And I feel more a part of Northeastern Pennsylvania than ever.
A real live bagman showed up at the studio yesterday while I was on the air. My producer – the famous Johnny O, aka Johnny L, aka Johnny Luke – took the bag and delivered it to me.
Looking inside I immediately knew that I had hit paydirt - actually, pitzdirt.
But there ain’t nothing dirty about pitz.
Pitz, also known as pitza, has been a staple of the Hazleton diet for decades. A unique brand of pizza that’s sold in a white box tied with a white string and meant to be eaten cold, it’s a blend of tomato sauce, cheese, garlic and oil ladled over a crust that’s crunchy along the edges yet chewy in the middle.
A couple of places make pitz, but Senape’s bakery in the alley is the hot boss of the pitz sauce.
Another bakery boasts its own loyal following but I’ve taken sides.
Senape’s forever.
Pulling the pitz from the bag, I spotted the attached red card and carefully tore open the envelope.
A smiling photograph of Hillary Rodham Clinton greeted me with a written happy birthday wish. At first I thought the inscription might be real, sent by the one-and-only Rodham brothers, who had been in the studio the day before to celebrate my on-air birthday party.
Then I saw the signature - “Mayor Lou” – and I knew the culprit.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta had added a postscript that he was sorry he missed the party.
I understood because he’s got quite a party of his own going on – a Republican party that’s pushing him to upset incumbent 11th Congressional District Rep. Paul Kanjorski in the November election.
Mayor Lou is on the move – definitely getting stronger, definitely not the pits.
I’m even starting to see “Lou” bumper stickers in my Scranton Hill Section neighborhood. With his one-name recognition factor, he’s getting like Cher, and, yes, even Hillary.
Still, Lou has his hands full with GOP presidential candidate John McCain, who blew off Lou’s invitation to come to Hazleton to talk about immigration, the issue that made Lou a national figure. Lou’s a hardliner against undocumented immigrants, people his constituents lovingly call “illegals.” Lou and I have taken very different positions in that debate. As I say on the radio, “I’m with the Mexicans.”
By offering me a yummy bribe, however, Lou is showing that he definitely knows how to reach across the aisle and deliver. All kidding aside, Lou’s just having a good time in the race, developing confidence and showing that we can disagree but still get along.
Lou knows that he can upset Kanjorski, who’s in a frenzy taking heat from a variety of quarters, including YouTube where two videos are posted, both of which show Kanjorski in an unfavorable light.
FOX News also recently ran a special about political pork that highlights Kanjorski as one of Capitol Hill’s prize porkers.
Nobody who’s trying to hold onto a seat in Congress wants to be seen the way Kanjorski is portrayed. I’m not even running for office and I don’t want to be seen the way Kanjorski’s being seen.
That’s why I’m covering my bets and making a cash contribution to a good cause in the dollar amount that Lou spent on my two scrumptious boxes of pitz - $13.50, including tax, according to Lou who called “Corbett” off the air yesterday to tell Johnny O the price after I expressed my concern about kickbacks.
Kickbacks might still be the cost of doing business in the coal region, but I’m not yet ready to hit the chow line at Club Fed. Prison food isn’t good for anybody, particularly members of the press who have made mortal enemies of the many corrupt elected officials locked up there.
I’ll pay my own way, thank you.
That thought also crossed the mind of one of my listeners who emailed to say that if Kanjorski had sent over the two boxes of pitz, we could be absolutely sure of one thing.
Had Kanjorski purchased the pitz, the taxpayers would have paid for it.
Corbett
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