And if you don’t believe that Barack Obama is deceitful, then you’re not following Benghazi.

It’s now becoming clear that Obama lied to the American public and to the United Nations, the world, when he asserted emphatically that the terrorist attacks in Benzhazi, which killed four Americans, were triggered by protests over an anti-Islam video made by a “shadowy figure.”  Dare I say that it takes one to know one.

Evidence is surfacing at congressional hearings that the White House knew within hours that terrorists killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

But that wouldn’t play well weeks before the election, not when Obama was blowing smoke that Al Qaeda was on the run and, thanks to him, Osama bin Laden was dead.

Think back to Bill Clinton wagging his finger at the American public on national television and telling us, “I did not have sex with that woman.”  Clever Clinton believed he was telling the truth because to him having sex depends on what the meaning of sex is.  Like when he said, it depends on what the meaning of is, is, defending himself against obstruction of justice charges.

Now his equally cunning wife, Hillary, who longs to be president, may have played a significant role as well in bamboozling the American public.  Like Obama, she’s playing dumb.  They play dumb when it suits them.

Hillary screeched at a congressional hearing, ”WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?” how they died, four Americans are dead.

Then came the three whistleblowers, who do have a conscience and wanted the truth to be known.  God knows we’re not getting it from the mainstream media, which has had very little interest in the Benghazi terrorist attack.  Obama press secretary Jay Carney brushed it off as old news.

Try telling that to the four Americans who died because reinforcements were not sent in to help them when terrorists attacked their consulate.  Of course, Obama and Hillary, then the Secretary of State, would like this story to go away.

The mother of one of the deceased told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly a week ago that Obama, Hillary Clinton and conduit Susan Rice, told her “nose to nose” that her son died because of protests over a video.  She said she never heard from them again after her son’s funeral.

We have yet to learn who told Rice, our United Nations ambassador, to go on a series of Sunday news shows after the attack and push the video talking points.

Now we’re learning that those initial talking points were cleansed of any references to terrorism.  God forbid this president would admit that America was the victim of a terrorist attack when his re-election was on the line, after he took more credit than he deserved for the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.

That’s scandal number one.  In addition to Benghazi, we’ve just learned that the IRS had  been targeting conservative and religious groups, including Billy Graham, and those who have dared to criticize excessive spending and Obama’s leadership or lack thereof.  Obama claims he learned about this outrage when the rest of us did, when it broke in the news.  How do you trust such a person?  The buck does not stop with this president, except when there’s glory to be taken, like the bin Laden killing.

And as if that’s not already enough to worry the American people, the Justice Department has been spying on Associated Press  reporters.

America the Beautiful?  Not under Obama the Deceitful.

- Betty Roccograndi

It’s because thorn-in-his side, Council Vice-Chairman Tony George, is friends with Cupcake.

You heard me.  Up until last Tuesday’s council work session, all Leighton would  say is that the investigation into numerous complaints about LAG and its owner, Leo Glodzik, is a work in progress.

On Tuesday, he digressed, charging that George had an ulterior motive in demanding the termination of Glodzik’s exclusive city contract.  It’s because he is friends with Leighton nemesis, Bob Kadluboski, the city’s former towing contractor, who is known by some as Kobby and by the mayor as Cupcake.

Not so, countered Councilman George.  “LAG is the issue.  When I was (police) chief, we did have complaints about City Wide, and we handled them,” he said, according to The Times Leader’s account of the meeting.  George said those complaints were not city business because they concerned private towing contracts.  That’s not the case with LAG.  In one of the most egregious complaints, an 82-year-old city resident was told she needed to come up with almost $2,000 to get her stolen car back from LAG.

Several citizens have leveled charges of price gouging against LAG and claimed the company charged storage fees for stolen vehicles, in violation of its contract.

But as the mayor has reminded everyone over and over and over again, reviewing these complaints takes time.

“But I’m not surprised  if you don’t know that,” the mayor said.  He didn’t elaborate why this wouldn’t surprise him about George.

But what does surprise many citizen residents is that this investigation has been going on for over a year now, and all Leighton will say is that the matter is under review.

So just like the case across the river, at the Luzerne County Transportation Authority, where ghosts allegedly rode its buses, we just have to wait for the findings of other investigative agencies to see whether any wrongdoings took place.  And they were interested enough to conduct investigations.

If they drag their feet like they’re doing in Dodge City, at least the mayor has promised that when the city’s internal probe is complete, if it ever is, that Councilman George will be the first one to know its outcome, adding that, “We all know why you’re doing this.  You’re friends with City Wide.”

Hmmm.  Does the reason for the foot dragging have anything to do with the mayor being buds with LAG or because Leo Glodzik has been a loyal campaign donor?  Just asking.

For now, we need to be patient because these things take time and more time and more time and time after that.

- Betty Roccograndi

If you don’t believe me, just ask authority Director Stanley Strelish, who, by the way, had no problem throwing them under the bus.

“What we had seen …. is a problem that was probably not only with one, but with quite a few drivers…not knowing exactly the proper way to count passengers, especially senior citizen passengers,” Strelish told the board at its Tuesday meeting.

The proper way to count passengers?  Isn’t there only one way to count?  How difficult can it be counting up to 10, maybe 15,  if there are even that many on an average bus at any given time?

Hopefully, the average LCTA driver has better eyesight than math skills.

But there is some good news.  The authority plans to set up some training sessions for counting passengers.  No, I’m not kidding.

The LCTA is being investigated because of accusations its drivers have been inflating the number of senior citizen passengers, which affects state funding.  The more riders, the more state money the LCTA receives.  And everyone knows how prudent local authorities are when spending what former U.S. Congressman Paul Kanjorski once called, ”free money.”

The free money the authority is expecting for the upcoming fiscal year is rather substantial: $5.3 million from the state and $485,345 from the county, according to The Citizens’ Voice.

It turns out that bus ridership dropped dramatically after the drivers “allegedly stopped marking nonexistent riders”  - not because it was wrong to do so, but because they were miffed that the authority installed cameras on their buses.  They considered that “invasive,” the TL reported.

So take that authority.  Count your own ghost riders.

The leak that ghosts had been riding the buses surfaced after county council member Edward Brominski and authority board member Patrick Conway became spooked when, according to the TL, some drivers and former board members told them that Executive Director Strelish ordered them to pad the senior citizen numbers.

Strelish has denied that charge.

So if Strelish didn’t tell the drivers to pump up its figures, who did?  Or were the numbers simply high because the drivers can’t count, thus the need for remedial counting classes.

“We had visual inspections done, and there were drivers that were counting passengers that were boarding the bus and then when they were alighting the bus,” Strelish said.

Now that’s going too far.  Counting ghosts boarding the buses is one thing.  But when they alight them too?  Have these drivers no shame?

Because of the controversy, Strelish wrote a letter to his staff telling them, “It is of utmost importance that drivers count all passengers correctly.”  He also told them that automated passenger counters would be installed in all buses by the end of April.

Uh oh!  If the camera installation is any indication, that will surely tick off the drivers.  But at least after the camera debacle, the ghosts disappeared, so maybe some good will come from the automatic passenger counters.

In the meantime, we anxiously await the findings of the ghost busters at the state Department of Transportation and the Office of Inspector General.

- Betty Roccograndi

A reported 10,000 fans of “The Office” were already delirious with excitement  descending on Scranton to be part of the show’s ”wrap party.”

As though we were one huge group of friends, we all laughed out loud at “The Office” bloopers on the big screen at PNC Field.  People cheered at the afternoon parade as the cast members rode in convertibles down crowded Linden Street to the courthouse square.  And later in the night when the announcer introduced them one by one, Pam, Jim, Dwight, Kevin, Phyllis, Oscar, Darryl, Toby, Creed and Executive Producer Greg Daniels, the fans applauded enthusiastically.

But then came something no one expected.

The announcer said there was one more seat to be filled and introduced Michael Scott. MICHAEL SCOTT!  The crowd rose to its feet in unison and screamed wildly.  Of course, Michael Scott, Dunder Mifflin’s quirky regional manager, was played with utter hilarity by Steve Carell.

Carell, who’s now a movie star, traveled all the way from Los Angeles at the behest of Greg Daniels, the creative genius behind the Americanized version of “The Office,” to meet the real residents of Scranton, the setting for his fictional paper company work place.

And I’ll bet he agrees that it was worth the trip.  How often does an actor get a standing ovation from 10,000 fans?  And the nice thing is Steve Carell really seemed humbled by it all as did his former co-stars.  They actually snapped pictures of us, the crowds cheering for them.

It was a great time.  Kudos first of all to Michelle Dempsey, who years ago had a vision to organize an “Office” convention, and to everyone else who organized Saturday’s spectacular send-off to a show that made us laugh, cringe and even get choked up for nine seasons.

I covered that “Office”convention, one of the best assignments of my career, as a free lance journalist for The Times Leader.  I must admit I was disappointed the TL didn’t even assign a reporter, not even a correspondent , to cover such a huge local event on Saturday, one that drew thousands and thousands of people from throughout the country.  The local paper relied on the Associated Press, which was forced to report that star Steve Carell made a surprise appearance - according to the The Scranton Times.

Maybe newspapers are becoming irrelevant after all, but I hope not.

Anyway, it was a line that Michael Scott once uttered:  ”There aint no party like a Scranton party cuz a Scranton party don’t stop.”  On Saturday, Steve Carell saw that for himself, and it was a thrill to be there.

- Betty Roccograndi

P.S.  Those of us at PNC Field last Saturday were treated to a sneak preview of the first 10 minutes of Thursday night’s hour-long, next-to-the-last “Office” episode.  It’s hilarious!

A doctor pulling 24-week and older babies from the womb, and as The Atlantic graphically reported, “severing their spinal cords with scissors,” is not newsworthy?  Dear God.

This reprehensible butcher is also charged with performing these illegal late-term abortions in unsanitary conditions and with the  help of unqualified assistants. He quipped that one of the babies he aborted was so big he could “walk me to the bus stop.”

The jury is now deliberating the fate of this monster in a Philadelphia courtroom.  There will be no justice if Gosnell gets anything short of life in prison with no opportunity for parole.

Despite these atrocities, there hasn’t been much media coverage of this demented doctor’s trial.  Can’t touch the abortion issue when it’s cast in a horrific light, now can we?

It’s a good guess that the name Sandra Fluke rings more of a bell with the American public.  You might remember this media darling who demanded that taxpayers pay for her and her friends’ contraceptives because as a law student at a swanky university, purchasing them out of their own pockets presented a financial hardship.

Fluke was everywhere in the news.  For the most part, Gosnell is being kept under wraps.

The venerable publication, The Atlantic expressed dismay that this story isn’t on every newspaper’s front  page.  And it deserves to be for an equally disturbing reason.

Not only are Gosnell’s crimes heinous beyond belief, Pennsylvania government agencies turned a blind eye to the goings-on at his baby butcher shop despite numerous complaints, Atlantic columnist Conor Friedersdorf wrote.

Friedersdorf reported that after 1993 the Pennsylvania Department of Health ”abruptly decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all.” And when a former Gosnell employee complained to the Department of State about the goings-on at this abortion clinic, an investigator conducted an offsite interview with Gosnell and department attorneys “dismissed the complaint as unconfirmed.”  Shocking and unbelievable to say the least.

The New York Times’ editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal said that any “effort to use this case to prove that abortion is wrong, is wrongheaded.  If anything, the case highlights the need for safe, affordable and available women’s reproductive health care.”  He also said that the last time he checked, “there’s no rule that a newspaper, or that paper’s editorial page, has to run one piece about a bad clinic for every piece celebrating a good one.”

The Atlantic’s Friedersdorf said he only learned about Gosnell’s alleged crimes last month and expressed disbelief that they have received “sparse coverage in the national media.”

Consider these gruesome details that the mainstream media does not deem newsworthy, which were included in The Atlantic’s article.

“One former employee described hearing a baby screaming after it was delivered during an abortion procedure.”

“The search team discovered fetal remains haphazardly stored throughout the clinic – in bags, milk jugs, orange juice cartons, and even in cat-food containers.”

“Gosnell had a simple solution for the unwanted babies he delivered:  he killed them.  He didn’t call it that.  He called it ‘ensuring fetal demise.’  The way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors into the back of the baby’s neck and cutting the spinal chord.”  That from the grand jury’s report.

“If…a baby was about to come out, I would take the woman to the bathroom, they would sit on the toilet and basically the baby would fall out and it would be in the toilet, and I would be rubbing her back and trying to calm her down for two, three, four  hours until Dr. Gosnell comes.”  That from a former employee of Gosnell’s, as reported in The Atlantic.  Are we to understand that the aborted baby floated in the toilet beneath the numb mother for hours on end?

No need to go on any further.  If you’re not already sick to your stomach, you’ll never be.

Gosnell’s clients were mostly minority women whose Medicaid insurance wouldn’t pay to terminate their pregnancies.  Where is the outrage from the ACLU?  From the National Organization of Women?  From Sandra Fluke’s buddies in the press? Squirming in their board rooms, apparently, agreeing not to touch this gruesome abortion story with a ten-foot pole.  And shame on NBC, ABC and CBS, which Fox News said haven’t even mentioned this trial.

If you want to learn more about the Hitler-esque Dr. Kermit Gosnell, tune into a special report tonight on Fox at 9 p.m., titled “See No Evil.  The Kermit Gosnell Case.”

If nothing else, it may make you think a little harder about the abortion issue after learning more about this shocking trial taking place in Philadelphia that few have heard about.

- Betty Roccograndi 

It’s under investigation.

Natalie who?

What stolen cars?

What does the FBI have to do with anything?  If the federal agency is looking into this, it’s no skin off our nose.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

For months now, Dodge City Mayor Tom Leighton has refused to provide any updates on his alleged  months-long investigation into a slew of complaints against the city’s exclusive towing contractor, Leo Glodzik.

His latest stonewall occured at Thursday night’s city council meeting.

“When we gather all our facts and we’re comfortable with the decision that we will make, whether it’s in a positive or negative way affecting either party, it will be made,” the mayor told The Times Leader.  Now, that’s covering all your bases.

In other words, just sit tight, folks.  I’m on the case.  These things take time, and time is on my side.  I’m sure you’ll go away eventually and leave me and Leo alone.

I’ll wager a guess that Leighton and Glodzik are pretty relieved that local investigative reporter Terrie Morgan-Besecker has gone away.  She left The Times Leader for greener pastures at The Scranton Times.  Morgan-Besecker is the one who broke the story that Glodzik’s company told 82-year-old city resident Natalie Aleo that if she wanted her stolen car back she’d have to come up with almost $2,000.  She broke a lot of stories for the TL.  Investigative reporting has taken a hit with her departure.

Last July, council Vice Chairman Tony George asked Leighton to begin the process of terminating LAG’s contract.  George was virtually ignored until the entire council agreed with him in January.  Then they were all pretty much ignored.

Leighton admitted to the TL that the process has been slow.  “We’re getting all the facts together.  There’s a lot of facts,” he said.

Now we learn that there may be even more facts.

At the council meeting John Godlewski asked the mayor if a car must be towed if it’s in an accident but off the road.  He said a city cop said it must be.  I dunno, said the mayor.  Leighton referred the question to council Chairman Bill Barrett, a former police chief.  Barrett said, “I would say no.”

So who is this cop who said the car must be towed, presumably to LAG’s lot?

Then Ryan Verdekal said he’s had it with all the news articles and complaints about the city’s tower.  He suggested posting LAG’s prices and policies on the city’s website.  When Leighton said he would talk to the city’s police chief, Glodzik apologist Gerard Dessoye, he was met with catcalls, the TL reported.

Someone in the audience shouted, “You run the city, mayor.”

Yeah that’s right.  Leighton said later that Verdekal’s request would be granted, adding, “Quite honestly, I didn’t hear what he was saying.”

With all due respect, didn’t the mayor respond that he would talk to the chief?  About what if he quite honestly didn’t hear what Verdekal had requested?

So what now?

Weren’t you listening?  When the mayor is comfortable, a decision will be make.

Ironically, more complaints may be working in Glodzik’s favor. The more complaints there are, the more time the mayor will need to investigate.

Some may call it buying time.

- Betty Roccograndi

Lawton informed the county council via e-mail he intends to fire Flora effective April 29, The Citizens’ Voice reported.  Lawton, with the council’s blessing, appointed Attorney Steven Greenwald to replace Flora, who ran the office since 2010.  He was expected to be retained as an assistant in the office.

Flora appeared unusually calm after a newspaper reporter broke the news to him.  “Nobody said anything about this to me.”  A rather strange reaction from someone who just learned from a reporter he was about to be unceremoniously fired.  And a rather crummy way to learn you were losing your job as a public defender after serving the county for more than 30 years.

“All I know is what I read in the paper,” Flora told The Times Leader’s county government reporter Jennifer Learn-Andes.  Well on Thursday, he read that “Al Flora, who filed suit over staffing levels, apparently not officially apprised of termination Wednesday.” 

Geez.  Even Donald Trump on The Apprentice looks his employee-wannabes in the eye and says, “You’re Fired.”

Lawton declined comment on Flora’s termination.  So did county human resources Director Andrew Check.  Did Lawton honestly think his e-mail to the county council would not leak out?

Maybe Flora, who seemed to be sometimes judged by the company he kept, or more to the point, the defendants he represented, will just go away quietly and look for other employment.

Maybe Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton will tell city Councilman Tony George that he is right, that city tower Leo Glodzik has got to go.

Maybe  Al Flora will send Lawton a thank-you note for sparing him from any future dealings with county politicians and officials.

Maybe President Barack Obama will stop raising taxes and get off the campaign trail already.

Or, maybe Al Flora, who spent a good part of his career successfully keeping mass murderer George Banks off of death row and waged an aggressive defense on behalf of slimy former county judge Mark Ciavarella, will file a massive civil rights lawsuit against Luzerne County.

Methinks that will be the case.

County Manager Lawson could be messing with the wrong guy.  But, then again, why would a county manager want to keep someone on board who sued the county?

Which brings us to why Flora sued the county.  He did so because he believed that it was the duty of his office to represent indigent people charged with crimes, that they had a constitutional right, but that his office did not receive enough funding to do so.

The guy made the front page of USA Today over this.

Flora wanted to stay on as chief public defender, but Lawton had other plans.  Why?  We really don’t know.  No one ever accused Flora of not being up to the job, and, according to published reports, Flora was reassured his job was not in jeopardy because he sued the county.

So what’s behind this surprise firing, we wonder? Does Lawton honestly think that Flora will not fight back?

We’ll soon find out.  Say what you will about Al Flora, but he’s not one to back down from a fight.

Just ask George Banks.

This is about to get very interesting.

- Betty Roccograndi  

Since 2009, the borough of Swoyersville received $28,600 in grants for its fire department, but officials there aren’t even sure they have a fire department.

Okay, stop laughing; it’s just state grant money.

Seriously, though, stop laughing because this is dead serious.

For starters, the woman, Carol Gamble, who successfully applied for $16,939 of those grants on behalf of Swoyersville, doesn’t even live there.  She lives in West Pittston.  And she just happens to be charged, along with her 82-year-old mother, with taking more than $700,000 from the Swoyersville fire department.  To be exact, she and Momma, Catherine Drago, were charged  in 2008 with taking the money that the Swoyersville Volunteer Hose Co. I raised at bingo games.  The wheels of justice do indeed turn slowly.

Do I hear a “B” for bizarre?  “I” for incredible?

The Times Leader’s front-page “N” for nutty story,  identifies Drago as the grandmother of Swoyersville’s Assistant Fire Chief Frank Hawk.  Not sure if the savvy grant applicant, Carol Gamble, is Hawk’s mother.

Frank J. Hawk applied for a third loan for the fire department, $15,000.  He received $11,661 to install a no-smoke diesel exhaust on the company’s fire engine, which sits in  West Wyoming, not Swoyersville, the TL reported.  The article did not say whether Frank J. and the assistant fire chief are one and the same.

Assistant Chief Hawk said Gamble and Grandma are still officers at the Swoyersville fire station but couldn’t comment further because of the pending criminal case.  Unfortunately because of this, we don’t know how or why they’re still officers of that fire station when Gamble lives in West Pittston and Grandma lives in Forty Fort.

Hopefully, the duo has been barred from any bingo games until after their trial.

“We’re trying to serve the best we can,” Hawk told the TL’s Sheena Delazio.  He  said all the grant money was used to “better serve the residents of Swoyersville.”

Like the missing Bingo money was supposed to?

Hawk said his family has been involved with the fire department for awhile and that he is third-generation volunteer.  Well, normally, that would be quite commendable, but not when some in his family may have taken off with the fire department’s bingo game proceeds.

Do I hear “G” for gutsy?

The award of the grant money must have come as a surprise to Swoyersville officials.

“Borough officials believed the fire station was no longer operational, basing those suspicions on the absence of activity there and the loan of a fire truck to a neighboring fire department,” Delazio reported.  Believed?  They don’t know?

Okay, now I don’t blame you if you cannot stifle a laugh here.

So it appears that it’s uncertain whether Swoyersville even has a fire department but has still been receiving state grants to operate it.  And the successful applicant is charged with pilfering $700,000 from Bingo proceeds.

Do I hear an “O” for a lack of Oversight?

What about an “A” for a much needed Audit of the Swoyersville Fire Department.  That is, if there is one.

- Betty Roccograndi 

That was Scarantino’s lame argument in trying to get back his state pension, which he lost because he was convicted of a federal crime.

This less-than-super super pleaded guilty in 2009 to corrupt receipt of a reward for official action for taking $5,000 to help a contractor land a district contract.  He got 13 months in prison.  Now, Scarantino, one of a ring of play-to-play elected and appointed officials throughout Luzerne County, would like the “corrupt” part of his plea to go away because it’s standing in the way of him and his pension.

His Harrisburg attorney argued in court that Mr. Scarantino only intended to be “rewarded” for helping said contractor.  He never intended to be influenced by the $5,000 he so willingly pocketed.

Do you believe this?  He’s the superintendent.  A contractor offers to pay him $5,000.  The contractor gets the  job.  And Scarantino says he wasn’t influenced by the cash.  He just deserved a reward for his trouble?

Well that little reward cost him an estimated $1.5 million in total pension payments, The Times Leader reported last week.

Around the time Scarantino was collecting his “reward,” two county judges also apparently believed they deserved a little something for helping Robert Mericle land a contract to build two new juvenile detention centers.  Only this time, the pay-off was called a “finder’s fee,” a $2 million commission for helping Mericle get an intro to one Robert Powell, who, with then judge Michael Conahan, hatched a scheme to enrich themselves at the expense of county taxpayers and troubled juveniles.

Just who do these vile public “servants” think they’re kidding? Reward?  Finder’s fee?  Tip?  Poor record-keeping?

Well guess what?  Conahan and Mark Ciavarella are where they belong, spending their retirements in federal prisons.  And Scarantino’s crime cost him $1.5 million.

The state Commonwealth Court ruling against Scarantino’s insistence that he deserves his pension, said, “It is immaterial whether petitioner intended to be rewarded rather than being influenced.  By accepting $5,000, petitioner clearly exhibited a lack of honesty and integrity that the public expects of its officials and is necessary for the effective function of government.”

Well that’s just mean, claimed Scarantino’s attorney, Elliot Strokoff.  He called Scarantino’s lost pension “cruel and unusual punishment based on the amount of money he was losing.”  Well isn’t that just too bad.  How much did taxpayers lose?  Was the unnamed contractor who paid off a school superintendent the low bidder?  Did Scarantino even care that Pittston Area taxpayers maybe weren’t getting the best bang for their buck?

And that should send a powerful message to any present or aspiring public official who thinks it’s okay to take a secret pay-off from a contractor or someone looking for a teaching job for junior. For a mere $5,000, Scarantino lost an approximately $1.5 million pension.  What an effective deterrent for public officials even thinking about committing a crime and believing they can get away with it, like Scarantino, Conahan, Ciavarella, etc., etc., etc., etc., and etc. did.

In the latest version of “you say crime, I say reward,” former Wilkes-Barre City purchasing director Ron Trimble told The Times Leader he knew a city public works employee helped himself to city gas for his personal vehicle but said he didn’t believe that constituted any criminal wrongdoing because a supervisor advised him to.

So, apparently, if the supervisor advised him to rob a bank, no crime would have been committed either because he got the okay to do so.

“Did he steal it?  No,” said Trimble.  “He was told to get the gas but that does not make it right.”

At least he recognizes that siphoning taxpayers’ gasoline for personal use is wrong.  But should the employee or the supervisor be punished?

Nah, the supervisor probably just thought the city employee deserved a little reward as did Scarantino.  And the two county judges.  And the state senator who got his property remodeled on the house in exchange for helping a developer get millions of dollars in tax breaks. And some local school directors who fast tracked teacher candidates.  And the county commissioner getting 14 flat screen TVs for his father’s sports bar and then having the county buy the businessman’s train wreck.

And on and on and on ad nauseum.

- Betty Roccograndi

We also learned that Leo Glodzik has loaned police Officer John Majikes his Dodge Ram pickup truck.  City Mayor Tom Leighton was aware of this, but city police Chief Gerard Dessoye reassured  him that Majikes did not violate any department policy forbidding police officers from accepting gifts or gratuities, and that was good enough for the mayor.

“This was not a gift per se, Leighton told The Citizens’ Voice, which broke this story on Tuesday.  “This was something that was given to him on a private, personal matter.  It’s something that I cannot control because it was of a personal nature.”

So what if Glodzik took Majikes, Dessoye or any other police officer to Damenti’s for a steak dinner?  What if he took the mayor?  Would that also not be a gift per se because it was given on a “private, personal matter?”

And why does Glodzik hand over the keys to his vehicles to police officers in the first place?  Don’t they have vehicles of their own?  Is he attempting to ingratiate himself with the cops?  What this does signal is a cozy relationship between the city’s towing contractor and the police department, who work together.

So what does Chief Dessoye have to say about this?  He says, don’t look at me.  I can’t do nothin; the union said so.   The day before, Dessoye slipped out of police headquarters to apparently collect  his thoughts after being cornered by reporters for comment.  How pathetic is that!

On Wednesday when Dessoye came out of hiding he said this: Do I personally like (the) fact they are doing this with LAG?  No, but only because of the microscope that LAG towing is under right now.”  He doesn’t like it ONLY because LAG is being scrutinized?  Interesting.

Dessoye also said, “We never said we didn’t see this as a conflict.  I can tell officers I would hope they would use better discretion.”

Pretty please.

What does Mayor Leighton have to say about all of this?  Hiding behind yet another prepared statement, he pretty much said,  what’s all the fuss about?

“If a quid pro quo was alleged and found to be valid, an officer could be subject to disciplinary action, but those are not the facts of this case at this time,” said Leo Glodzik’s public defender.  What Mayor Leighton is missing is that this is a quid pro quo in the making.

Say Leo’s girlfriend or cousin or friend gets a speeding or parking ticket.  Would he need to simply pick up the phone and call his car pooling buddies on the force and say, how about fixing that ticket for me, pal, before you take the Mercedes out for a spin?

So while Leighton continues to pooh pooh Leo’s business practices, city Council Chairman Bill Barrett does not, calling this latest LAG revelation, “embarrassing.”

“You should not accept anything from anybody, especially if there is even a remote possibility they will expect something in return,” Barrett told The Times Leader.

There is a remote possibility all right.  So why doesn’t the mayor of Wilkes-Barre worry about this?

City Councilman Tony George, another former city police chief, said, “When you take a gift from a contractor who works for the city, that person expects something in return.

So why doesn’t the mayor of Wilkes-Barre share that concern?

The CV article also quoted Glodzik as saying he sold his pickup truck to ”his friend,” Officer Majikes.  Our two local newspapers have not yet confirmed that.  Meanwhile, Majikes rides around with a repair towing tag, and neither he nor Glodzik have been cited.

“Everything’s on the up and up,” said Glodzik.  Is it now?

“I let people use my cars, absolutely,” Glodzik told the CV.  “It doesn’t matter if they’re a police officer or not.”

Well then if that’s the case, Natalie Aleo should give Leo a call.  She’d probably love to drive his Camaro to the grocery store since she no longer has a car of her own,  Well, she did, but the 82-year-old chose not to keep it after Leo returned it to her with the hood crunched in.

You have to give the local papers credit for trying to get answers here.

But Officer Majikes could not be reached for comment.

Mayor Leighton continues to hide behind press releases.

The city’s police chief scurries out of police headquarters like a bat out of hell to dodge reporters.

But we’re expected to believe that “everything’s on the up and up.”

- Betty Roccograndi 

“If two people of the same sex fall in love and want to marry, why would our government stand in their way?” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey asked in his prepared statement.

Then what about three people? Say a bisexual person falls in love with a member of each sex, should the government stand in the way of this threesome’s desire to tie the knot? Just asking.

Our brave senator had his epiphany regarding same-sex marriage during Holy Week, which didn’t impress Scranton Diocese Bishop Joseph Bambera.

In his statement, Casey said he saw the light after receiving letters, one in particular, from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans asking him to support their desire to wed.

The Democratic senator from Scranton was also likely nudged along by the reported 10,000 calls and e-mails that “flooded” his office.

 ”Senator Casey has given the issue a lot of thought, and he’s realized how much it hurts committed same-sex couples to be denied the protection, dignity and respect of marriage,” John Dawe, executive director of the NEPA Rainbow Allliance, told The Times Leader.

Michael Morrill, executive director of a Harrisburg “multi-issue progressive advocacy” group said Casey’s change of heart “was a hard decision for him, but in the end he made the courageous decision to stand on the side of justice.”  Morrill called Casey’s valiant turnaround “a victory for the tens of thousands of people who called and wrote.”

Courageous?  Really?  It’s easy to be courageous when tens of thousands of would-be voters are demanding you change your ways.  It’s also easy to be courageous when President Barack Obama leads the way by also flip flopping on this hot potato issue and when powerbrokers Bill and Hillary Clinton publicly announce that they also now support women marrying women and men marrying men.

Casey, who’s Catholic, told The Citizens’ Voice, “They’ll say, you did it because of all of the attention paid to it.  But sometimes that’s the optimal time to speak to an issue when people are asking about it.”

We beg to differ.  The optimal time to speak out seems to be when “Polling shows steady support for same-sex marriage,” which is what the New York Times News Service reported last week. 

The ”they” Casey cites as those who may question his motives apparently include, Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, who said Casey caved to special interests.  Also disappointed is Scranton Diocese Bishop Bambera, who said, “Senator Casey has unfortunately and disappointingly set aside the Catholic belief and teaching that the sacrament of marriage, rooted in the natural law, is a faithful, exclusive, lifelong, loving union of a man and a woman.”

We’ll wager a guess that Casey’s father, the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey,” is rolling over in his grave.  The elder Casey was shunned by his party years ago for his unrelenting stand against abortion on demand.  Now there was a man who stood up for his principles.

As for his son, the senator, being courageous?  Not quite.  Casey Jr. stood up for same-sex marriage not when it was politically risky to do so, but only when there was safety in numbers to do so.

Falling in line with President Obama and the Clintons and only after this controversial issue takes center stage does not a profile in courage make.

- Betty Roccograndi

“It’s still ongoing,” Leighton responded to thorn-in-his-side city councilman Tony George, who persists in asking for updates on the investigation into LAG Towing Inc.

George apparently doesn’t understand that these things take time.  Doesn’t he know that it’s not easy giving the ax to a long-time campaign donor?

So meanwhile, Leighton stalls and stalls and stalls.  Natalie who?

When George asked the mayor  at Tuesday’s council meeting whether an arbitrator had been assigned to review the mounting complaints against Leo Glodzik’s company, Leighton didn’t respond.

Didn’t respond?  What was he doing, daydreaming?  Did he not hear the question?  Is that any way to treat a councilman who has a legitimate concern?

Well at least the mayor didn’t call the councilman cream puff or something.  When former city towing contractor Bob Kadluboski  got on the mayor’s nerves, he called him “Cupcake.”  And if you ever saw Kobby, you’d know that was a misnomer if ever there was one.

Apparently, George gave up because the next line in The Times Leader’s article that Leighton ignored George’s question was, ”In other business …..”

So in the latest chapter of Leo and the little old lady from Wilkes-Barre, who was forced to settle for $200 after her 1993 Cutlass was stolen, sat in Glodzik’s lot for a month, ended up damaged apparently beyond repair, and may or may not have had a blown engine, we now learn this:

A police officer from Plymouth said when he found Natalie Aleo’s stolen vehicle,  it did not resemble the wreck that Leo eventually returned to the 82-year-old woman.

“What can I tell you?  That’s how we picked up the car,” said a seemingly irritated Glodzik to the TL’s Terrie Morgan-Besecker, who is not letting this guy off the hook, unlike the mayor.

What can we say?  Either Plymouth police officer Anthony Gorey or Leo needs to have their eyes checked.

Leighton told Morgan-Besecker in an e-mail Tuesday that his administration has not yet decided whether to begin termination proceedings regarding LAG’s towing contract.

Now where did we hear that before?  Oh, yeah, everytime someone asks the mayor for the latest.

Meanwhile, Mayor Leighton promised to take “under advisement” this new kink in the saga of the woman’s stolen car.  Did the car thief drive it into a brick wall, or did someone else damage the  hood?  Did Leo take it to a salvage yard as he said, only to retrieve it for Aleo because he became sick and tired of all the bad publicity?

Has an arbitrator been assigned to address the city council’s order to consider terminating LAG’s contract?  Oh we already know that answer.  In other business….

As for Aleo, she at least has $200 for cab fare if she needs to get to the grocery store.

- Betty Roccograndi

Yes, sirree, LAG Towing Inc. owner Leo Glodzik had an epiphany.  He decided it was the right thing to do to give the woman back the car she said she loved.

Although it’s the beginning of Holy Week for Catholics, Glodzik’s motives were less than pure.  It seems he’s become sick and tired of the negative publicity surrounding his business practices, not to mention the city council’s unanimous vote to ask the mayor to begin proceedings to terminate his contract.

No word on where that’s going.

Anyway, a funny thing happened on the way to Aleo getting her car back.  It magically re-appeared in Glodzik’s possession.  In January, he told The Times Leader that after the woman handed over to him the title to her car, he took it to a junkyard.  For those of you not up to snuff here, the elderly woman gave Leo the title after an LAG employee told her she’d have to pay almost $2,000 to get it back after it was stolen and sat in LAG’s lot for over a month because the city police failed to notify her it had been recovered the next day.  Hey, things happen.

But all ended well for Aleo on Saturday when Leo said, guess what?  We have your car after all and you can have it back; we’ll even tow it to a repair shop for you.  On the house, of course.  Deciding it would cost too much to repair, the woman chose to junk it, a good move all things considered.

Aleo’s beloved means of transportation ended up in Valenti’s Scrap Yard in Edwardsville.  Times Leader super sleuth Terrie Morgan-Besecker, who wrote the front-page story on Sunday, visited Valenti’s with a photographer in tow and found Aleo’s 1993 Cutlass Ciera, which looked as though it suffered a head-on collision.

Natalie Aleo, whose car was stolen and was never notified by the Wilkes-Barre Police Department it was found, ended up with a whopping $200.

But look at the bright side.  She didn’t have to pay Leo Glodzick $2,000 in towing and storage fees, which likely scared her into giving him her car’s title in the first place.

So now while we’re on the subject,  what’s going on with your investigation into all the other  complaints filed against your buddy Leo, Mayor Leighton?

- Betty Roccograndi

Of course not, you might instinctively say.  But what if those thoughts included a desire to kidnap and cook women to feast on their “girl meat?”

That’s what a former New York City police officer was thinking.  His Tuesday conviction left his lawyers “devastated,”  the Associated Press reported.   I bet it left all the women enjoying a stroll in Central Park relieved.

Gilberto Valle is a 28-year-old father who admitted he had a fetish for using the Internet to talk about cannibalism, the AP article said.  He immediately was dubbed the “Cannibal Cop.”  That’s a little too kind if you ask  me.

Here’s how his lawyers viewed their client’s right to free speech online.

“The jury was unable to get past the thoughts, said defense Attorney Julia Gatto.  “Obviously, the thoughts were unusual and bizarre and frankly very ugly.”  Ya think?

At least we can be thankful that the jury while “unable to get past the thoughts” of this deranged officer of the law, was able to get that anyone expressing a desire to kidnap and dine on – not with – the ladies posed a serious threat to the gentler sex.

But there are some, in addition to this sick cop’s lawyers, who believe that just because he discussed his fantasies online, he didn’t carry them out, which means no crime was committed.

“Was this verdict a dangerous assault on fantasy or the prevention of a grisly crime?” asked Tracy Clark-Flory in an opinion piece for salon.com.

If you ask me, I wouldn’t want this guy patrolling the streets of New York or even walking among his fellow man.  But should he go to prison for life for a crime he didn’t commit, but wanted to?

Dr. Fred Berlin, whom Clark-Flory identified as the founder of the National Institute for Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma and one of the country’s foremost experts on sexual disorders, said he respects the jury’s decision but he would have “a very difficult time concluding” that something was real rather than fantasy.

I’m not sure I agree with the good doctor.  Do we wait until fantasy morphs into reality?  Could the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer have been stopped if they tipped their hands online?

In the “Cannibal Cop’s” case, do we want to take a chance and let someone who actually drew up a list of females to feast on roam free?

Clark-Flory also interviewed First Amendment scholar Clay Calvert.  She said she expected him to defend Valle, but surprisingly he didn’t.  “Under the First Amendment we have freedom of thought.”  But in this case, “thought crossed into the realm of conduct and action.”  Couldn’t agree more with Mr. Calvert.

Who can doubt that the world is filled with some really, really crazy people?  But a New York City cop dreaming about eating women really takes the cake.

His attorney, Gatto, said it’s a “dangerous prosecution when we start opening our minds and prosecuting what’s in our brains and not what’s in the real world.”

Maybe so, but what was in this cop’s brain was diabolical.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is much more convincing.  “The Internet is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, but it does not confer immunity for plotting crimes and taking steps to carry out those crimes.”

That’s good to know, wouldn’t you say?  So, to all you deviants out there, be careful what you wish for.

- Betty Roccograndi

Luzerne County Assistant DA Michael Melnick is having a problem with this issue as well, which had turned the trial against Wilkes-Barre Twp. Fire Chief John Yuknavich into a three-ring circus.

Melnick wants county Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. to recuse himself from presiding over this trial because he had dinner with Yuknavich’s attorney, Barry Dyller.

Sklarosky countered that 12 people, including six judges, were at the dinner and that they didn’t discuss the Yuknavich case.  We’ll have to take his word for it.  What did they talk about?  Did Dyller and Sklarosky speak at all, or did they eat at opposite ends of the dinner table?  Do we need to wonder how friendly Sklarosky is with fellow new judge Lesa Gelb, Barry Dyller’s wife?

With so many potential conflicts of interest in Luzerne County, should judges even be getting together socially in the first place?  For starters, Sklarosky’s father is a practicing attorney and a familiar face at the courthouse.  With Dyller suing everyone and his brother, Judge Gelb’s judgeship poses potential conflicts as well.

Former county DA Jackie Musto Carroll said it best to the Citizens’ Voice.  “The public doesn’t want to see judges and lawyers fraternizing, epecially if it involves one of their cases.”

Melnick is charging that Sklarosky has crippled his case against Yuknavich by refusing to allow into evidence bank withdrawals and 15 bounced fire department checks.  The township’s fire chief is charged with stealing $11,865  and going on a spending spree at Sam’s Club with a department credit card.

This is a serious case and should be taken seriously by everyone involved.

And when a judge finds the prosecuting attorney, Melnick, in contempt of court for challenging his ruling, one can reason that Melnick might be on  his you know what list.

Bring your toothbrush?  “Watch your tone.  You’re getting into dangerous territory?”  You’re reminding me of a moth flying too close to the flame?

Fire Chief Yuknavich must be pretty confident Judge Sklarosky isn’t too fond of the guy who’s prosecuting him.  Not good.

Human nature being what it is, could Sklarosky be inclined, even subconsciously, to favor the attorney/husband of his colleague Gelb in a court case?  Or disfavor an attorney whom he apparently can’t stand?

So if Sklarosky does recuse himself, who hears the case?  Gelb?  Obviously not.  One of the other four judges from the dinner party?

What happens if Sklarosky Sr. tries a case in Luzerne County Court?  Who hears that one?  Would one have a hard time ruling against a colleague’s Dad?

Luzerne County has not fully recovered from the recent stench of corruption perpetrated by Michael Conahan, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Toole.

If there is even one iota of a possible conflict of interest, or the appearance thereof, wouldn’t it be best to step aside if the opposing counsel vehemently protests?  There must be plenty of other cases Judge Sklarosky could hear.  Why make an already suspicious public wonder whether the cards are stacked against the prosecuting attorney?

A fire chief accused of stealing from his department is serious enough.  Could Judge Sklarosky be objective?  Even after finding the prosecutor in contempt of court for challenging his ruling?

Justice is supposed to be blind.  Is it here?

- Betty Roccograndi