Posted: Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:30PM
Plan To Vote Smart In November
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The voices of voters who are fed up with politics as usual rang out loud and clear during yesterday’s primary election.
In Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, Northeastern Pennsylvania voters exerted their right to take control of government from party insiders and to fight to make life better. Tens of thousands of voters cast their votes for candidates who seem honest and forthcoming – at least for now.
We have no guarantees.
Several once powerful public officials in both counties are now preparing to go to prison in part of an ongoing federal public corruption investigation.
What we do possess in great quantities is a strong faith in the system that keeps us focused on the mission of rebuilding the public trust by holding public officials accountable.
We must continue to ask all candidates for public office hard questions. We must continue to vigorously engage the system by testing the character of all candidates for public office. We must never forget that some qualified candidates might be lying.
No, we have no guarantees.
What we do have is six months to probe and pry and pursue every avenue we can discover to increase the odds that the candidates who get our votes in November deserve our votes.
What we have is a commitment to take control of the general election by registering voters, by educating voters, and by agitating voters.
We must drive each other into a voting frenzy. We must refuse to allow party operatives to control the agenda. We must think and act and vote independently.
If we exert our independence, we might win more than we can imagine.
Several exciting candidates for a variety of public offices won nominations in yesterday’s primary.
Judicial candidates Tina Polachek Gartley of Luzerne County and Margaret Bisignani Moyle of Lackawanna County represent strong independent voices for all the people, but particularly for women.
Luzerne County Controller nominee Walter Griffith deserves to be heard.
So does former Luzerne County Prothonotary and current nominee Carolee Olenginski.
Scranton Democratic mayoral challenger Gary DiBileo also deserves to continue to be heard even though he lost the party nomination to incumbent Mayor Chris Doherty, who won by about 900 votes.
That’s no landslide.
That’s no mandate.
Both candidates received about the same number of votes in a viciously divided city where the haves sneer at the have-nots and only take care of themselves.
Judy Gatelli and Sherry Nealon Fanucci, Doherty’s two favorite cultish councilwomen, lost their bids for re-election and will soon no longer use their elected positions to chastise voters. No longer will Gatelli and Fanucci cheerlead for Doherty, whose ego-tripping might one day take him on the road again as he campaigns for a higher political office.
Critics claim Doherty desperately needed re-election to help him climb the political staircase to something better.
But for whom will life get better? Will life improve for us us? Or will life improve for him?
Doherty has not sufficiently erased doubts about his motives. As many Scranton voters likely distrust him as trust him. And he truly seems ill at ease when he finds himself in a crowd of people who lack button-down collars.
Scranton is not all prep school pals, khakis and penny loafers.
Scranton remains a school of hard knocks.
I still have faith in numerous candidates. And I’m smart enough to know that you don’t have to go to college to learn because the world will learn you.
As always, time will show all the candidates’ flaws and flair.
Voters must also test their own strengths and weaknesses to see if they are willing to take a chance and vote smart in November.
I strongly encourage you to vote smart. But above all, vote every chance you get.
The political hustlers want you to lose faith. Don’t let them win. They’ve won for too long as it is.
It’s time for them, not us, to lose.
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Corbett
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