Posted: Wednesday, 04 November 2009 11:13AM
You Wanted Change, You Got Change
Steve Corbett Reporting
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
The people have spoken.
Voters from the northernmost point in Lackawanna County to the southern stretches of Luzerne County showed yesterday that their vote matters to shaping the future of politics in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
In Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton and elsewhere, attentive good citizens made their way to the polls and addressed the bleak history of good old boy culture that corrupted government and allowed political bosses and party insiders to control the quality of our lives.
Because bad government is simply no longer acceptable, we decided to change it.
Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. wore the biggest target. Voters sent him packing after voting against his retention to another decade in office. Voters didn’t believe him, didn’t trust him and didn’t want him to continue representing their interests on the bench.
Playing people for suckers isn’t as easy as it used to be. Voters no longer feel indebted to the class divide that keeps them on the outside looking in while the politically connected reap all the profits – literally and figuratively.
Democrat Olszewski was just too cocky for his own good.
But the people spoke with fairness.
While rejecting Olszewski, they chose to retain Republican Judge Thomas Burke. He could easily have been swept away in the anti-corruption backlash. But voters decided to judge him on merit rather than with raw emotion. Burke deserved to stay and voters overwhelmingly gave him a vote of confidence.
Burke said last night that he will redouble his efforts to serve the best interests of the people. I believe he will do just that. Burke also is the most solid candidate to replace the current president judge who will retire next year.
Judging the judges comprised yesterday’s brutal main event.
Seasoned prosecutor and victim’s advocate Tina Polachek Gartley walked away with a new judgeship, one of two that will bring hopefully bring more order to the Luzerne County court. An independent thinker whose legal ability is striking, Democrat Gartley will help level an unfair imbalance on the bench that has allowed men to historically keep women away from real decision-making.
Democrat Bill Amesbury, who had won both the Democratic and Republican nominations in the primary, also secured a judge’s job. But he might have lost had more been made of his acceptance of a campaign contribution from a criminal.
Amesbury kept and defended keeping the money contributed by the wife of an admitted criminal who pleaded guilty in the ongoing federal public corruption probe. The gangster’s name appeared on the check. Amesbury didn’t understand why keeping the money showed poor judgment
Let’s hope that Amesbury’s offensive judicial temperament does not come back to haunt us.
In Lackawanna County’s sole judicial race, Democrat Margie Bisignani Moyle pounded Republican Frank Castellano, whose last ditch dirty tricks campaign backfired, turning the milquetoast prosecutor into a sudden villain.
In a new dawn for the coal fields, the women who voted for Margie stood up for the woman who is stronger than the man. No longer must women do what powerful men tell them to do. Women can now say “Honey, can you pick up my judicial robe from the cleaners?”
Even last minute broadcast appeals from Castellano’s wife didn’t bamboozle women into voting for Castellano.
Two Lackawanna County judicial retention races made up the only soft spot in an otherwise hardcore electoral awakening. Voters re-elected two capable, yet pampered and stale political hustlers to the bench.
Also part of the hard coal country electoral revolution are victories by Luzerne County controller-elect Walter Griffith and prothonotary-elect Carolee Medico Olenginski. Although both are Republicans neither is beholden to the party and are equal opportunity watchdogs.
In Scranton, a three-member Democratic city council team put incumbent Democratic Mayor Chris Doherty on notice that his party is over. Although Doherty won re-election, he now faces a council majority that opposes him. The team is expected to appoint a replacement for Councilman Bill Courtright, who won a job as tax collector. That fourth council spot might go to Gary Dibileo, who ran a write-in campaign for mayor and won support from almost as many people as voted for Doherty.
Doherty will have an increasingly tough time continuing to raise cash for his ego-driven gubernatorial race while voters at home demand that he earn his mayoral salary by working for Scranton and not just himself.
Good government sentinels yesterday proved that the power of the people works.
Despite what experts call a low voter turnout, voters got the job done. This civic success should motivate more citizens to register to vote. This victory for our neighbors and ourselves should encourage us that not only can we fight City Hall, we can rule City Hall.
The government belongs to us.
If you don’t believe me, ask the soon-to-be former Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr..
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