How would the city's political landscape been altered if Chris Doherty had won the 2010 race for Pennsylvania Governor? Here's our "what if" version of the story....
It has been weeks since the FBI raided City Hall and the West Mountain residence of Mayor Bill Courtright. On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much doing. A recap of what we know: FBI agents executed search warrants and conducted a raid of City Hall and the Mayor’s West Mountain home on Wednesday, January 9th The agents removed documents and computer devices The Mayor has engaged attorney Paul Walker to represent him both legally and, apparently, to the public Walker’s fees will be paid by the Mayor and not city taxpayers Walker issued a press release denying any wrongdoing on the part...
Political types can be forgiven for sleeping through most of this week. The Blue Wave has come and gone. With several Senate seats still up for grabs, it looks as if the Democratic Party successfully harnessed backlash against President Donald Trump to take control of the House of Representatives. Incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey defeated Republican Congressman Lou Barletta. The scale of his victory was predicted by the polls. For those of us who were around during his first 2006 Senate race against Rick Santorum, it is remarkable to think how far the underdog from the Electric City has come. Governor Tom Wolfe was easily re-elected...
John Chrin is feeling the love this week. The Monroe County Republican challenger to incumbent Democratic Congressman Matt Cartwright received back to back visits from Vice President Mike Pence and first son Eric Trump. Thursday he landed the endorsement from President Donald Trump. All the good feeling aside, one observer tells us the physical absence of POTUS may be evidence of lagging poll numbers. See: Lou Barletta Mayor Bill Courtright still hasn't answered City Council about Pat Hinton's sweetheart deal at Nay Aug Park. Maybe ol' Billy wanted to pray about it? He presided over a packed house Tuesday for the 55th annual Mayor's Prayer Breakfast. Andrea Mulrine of...
Will the Scranton School District ever get its act together? Last week saw the leak of superintendent Alexis Kirijan's June letter alleging harassment and discrimination at the hands of an unnamed School Board member. The dust is still settling, but Kirijan is rightly angry at whomever leaked it. Observers are also wondering what procedure - if any - was followed by the district's leaders. Paige Gebhart Cognetti wants to know whether school directors violated the Sunshine Law when they retained the services of attorney Jarrett Ferentino to investigate the allegations. Also, this week's Lack of Self-Awareness Award goes to our friend...
Scranton School District Superintendent Alexis Kirijan made the news this week and she was not happy. The Scranton Times-Tribune reports that in June Kirijan's attorney notified the School Board that his client had been sexually harassed by an unnamed school director. The superintendent is not happy about this public disclosure and wants to know who leaked the information. We usually take a tongue in cheek approach to the foibles of our friends at SSD, but in the age of #MeToo, there's no place for the kind of behavior Kirijan alleges. Our hope is someone gets to the bottom of it. Was President Donald...