The City takes ANOTHER shot at our rights

I haven't posted in a while, I was going to take a week or so off to help with some family matters and take some time for myself. But when councils Queen Bee does something SO FAR from what is right.... Well Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

The Wilkes-Barre 'ruling class' has decided to look into enforcing an ordinance that will take away our right to free speech. Since you have probably read the articles this morning, I'll just do the 'quote thing'.

From the Citizens Voice
Proposed W-B ordinance bars 'impertinent' remarks at meetings
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A person barred from addressing council by the chairperson can only speak again if a majority of the council members present agree to rescind the order
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Yea, THAT'S gonna happen. I see it this way. If you beg and grovel, then maybe they will ALLOW you to speak in their presence. Bull, they will DENY you that right.

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"This is just making sure people have the opportunity to speak to council and to exercise their free speech without being intimidated or concerned or scared," William Vinsko (assistant city attorney) said.
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Isn't this the guy neck deep in Leightons attempt to silence Denise Carey? Yea I trust his take on the First Amendment. BTW, Mr. Vinsko, I STILL haven't received the copy of the home rule charter that YOU promised me back in August 2010.

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Mary Catherine Roper, an ACLU attorney, said without complete knowledge of the city's ordinance, she can't say what conduct might warrant a speaking ban. Measures could be taken, though, if somebody purposefully holds up or disrupts every meeting, Roper said.
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Get ready for the city to waste another HUNDRED THOUSAND + DOLLARS to fight ANOTHER lawsuit it can not win.






And the Times Leader
W-B Council seeks change in decorum at meetings
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Kane said she couldn’t offer specific information on the planned changes, but she said she has become increasingly concerned about the way some people conduct themselves at meetings.
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I hope she means Leighton and herself! They are the worse offenders! I've wrote about that HERE and HERE.

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“But if somebody gets completely out of control to the point where it affects the ability of others to present their concerns to council, then there should be consequences,” Kane said.
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Does this include our childish mayor? He is the one who instigated the 'disruption' that the article mentions.


I saw this in the online comments:
From Barry_W
"Maybe it's time to elect people to council who will listen, offer dialogue and solutions that will solve the city's challenges.
If Kathy wants to avoid future incidents why doesn't she set a standard of behavior for council and the mayor? It is the mayor, twice, and her, once, that started "incidents" when they called Bob "Cupcake."
Instead, they want to remove all of our rights to show our outrage with how this city is run and how they conduct themselves.
Her attitude proves that we do not want her as our City Controller. She will not provide the checks and balances that we need."




Two changes I would like to see is council PAYING ATTENTION to the speakers!! So stop talking to each other instead of listening!!
And doing something for the full benefits they get! Oh right, some don't take the benefits... they take the cash buy out.

I'd also like to know WHO decides who is being 'impertinent'? I fear I already know.

I've always viewed the First Amendment as the right to publicly question our government. Without censure or reprisal. Council is trying to restrict our right to voice our grievances

This seems to stem from council looking at itself as Nobility. They should know Nobility comes from an honorable soul and selfless action, not some delusional sense of misplaced superiority.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE MRS. KANE


Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Captain Cupcake should be worried

It seems that the newspapers (even his Times Cheerleader) are taking a close look at the dictator.

Leighton: No golf for me
Isn't officially campaigning while on the clock illegal?
Oh and I would love to see a roster of who showed up (BEFORE he gets a chance to doctor it) to check his numbers. Since he can't tell the difference between $12 million and $27 million for the parking garage, sorry intermodel center.


City workers golf for boss
If this was put in motion MONTHS ago, why a Friday instead of a weekend? Then most of these people wouldn't have had to take time off?


Meet the mayor of Barney Farms
Some VERY good reporting here. Instead of just printing the obvious or regurgitating city hall press releases, They really did their homework.

"In 2009, 14 of those hired for 138 summer jobs through an executive order by the mayor, or about 10 percent, lived alongside Leighton in the riverside enclave of Barney Farms."
And
"Barney Farms has three streets and 69 homes, or less than one-half of 1 percent of the city's households."
And
"The vast majority of summer hires that year came from South Wilkes-Barre and the Leighton administration's approach toward filling summer jobs seems specifically designed to achieve that very outcome."

Also Pure Bunkum has somethings to say on the issue.
Mayor Leighton Works At City Hall And At The Golf Club

If you are thinking of supporting Leighton, Ask yourself these questions:

Your going to support him even with the $15 million cost over run on a $12 million dollar project?

Or the $17 million Riverfront that has no parking and no bathrooms?

Or the selling of city property (to his a campaign contributor) for 10% of it's value?

Or the Hiring of his relatives for summer jobs that were not advertised?

Or his campaigning on city time?

Add those to the list:
The Fountain, $75,000 dollars for repairing the fountain. Well after GIVING the ice rink a free (we the citizens paid for it) Zamboni, that cost around $80,000, there is no more money.

I guess after selling the Old River Road Bakery, for 8 cents on the dollar (the equivalent of selling a gallon of gas for under 24 cents a gallon), to a campaign contributor there isn't enough money for public safety.

Maybe it was because the city had to pay Denise Carey $67,000 when Mayor 'I Believe (in higher taxes)' Leighton violated her CONSTITUTIONAL Rights.

Maybe it was the $220,000 in legal fees Denise Careys lawyer is seeking from the city.

Maybe it's the $225,000 the city had to pay Bob Kadluboski (of City-Wide Towing) after violating his contract with the city.

Maybe it was the money that was spent on the city attorneys to fight the wrong fights

Maybe it was the MILLIONS spent on an ice rink that the public 'can use SOMETIMES'

Maybe it was the MILLIONS spent on the Big Brother Camera system that work occasionally (a cop told me only around 24 were working and they were blocked by trees)

Maybe it was the sidewalks downtown that didn't need to be replaced near as much as some of the ones away from downtown

Maybe it was the cost over runs on the Coal street 'get outta the city faster' project

Maybe it's time for a mayor that places the citizens safety before his pet projects



As for public safety,
Remember the Cities own study claimed 17 firefighters/shift was the MINIMUM, not the mayors 12! He's putting our loved ones at risk so he can fund HIS projects!!
Think about it when you vote, or when a meth lab explodes in Wilkes-Barre.


Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Pure Bunkum has a new post

Pure Bunkum has a post about the TL sucking up and minimizing Leightons nepotism.
At Least I Had The TL On My Side

Once again Betty Roccograndi makes so VERY good points.

I loved this one:
"What would have happened, we wonder, if Leighton’s human resources director had not recommended Courtney and Lauren Leighton for the city positions? Would the mayor have accepted that decision and told his daughter at the dinner table, Sorry, hon, by there were others more qualified?"

Captain Cupcake (Leighton) had to 'put this to rest'. With so many people looking at the favoritism to Leo Glodzik he can't afford to show his true colors.

And to answer an Email question about Leighton, Yes Clancey.

On Sunday, Oct. 20, 1997

Gonna keep this one short, My SIG Sauer is complaining I never take her out anymore.
Damn Swiss/Germans are so hard to please. Gonna have to give her a workout.



Oh and I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th... Even this dachshund



Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

10% or less Redux

I posted my thoughts about this previously.

I have been given around 40 pages of information about this transaction from a friend (Thanks, Dude). They don't mind if I call them by name, but I want to keep that private for now.

First off a little recap.
Captain U. Cupcake (Leighton) had the city buy the double-block at 86-88 Carlisle Street.
Cost $8500 and $1,500 to close out federal mortgages, So $10,000.
He then sold the property to Leo A. Glodzik III (a campaign contributor) for $7500.
That's a loss to the city of $2,500 right off the bat.

The city and Glodzik claim,
1. "one side of the property was completely gutted to the studs, and all the copper pipe and electrical wiring was removed. He said he couldn’t access the basement on that side because the stairs were missing."

2. “It was a shell. That’s all that was there,”

3. “The whole kitchen was pretty much caved in on itself,”

4. “There was mold throughout that side of the basement,”

5. "duplex sold for $7,500 because of its deplorable condition"

YET, and here is the corruption. If this is true, and the city would have had to have known it to sell the property for $7,500, THEN WHY DID THEY LET GLODZIK GET AWAY WITH REMODELLING THE PROPERTY WITH 2 PERMITS, EACH WITH AN 'ESTIMATED COST OF BUILDING' OF $2,000!!! That is a total of $4,000! That's it. The ONLY 2 permits taken out.

So what is the truth? It is one of 4 things.
1. The house was worth WAY more than $7,500 (HELL the land is worth more than that)
2. Glozdik did WAY more work than $4,000 (and got away with it because of political connections).
3. Someone dropped the ball appraising the property (because of incompetence or political pressure)
4. All of the above

I'd go with 4.



Don't forget Glodzik has a history of ignoring the law, he was caught doing work he is not licenced for, no permit, putting an apartment where he knew he couldn't and fined for it at 253 New Hancock St.
1. Complaints about work on property
2. W-B towing contractor fined for illegal apts.
3. Glodzik cited with zoning violations
4. W-B’s car tower gets fined again
5. W-B’s tower to appeal fines concerning permits, work on property
6. W-B reduces city tower’s fines

This is very fishy and something is wrong with this. I'm not done looking into this.
"One half of the property was inhabited up to the time it was sold to the city in an October 2007 back-tax sale, according to a relative of the prior owner. But Barrouk stressed the property was not occupied by the time the city acquired it."
Then why was it only a 'drive by' assessment?

“The land itself was assessed at $16,400, The 3,666-square-foot structure on a 0.11-acre lot is in an attractive neighborhood" Urban said.
Commissioner Urban, please don't let this go. This is what you promised to investigate. Follow the money and the paper trails. Do what you have to.
You can't fix corrupt, but you can bring it to the light!!!


Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Someone else lets loose

One of our area papers has an article from someone who has had enough, It's a MUST read.

It's a relatively short article, so I'll copy it here

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All in the family business

When it comes to government ethics, Tom Leighton is the Rip Van Winkle of local politics.

Leighton must have slumbered through the last 30 months.

He must have snored through that federal corruption sweep that netted more than 30 government officials and contractors.

He must have snoozed while outraged voters upended county government and approved a home-rule charter that will impose strict hiring, contracting and ethics rules. Well good morning, Mayor Tom. It's a new day and voters don't look kindly on politicians who use their positions to benefit their relatives.

As reported Friday by Citizens' Voice Staff Writer Andrew Staub, Leighton approved the hiring of his 20-year-old daughter and 20-year-old niece for $10-per-hour summer jobs with city government. More than 100 other people who applied for 76 summer positions with the city were turned away.

Leighton defended the hirings, arguing his daughter and niece "should be considered as everyone else in considered."

No, they shouldn't. Elected officials have a duty to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and to promote public confidence in government.

If Leighton wants to help his daughter and niece find work during their summer vacations from college, he should give them jobs in his real-estate firm. Or, if they are as dependable and hard-working as he says they are, they could find summer work on their own.

The city is full of disadvantaged young people who would love to have a summer job at City Hall to pay tuition, help with household expenses or build a resume that will help them become productive adults.

Two of them won't have that chance because Leighton decided to use the power granted to him by voters to help his own household.

The hirings, coupled with Leighton's letter to a federal judge on behalf of a former city official facing prison in a corruption case, show the mayor is clueless when it comes to the unraveling culture of corruption in Luzerne County.

That culture is a continuum that begins with ethically questionable acts like hiring your relatives and ends with out-and-out criminality.

It must be rooted out from start to finish.

Wake up, Mayor Leighton. Our city government is not your family business.
######

Once again parts just jumped out at me.
Like
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Leighton defended the hirings, arguing his daughter and niece "should be considered as everyone else in considered."

No, they shouldn't. Elected officials have a duty to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and to promote public confidence in government.
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Sounds familiar.

And
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If Leighton wants to help his daughter and niece find work during their summer vacations from college, he should give them jobs in his real-estate firm.
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This is SO TRUE!!! But then Captain U. Cupcake (Leighton) would have to pay them, instead of the city (Meaning the citizens of Wilkes-Barre).

And
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The hirings, coupled with Leighton's letter to a federal judge on behalf of a former city official facing prison in a corruption case, show the mayor is clueless when it comes to the unraveling culture of corruption in Luzerne County.

That culture is a continuum that begins with ethically questionable acts like hiring your relatives and ends with out-and-out criminality.
####
WOW.



Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Nepotism Part2 or How many scandals will there be in 4 weeks?

Leightons (Captain U. Cupcake) cheer leading rag has an article about his latest 'Shut up and pay my taxes' move. Mayor defends hiring kin as interns.


This REALLY jumped out at me.
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She said hundreds of applications come in each year, so they feel there is no need to advertise. Jensen said she can recall only one year during the last three mayoral administrations – Leighton, Thomas McGroarty and Lee Namey – that the city needed to advertise to fill summer jobs.
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Well if you only had 10 applicants, then you SHOULD have advertised!!!


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“They shouldn’t be penalized just because they’re related to me,” Leighton said.
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No one is saying that they should be penalized, we are saying they should not be REWARDED for it! And with the federal corruption probe on going ANY appearance of impropriety should be avoided AT ALL COSTS!

Also Pure Bunkum has posted about this Where's The Outrage? again.



On to another point.
W-B officials remind residents about fireworks safety
This is a very important warning. With only 2 full time and 1 part time Engines, the Fire dept is stretched WAY to thin. If you didn't know, with EVERY traumatic injury, a Fire Engine is dispatched to assist the responding Medic unit.
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"Fireworks and other devices pose a serious risk of injury or worse to an individual but also to personal property," said Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney. "Over the course of my career, I have witnessed firsthand the tragic consequences of amateur fireworks use."
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Chief Delaney was a Paramedic for 8 years (I think) before becoming a Fire Fighter. I have no doubt he has seen more fireworks injuries than anyone should.


I've been looking into something Fire Dept/Leighton related.
Isn't it convenient that the very first time the FD had overtime firefighters (manning the rescue boat) for Riverfest, is the time Leighton's boat capsized? Interesting.





Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote

Nepotism

Captain U. Cupcake (Leighton) is STILL at it.
Now he has hired his daughter and niece to do summer jobs. And we are to believe that out of over 400 applicants, his TWO relatives are the best qualified for the positions.

And I'm not the only blogger to think this is Luzerne county Nepotism at its normal over the top level.

The Buck Stops - Not With Mayor Leighton


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"They're city residents, they're both college students and they're very dependable," the mayor said. "They do a good job, and they should be considered as everybody else is considered."
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EVERYBODY is not related to the mayor of a city that is in the middle of a MASSIVE corruption scandal.


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Regardless of resumes - even if they include graduating at the top of the class at Harvard Law School - it's "best practice" for public officials to avoid hiring relatives, said Judy Nadler, the former mayor of Santa Clara, Calif., and current senior fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
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This is only true if the public official is a LEADER or has integrity.


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Leighton's decision to hire relatives raises concerns he cannot act objectively and could sting a community still reeling from a public corruption probe, Nadler said. It also spurs questions of whether the mayor's relatives are qualified for the job or just the beneficiaries of their connections, she said.
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No kidding Leighton is a bully and thinks he is untouchable. His cost overruns on his pet projects have been so HUGE that he has had to cut Public safety.



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Leighton dismissed notions that his daughter and niece received favorable treatment and portrayed Christine Jensen, the city's human resources director, as the principal decision-maker regarding summer employment even though he signed executive orders approving the hires.
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He ALWAYS blames someone else.

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Jensen said she reviewed about 400 applications for summer employment, met with department heads to discuss their needs and forwarded a list of recommended hires to the mayor for approval.
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Captain Cupcake claims Christine Jensen is "the principal decision-maker regarding summer employment", But Jensen claims she "forwarded a list of recommended hires to the mayor".
What do I get out of that. Leighton hired his relatives. No one else had a chance.
By blaming Jensen he shows, once again, He is a master at a lies through misdirection.


Add another one to the list.
1 Screwed up selling the Sterling hotel (costing us $325,000)
2 Bad faith moves
3 Back room deals
4 Tried to sell city property for 8 cents on the dollar to a campaign contributor
5 Lied to county officials to get tax forgiveness to a campaign contributor
6 Cut our safety to fund HIS pet projects
7 The whole Ice Rink, which was supposed to revitalize W-B, HOW?
8 The largely worthless camera system
9 Raised taxes and fees to an all time high.
10 Racked up MASSIVE lawsuit debts
11 Violated a contract (Citywide Towing's contract) so he could give it to a campaign contributor (that cost us $225,000)
12 Trying to sell W-B property (Tax Free) to a campaign contributor (Known for not paying his own taxes)
13 Outright lies to us (The citizens of Wilkes-Barre)
14 Blaming anyone and everyone for his failures (remember the 'I believe' campaign, "I wouldn't say I oversold it. I think maybe the media did," Mayor Leighton said. (WNEP June 10, 2005) AKA It's not my fault, it's the medias)
15 Ignoring the Lloyds Study (which states the minimum FD manning per shift is 17) and cutting manning to 12 per shift
16 VIOLATED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, TWICE !!! (Denise Carey & the Hammonds). That's cost us over $275,000.
And
17 Nepotism



Add On; you should read this, Top 10 Reasons to Re-Elect Leighton as Mayor
Good points in a Letterman format.

Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote