IRRELEVANT

As forecast by NEPArtisan and others, the Lackawanna County Democratic Party back-room bosses have endorsed former Commissioner Joseph Corcoran for the seat of retiring State Senator Robert Mellow. Scranton Times article here.

I repeat, irrelevant.

This is the same Joseph Corcoran who managed to lose to Bob Cordaro (ponder that one for a few minutes...). This is the same Joseph Corcoran who never met a project he didn't want to fund with OUR money. This is the same Joseph Corcoran who, to the best of my knowledge, really doesn't have much to his resume other than "former Commissioner". This is the same Joseph Corcoran who engineered the selection of Randy Castellanni as his running mate, a nice guy who was grossly unqualified for the job as Commissioner (or just about anything else in government service, other than Dispatcher).

Do tell me, just what in the hell is the message supposed to be by the selection of Joseph Corcoran? I guess it's supposed to be that party loyalty means more than actual qualification. Perhaps it means that the back-room boys want to make sure that the seat firmly stays in the "old white guy" column. Maybe it means that Joseph Corcoran is skilled at mass hypnosis. Do any of these things equate to a more effective senator for NEPA? Of course not. If anything, the selection means that the Democratic Party Committee is so out of touch with reality that they actually think voters want "more of the same" (all be it without seniority). We've had 30+ years of our state senator engaging in self-service; it's time for someone who is interested in actual public service.

Oh, and just to add an almost evil coda to this whole sad story, the back-room boys also endorsed Ken Smith for re-election. This is a guy who is more well known for his inability to meet personal financial obligations than actual legislative achievement.

So congratulations to the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee:
You have managed to live down to the lowest possible expectations that people had for you.