The LuLac Edition #2781, November 22nd, 2014
JOSEPH V. KASPER
Attorney Joseph V. Kasper. (Photo: The Times Leader).
Attorney Joseph V. Kasper died the other day. He had a very prestigious legal career and from all reports was a friend of Wilkes Barre City all of his life.
Kasper was involved in politics in the 1960s and 70s and was involved in one of the closest primary fight in Luzerne County political history. In 1967 Kasper won the Republican endorsement to succeed Thomas Mack as District Attorney. Mack set his sights on one of the two Judgeships that opened up back then. Kasper and Attorney Blythe Evans from Plymouth were involved in an intra party fight that lasted well past the primary election. On Election night there were less than 40 votes separating the two men. When it was all said and done and the absentees were counted, Kasper lost to Evans by 22 votes! Evans went on to beat Stephen Teller in the DA’s race of 1967 despite an almost virtual sweep by the Democratic party under the leadership of the late Doctor John Dorris.
Kasper was involved in President Nixon’s re-election campaign and was Wilkes Barre City Chairman under the Council form of Government when North End Funeral Director John Morris took the reigns as Wilkes Barre Mayor. That is the last time a Republican even came near the Mayor’s office. Kasper’s wake was held at the Morris Funeral Home this past week. There aren’t many old timers left from that great city wide political battle. I remember it as a youth reading accounts of the vote counting in the old Sunday Independent. But Attorney Kasper’s passing reminds us that politics can sometimes boil down to a handful of votes.
When I moved to the Northend our next store neighbor was Attorney Kasper’s brother Carl. Two doors down from me was former city councilman Joe Williams. One day I asked Mr. Williams about his run for Mayor in 1975 and he replied, “After that, I just continued to look ahead, not back”. I’m sure if I asked Attorney Kasper about his 22 vote difference, his reply would be the same.
One of the most important components for me in writing LuLac is to always try to give a little background on the people who served in party politics in the past. Our condolences to Attorney Kasper’s friends and family.
JFK GONE @ 51
In the meantime the Eternal Flame still lights the grave of the late President. And the beat goes on.
posted by David Yonki @ 7:05 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Has it occurred to anyone that if the media backed off the trouble in Ferguson might ease up just a bit? As usual CNN is a major offender currently beating the story to death with speculation!Social media is also a real problem. There will be many very let down protestors if the verdict of the grand jury goes their way. I believe the Police Officer did what he had to do. If the deceased had just done what he was told and gotten out of the street nothing would have happened. Defiance of the law usually leads to trouble.
this is why LuLac is the best blog in the state. You remember the people who were the political forerunners. Great job again sir.
Yonk, I expected this comment section would have been filled with I was....... when Kennedy was shot. Me? I was in the North Atlantic on patrol aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Half Moon. As we drifted in our assigned ocean station, panic and concern were running wild with us not having access to the real time news. We stood at General Quarters (war stations)waiting for the other shoe to fall. And as Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story, it ended the same for all of us. One thing is for certain, there were 138 Coasties in a big hurry to get back to our home port in St George, Staten Island so we could find out all the details. That was a long time ago and it seems the years just flew by.
Geez! Taroon in the morning, Tyroon with the aft news, Tyroon on 102.3 and soon Tyroon in the evening!
WLAT. The guys ego must be on overdrive.
IN RESPONSE
Yonk, I expected this comment section would have been filled with I was...
I THINK MANY OF OUR AGE GROUP HAVE TOLD THE STORY SO MANY TIMES PEOPLE DON'T SEEM INTERESTED. GLAD YOU SHARED IT.
IN RESPONSE
Geez! Taroon in the morning, Tyroon with the aft news, Tyroon on 102.3 and soon Tyroon in the evening!
WLAT. The guys ego must be on overdrive.
HE'S LIKE THE HOWARD STERN OF THIS CENTURY, THE KING OF ALL MEDIA!!
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