At the risk of being criticized for recycling content, here is an interesting string of comments from one of Gort's postings.

Link: Gort's Posting

My original comment:
Stephen Albert said...

Luzerne County is full of politically incestuous relationships, which makes it very difficult for anyone from outside "the family" to be successful. It's not impossible, but it's not easy either.

The other strike Republicans seem to have against them is many local Democrats in NEPA are fairly conservative when it comes to social issues, which neutralizes that wedge. In fact, the only prominent "pro-choice" local Democrat I can think of is Scranton's Mayor, Chris Doherty.

I think the only way Republicans can be successful is to really, really, really work the pocketbook issues, such as high local taxes. Local governments in NEPA are too many in number and too bloated in expenses. However, being successful in this area requires two things in short supply among local candidates from either party:

a)The guts to spout some new ideas (running against "evil Democrats" doesn't cut it...the PA Legislature is full of evil scum-bags from BOTH parties & we all know it)

b)The ability to speak in a way that inspires people...to sound smart.

For example, while I strongly disagree with Newt Gingrich on most social issues, I find his economic ideas & passion in explaining them very compelling. I'll listen to ol'e Newty any day...may not vote for him, but he always gets my ear. Why? Again, bold ideas & the ability to effectively articulate them.

7:35 AM

The Anonymous reply:
Dear Mr Albert, There was a candidate in this past election that had more ideas on his campaign web site than you could shake a stick at. What did it mean? Nothing! almost 70% of the people didn't care enough to vote and that includes Republicans. So with that fact stairing into your face, tell us again what is needed. You my friend don't have a clue. But I do have one question. You make the statment that local government is bloated with expenses. How about a few facts to back that up? When you speak of politically incestuous and "families" what the hell are you talking about. The old guard left the scene with Crossin and company. Time to get off the text book rethoric and put forth some facts.

7:54 PM

My reply to the reply:
Mr/Ms Anonymous (7:54pm)...

You said...

"You my friend don't have a clue."

First, I don't know you, so I'm not sure you are my friend (the whole Anonymous thing does present a problem). Second, I have plenty of clues...people may not like them , but that's a different argument. Note that I'm not claiming to have all the answers, but I do claim to have plenty of questions and opinions. Finally, when last I checked, there wasn't anything illegal or immoral about having questions or opinions. What's more, since I post under my own name, you can rest assured that these actually are my questions & opinions...and that I stand by them. That doesn't give what I write any more weight, but it does mean that I am man enough to be accountable.



"You make the statment that local government is bloated with expenses."

I'm not going to spend hours with citations here, mainly because responding to anonymous postings on a blog isn't really much of a value-add time wise. That noted, here are some references for you:

First, Illinois and Pennsylvania rank first & second in terms of the number of local governments. Reference here...

http://www.issuespa.net/articles/16406

Pennsylvania also has the second most expensive legislature in the country. Reference here...

http://www.wrta.com/page.php?page_id=39100&jock_id=4451

Also, the per-capita cost of government varies dramatically from municipality to municipality in Pennsylvania. I actually did some research on this (see http://sgalbert.blogspot.com/2010/01/looking-at-budgets.html)



Finally, you said...

"When you speak of politically incestuous and "families" what the hell are you talking about."

My use of the word "family" was in quotations because I wasn't referring to actual family members, but rather a system whereby closed group of individuals seem to control a large amount of power and influence. If you don't actually see this, then there is NOTHING I can write here that will make much of a difference, now is there?

6:48 AM

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Post Script -
The individual who replied to my comment seems to be both railing against "the system" (the opening line about a candidate with all the ideas), but then goes on question whether or not there is a problem. Interesting. Now as I noted, I'm no spending hours here to define and defend problems, as that's not what this is all about. These are simply my opinions, but I'd like to believe that my opinions...flawed as they are...are based upon some measure of fact-based enlightenment.