Karma is A Supreme Bitch

Though it gives me no satisfaction really, I am going to be all smug today and ramble on about local political stuff.  Even those of you not from around here probably have heard about some of this stuff.
Heck, so many in public office(as well as private,  prominent leaders)around here have been indicted and convicted I have lost count on the tally board of them all!



(And by the way, I LOVE this photo taken by Mark Moran, staff photographer for the Citizens Voice.)

And then there is this photo taken by a NBC News photographer outside the courthouse in 2011.  It takes justice to a whole other level.....

Let's talk about our notoriously infamous(that's kind of redundant, huh?)Teeny Tiny Town homeboy, EX-Judge Mark Ciavarella, who got whacked with a prison sentence.
I haven't posted about him since 2009 when his trial was pending.

He finally was convicted and got a 28 year prison sentence in 2011.  With good behavior he'll be out in 24 years at age 85.
sniff....sniff.....
Karma is a bitch Mark, ain't it?

All I can say is-It took those particular wheels of justice waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to move forward and that they can't keep this clown in jail long enough for the kids who's lives he ruined!
Four THOUSAND juvenile convicts had to be overturned in the wake of his evil doings.
And he still to this day denies he did anything wrong....
I hope they give him a river front cell on da Nile because denial is where he lives in his head.

Video of the scumbag after the verdict HERE.
(The mother of a young man who committed suicide after being sent away by Ciavarella makes an appearance in this video and you can hear other parents of wronged kids off camera in the background.)

(And the guy who asked off camera if the ex-judge will still get his state pension....oh yes, the state of PA-home of the corrupt-was still going to let Ciavarella have the FULL state pension, which was estimated to top $4.3 million over the course of his life, way more than the $231K he paid into it.
Ciavarella did eventually get back his $231K in contributions but after legal fees and paying lawyers I would bet he doesn't have enough money left from that for a cup of coffee.

HERE are some reactions from when he was sentenced in 2011 from local residents who did not have loved ones involved in his verdicts.

If there is a hell I like to picture it as a dunk tank at a carnival.....the water is on fire like it was purported that Lake Erie was when it was so polluted.....and the tank is filled with sharks who haven't eaten in a week.  I  hope whoever attempts to dunk Ciavarella when he finally arrives at the Carnival from Hell has really good aim and only has to use one ball. ;-)

Here's some background on all this that I wrote about a few years ago HERE and HERE.

(Something worth mentioning....a follow-up to the story about the ex-NFL player, turned local coach, turned local politician I wrote about in the second post linked above....after the date of that post, he was arrested for taking kickbacks, tried and convicted,  fined and did 2 years in a state prison.)

This corruption circle just got wider and wider after those two posts I made in 2009.  In the end(not that the FBI isn't still here finding "things")the local dirty politics brought down an additional few school superintendents, some state congressmen (in first a money scheme and then a sex scandal) and then a highly placed State Senator who's surname rhymes with YELLOW(who received 16 months for conspiracy and tax fraud).
I could also mention a now ex-US Congressman who secured $9 Million in federal grants for his nephew in 2002 for a water-jet technology business he owned with his siblings.  The company never produced anything and filed for bankruptcy in 2006.  Then in 2010 same ex-US Congressman arranged a $400 MILLION federal loan from Obama's administration  for a solar panel manufacturing scheme for same nephew. (This same solar outfit received a $3 Million grant in 2008.)
We are still waiting for the other shoe to drop on this particular cesspool of corruption......

And don't get me started on the whole Jerry Sandusky/Penn State affair down the road from us.

And I could also mention a local US Congressman who was tried and acquitted of bribery and racketeering charges in 1996(acquitted because it was before the FBI got involved around here).  In 2007, after he retired from politics, he was charged with indecency.
Check it out HERE.  (He plead incompetent to stand trial on that charge.)

The earliest political scumbag from this area that I can recall is a former US Attorney General.  I only remember this one because his name was plastered on the business park where my Hub's office is located.  This bastion of ethics and morality was tried and convicted of bribery and racketeering charges......do we sense a theme here?

And the voters and taxpayers around here?
Clueless.
Or worse they just don't care.
Why is no one outraged?!
Why is no one boycotting and picketing and raising hell??

Heck, the voters here even keep electing these public figures to office even after they are arrested and indicted of crimes.  It's happened on more than one occasion.
A local School Superintendent recently indicted and then re-elected by the school board to his position comes to mind. (He was finally terminated but it took way too long.)

Now I know that there is corruption at all levels of government in every town, but really!.....does this place have MORE than it's share??
The local activity among the populous in this area is to watch them put up and within a few years take down local politicos names on public buildings, when their disgraceful actions are found out.  These megalomaniacs are all the same.....

This area seems to do one thing well--grow a bumper crop of convicted felons!

Sluggy


 

They're Baaaaaack! Can you say NEPOTISM?!

Like that little girl from the film, POLTERGEIST, exclaimed, the FBI has returned to Luzerne County.
Well, with all the corruption here, I doubt if they truly left in the first place.

Remember my post last Sat. about the Corruption at the Luzerne County Courthouse? Remember what I said about the widespread NEPOTISM in ALL segments of public work(the state paid employees-including judicial, courthouse administration, probation, police, prison & public schools)that goes to the core of the problems with this area I live in?

Well it seems that more canaries in the system are starting to sing, this time within the Public Schools.
Look at the lastest headline from our newspaper....

FBI seizes W-B Area, career center records/ The Citizens' Voice

BY DAVE JANOSKI, ERIN MOODY AND MICHAEL R. SISAKSTAFF WRITERS
Published: Friday, April 3, 2009 8:54 AM EDT
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed documents from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, the district superintendent said Thursday, and one school board member said the federal probe appears focused on the district’s hiring practices.Federal agents also visited the Plains Township campus of the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center on Thursday, seeking the names of all board members of that school since 2005. Five of Wilkes-Barre Area’s board members also serve on the Career and Technical Center’s board.
View stories, documents and videos related to the court corruption probe
U.S. Attorney Martin C. Carlson declined comment on the subpoenas Thursday and would not address how they might relate to the ongoing federal corruption probe at the Luzerne County Courthouse, which has led to guilty pleas from four high-ranking former court officials, including two judges.

For the Full Story, go HERE.
*****************************
Do ya'll think I am just hallucinating now?

As a glimpse inside our world in Luzerne County, here is an interesting tidbit that came to my attention via a local talk radio program-The Steve Corbett Show.

The Disgraced EX-Judge Mark Ciavarella has a grown daughter. Teeny Tiny Town(where I live)has 1 of the 2 best School Districts in the County to work in. Guess who got a plum teacher's job here, right out of school?

Yup, Ciavarella's daughter. New hires in our public school district make WAY OVER the median average salary for workers in our county. High starting salaries with good raises AND a Benefits Package not available anywhere else on the planet for most people(hardly ANY copays on health coverage, reimbursement for tuition spending,etc.) Add in 2+ months off a year paid and it's a very SWEET DEAL!

And guess what happened when Ciavarella's daughter married a couple of years ago? Her new hubsband was hired as a Probation Officer in the county's Probation Dept.
Even though his degree in school had nothing to do with law enforcement or social work.
Even though he had NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE in the probation field.
He lands a plum job over scads of applicants who were alot more qualified.

Looks to me like he married well.....until the "you-know-what" starting hitting the fan. I wonder if he was one of those 11 out of 80 probation officers laid off after the FBI started nosing around in the county?

There were often tales coming out of the Elementary School my kids attended. Tales of teachers who were hired as substitutes when the district was in need. And when fulltime positions opened up(a RARE occurence), these substitutes(with their experience & qualifications)were bypassed to hire unskilled new teachers.....unskilled new teachers with the RIGHT last names. Names of or related to school board and high-ranking school administrators or county politicos. Tales of applicants, extrememly qualified ones from outside this area, who were never even called for interviews for jobs that were given to local connected relatives with far less credentials(if they even HAD ANY credentials).
Another tale that The principal of my kids elementary school(now retired) got his sister(someone famous for throwing desks and screaming at the kids)a teaching position in his facility.

And how about the Ex-Major League NFL Player who grew up in Luzerne County, down the road from Teeny Tiny Town and attended a local High School. His career goes south in the NFL and he returns here and is immediately hired as the Football Coach in Teeny Tiny Town. Nevermind we have a fine Coach already. Nevermind he has NO experience as a Coach....he's marginally famous(at least in the minds of people from around here) and as important, he has the RIGHT NAME to get a plum job in this County. FYI-marginally famous ex NFLer quits the coaching job after a couple of years(after leading the team to a couple of losing seasons)and runs for a County Commisioner position, and wins. Yes, he was just using the Coaching position as a stop-gap on his way to a highly placed government job, with highly placed salary & perks.

Speaking of County Commisioners, some day maybe I'll tell you all about the LUZERNE COUNTY DEBIT CARD FIASCO. That's yet another BLACK EYE on the face of Luzerne County Politics.

I'm sure there are more Tales I am not aware of, as I never went out of my way to involve myself in the pseudo-politcal hub-bub revolving around the school district here.

I am glad to hear this news story and sincerely hope that people keep talking about the nepotism & other shady dealings that went down so we can have some HONEST and WORTHY people hired in this district.

Sluggy

Absolute Power Corrupts...

I tend to not talk about politics and such on my blog.
But today, I am veering off from that course.
You see, the County that my Teeny Tiny Town is located in garnered some unwanted National attention last night.
A bigtime corruption scandal was a subject on the ABC Prime Time show "20/20".

If you haven't heard, here is the basic gist of the story.
My county, Luzerne County in Pennsylvania, is well known within the state for being one of the most corrupt places to live....outside of some major league corruption places out-of-state, like Chicago & Boston. We aren't quite up in that league...yet. But Luzerne County politics has taken a page from those Gangsters of the 1920's.

Backdoor & shady deals have always been the way around here, is what people who have lived here their entire lives tell me. You have to be related to someone who's connected to get a government job, get a permit or license, etc. for anything around here. Nepotism is the name of the game in the public schools too. Outsiders need not apply. Having moved here 8 years ago, we are outsiders.

It turns out that 2 of our county judges took this shadiness just one step too far with a little scheme they hatched about 10 yrs. ago.
Micheal Conahan was the President Judge of Luzerne County back then. Mark Ciavarella was a judge under him, and eventually when Conahan retired, Ciavarella was chosen to take over as the President Judge. Ciavarella was also the judge who ruled over the Juvenile Court cases in the County Courthouse, 5 miles from my home.

C&C had the local state's juvenile facility closed down and then threw govt. contracts to their croonies in the construction business, awarding them millions to build a privately run new juvenile detention center. Then Ciavarella ran roughshod over Justice when kids in trouble were brought before him in court. He handed down stiff sentences to EVERY SINGLE KID brought up on charges, no matter how minor the charge or the fact that for many it was a 1st offense.

Every child who went before him ended up in the new juvenile jail, for months or even years.
1 kid hit his father with a piece of meat during a family argument.
1 kid was in a fight at school(the other kid started it). No one was hurt.
1 kid made a myspace page mocking a school administrator.
All of these were 1st offenses.
All these kids, ranging from 12-16 yr. old, went to jail.

Often times these kids were taken directly from their schools into custody, without their parents being contacted first or given the opportunity to speak with their child before being carted off to juvenile detention. Allowing law enforcement into the schools without legal notice or representation for the parents, made the Schools and their Administrators duplicit in the aggregious offenses that befell these kids!
These Adminstrators also should be held accountable for their part in wreeking havoc in these families lives.

Ciavarella took all of 4 minutes with each case before sentencing kids to jail. Often the kids weren't allowed to state their case or say anything.
These kids & their parents were not informed of their right to have a lawyer. They were told by court personnel that they didn't need a lawyer.
If they brought a lawyer to court, they were told by Ciavarella that they would not be allowed to represent the kid/parents.
Ciavarella IGNORED recommendations from the Parole Dept. personnel when they advised kids should NOT be incarcerated and be remanded to their parents and put on probation & community service.

Ciavarella was God and took NO recommendations under advisement from the mere mortals who worked with him.

Conahan & Ciavarella were getting kickbacks....kickbacks from their cronies the builders and kickbacks from the people running the Detention Center for filling the beds by sending all those kids there.
$300 a day per kid for months.....years......
They admitted to taking 2.6 MILLION.
I have a feeling it was MUCH higher.

It's thoroughly disgusting that this happened. What's worse is that it was ALLOWED to happen and CONTINUE for 5 YEARS!

Why did it continue for so long?
Because everyone in that CourtHouse.....all the employees and other judges were either on the take with them or indebted to them, or pressured into staying silent or face losing their jobs. No one stood up to these two, except one judge-Ann Lokuta. She was a no-nonsense, brusk woman judge(the ONLY woman judge in Luzerne County) and not part of the Old Boy's Club down at the courthouse.

A couple of years ago, Lokuta started making noises about the goings on at the Courthouse. Last year Ciavarella brought her up on dereliction of duty charges. He got other Courthouse employees to testify against Lokuta and she was disbarred, stripped of her Judicial seat and any pension she had earned.

After her hearing, Lokuta was contacted by the FBI. Seems someone at the behest of some of the parents of those kids wrongly jailed contacted an outsider, the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Center, and they filed papers that got the FBI investigating what was going on in Luzerne County.

Feb. 12th of this year, the FBI swept into Luzerne County to announce charges against Judges C&C. Ciavarella resigned from the bench immediately and both Conahan & Ciavarella arranged for plea agreements for a reduced sentence of 7.5 yrs. each.

Yesterday it was announced that all the records of the kids tried by Ciavaralla from 2003-2008 would be expunged and all sentences adjudicated. A large group of the parents & kids he tried are filing a massive civil lawsuit as well.
I hope the kid's families leave Conahan & Ciavarella and their families penniless.
Money won't make it better but at least these people can get therapy and put their lives back together.

There is still more corruption in Luzerne County at the Courthouse. The Court Adminstrator has pleaded guilty to stealing money from illegal slot machines seized for evidence in cases....$70,000. Turns out this guy, William Sharkey, is the nephew of ex Judge Conahan. Our County's Prothonotary, Jill Moran, has stepped down from that position and is cooperating with authorities in exchange for leniency on her part in this scandal. She is a local lawyer & the business partner also of Bob Powell. Bob Powell is one of the people involved with the building & running of the Juvenile Detention Center. Jill Moran is also accused of falsifying documents for Powell in regard to some real estate tax issues. Sandra Brulo, of the Probation Dept., was fired and is facing charges of obstruction of justice. She tampered with files for Ciavarella.

Every week a new festering sore is exposed as the Putrid Stinking Corruption here is unearthed and a new player faces criminal charges.

On the bright side, Ann Lokuta may get her Judgeship back. The ruling against her was overturned and her seat on the bench was taken off the ballot for the upcoming election of judges in May.

If you want to see the piece 20/20 did, go Here. Under WATCH VIDEO, on the right side of the page, click on the clip entitled, "KIDS JAILED FOR CASH?"

I was going through some files from 2008 this morning and found this letter I received last Feb. thanking me for my service on Jury Duty in Luzerne County. I don't know if you can see it but it's signed by Mark Ciavarella.
I don't know whether to put this letter on eBay or have it exorcized and drive the 2.5 miles over to Ciavarella's house and return it to him.
Yes, it seems this Monster Ciavarella lives here in Teeny Tiny Town with me.
Just another reason to not want to live here in the Armpit of Pennsylvania.

Evil & corruption will spread if given half a chance. When you notice corruption, keep speaking out against it until someone hears you.

Sluggy