during the Election season. But in the off season, if you will, my feeling is his job should not be held to the same reporting standards since he puts in so much time when there is an election. Plus, Piazza has always been available by e mail answering questions that were posed to him after hours and on weekends. There are a lot of questions surrounding this latest case in Luzerne County. Those will be answered very soon. Piazza started out in the office in 2002 as a Deputy Director, When he became Voter Chief in 2004, he did not appoint a Deputy for himself. Neither did the outgoing Commissioners who were told (by yours truly and others) that a Deputy could give Piazza a break and possibly act in the Interim if an eventuality like this one presented itself. Maybe they should have.
posted by David Yonki @ 5:30 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Griffith at the center of another controversy. No one works harder than Piazza much of the year, and apparently IS able to conduct financial audits where the other one can't. Dump Griffith in the next election!
Griffith and Simpson had a row a few days ago, and now that Lenny Piazza goes to audit Griffith's contributions, suddenly he's out? 3 weeks before election day? Something's not right here.
this makes no sense. Piazza is making way too much money in that job as it is, but there are procedures that should have been followed and a wrong way to do things. Mr. Griffith, this is the wrong way. distrust. suspicion. so sick of this.
With no Deputy in place and 4 weeks to the election, I have to wonder what the hell Lawton was thinking? He has not been working in the county long enough to know who the players are or what their work ethic is. Piazza is one of the most dedicated workers in the county. He takes his job serious and is available 24/7 to respond to email questions. Griffith has time to worry about his hours of work but Griffith has not brought county audits up to date. I keep wondering when Griffith will be brought to task for the work he has not done. This is a disgrace and I don't believe for a minute that the state told Griffith it is their responsibility to audit non state official's campaign expense reports. That would be an impossible task and the local election bureau has always monitored the reports. When there have been times that reports have been questioned, it is the local office that resolves the question. In fact, when Griffith ran for Controller, his campaign expense report was challenged and it was found to contain errors. That was handled by the county office, not the state. Griffith as a watch dogs barks a lot but he has yet to bite anyone. With all the wrong doing taking place, where is Walter? The Stevens overcharges were discovered by the TL reporter, not Griffith and he signed off and paid the bills. I think that Walter is simply over his head and needs to be replaced with a qualified individual who has knowledge and experience to be the Controller.
I find it sort of amusing that Romney and his hosts from Mountain Energy Services would blast President Obama for supposedly shutting down drilling when the very reason Mountain Energy is doing so well is because of all the drilling going on in Wyoming and surrounding counties. The drilling companies have turned most of Pa's northern tier into one giant sippy cup with all their wells sucking gas and oil out of the ground.
All I can say with regard to Len Piazza is that he has always done his job and he takes his responsibilities very serious. I recall one situation when I emailed him on a Friday night thinking he would reply on Monday. Within 15 minutes, I had a reply and an apology for taking so long. Leonard was in Philly for the weekend but responded to my question. is he fair? I screwed up and missed a deadline filing date and I was treated according to the law, my campaign was fined for the missing the deadline and that's the way it should be. Len did not show me favoritism and he didn't give me a wink and just accept the late report ....... he accepted it with a check from my campaign treasurer for the proper amount of the late fee. I don't know what's going on but I do know that Len Piazza does his job and he does it the right way. If this has anything to do with the Controller, I will be very disappointed in our new county manager. Unless Mr Piazza broke the law in some way, I think he should be on the job and getting ready for the Primary election. By the way, I am not related to Mr Piazza nor do I socialize with him. My only experience has been professional and I have always been impressed with willingness to help candidates do the right thing. Wil Toole
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