Response to Tom Borthwick's recent comment

My fellow blogger Tom Borthwick recently commented on THIS POSTING.  Here's what he had to say"


Hey Steve!

I was running for office while Bill was, so I didn't run around putting up signs or knocking on doors for him. I was an open supporter, but there are a lot of other hard workers out there who haven't been put on boards.

In my case, I feel I was asked because I'm a total geek. For the past two years, I have been e-mailing Bill any kind of research or innovative articles I've found on municipal finance, revenue, and even parking. Jon Geeting over at Keystone Politics has pointed me to a lot of great information over the years.

I honestly believe Bill picked me not because of patronage or quid pro quo, but rather I will work. 

Those are just my thoughts. God knows I've been rejected 100 times for other posts! :o)

Tom


Now not being one to miss an opportunity to create some (relatively) easy content, I thought I'd respond in this space.  With apologies for bold text, as my eyes are bothering me and I need just about every enhancement I can think of in order to be able to type this.




Dear Tom,

Congratulations again on being named to the Parking Authority.  Let me say first and foremost that I do honestly and truly believe that your interest in helping the City of Scranton is born out of genuine love and concern for your home, not out of a desire for personal gain.  Your level of enthusiasm is simply too real to fake, and I know the shoe leather and calories you have expended in your efforts to make a difference. 

However (and you knew there was going to be a "however"), my issue with board and authority positions has more to do with the selection process than it does personalities.  For me, it's an even worse farce than something you are (sadly) all too familiar with, namely the appointment of replacement directors for the Scranton School District (SSD).  While the SSD at least goes through the appearance of a process...all be it in an incredibly disingenuous manner...the current and all past mayors of Scranton don't even bother going through the motions.  The electorate has, in fact, no way of knowing how or why individuals are picked for these leadership and policy making positions.  Now in your case you told me that you have been in correspondence with Mayor Courtright about parking issues and ideas, which is nothing short of terrific.  But here's my question for you:  are you the exception or the rule?

Want an answer to the question I just posed Tom?  I'm feeling generous, so what the heck:  The answer is "we have no idea".  Want to know why we have no idea?  Because the process of selecting board and authority members is, in fact, a classic example of one where political patronage is the rule, not the exception.  There is no transparency.  Members of the public have to take it as a article of faith that a SCRANTON POLITICIAN IS NOT MAKING POLITICAL decisions.  Re-read that one for me Tom:  the current system relies on Scranton politicians not acting like Scranton politicians.  

Excuse me for a moment, as I have to laugh myself into a petit mal seizure*.

Back.

Now in fairness, your typical Scranton politician will respond to my comments (above) by saying something like "But, but, but Steve...City Council has to approve the appointments!  That keeps politics out of the process".   

Oh wait, hold on again for a moment.

Sorry, I had another one of those laughter induced seizures.

The reality is that Scranton City Council has no say in the process for selecting board and authority candidates; all they can do is vote yes or no on an appointment.  What's more, anyone want to argue with me about the effectiveness of past and present Scranton City Councils when it comes to just about anything?  In this realm, they are a check and balance that basically checks and balances nothing.  Yes, a prior council did require that resumes come with all nominations, but we all know that was an exercise in the political theater of "gotcha" between former Mayor Doherty and former Council President Evans.  

The bottom line is this Tom:  Your appointment is a blip.  An aberration.  An anomaly.  I know this because the process for selecting board and authority members is not transparent.  It is not open to public scrutiny.  It's an exercise in political privilege that everyone knows is diseased, but in the open and festering wounds that are Scranton, it is simply the lessor of many forms of decay.

The residents of Scranton are fortunate in that now there is one person (you Tom) who seems genuinely interested in helping the city through an mayoral appointment.  Now there may be others serving on boards and authorities who are also genuine in their desire to serve the city and who are actually qualified for the positions they hold, but the current process simply doesn't let the taxpayers know those facts.  In the end, that was my point in RA#145.

All the Best!
- Steve







(*) For the record, there is nothing funny about seizures or seizure disorders.  I've known people who suffered from them, and my use of the phrase here is just to make a point.  No offense is intended.

NEPArtisan Posting: Scranton's Recovery Plan

Every once in a while when I feel compelled to say something with a louder Internet voice, I take the opportunity given to me by Tom Borthwick at NEPArtisan to post on his site.  The need to speak loudly is very much needed when it comes to Scranton's recently unveiled "recovery" plan.

Here's the posting:

Scranton's Recovery Plan Is Neither (a valid plan or a means to recovery)

Scranton is incapable of managing it's own finances.  We need to declare bankruptcy and start over.

NEPArtisan Posting: Collusion between Banks and the City of Scranton

I'm hoping Tom doesn't throw me out after this one.

There is no collusion between banks and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty.  Period.

Latest NEPArtisan Posting: Super Failure

My latest contribution to NEPArtisan can be found HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: O'Brien and Wansacz

My latest NEPArtisan posting can be found HERE.

I may not be making too many friends or influencing too many people, but what the Hell?  Sometimes you just gotta call'm like you see'm.

NEPArtisan Posting

My latest contribution to NEPArtisan can be found HERE. I don't suspect that I will ever have a future working county government after this, but so be it.  Sometimes you just have to say "what the hell...".

Road Apples, #110

WILK...I've made a concerted effort to listen to WILK's morning news show a bit more of late.  One conclusion I've reached?  Well it was "Webster" that apparently wrote all the bits during the old Rock 107 Morning Show.  What's more, radio bits work a bit better if you have people that can alter their voices just a bit (i.e. Fred Norris).  Not so for Joe Thomas and Nancy Kman.  Personally I think it would be a gas if Webster did the entire show in his "Jonesy" character.  Come on Webster...give it a try...it will be funny...I promise...

According to Rush Limbaugh...Democrats are always evil and Republicans are good.  It's true, he said so.  Rush is always Right.  Now all you Limbaugh fans out there repeat after me:  Bahhhhhhh, Bahhhhhhh.  Feel better now?

NEPArtisan Postings...I actually thought of something to post about, but now I have to find the time to actually do it.  That's the good news.  The bad news?  It will probably piss some folks off (or is that another good thing?  I am not sure), but that's okay.  For the record & speaking of NEPArtisan, I liked the "less than political" recent posting (see HERE).

Dick Cheney...Exactly how many biographies can this guy write?  Hasn't he already written, like, six of them already? For the record I don't really care that he sends his own fellow administration members down the river, but I do I think every time he opens his mouth President Bush ends up looking better by comparison.  God save me from being a bitter old man like this guy.

Water in the Washington Monument...Story link HERE.  Rush Limbaugh immediately blamed it on "the Socialist agenda of Barrack Hussein Obama".  By the way, I am resisting the urge to now slam a Democrat now...unless something specific strikes me...just for sake of being bi-partisan.  Yes, there many Democrats that I find wretched, but for some reason the Republicans are more fun to talk about at the moment.

Internet Big-Time...Well I finally got a reference in a NEPA Blogs posting.  There must be a minority quota for non-Wilkes Barre postings that needed to be filled.  You can see the reference HERE.

Andy Palumbo...wrote a great piece on the fact that my childhood parish, Holy Family, is being demolished.  It's kind of sad when the things that were part of your life as a younger person end up going away.  You can read the posting HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: Eating the Satan Sandwich

You can link to my latest NEPArtisan posting HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: The Great (economic) Divide

My latest NEPArtisan posting, which you can link to HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: Why the U.S. Tax Code Sucks

My latest NEPArtisan posting that you can link to HERE.

Road Apples, #107

Blogging Units...I have to publicly apologize to Tom Borthwick for not posting as much as I probably should at NEPArtisan.  I blame my lack of productivity two things:

1. I simply have a lot of "stuff" going on, mainly in the professional arena (but there are a few personal irons in the fire as well).
2. I am shooting for quality over quantity, so I have to be somewhat more selective about that which I opine.

Rumor has it that NEPA's favorite blogger is now in Paris, so I wish him well.  Enjoy good food and socialism at it's very best.

Speaking of Socialism...I read an interesting statistic the other day:  many of the "socialist" and/or western nations with strong social safety-nets actually have LOWER public debt as a percentage of GDP than the United States.  Here's how it shakes out (figures for 2010, source is HERE):

• "Not" Socialist United States = 58.9%
• Socialist Sweden = 40.8%
• Socialist Canada (with that crazy public health care system) = 34.0%

On the higher side we have:

• Japan = 225.8% (I believe though that private debt in Japan is very low)
• Greece = 144.0%
• Italy = 118.1%
• Ireland = 94.2%

Maybe the moral of the story is that things are bad, but not as bad as some would have you believe.  Also, some countries, such as Sweden and Canada, aren't busy being "policemen to the world", which no doubt helps in the debt management department.  File this one under the "food for thought" department.


Ciav and Con...Anyone know what is going on with the sentencing for NEPA's most notorious judges?  Apparently at least one member of the dynamic duo has learned a new trade (see HERE).

Ohio State....had to vacate all of its wins last year due to flagrant violations of NCAA rules...and basic stupidity on the part of players.  Cry me a river.  I say kill the program entirely and turn the stadium into the world's largest outdoor flea market.

Speaking of Crying...Convicted former Lackawanna County Commissioner A.J. Munchak has been told "No Dice" (sorry, I had to slip in a gambling reference...Mr Munchak was apparently a big-time gambler...get it?) by the U.S. Attorney's office in his bid for a new trial.  As the Baretta would say "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".  As I've noted in the past, I personally think Mr Munchak is basically a good guy who got caught up in some bad stuff.  But I have no doubt he did get caught up in it.

Debt Talks...Revenues will have to be raised, preferably by eliminating nonsensical tax breaks.  Can we just agree to this and move on already?  It seems that most liberals have already acquiesced to the reality that social programs will be cut...it's time now for conservatives to see the painful truth they want to avoid.  Oh, and military spending must be on the table as well, as it's about damn time we stop funding wars that only benefit others.

NEPArtisan Posting: Political Math 10-2=11

My latest addition to NEPArtisan, inspired by local political candidate Kevin Haggerty.  You can view it HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: The calm before the (political) storm

My latest contribution to NEPArtisan can be found HERE.

Road Apples, #107

Mayor Leighton...see my postings as a "substitute blogger" on NEPArtisan that chronicle Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton's asinine hiring of his daughter and niece.  To be blunt, I thought this guy was better than this kind of stuff.  Guess I was wrong.  Speaking of all things "hayna"...

Hayna 500...I recently discovered what was once called the "Hayna 500".  Interesting stuff.  For the uneducated (or those from north/east of Avoca), this was a cruising circuit in and around Wilkes-Barre and Kingston.  Actually I just think the term "Hayna 500" is funny.  Kudos to Ms Rivers for that one.

Casey Armstrong...I do think that it is horribly tragic that a little girl is dead and an accused murder may have gotten away with the crime, but seriously, where is the uproar when any number of actually more pressing issues come up for public debate?  If half the people who followed the Armstrong case also followed, for example, developments in educational policy in this country, then I'd think there really would be a ground-swell for real change. This is, in a nutshell, what is wrong with Americans today:  we pay attention to the wrong things.

Kennedy Home Movies...I've been watching a History Channel show on the home movies of the Kennedy family.  Fascinating stuff.  It really does make you believe that the Kennedy clan was "America's Royal Family".  This was a clan full of beautiful people that had the world by the testes.  Well everyone except Rosemary.  Ouch.

Facebook Etiquette...At what point do you decide that those people you don't know really shouldn't be your "friend" on Facebook?  I do an every once in a while purge of Facebook, but I still have a few people that I don't actually know listed as a Facebook "friend".  All this modern technology does come with its challenges.

My Cat...had a few visitors today, and I have to say he was very well behaved.  Actually he is more of an attention whore than Lady Gaga, so his good behavior shouldn't have been much of a surprise.

Independence Day...a belated "Happy July 4th" to one and all.

NEPArtisan Posting: NEPOtism...the story continues

My latest posting on NEPArtisan, which you can link to HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: NEPOtism (W-B Style)

My latest "substitute blogger" posting at NEPArtisan can be found HERE.

NEPArtisan Posting: Matt Drudge's Jungle Fever

By way of preface, I am acting in the capacity of "substitute blogger" for NEPArtisan blogger Tom Borthwick while he is on a well-earned vacation.  As a result I'll be adding (strictly) political content to that blog during the month of July.

My first NEPArtisan post, "Matt Drudge's Jungle Fever" can be found by clicking on THIS LINK.