New York State has gone and enacted a moratorium on drilling. Why? Because of the environmental and safety disasters that have occurred in Pennsylvania, specifically in Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, just a few minutes north of Scrantonite readers.
If New York State has the wisdom to see from Pennsylvania’s woes that it’s best to wait, rather than proceed with drilling, why can’t our Legislature?
For some time, I’ve been reading a great local blog about environmental issues, particularly Marcellus Shale, in our region, the Susquehanna River Sentinel. I just realized it wasn’t on my blog roll, so it’s there now, check it out!
Recently, the proprietor of the blog, Kayak Dude (as Mark Cour affectionately calls him), has tracked the low water levels of Bowman’s Creek. Why are water levels low? Because drillers are draining creeks and rivers for water to load up with chemicals and blast into the ground.
With the news that a company up in Fell Township wants almost one million gallons of water PER DAY out of the Lackawanna River, we have to remind ourselves that we do have the integrity of bodies of water to think of. If the Lackawanna gets low, fish and wildlife therein will suffer. The aesthetic beauty of the Lackawanna will be diminished. Oh, and the water will be used for evil.
The Times article informing us of this development didn’t get any quotes from the Lackawanna River Corridor Association, which one would want to hear from, since they deal with this river and its preservation as part of their mission.
I can only imagine that they’re concerned.
In addition, we find today that there was a fire at a well in Susquehanna. This is going to be a weekly thing, methinks, as drilling continues to expand. Pretty soon, those will be headlines in Lackawanna. We need to do something about this now.
There’s a buzzword that people in NEPA need to be aware of and that is “forced pooling.” Okay, buzzwords.
Forced pooling is a term that refers to the process by which Natural Gas Drillers will drill under your land even if you refuse to sign a lease allowing them to drill on your land.
So, if I decide to be environmentally conscious and refuse to take a big payout for letting Marcellus drillers eviscerate my land, then the companies can just go pay my neighbor and then they’ll drill into my land from next door.
Basically, the government of Pennsylvania is poised to pass a law that allows the rape and pillage of your land regardless of your personal or moral choices and rights. The law is called the “Conservation Pooling Act” which is totally Orwellian, much like the Patriot Act or No Child Left Behind. Make it sound nice, even though it’s not. See, the problem with government is that you can basically buy the law if the law doesn’t work for you. I mention the Iron Heel by Jack London quite often, and recommend that everybody read it. In it, when corporations can’t get what they want legally, they buy politicians who then change the law for them. If these laws get challenged in courts, they buy the judges. In the end, American citizens have no choice but to accept the will of a corporate oligarchy.
So it is in Pennsylvania. Our land is not our own. It belongs to gas companies. Our water is not our own. Gas companies have the right to inject chemicals in it that will make it undrinkable.
People should be up in arms over this. We are all weighted down with our jobs and our lives and our worries – every distraction imaginable – but ever so slowly, our rights get stripped from us. When will we start doing something about it? I understand that helpless feeling. So I blog to alleviate it. Maybe it’s not enough. The powers-that-be don’t seem to pay attention anyway. I guess I need to incorporate.
When I read today’s Times article entitled Drillers Pushing for New Laws, I was overcome by a feeling of helplessness. Drillers want to take gas from under the land of people who refuse to sign leases. This means that there is no way to resist the environmental destruction they wish to visit upon us so that these companies can make money. Not only that, they want the state to pass laws that make it impossible for communities to pass zoning laws that would keep drillers out. This means that the local democratic process would be totally demolished so that drillers could basically drill wherever the hell they please.
How do we resist this?
If we say, “No, you can’t drill on my land,” drillers change the law so that they can anyway. If we say, “Our zoning boards have voted to leave this land residential,” drillers change the law to ignore it. If we say, as we have said resoundingly, “We want a moratorium,” or “we want a decent severance tax,” or “we want safe drilling and regulation,” then the drillers just contribute to politicians’ campaigns and the people get ignored.
How can we, the people, help our environment? What can we do? Drillers have more resources than we do to push their agenda.
I hate feeling helpless.
Frank Scavo, State Senate candidate in the 22nd, released his reaction to the PA 2010 budget:
“With the $28 billion dollar Pennsylvania State budget for 2010 now headed Governor Rendell’s desk for signing, Pennsylvania once again approves the practice of deficit spending and driving up state debt. The continued ignorance of the $4 billion dollar pension crisis and it’s deliberate absence is both a travesty and an expensive broken promise that will cause punishing property tax rates for working families and seniors. It also leaves teachers and state workers with an unfunded pension liability again. We are continuing to amass debt just like the federal government and ignore critical reforms of the pension, unemployment and prison systems. This new budget also keeps Pennsylvania with the highest corporate tax rates in the nation, which creates no opportunity for job growth again. ”
He’s right about the Legislature ignoring the pension crisis, but his solution is to go to a defined contribution plan, which I disagree with (and have written about, so I’ll leave it alone). On top of that, he criticizes high corporate taxes, but that doesn’t matter for many of the mega corporations in PA, as they exploit the Delaware Tax Loophole (which he once told me he would not fix).
I didn’t have a horse in this past State Senate race because I knew most of the candidates and didn’t make a decision until I walked into the booth. That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me. But I’m often asked by friends and family who I’m voting for, or who the best candidate is for such and such a race, so for the 22nd Senatorial, I listed the good qualities of each candidate and left it at that. For John Blake, I said, “John’s had the most experience in government without having been a politician.” It’s the truth. He spent a lot of time in various government functions funneling and overseeing the distribution of money to the area. Most of the friends and family I gave the “good qualities” list to ended up voting for John Blake. “He sounded the most qualified,” is what they would say.
Being Bob Mellow’s friend, hugging him, or even taking money from him doesn’t make John Blake, or anybody else, a bad person. I’ve met him and I’ve shaken his name. I don’t think that turned me into a Sith Apprentice. But the concern that voters have over Blake’s connection to Mellow is totally valid, and Blake should address it. It is certainly arguable, given Mellow’s sizable contribution to Blake, that Mellow has influence over Blake. Actually, of course Mellow has Blake’s ear. That, however, can easily change.
Now, I’m positive that John Blake will win no matter what. Frank Scavo thinks that the country is being taken over by Islamic Fascists who want to create a One World State. Or some such conspiracy theory of that nature.
I believed and still believe that John Blake is more than capable of being a good representative of the people of NEPA.
My Lackawanna County Bloggy compatriot Stephen Albert over at Not Cease from Exploration (which has a crazy new design!) has a great post up about the Scranton Times and its look at the local economy. Stephen is a finance man (I like him anyway) and took a look at the numbers themselves, in terms of local economic performance, to see if they squared with the meme put out by the Scranton Times.
Here is the link, which I can’t embed from my iPhone:
http://www.sgalbert.com/2010/06/is-scranton-times-perpetuating-poor.html
He found that NEPA, compared to NWPA, does not, in fact, have a higher unemployment rate, which contrasts with the doom and gloom “We’re the Worst in the State” Scranton Times headline. You know, it’s fun when people do actual investigating and reporting. Go Steve!
The question asked over at NCFE, “why the doom and gloom?” is a fascinating one and I’m not sure of the answer. Why would the Times routinely reinforce a self-deprecating view on an entire region. Most of our narratives are driven by the Times. They are the primary source for news, analysis, and opinion (I think “news” is a form of opinion, as per HST, whether or not the Times admits it), so when they, as NCFE says, perpetuate the “we’re a run down coal-mining region” mentality, they are framing a view of us that is pretty negative.
Steve’s answer for this, and it is very sound, is that it involves a resistance to change and a desire to exert control. I’ll let Steve’s response speak for itself, but will add that there most certainly needs to be more media outlets. Blogs like this one and NCFE fill a very minor information void, as we simply think aloud and rarely break news (it happens, just rarely). The Times has chosen to relegate itself to mediocrity. It is a glorified community paper that doesn’t do any intrepid investigative reporting, instead opting to give more information on the latest snippets out of the scanner.
Head over and read the post, it’s fascinating and insightful.
Oh, and for those interested, some of us bloggers are going to be getting together in Wilkes-Barre this Saturday, location to be determined. E-mail me if you want in!
Yesterday, we learned that Robert Kennedy, Jr., noted environmentalist, came to the area to survey the damage and hear from citizens about the state of natural gas drilling in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Today, the gas industry responded.
Firstly, they said that RFK, Jr. only saw one side of the argument. Of course, yesterday, a well in Clearview County was spilling for hours before industry workers even noticed, let alone fixed it, but hey, I only presented one side of it. The industry, obviously, was treating their workers well, reducing their stress levels by not requiring them to do their jobs. Is that the industry perspective?
The industry perspective is biased. So are residents. Residents, however, are victims of damaged roads and infrastructure and poisoned water and a damaged environment. I’m not sure how it’s unfair of RFK, Jr. to listen to their complaints while ignoring the gas industry that did it (and they don’t pay any severance taxes, so they aren’t contributing to the repair of damaged infrastructure).
The actual industry retort is that they created jobs. You know, war creates jobs. Should we start wars?
Don’t answer that.
The Pocono Mountain Charter School is suing the Pocono Mountain School District because of what they call religious discrimination. Odd. How can a charter school, which is essentially public, be discriminated against on religious grounds?
The reason is that the school doubles as a church and the head of the church and his wife run the school and award themselves huge salaries while paying their teachers next to minimum wage. Aside from that sin, which is on their part, I’m not sure how the district can religiously discriminate. Religion should have no part of the Charter School’s institution.
Charter schools are a total disaster, and this is why. I hope this comes back to bite them in their greedy, Bible-banging, public-coffer bilking bums. Do you like my alliteration? I worked hard on it.
An “industry-financed” study, according to today’s Scranton Times, indicates that gas drilling could create 200,000 jobs and provide $18 billion of an economic impact on our region.
Of course the industry is going to say that! On top of that, I love little caveats like “could”. It “could” create. Really? It could rain money from the sky, too!
In addition, the jobs created are often not actually given to Pennsylvanians. Out of state workers are brought in to work on the drill sites. I would love to see industry statistics of actual Pennsylvanians hired, given the Shale Coalition’s excessive optimism about how great all of this environmental degradation is for everybody.
The state is forecasting 12,000 jobs, as opposed to the industry claiming 160,000 jobs in the same time frame. Maybe there was a typo with an extra zero.
The industry study also says a severance tax on gas is a bad idea. I wonder why it says that. The argument is that drillers will move to other states if a tax is enacted… but every other state has a severance tax, so that line of industry “logic” goes out the window.
The ACLU has gotten involved in the sexting scandal involving a Tunkhannock student. Cue anti-ACLU wingnuts who hate the ACLU without an articulate reason.
This student had her cell phone confiscated by a teacher for using it during school. I teach and this is pretty routine. What happened next is not routine. The principal searched the cell phone, which means that Greg Ellsworth had to turn the student’s phone on, then look for the application that deals with photos, then go through all of the photos. When he did this, he found nude and semi-nude photos of the then seventeen year old girl.
First problem. The principal should never have searched the contents of the phone. This is an invasion of privacy akin to what happened down near Philly, when the district gave students laptops then snapped photos of them in their bedrooms. What’s on a person’s phone is theirs and theirs alone. Yes, that last sentence rhymed and had an inherent rhythm to it, but that’s not the focus here. The principal violated this girl’s right to privacy. She shouldn’t have been on her phone, she was punished by having it taken away. Done deal. But this principal is either a pervert or a voyeur or runs his school like a totalitarian dictator. I wonder if he enjoyed looking at this girl naked? Seems to me like he was looking at child porn, right?
Which brings me to my second point. The Detective in the case, Ide, told the girl she should’ve waited unitl she was 18, then modeled for Playboy. Well, to make that statement, he had to have made a judgment of her physical attributes, which were displayed sans clothes. That means he looked at “child porn” for more than just legal reasons.
Detective Ide and Principal Ellsworth should be fired. At least one is a lecher, and neither understand law or privacy or have the respect necessary to do their jobs in a reasonable and fair way. They both sicken me and are a disgrace to their professions.
Sexting is a stupid practice. Teenagers, and adults for that matter, should avoid it, given the ease with which the digital age allows for this information to get out there. But a teenager taking a photo of herself, for her own purposes or to share with a boyfriend or whatever, shouldn’t be criminal. Teenagers having sex isn’t criminal, is it? No. Now if some lecherous scumbag solicits the teenagers, gets in receipt of these and uses them maliciously, sure, go after them, but not the teenagers. Aside from the fact that teens may not understand the consequences fully, they have rights.
The ACLU is right to go after this district, the detective, the DA (Skumanick), and anybody else involved in this trampling and disregard of civil liberties.
In the 10th Congressional District, Tom Marino won on the Republican side. While I think Chris Carney will do just fine, the way the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been handling Marino is childish. Their strategy? Call Carney’s opponent “Casino Marino” and talk about how he’s friends with Louis DeNaples.
Nyah-nyah.
The better strategy would be to focus on his policies and beliefs, which are bad for the district. The man doesn’t deserve to be elected because his views lack standing and merit.
Let’s have a real campaign.
Totally clever title, I know.
The biggest surprise of the night, for me, was the State Senate race. Every internal poll I saw leading up to the election (and ever one I heard tell of), put Chris Doherty in the lead. It made sense.
Doherty hit Wansacz and Volpe, which likely increased their negatives. Normally, that would hurt Doherty, too, but look at it this way: Doherty has been taking a beating in the public eye for a long, long time now. Anything negative that anybody could’ve said about him has been said over and over for years. His negatives were likely static, which is good for a candidate, even if they are slightly high. So, bashing his opponents was advantageous.
Volpe’s response, knee-jerk, definitely turned people off (as did all of the mud being thrown at him – some stuck, I’m sure), but his impeccably put together campaign definitely weathered the storm just fine. Seriously, I haven’t seen such a great operation put together so quickly before. He came in second, and that’s definitely an accomplishment.
Jim Wansacz had to have been hurt early on by the per diem issue, but then seeing his brother in the paper over and over in the days leading up to the election definitely didn’t do him any good either. The Wansacz name got tied straight to corruption.
Phillips was always in the bottom of the internals I saw. The man just didn’t have the money to get his name out. Now, if Blake and Phillips had their war chests reversed, I’m betting we would see a very different race (not that I’m necessarily saying Phillips would’ve won, just that it would’ve been different).
Corcoran, despite Democratic Machine enthusiasm, never really had a shot. Sure, he has his loyal cadre, but he’s been out of the game for a while, he left the game on a very sour note, and the Lackawanna County Democratic Party is barely viable. Unless it’s taken over and revamped, it may as well not exist. Honestly, when do you see the local party fighting for ideology? Instead, they fight for control – and bit by bit, they lose it. Maybe it’s time for a new strategy.
John Blake’s win came as a huge surprise. Now, when people asked me about this race, I actually framed it differently than I tend to frame races on this site. I talked about how every candidate had a lot of positives, told people each of the positives, and didn’t actually make a recommendation. When I described Blake, I simply said, “He’s the most qualified.” There were a lot of candidates in this race who I wouldn’t have minded winning. Blake ran relatively under the radar right until the end. The cash infusion from Mellow, then the advertising blitz was perfectly timed. Why? Because everybody was being negative, everybody had written Blake off, and he emerged as the qualified, unblemished alternative.
Congrats to John Blake. I’m looking forward to working for him in the General!
A press release from the Volpe campaign:
Illegal and fraudulent phone calls being made to appear
as if they are coming from the Volpe Campaign.
Appropriate authorities are investigating
On the evening of Sunday May 16th voters from across the 22nd State Senate District received fraudulent telephone calls that appeared, via caller ID, to be coming from the Volpe for State Senate Campaign. The calls were brought to the attention of the Volpe campaign when voters returned the fraudulent call to Volpe campaign headquarters. Our campaign has also received word that the Wansacz campaign is dealing with the same issue. The calls are utilizing a technology called spoofing.
The definition of spoofing
“Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to display a number on the recipient’s caller ID display which is not that of the actual originating station; the term is commonly used to describe situations in which the motivation is considered malicious by the speaker. Just as e-mail spoofing can make it appear that a message came from any e-mail address the sender chooses, caller ID spoofing can make a call appear to have come from any phone number the caller wishes. Because of the high trust people tend to have in the caller ID system, spoofing can call the system’s value into question.”
The phone calls received by voters on Sunday that appeared to come from the Volpe campaign relayed disparaging information about Chuck Volpe.
“This is the lowest and most despicable form of campaigning. This fraud must stop immediately and our campaign has contacted the appropriate authorities to look into this” said Chuck Volpe, Democratic Candidate for State Senate.
It is the Volpe campaign’s understanding that the only candidate in the 22nd district State Senate race not using one of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s approved phone vendors is the Chris Doherty for State Senate Campaign.
Our campaign will provide of list of voters who have received these fraudulent telephone calls to any reporter who requests it.
I had the pleasure of talking to Chris Phillips about the election and am ready to report!
I like to lead off by asking what issue a candidate thinks hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, and I got quite an answer from Phillips.
Land management, he said. Nobody is talking about land management. I agree. I have heard so little of it, I had no idea what he meant. And when he enlightened me, well, what I heard made sense. Most states have land management plans, which resemble the Scranton-Abington Plan that I believe Clarks Green voted down. It would’ve governed zoning in the region. What Phillips pointed out is that urban sprawl in our area is ridiculous, while our population isn’t growing. So we’re taking up more land, destroying more forests and the natural beauty of our region all for what? We have space! He gave a great example. Montage Mountain. Rather than chop the mountain up and build office parks and shopping centers, imagine if those were in downtown Scranton, and the stores in, say, the store fronts that are empty in our towns and cities. This is an excellent point! It would create more central locations for commerce, encourage use of public transportation, and preserve land.
So, I’ve never really thought about this issue before, and now that I have, I agree 100% with Phillips. The state needs to encourage counties and municipalities to create land management plans.
Next up, we talked about the Constitutional Convention idea that people are bandying about. He is for having one, and using it to impose term limits. I pointed out that some argue the voters can impose term limits by just voting people out, but he said the incumbency advantage brings money from special interests that give unfair advantages. I used this to segue into a discussion on Publicly Financed Elections (where the govt. gives a limited amount to run, and no special interests or donations are allowed), and he said he would consider it.
Phillips is in favor of a Progressive Tax, and said he is also in favor of totally eliminating property tax and replacing it with a consumption based tax (sales tax).
I asked about the legislature reduction that many are in favor of and he said he would rather reduce the cost of the legislature than its size, since people need access to their representatives and constituent services.
Since negative campaigning has been common recently, I asked Chris what his thoughts were on the latest developments, and he said he would have preferred candidates sat down and had more debates. Indeed.
Finally, I asked what Phillips wanted people to know about him that they might not know. He pointed out that he is the only candidate in the race who hasn’t taken money from or given money to Bob Mellow, which, he argues, ensures that he is not a part of the Harrisburg machine and that he can represent our region with an independent voice.
“If people want real change, vote for me,” Phillips said. He wrapped up by saying politicians tend to get elected by the people, then get to Harrisburg and work for special interests. “Not me,” he said.
So, I was driving up to Carbondale to make some plans for Election Day and I had WILK on (I’m an avid Corbett listener, in case people haven’t noticed).
That opening sentence really got the tension high, didn’t it? You really want to know what happened next, don’t you? I was off to help plan E-Day for John Moran (my guy in the 114th), but that’s not what’s crazy. Suspense even higher now?
Okay.
I don’t know if it’ll shock all of you, but what happened shocked me. Bill Clinton was on the radio supporting Chris Doherty.
What?!?!
A former President has weighed in on PA-22. A Pennsylvania State Senate race.
Allow me to say, “Holy shit.”
Thank you.
I have to admit that I am impressed. That’s a pretty tall order. Given the negative campaigning that’s gone on in this race lately, ending positive is probably a necessity for these campaigns. Wansacz and Volpe have come out swinging at each other yesterday. With the focus off of Doherty, and this insanely huge endorsement, it may give him the boost he needs to cross the line.
Bill Clinton.
The DEP has told drillers that they should be paragons of industry and play nice with the environment, lead by example, [insert inspiring meaningless rhetoric here].
What incentive does a capitalist have to protect the environment, particularly when neglecting it is profitable?
Answer: Zero.
Drillers in Marcellus Shale are just being good little capitalists. Destroying the environment, poisoning wells, ruining roads, property, towns, and probably lives doesn’t matter if profit is to be had. It’s the capitalist way, the American way. We should shut up and take it.
Good thing I’m not a capitalist. Good thing I think there’s a better way.
The fines that the DEP levies are nothing, Cabot laughs them off. We’ve seen this. The DEP doesn’t have the manpower to inspect every well. We’ve seen this. The Drillers have poisoned land and wells. We’ve seen this. The drillers have ruined the infrastructure of small towns. We’ve seen this. The drillers have made boatloads of money without paying taxes. We’ve seen this.
So what the hell is the benefit of gas drilling? Letting property owners lease their land for a fortune, then move out of the area? The only real winners here are the capitalists, not the little guy. Corporations are walking away with a fortune and laughing at the impact and consequence. Why not?
They’ve won.
I have to say that the Volpe campaign operation is pretty impressive. When attacked, the respond rapidly. They send out mailers left and right, they have people plastering the area with signs, people on the phones, commercials on TV and the radio, and on and on. And Volpe came into the race a little later and with less infrastructure than everybody else. I bring this up because his campaign is bringing a lot to bear in response to the ongoing battle with Doherty.
I’ve addressed this as events unfold and the latest I want to talk about are two commercials coming out of the Volpe camp.
The first, the TV ad, defends himself well against attacks by highlighting outsider status and citing a Times article that clears him of a connection. “A connection” is ambiguous on my part, because the commercial is also ambiguous. As an ad, it does a good job saying, “The negative stuff you’ve heard isn’t true, and you’re probably tired of negativity.” Good strategy.
On the other hand, we have a radio ad that cites Scranton City Councilwoman Janet Evans. This in and of itself isn’t bad, except that the information that came from her was totally false. She isn’t a legitimate source. The city has $80-some million in debt, and the figure Evans provided and Volpe cited was over $300 million. Slight difference.
A friend pointed out to me that city has bond rating documents and certified independent audit reports. On top of that, it’s not a good idea to use the political rhetoric of somebody’s null for information and the basis of an attack.
But, that’s not the end all or be all, methinks (yes, “methinks” is a word and I love it). With the campaign organization Volpe has been utilizing, this is still absolutely anybody’s game!
In the oft-unnoticed Democratic State Committee race this year, we have four candidates and three open slots. Two of those candidates, Robbie O’Brien and Michael Cummings, I know well and will definitely be voting for. Robbie asked me to publish the following letter for him (and he offered me a nice compliment at the end!). Check it out:
My name is Robert O’Brien, and I am running for the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee with my friend Michael Cummings.
Michael and I decided to run for State Committee earlier this year after learning that the Department of Transportation had withheld federal stimulus funding for the proposed $401 million Lackawanna Cutoff Project, which sought to advance development of high speed, passenger rail service along a line from Scranton to Hoboken, New Jersey, just outside of New York City. Simultaneously, billions of federal dollars were allocated for other high speed rail projects throughout the country, including one between Philadelphia and Harrisburg…but nothing for Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Obviously, Michael and I cannot promise that our election to the State Committee will bring high speed rail to Northeastern Pennsylvania. However, if we are elected, we can promise that we will immediately reach out to our Lackawanna County colleagues (as well as members from neighboring counties like Luzerne, Wayne, Susquehanna, Wyoming, Pike, and Monroe) with the intention of forging a strong, cooperative voting coalition. Such an alliance will force officeholders and candidates seeking our endorsement and support to take notice of our region and address our issues and concerns. Indeed, the current chairman of the State Democratic Party’s Northeast Caucus is from Northampton County, which is in the heart of the Lehigh Valley—hardly our concept of Northeastern Pennsylvania. This must change.
I attended February’s gathering of the State Committee and observed firsthand the poor attendance and lackluster leadership of our local members. Lackawanna County deserves competent representatives who will command respect from fellow members and effectively advocate on behalf of our region.
Therefore, Michael and I offer the following five-point Contract with Lackawanna County Democrats:
1. We will support Democratic candidates based on merit and ability and reject cronyism and corruption.
2. We will support Democratic candidates who have demonstrated ties to Northeastern Pennsylvania and are committed to our issues and values.
3. We will support Northeastern Pennsylvania candidates for Democratic Party leadership positions.
4. We will serve as proactive and effective liaisons between the State Committee and local Democratic Party officials.
5. We will work tirelessly to strengthen the Democratic Party organization and attract new membership.
In conclusion, Michael and I thank you for taking the time to read our message, and we hope that we can count on your vote in the Democratic Primary on May 18th. Michael and I would also like to thank Tom Borthwick for the news and commentary this site provides. Congratulations to Tom on his readership, and we wish him continued success in the months and years ahead.
All the best,
Robert O’Brien & Michael Cummings
As a postscript, Michael and I have attached a brief biography. We can be reached at obrienandcummings@gmail.com or via our facebook group, “O’Brien & Cummings for Democratic State Committee.”
Robert O’Brien is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan, where he was awarded a B.A., with high distinction, in Classics. Later this month, O’Brien will earn his J.D. from Georgetown Law. He has worked for the late Senator Ted Kennedy, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the United States Sentencing Commission. Michael Cummings is a graduate of the Catholic University of America, where he was awarded a B.A. in Politics. He currently works as an insurance agent with the Cummings Insurance Agency.
Volpe is hitting Doherty hard. The war of words evolved into offical campaign attacks from his camp. The first was the “Doherty is a pig who feasts on money” mailer, and now there is the “Doherty took more money from corrupt Highland Associates than Corrupt Cordaro did” ad on television. Volpe is swinging.
Here’s why this is so fascinating: The two major attacks that the Doherty camp supposedly directed at Volpe were not actually from Doherty, or his camp. The first, a civil rights suit, is from a private citizen alleging discrimination from Volpe. The second is that Volpe signs were pulled from heavily trafficked rights-of-way, but Doherty’s were not. The DPW does this every election cycle. The Doherty connection to both of these cannot be proved. But Volpe’s attacks on Doherty (to whom he’s donated thousands in the past) are direct. How will this play with voters?
Negative campaigning, perceived or otherwise, tends not to resonate with voters. It drives up negative opinions of candidates, simple as that. So, Doherty may look worse because of Volpe’s attacks, and vice versa. But they themselves will take a hit from people who don’t like negative campaigning in the first place. Here, Doherty hasn’t been directly involved, so he’ll likely take less of a hit.
Volpe stated in today’s times that he’s not saying the Doherty did anything illegal by connecting him to Highland. No, he’s not saying that. He’s just implying it and hoping viewers make the connection themselves. It’s a legitimate strategy, but it is what it is. The additional problem here is that more Volpe info can come to the surface. Corbett has hit him on allowing politicians to stay at his various homes. Lackawanna County has been spending a fortune on litigation with Volpe’s company over the Montage Mountain Pavilion collapse. It’s basically a he-said-she-said issue (I got the story from the Volpe camp, and they have their ducks in a row), but if the insurance policy doesn’t come through, the county is out big money and people will be upset whether or not Volpe is in the right.
I think that this battle only benefits the other candidates, the strongest of whom appears to be Jim Wansacz. We’ll find out for sure on Election Day.
