The LuLac Edition #2016, April 9th, 2012

Wilkes Barre City Controller Kathy Kane.

KATHY’S KLOWNS 

The Citizen’s Voice this week reported that City Controller Kathy Kane has decided not to show up for City Council meetings like her predecessors Bernie Mengrinhausen and Mercedes Leighton used to. Kane’s explanation? She attends work sessions and she is available by appointment if a city resident wants to talk to her. Kane also said that the Harrisburg Controller needs to be at his meetings all the time because, "If you compare Harrisburg to here, they have a crazy mayor," she said. "(Miller) has to go to show some viability there. There's a constant fight between the mayor and council ... and we don't have that here. We're a very lucky city." Lucky for some maybe. The fact is when Kane was City Council Chair she regularly stifled citizen activists who wanted to address council. She couldn’t take the heat when city tax payers asked the triple dipping politico  (she’s a retired school teacher with a fat pension, she owns a funeral home and she gets paid a public salary as a Wilkes Barre official. That’s 3 jobs when some tax payers in the city have none! )The real reason why Kane is a no show is because she doesn’t want to deal with the public scrutiny of taxpayers who are paying her a $42,000 a year salary. She can’t come to a meeting? And you want to talk about arrogance, how about the newspaper comment she made about former Police Chief Tony George “When told of George's idea of insisting on attendance from other city departments, including police and fire, Kane smiled "He's new," she said.” No Mrs. Kane, the problem is that Tony George is asking questions and demanding work product from the City Council. A City Council that until George's arrival, was a "see no evil, hear no evil" rubber stamp for the Leighton administration! To make such a patronizing remark is just the type of arrogance that she has exhibited through the years. But that arrogance is also mixed with a bit of fear. For her $42,000 a year, she should come to the public meetings. All that said, I can’t really blame Kathy Kane. She is who she is because voters in Wilkes Barre let her be that way. Last year, an honest to God certified CPA ran against Kane, a non CPA for City Controller. Karen Ceppa Hirko was defeated. And when Kathy Kane runs for office next time, the dumb ass voters of Wilkes Barre will put her in again. And in 2111, 101 years from now, Kathy Kane’s great great grandchild most likely will be elected City Controller too. Because in Wilkes Barre, that’s the way we roll. The voters are masochists who put the same people in office every year who thumb their noses at the public. And God help a guy like Tony George for asking questions, he’ll get instantly disrespected. “He’s new”, maybe someone will say that when we get a City Controller with a little more respect for the voters that put her in office. Karen Ceppa Hirko…………if you’re out there……start gearing up now. This arrogant nonsense has to stop. Until then, the voters of Wilkes Barre as well as the taxpayers who want to see their representatives at public meetings will remain “Kathy’s Klowns”.  

IS MARINO A HYPOCRITE?

First off, we wish Tom Marino, 10th District Congressman a speedy recovery from his surgery for tumors in his kidneys. Any type of operation involving that area is serious and we wish him the best. Marino went to the Cleveland Clinic to have his procedure. His health care plan is covering it because as a member of Congress he has a Cadillac health plan. Marino wants to overturn the Affordable Health Care Act because, well because he’s a Republican that follows in lockstep the GOP attack on the middle class. Marino’s hospital stay crossed multiple state lines. His insurance company most likely will file a claim with the host insurer and it will be ultimately be paid. Marino’s plan gives him the opportunity to go to any medical facility anywhere in the country without referral. All that you need to show is that the procedure is medically necessary. There are many insured people in Marino’s district who do not have that option. Their employers bought a plan where they could only stay in the network of certain physicians. This is not a “medical panel” decision that Sarah Palin yammered about last year, this is an insurance company telling people what doctor and hospital they can use. Wasn’t the argument of the GOP during the Health Care debate that the government will tell you where and who you can o to for help during a medical procedure? How is that different? Then there are those who have no insurance because they can’t afford it or because until the Affordable Care Act passed, people with pre existing conditions couldn’t get those events covered. What would happen to those people I wonder? Well, they fall under the GOP plan which is: 
1. Go into debt. 
2. Go with God and hope the condition evaporates. 
3. Die. 
Tom Marino isn’t going into debt because of his surgery, numbers 2 and 3 are not as likely for Marino as it is for a poor uninsured person in his district, state or country. Where the hell is the outrage in all of this? As I stated earlier, I wish Marino well and hope he acquires something more than good health in his hospital stay….I hope he gets a conscience.

Matt Cartwright and Phyllis Mundy. (Photo Pittston Politics.com).

 MATT AND MUNDY EVENT 

State Rep. Phyllis Mundy is gearing up to host for a Pre-Election Day Rally in support of Democratic congressional candidate Matt Cartwright! Representative Mundy and Attorney Matt Cartwright will be there and everyone is welcome!! The event will take place April 12, 6-8pm at West Wyoming Hose Co #1 Shoemaker Ave, includes light food and beverages. The event is free and open to the public.