(Side note...I've woken up at 5:20am on Thursday to add a coherent...hopefully...thought or two.)
Lackawanna County Commissioners
Is there anyone out there who actually, seriously believes that Corey O'Brien is ANY different than Jim Wansacz? Seriously folks, I think they basically even have the same hair. Two relatively young, photogenic, well-spoken and politically ambitious Democrats. Interchangeable folks, interchangeable. What's more, this is a truly balanced ticket for Lackawanna County: an Irishman and a Slovak (as opposed to the other Slovak/Irishman or Irishman/Italian tickets). For the record I'm not sure what nationality the last name "Randol" is...
By the way, the very notion that, in 2011, some folks actually do pay attention to nationality (we are all Americans anyway) makes me want to toss my cookies.
Speaking of Randol & in the good news department, Liz Randol ran an outstanding campaign and came in a close third on the Democrat side of the isle. Kudos to her, and I do hope that she runs for another county-wide office. Hell, maybe she can run for Mayor of Scranton one day.
As for the Republicans, well, yawn.
Luzerne County Judges
I am generally speaking not into the whole Wilkes-Borough political scene, and besides that's what Gort and Mark Cour do so well anyway. My only comment is this: how could the voters down in "da gulch" NOT elect a judge with a name like Vito DeLuca?
Lackawanna County Controller
A carbon rod should have been able to defeat incumbent Lackawanna County Controller Ken McDowell, and Gary DiBileo was up to the challenge. Without getting into too many details, soon-to-be-former Controller McDowell had a prior tenure as county tax collector where there were some issues with lost money. Maybe a second term as Controller wasn't in the cards. Hell, he shouldn't have had a first term in the first place (I know, I used "first" twice in that last sentence, but too bad...). In fairness to Mr DiBileo, he does bring a lot to the Controller job...he genuinely has a sense of constituent service from his days on the school board and (gulp) Scranton City Council...he is a top-notch insurance agent who really does know financial stuff...and he is not Ken McDowell. Maybe for one of the few times in his political life Gary DiBileo was at the right place at the right time. "Winning!" for both Gary & county residents.
Scranton School Board
I actually am saddened that Tom Borthwick, English teacher extraordinaire, blogger and son of Mary didn't win a seat on the Scranton School Board. In my own peanut head I can attribute this to possible two reasons:
- Wrong last name...perhaps Tom should have changed his last name to "O'Borthwick"? (see ethnic comment, above)
- Qualifications...he actually has, and that is sometimes considered "elitist" in these parts.
Anyway, I hope he runs again. As I have noted before, the board needs more people who don't look like me...namely white/middle aged/etc.
In any event, what's done is done, and we should all be thankful to every candidate (even Ken McDowell) who took time out of their lives to run for public office.
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