Election year

Threats to W-B officials prompted purchase of home security systems

Talk about trying to cover your a$$es. Let me get this straight.
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An attempted break-in, a menacing note stuffed in a mailbox and the destruction of potted plants led Wilkes-Barre police to believe recently elected Mayor Tom Leighton and his city administrator were in danger in 2004. At least that's the justification for two security systems installed at the men's homes on the city's dime.
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So if you are the dictator or his #1, and you get a threatening note, then you deserve a $4000 security system on the city. BUT if you are a cop, and you get attacked on the job, you don't. And if you complained about this I'm sure a, "if you don't like it, get a different job."

So, I'm looking at this article and things just SCREAM back pedaling to me.

JJ Murphy Paraphrased the note as saying, "J.J. and the mayor, you will pay for this".
Well if there was an investigation, then where is the paperwork? And wouldn't the note be in evidence? So why paraphrase it?

And some potted plants being broken is SOOO threatening. (Maybe if we had more cops instead of a $12 million parking garage that we payed $27 million for, you would be safer)

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A man who identified himself as a city employee told Murphy's wife that Leighton had sent him to examine the pipes in their home, police said. When Murphy's wife said she wanted to check with her husband and locked the door, the man tried to force his way inside, police said.
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Wow honestly, this is frightening. Especially to a family man. But this is a common possibility to all of us who DO NOT LIVE IN BARNEY FARMS.
Scammers posing as PPL workers
Woman claims she was robbed at gunpoint
Alleged burglar caught in act in W-B
And this is just a 3 week period, of ONE STREET in the city.

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"That played a part in my decision to leave the city," said Murphy, who left to start a consulting firm for municipalities. "Ultimately, at the end of the day, I had to do what was best for my family."
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Wait a second..... This happened in 2005. Murphy 'officially' left the payroll in 2010. WOW, that is a big pile there.

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Murphy pays the monthly service charge, which has ranged from $27 to $35, but he said it "would have been justified" for the city to pick up the fee.

"But I picked those up," he said. "I think I went over and above what was necessary."
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Once again, a cop has to pay for their own security. The city doesn't 'pick up the fee'.

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Murphy questioned the timing of the release of the invoice confirming the city paid for his security system's purchase. Murphy tabbed the development as a political diversion set up by Leighton's critics just weeks before an election.
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Of course it comes up in an election year, that is when politicians ARE under the most scrutiny!

This is another example of misappropriation of taxpaying dollars. Pure and simple.

Oh and
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Leighton declined to comment.
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Of course he did.

A new blog, Wake Up Wilkes Barre! has an interesting comment about the flower pot incident.
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Let me explain it to you JJ your employer is not required to buy you a security system because a party next door overflowed into your yard, and the drunken folks attempted to gain access to the wrong house. Lie to someone without a scanner.
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You should check it out.

Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote