Probably no better quote exhibits the lamebrain attitude embraced by too many Northeastern Pennsylvania elected officials than the comment Scranton School Board President Bob Lesh made Tuesday.
Speaking of accepting campaign contributions from people who do business with the school district, Lesh said, "It's very hard to turn down contributions, regardless of where they come from."
Pennies from heaven?
Hundreds from hell?
Give that man advanced placement in the culture of corruption.
Lesh is joined in his asininity by every single member of the Scranton school board, all of whom have accepted campaign money from people who do business with the district – thus violating the very ethics policy they unanimously endorsed this month that prohibits them from doing so.
Lesh is quoted in a story in today's Times-Tribune as saying he accepted campaign money from vested interests because he forgot that part about the campaign contributions that's included in the policy. Back in 2000 when directors adopted the formal ethics code, Lesh voted against the policy. This time he voted for it because he just forgot.
Duh.
"It was put in for one reason," Lesh told a Times-Tribune reporter for a story in today's paper. "To keep little guys like us down."
Rule 11 in the school board's code is simple: "I will never accept or solicit campaign contributions from employees of the Scranton School District or those who regularly do business with the Scranton School District for any campaign committee formed specifically to assist in my election to any political office."
When Lesh ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2010, he took money from guys who held school district contracts or did school district work.
Like I said, Lesh lost.
Like I also said, "Duh."
Not that taking the money imperils any school board member. No punishment exists in the ethics code for those who violate the ethics code. That's right boys and girls, ain't no public service like Scranton public service.
The only problem that exists for school directors is the stain on their reputation, integrity and honor – assuming those traits exist in the first place. New directors have the most to lose. Yes, they took money before they were elected but still benefitted from those who benefitted from past - and likely future – school district cash.
These rookies should return the money. But if they do, they will show great disloyalty to the campaign system that gets them re-elected. Actually, everybody should return the money and publicly vow to set sterling examples for the children they serve.
But don't expect any "givebacks."
Expect "givemores."
Show me the money should be the new district motto, carved in Latin above the door to the administration building.
"E pluribus payola."
More alarming, is that some "model citizens" who contributed to some of the school directors had also contributed to a couple of notorious former Lackawanna County commissioners. Back then federal prosecutors called those contributions kickbacks and granted immunity to some of these school board benefactors who then testified against the county commissioners turned criminal defendants.
Bob Cordaro is currently doing 11 years in a federal prison.
A.J. Munchak, Cordaro's partner in crime is preparing to begin a seven year sentence.
But our distinguished school board members fail to hear the sirens and alarm bells that should be going off in their heads.
At the end of the press release announcing a federal indictment handed up yesterday against former Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit Director Fred Rosetti (first cousin to former state Sen. Bob Mellow, who also is under federal investigation), the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District casually mentioned that the FBI is looking for more information about any local school district workers who might be breaking the law.
That includes school directors.
I'd start obeying the ethics code if I were a school board director, no matter what Bob Lesh says.
Presidents' Day usually passes for most Americans as a day off if they're lucky or maybe a visit to a local store for a mattress sale. Mostly, President's Day matters little to most Americans.
For me, the presidency still holds allure.
Granted, I don't have a favorite commander-in-chief. Nobody rises to my level of excellence.
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln offer the best shot although I must admit that I know less than more about their lives than I should. I should pick up biographies of these two but likely won't.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is probably my favorite although he pulled some horrid stunts that were so egregious that his bad judgment should make all his good judgment moot.
I'm all for the WPA and the CCC and the fight against poverty and malaise during The Depression.
But I lived in a community in Central Coastal California that suffered the sheer ignorance of FDR's Japanese-American internment policies and know more about that than most people.
Then there was Nixon.
That's what I call him.
Nixon.
That's all you need to know.
Nixon's the one.
And I still believe that he stole that helicopter when he lifted off from the White Hose lawn that fateful day in 1974 after bringing us Watergate and all the sordid related aftermath of Vietnam and Kent State and the rest.
JFK?
Marylyn.
Clinton?
Monica.
Bush?
Bush?
One's as bad as the other.
I didn't even care for mother and wife Barbara and gave her a hard time when she visited a Wilkes-Barre high school some years back. By hard time I mean that I refused to fall over myself as she passed by like a British queen and threw her a hard question rather than a nice little soft-boiled inquiry.
Mrs. Bush glared.
And I felt good.
Gerald Ford?
Pardoned Nixon.
Jimmy Carter?
Actually, better than most.
Then there are all those presidents whose names I've forgotten and could not recite even if my life depended on it.
I'm in good company.
Ignorance so much permeates our nation that I wouldn't be surprised if the current batch of high school seniors in Northeastern Pennsylvania would be hard pressed to identify JFK, Marylyn, Clinton, Monica, FDR, Nixon, Watergate, Kent State or Vietnam.
Nixon? That's out near Harveys Lake, right? Right.
On second thought, they might know Clinton but only because of Monica.
Then there's Barack. Everybody knows Barack. Right? But not everybody believes he has a U.S. birth certificate and if what the Internet says is true he can't be president.
Just what Mexico needs - Luzerne County Judge "El Dopo" Dave Lupas authorizing a Cabo resort vacation for Linda Kastner, 40, an admitted drug felon who still has 18 months to serve in the so-called "intermediate punishment program."
If a south-of-the-border holiday is what constitutes intermediate punishment, I'm afraid to ask about minimum punishment.
A time-share all your own? Dinner with the Mexican drug cartel bandito of your choice? Rehab by the beach? Taxpayer-financed tacos for everybody?
Make it stop, por favor.
Drug agents from the office of the state attorney arrested Kastner in 2010 as part of a quarter million dollar heroin and cocaine ring. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy after being charged with numerous counts of cocaine and heroin related offenses – including possession and possession with intent to distribute.
The woman's lawyer, whom she refused to name when she called "Corbett" on Wednesday, mentioned in her petition that she would be traveling with her sister and her brother-in-law, who is a police officer in New Jersey. I take the reference to mean that she will be traveling with a responsible bodyguard.
Nice.
In Mexico, people with bodyguards always have the edge, even when they die in a cross fire. And nothing builds confidence better than a Jersey cop on the beat in Margaritaville.
"El Dopo" really should know better – if only to protect the integrity of law enforcement. Any judge should understand that no cop should associate with a convicted felon in any social setting. The police officer's chief in Kenilworth understands, telling me in a telephone conversation Wednesday that the officer would violate the department code of conduct if he traveled anywhere off-duty with an admitted drug criminal, sister-in-law or no sister-in-law.
Indeed, a YouTube video of Officer Mariachi in a sombrero will do wonders for his career.
But Kastner wants to go, plans to go and is adamant that she should be allowed to go.
"I'm a taxpayer, too," she railed during an unexpected call to Wednesday's show.
But during another unexpected call to "Corbett" yesterday, she said she wasn't sure because her husband is now in the hospital and that she was aggravating his delicate condition by taking calls at his bedside from friends alerting her to my discussion and commentary about her on the air.
Kastner again railed, even more vigorously than the last time, for my highlighting her high life and good times. I could barely squeeze a word into her tirade. But after finding wiggle room, I asked how she plans to pay for the trip. Kastner said her sister was giving her the tropical adventure as a gift, although with hubbie sick and all she wasn't sure she would be able to go.
I asked if she owed any outstanding fines or costs as a result of her illegal drug behavior. Kastner got edgier, saying she's paying her fines. But she refused to say how much remains or if, as court records seem to show, she only pays $20 a week on a balance of almost $2,000.
I'll call county officials today to try and obtain the total and the payment plan.
No matter what she owes, and she admits to owing, she should not be allowed to spend one dinero in Mexico until she pays back every penny to the taxpayers who funded the investigation into her bad behavior.
When police arrested Kastner, she was quoted in a newspaper article as saying that the 21 or so people busted were addicts, not dealers. Whatever she is, she needs serious treatment and therapy if she ever hopes to get better and one day become a productive member of society rather than a drain on her community, her family, friends and herself.
Kastner told me yesterday that I had "bigger fish to fry" and that the shabby Sterling Hotel in Wilkes-Barre was a better topic of news talk conversation. She ranted so badly that I had to put her on hold. When I did, Kastner hung up.
"El Dopo" should have considered all these serious factors before he granted her junkie wish to party hearty. Instead, another inept and dangerous judge enabled a seriously troubled woman to careen further into the abyss of irresponsibility.
Luzerne County District Attorney Stefani Salavantis said the attorney general's office is handling the case, although a formal letter from her asking that the AG's office petition the state Superior Court asking that Lupas' decision be overturned is warranted.
Nobody from the AG's office returned my call yesterday. Lupas also failed to return a call.
Maybe Kastner will call again today.
If so, I'll do my best to help her understand that she needs real help far more than four days and three nights in Cabo as official "intermediate punishment" courtesy of "El Dopo," her sister and her Jersey bodyguard.
Yes, Ireland is as green as the travelers say. And, yes, something very special about that small island nation keeps luring people from all over the world to the wondrous enchantment of this land of saints and scholars.
Pot-of-gold brilliant sunshine gleamed from the emerald landscape on the banks of the Shannon that day almost 40 years ago when I undertook my first adventure in the birthplace of my ancestors.
I was 21 that summer when I first set foot in that magic land.
I'll be 61 in July when we venture back to bask in the ancient culture, taste the food and drink, learn from the wisdom of the people and savor the sights and sounds of Eire, which in the traditional Gaelic tongue of the people means Ireland.
I've returned to the "auld sod " many times over the years and look forward to each trip with the youthful excitement of that young man who stepped off the plane that day on a beautiful August morning in search of family history and his own coming of age.
A similar personal journey exists for every Irish visitor whether or not you possess a drop of Irish blood pulsing through your veins. The journey awaits you because Ireland is unique and a little piece of Ireland exists in us all.
Two years ago, a group of more than 40 pilgrims representing AAA North Penn travelled together to Ireland. A thousand welcomes greeted us as we stepped off the plane in Dublin, where I had lived for a few months in 1972.
To say that a grand time was had by all would be an understatement.
All my previous visits had been on my own. We'd rent a car, look for lodging each day and settle in to explore. Twice we rented a house near the west coast village of Cornamona in County Galway from which my grandfather emigrated in 1904, landing in Scranton.
But this time we put all our faith in AAA and CIE International, the Irish transportation firm that took care of our every need from beginning to end. They picked us up and dropped us off, taking us from one stunning stop to the next. When we switched hotels, the CIE driver even delivered our luggage to the door outside our room and picked it up in the morning when we checked out and boarded a luxury coach complete with a trained and certified Irish tour guide.
From one place to the next we still had ample time on our own to shop, have a look around and add our own personal touch to the adventure at hand. With no worries, all we had to do was relax and enjoy every aspect of our vacation.
Everyone enthusiastically agreed that the tour constituted a trip of a lifetime in a spellbinding nation. And we vowed to return. I surely hope they do.
This trip will likely include some of my compatriots from the last sojourn across the water. No matter how many times you've been to Ireland, you've never seen enough Ireland.
Ireland never fails.
Ireland always awaits.
This trip beckons for so many reasons, particularly that it touches on Ireland north and south. The 24 counties of the Republic of Ireland in the south is usually the sole destination for tourists. The six counties of Northern Ireland, officially part of the United Kingdom, usually also constitutes a sole destination for visitors.
Most tourists never visit both places on the same trip. As a result, most miss the big picture context of a country long ago divided by war and politics, yet united in the quest for progress and peace.
We'll begin in Dublin, the Irish capital in the south, cross the border to Belfast in the north, on to Derry in the north and then back to Westport in the south – with many varying stops here and there in between.
It will be 30 years since I last visited Belfast and look forward with all my heart to connecting with old friends there. Peace now swathes the city in a newfound identity, a softer place where hope and development cradles the history of yesterday and the dreams of tomorrow.
Craftsmen built the fated ship Titanic in Belfast. Until recently too many people considered that famous shipyard just another rusted hulk from a bad time in a bad place. In April, a priceless new Titanic exhibit will be unveiled at that refurbished shipyard that is expected to draw countless visitors to the site.
We'll be there, as well.
I hope you join me and my fellow travelers on this Irish trip of a lifetime.
May the road rise to meet us. May the wind be always at our backs. May the sun shine warm upon our faces, the rains fall soft upon our fields and, when we meet, may Ireland hold us in the palm of its hand.
It was sad but not surprising to hear the news of Whitney Houston's death this weekend. Whether you like the type of music she sang, no doubt she was one of the most gifted singers we've ever had the pleasure of hearing. What was most disturbing to me in all the coverage is the comments her friends and some tv commentators made about how sad it was that Whitney could never make a comeback. As if the only importance of her life was how nice her voice sounded. It's that type of thinking that may have led to the depression she was suffering in recent years.
No, I'm not absolving her of her part in her vocal and personal decline. Of course she chose to take drugs. I have no doubt it was drugs that killed her singing. Unfortunately, with a gift such as hers, it would be hard to have to continue to live up to that level. However, there are many gifted singers who still have it after many years.
I have a feeling that many around Whitney Houston, wanted her to be the Whitney of 20 years ago, for their own selfish reasons. The truth probably is that she would never be able to sing again- and that would be ok. Why wasn't it ok to do something else? Why did she have to 'come back'? The people who are so heartbroken over her death don't realize that the thinking that 'she never had the chance to rise like a phoenix from the ashes' could very well be the reason she had such trouble. Everyone wanted her to be successful again. We like the happy ending where the boxer who's down for the count comes back for a thrilling knockout, but those things in life are very rare. You can create a different happy ending. Perhaps getting up off the mat and leaving the ring is the right choice. Moving on to something else, something that might make you uncomfortable, can be a good thing. You need positive, supportive people around you. You also have to want to make it happen.
I try to look for good in the bad things that happen. I probably think too much of stuff like this. Every day people are dying. Every day people are facing tough illnesses and uncertain futures. When you face your own mortality, you realize what's important. It's nice to think of others, but you have to think of yourself. Whitney Houston made people happy with her music, but she didn't seem to make herself happy. That is the tragedy in her death.
Twin babies in a cage, born alive the warden says, before Luzerne County prison officials transported them to the hospital where one died and the other lifted off in a life flight chopper headed to emergency critical care.
Twin babies in a cage.
Born in a county prison cell.
One dead.
One wounded.
Like in a war zone.
But warden Joseph Piazza didn't even file a report. He tried to keep the births secret. Until I asked Friday, interim county manager Tom Pribula said he didn't know about the births two weeks earlier.
Piazza says he and his staff did everything right. When Piazza called my show Friday, he said that no investigation is necessary. The nurse who says he delivered the babies called the show as well. He, too, rejected the need for an investigation and defended himself and other prison officials in the aftermath of this tragedy.
Piazza and the nurse also impugned the integrity of the mother, a 23-year-old whose medical history Piazza and the nurse disclosed on the air as if she possessed no privacy rights.
Twin babies in a cage.
Born in a county prison cell.
One dead.
One wounded.
Like in a war zone.
The doctor was in the building that day, the prison officials said, but deferred to the nurse. The doctor was not around for the birth of the first child but arrived and stood outside the cell for the second, the nurse said.
The births happened fast, the prison officials said.
In that cramped cell not enough room existed for the doctor and the nurse, according to the nurse. So the mother mom pushed and pushed again and out they came, bright, brand new and breathing.
Then one wasn't.
Twin babies in a cage.
Born in a county prison cell.
One dead.
One wounded.
Like in a war zone.
Quick to defend themselves, prison officials claim the babies were born alive. But we don't know for sure because no pathologist performed an autopsy, according to a news report over the weekend. Who officially pronounced the child dead? What was the cause and exact time of death? Says who?
Mom told prison officials she was sick, a nurse examined her and told her she would be all right. Go back to your cell, back to your seven-month pregnancy and back to your dismal isolation. Forty-five minutes later, the mother again pleaded for help.
Were the prison nurses qualified to diagnose her condition let alone deliver her children? Did prison officials do more harm than good? Why didn't somebody call an ambulance when she first reported nausea and vomiting? Did official action or inaction contribute to the death? Or was the mother to blame, as the warden and nurse insinuated?
The mother had tested positive for drugs, the warden and nurse said on "Corbett." But no drug counselor helped her, no doctor examined her and no help arrived that could keep her baby alive.
When Raphael "Ray" Musto left the state Senate after decades of legislative service – including a short stint as a member of Congress – faithful supporters warbled his praises and commended his integrity.
Today all bets are off.
The soon-to-be 83-year-old elder statesman faces trial in federal criminal court on public corruption charges stemming from that long career of supposed public service.
The question is when that trial will begin.
Musto has proclaimed his innocence, welcomed his day in court and said he was looking forward to clearing his name.
And the crowd roared.
Go get 'em, Ray.
After all this was the same guy who refused a bribe from a phony sheik during the ABSCAM sting that rounded up stray congressmen who turned their vow to uphold the public trust into a cash and carry for profit business.
But Ray's lawyer asked the court to postpone the trial that was scheduled to start in November.
The nice judge, A. Richard Caputo, complied.
No November trial for Ray. No day in court. No clearing his good name.
Caputo set the new trial date for a few days ago. But Ray's trial did not start a few days ago.
Ray's lawyer – big-feeling John, also known as Jack, Riley, who won an acquittal for iconic former 10th Congressional District lawmaker Joe McDade when the feds came after him for accepting bribes – asked for another delay.
Poor Ray was so ill that he couldn't even assist in the preparation of his own defense, said John, also known as Jack. Nice judge Caputo again complied. The trial is scheduled to start in June, when I turn 61.
I won't be surprised if I'm collecting Social Security when the trial begins - if it ever begins.
People are legitimately wondering how long nice judge Caputo will keep the political patron saint of Pittston out of the courtroom and as far away from justice as he can get.
If Ray goes to trial and is convicted, his pension likely goes up I smoke. Ray also likely dies in prison. The longer he stays out the better he plays the system. And, while he's at it, healing and feeling stronger every day, he can watch his wife play the slot machines.
That's exactly what Ray told me he was doing when witnesses spotted him at 10:30 last Friday night at the Mohegan Sun casino and expressed shock that he was too sick to help his own lawyer defend him but strong enough to show up smiling like Wayne Newton at a late night gambling parlor.
"I'm not supposed to stop at the casino if my wife wants to stop on the way home?" Ray asked with a tinge of defiance in his voice when I called him at home Wednesday.
Ray said he was "coming along" after his "operation" and was not "confined to bed."
So he simply agreed when his wife said she wanted to stop by the casino.
"She played the machine and I stood by and watched," he said.
"You win?" I asked.
"I don't gamble," he said.
Oh, Ray.
Your whole future is one big gamble and you're playing your hand like one of those slick, cowboy hat-wearing, dark wrap-around shades donning professional poker hustlers on the TV.
John, also known as Jack, Riley failed to respond to two messages about his client that I left with his assistant in Philadelphia. When I reached a federal prosecutor, he chuckled and said he would pass the casino sighting on to the prosecutors in the case. I didn't bother to call nice judge Caputo, who must feel like a mook now that he knows he's been played like the perfect sucker hand in Coal Fields Hold 'Em.
That night in the casino, a witness said Musto smiled and glad-handed people who approached him. They called him "Senator" and told him how happy they were to see him. Callers have recently reported seeing Musto and his wife grocery shopping as well.
That's great. I'm glad that he's "coming along" and is getting stronger every day.
If I were Caputo, I'd set a new trial date for tomorrow - assuming Caputo is serious about justice, that is.
Tried, true and trite, the investigative mantra that unravels white collar corporate crime also works for political handicapping.
So bet the farm on Mitt Romney.
The Republican money man is pure capital. Despite his flip-flopping flaws, big bucks boost his stature even among members of the Grand Old Party who despise him. This red-blooded, white skinned great greenback of a candidate makes his campaign banner a colorful hue of red, white and emerald.
And the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow will forever top the staid, conservative red, white and blue heritage of the America's favorite WASP party any day.
Newt Gingrich is a washed up adulterer. Ron Paul is a kooky militia man melting precious metal in the bunker. And Rick Santorum is a man of smoke and mirrors, an increasingly dramatic religious warlord whose rise to glory seems almost angelic until you see the killer mean streak that wants to deny liberty (mostly to women and other infidels) while offering freedom.
Mitt simply says it with cash.
If combine the personal wealth of all the past presidents since Richard Nixon Romney is worth twice as much. Please contemplate that frenetic financial fact of political life. When you're a Republican, money can buy you love. When you're Mitt, even forever in blue jeans, money absolutely makes the man.
The more checks that Mitt or his lieutenants in the super PACS (political action committees) write, when special interests start raising hundreds of millions on his behalf, the love fest will spread. Fickle and prissy powerbrokers will fall in line and support Mr. Mormon Money Bags who will brazenly try to buy his way into the White House.
Mitt might just make it.
President Barack Obama has vehemently opposed groups outside his campaign from raising money his behalf. That changed this week. Barack now also wants to follow the money – right up to special delivery special interest deposits for his future re-election.
Hope and change now takes on new meaning.
Barack hopes he can pull in all the third-party money he can get. Special interests crave change that benefits them.
No more chump change we can believe in. We're talking treasure that makes Newt's Tiffany purchases look like he bought them on a lead credit card. C'mon big money, as they say on the "Wheel of Fortune." Barack is grinning and spinning the wheel.
But you have to wonder if the laughter stops when Barack sits alone in the Oval office listening to Marvin Gay singing about getting it on. Even America's Big Brother knows he's a penniless piker compared to Mitt.
And, while Mitt picks up steam, Barack is losing some high-profile back-up.
A New York Times story yesterday broke startling news about the lackluster support for Obama's re-election in some liberal quarters – particularly from the man who might be the most notorious liberal political backer in the world.
George Soros, the anti-Christ to Republicans and billionaire businessman who contributed $27.5 million to Democratic efforts during the 2004 presidential campaign, recently said that Obama reminded him of Romney, according to the Times.
"There isn't all that much difference," Soros said.
That news must have put dollar signs in Romney's eyes. Dangling a golden carrot on a sterling stick in front of Soros just might result in dividends for both men. If Soros wants something from a President Romney he will no doubt get it. So how hard will it be for Soros to jump ship and forsake Obama the way Newt has forsaken how many wives?
What can Barack give George? Chicago? Joe Biden?
Barack's already in big trouble.
His campaign has even promised to give back several hundred thousand dollars in contributions from a couple of brothers whose other brother, Pepe, is a wanted man in Mexico and is alleged to have ordered a hit on a business rival as Pepe appeased the drug cartels and worked his way into the casino business south of the border.
That's enough to make Barack convert to Mormonism. To an increasing number of potential voters, Barack is more Rev. Wright than Mr. Right. With only nine months left until the election that seems very, very wrong.
Show me the moola?
Barack raised $750 million for his 20008 campaign.
Mitt's probably got that much in his dirty jean pockets at the bottom of the palace clothes hamper.
