Where To Be Election Night

Terry Casey, Chairman of the Luzerne County Republicans sent out an email announcing the GOP parties on election night.

Please join us for a victory celebration at Luzerne County Republican Headquarters, 41 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, on Election Night.

There will be food and beverages.

Other GOP parties:

· PAT TOOMEY, Holiday Inn, 7736 Adrienne Drive, Allentown

· TOM CORBETT/JIM CAWLEY, Pittsburgh

· LOU BARLETTA, Mea’s Restaurant, 8 W. Broad St., Hazleton

· TOM MARINO, 33 East Restaurant, 33 East St., Williamsport

· STEVE URBAN, Luzerne County GOP HQ, Wilkes-Barre

· FRANK SCAVO, Arcaro & Genell, Main Street, Old Forge

· KAREN BOBACK, Lakeside Skillet, Harveys Lake

· RICK ARNOLD, Cavanaugh’s, Mountain Top

· BILL GOLDSWORTHY, Bo Brothers, Wyoming Avenue, Wyoming

· JAMES O’MEARA, Luzerne County GOP Headquarters

· TARAH TOOHIL, Elks Lodge, East Broad Street, Hazleton

· TERRENCE O’CONNOR, Luzerne Co. GOP Headquarters, Wilkes-Barre


· TERRY CASEY, LUZERNE COUNTY GOP CHAIRMAN
GOP Headquarters, Wilkes-Barre

570-208-4671

Remember That Property Tax Decrease From Casino Money?

Get ready to hold onto your wallet. Come next year it will be several hundred dollars lighter thanks to the pension grab of 2001. This article from WGAL claims property taxes could increase by as much as $500.00.

Property owners in Pennsylvania will see their school property tax bills leap by an average of about $500 due to the public pension problem, according Tim Allwein, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

"If nothing is done by the state Legislature to solve the issue, school districts are facing huge property tax increases and huge cuts in educational programs," Allwein said.

Starting in 2011-12, state government and school boards are mandated by law to boost contributions to the pension programs of Pennsylvania's two largest systems -- the State Employees Retirement System and Public School Employees Retirement System.

The Legislature passed the laws in 2001 and 2002, then mandated the extra costs be delayed for 10 years.

The estimated cost of the extra contributions -- $6 billion, or $5.2 billion more than what's being paid now.

To put that $5.2 billion figure in perspective, that's about one-fifth the size of the entire $28 billion state budget. When Gov. Ed Rendell this February proposed a state spending plan that would increase the budget by $1.15 billion, his political opponents in the Legislature slammed him for such a drastic increase in spending.

Now, imagine adding $5.2 billion to state and school spending. That's the reality facing the Legislature and school districts starting in 2011-12.

The money has to come from somewhere, likely tax revenues in some form or another. It's guaranteed by law to state employees and retirees.

You can read about the background of the pension problem here. Thank Todd Eachus and Phyllis Mundy for their part in this problem.

Bill Goldsworthy condemns Dems' raiding of MCare Fund

Here is a press release by Bill Goldsworthy running in the 120th District.

Bill Goldsworthy

For State Representative 120th District

Contact: 570-237-1810



On April 16 the Pennsylvania taxpayers were dealt another blow – thanks to Rep. Phyllis Mundy and the House Democratic Leadership.

To balance last year’s budget, Mundy voted with the House Democrats to raid a Medical Trust Fund (MCare Fund) which was established by doctors (your Doctors) and medical facilities to cover exorbitant medical malpractice claims. This money was supposed to be held by the state in a trust fund. But the trust has been broken!!

House Democrats took the entire $100 million from MCare along with another $750 million from the Health Care Providers Retention Account to balance the state budget – the one that was 101 days late. Doctors and the medical facilities are outraged – and rightfully so.

Taxpayers should be outraged too, because on April 16 the Commonwealth Court agreed with the Pennsylvania Medical Society and Hospital Association that the state wrongfully used this money and ordered it to be returned to the trust fund.

And rightfully so – it is their money. They placed it in the fund.
But while Commonwealth Court has reversed this terrible wrong by the Democrats, we, the taxpayers, face a dilemma again.

This creates another huge funding gap for next year’s budget. This $800 million, plus the projected shortfall of $1 billion for this year, the non-acceptance of tolls along Interstate 80 ($500 million), adds up to a total shortfall of $2 billion-plus.

All thanks to Mundy and the House Democrats.

The Pennsylvania budget has grown by approximately 45 percent over the past eight years, even though the inflation rate was about 24 percent.

They just don’t get it! The answer to our financial woes is not irresponsible spending and the raiding of trust funds.

Controlled and reduced spending is the way to balance the budget.

Bill Goldsworthy Press Release HB2279

Bill Goldsworthy
For State Representative, 120th District


PRESS RELEASE
For more information: 570-237-1810


On March 23, 2010 the State House of Representatives passed HB2279, the General Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2010-2011. The price tag: $29 billion, a $1.2 billion increase over the current year. At the same time, Gov. Rendell is projecting a $525 million shortfall this year.

Because of last year’s budget debacle, lawmakers are trying to avoid the embarrassment of going 101 days without a budget by this early passage of a spending plan.

But doing it early is not the same as doing it responsibly. This is more of a spending plan than a budget. A budget requires a serious calculation of revenues and the common-sense approach of spending within one’s means – just like Pennsylvanians must do when they work on their own household and business budgets.

This $29 billion spending plan includes federal stimulus revenues of $2.76 billion. That’s a one-time gift. What happens next year? And the year after that? Relying on stimulus money to support future state budgets sets up Pennsylvanians for some serious financial problems. Once these funds are depleted, the state will be forced to deal with a multi-billion-dollar funding gap.

We all are aware of the looming state pension fiasco. Any responsible budget should address this problem by creating a reserve fund. It does not address the problem at all; lawmakers are just delaying the inevitable. Putting this issue on the backburner means an even bigger financial burden down the line for taxpayers.

So why did Phyllis Mundy vote for this $29 billion disaster? Does she think voting on a budget early makes up for doing so irresponsibly and without regard for the future?

Now more than ever, we need a responsible spending plan. We need lawmakers who are committed to representing the taxpayers and looking out for Pennsylvania citizens now and in the future. We need to bring spending under control and stop ignoring the looming pension crisis. It’s not going to go away just because we refuse to address it.

We need to avoid duplication of services and we need to eliminate per diems. We need elected officials who will work to lower taxes.

We need better than what we have right now. But most of all, we deserve better than what we are getting.

Legislative Staff Receives Pay Raise Just To Beat Freeze

If this story doesn't resonate in Northeastern Pennsylvania the voters shouldn't complain about the dismal state of the Union in Pennsylvania.

Patriot News reporter Jan Murphy is reporting that "In the two months before the state House Democratic caucus enacted a salary freeze starting Jan. 1, staffers saw a flurry of activity that raised eyebrows.

Those with access to payroll information saw a raise amounting to $18,642 annually for Paul Parsells, the chief of staff to House Speaker Keith McCall, D-Carbon. While he received a 14 percent bump boosting his salary to $150,000 a year, other staffers got a maximum 3 percent raise.

Staffers saw House Parliamentarian Reizdan Moore received a yearly raise amounting to $6,095. It struck them as odd because his anniversary date is in the spring. Typically, House employees are considered for raises on their hiring anniversaries. Others in McCall’s office received raises, too.

Staffers, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of job reprisal, suspected preferential treatment had been granted to staffers who work for legislative leaders.

They also grumbled about the timing of the memo about the pay freeze. The memo came out Dec. 31 with little to no warning to House Democratic legislators or staffers outside leadership circles.

Then, further rankling staffers, word spread about 12 employees who got raises despite the pay freeze, or salary control as caucus officials call it.

House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, said the dozen staffers should not have received the increases, calling the raises mistakes.

Eachus said the pay freeze was necessary to keep the caucus from running out of money. House leaders said no preferential treatment was given to leadership staff.


If that last statement is true why is it that only 12 leadership staff benefited from the raise? This action is not the first time leadership staffing costs have been raised.

John Micek over at the Allentown Morning Call >a brought his issue to light last year.

New House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, was swept into office late last year vowing to clean up the reputation of a caucus battered by scandal and to act as an aggressive steward of the public purse.

“In the end, we have to match our work to the policies that people are struggling with,” the Hazleton lawmaker told The Morning Call earlier this year. “People are losing their jobs … and we must forge policies that matter to real people.”

But in the last month, Eachus has made at least two high-priced hires — taking on a new chief-of-staff and a caucus counsel at salaries larger than those paid to their predecessors, according to data provided by his office.

Both are key positions within Eachus’ office, as is the new press secretary the northeastern Democrat announced Monday.

But at least one other legislative caucus in Harrisburg, the Senate Republicans, has pursued a policy of not paying new employees more than the people they succeed.

In February, Eachus announced that he’d hired Harrisburg lobbyist, and onetime Democratic employee, Laura Kuller as his new chief-of-staff.

Kuller will earn $161,000, or nearly $24,000 more than the salary paid in the last legislative session to Sandra F. Williams, who served as chief to then Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene.

Eachus’ new counsel, former Rendell administration senior lawyer Nora Winkelman, is being paid $149,900, or $16,781 more than the $133,119 salary paid to DeWeese's top lawyer William Martin Sloane last year.

The Republican took a different approach.

But not everyone in the Capitol takes the same approach as the House Democrats.

For at least two years, Senate Republicans have only filled jobs out of necessity, and have brought on new hires at no more than 85 percent of the salaries of their predecessors.

“We continue to keep hires to an absolute minimum or not at all,” said Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, who also retains his title as the chamber's presiding officer. “As people retire, it will be an absolutely necessary replacement, not an automatic replacement.

It perplexes the mind that Democrats are not questioning their leaders or calling them out on unethical practices. This issue simply fails the smell test.

Bill Goldsworthy Announcement 120th District

Bill Goldsworthy will hold his official campaign kickoff on Monday, March 8 at 7 p.m. at the Black Diamond Post 395 American Legion, 386 Wyoming Avenue in Kingston. Goldsworthy is seeking the Republican nomination for State Representative of the 120th District of Pennsylvania. This event is open to the public and complimentary refreshments will be served.

Goldsworthy has been the Mayor of West Pittston for13 years and serves on such committees as the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Wilkes-Barre Chamber Government Committee. Goldsworthy has also been a member of the Pennsylvania Economy League since 1987 and in 1995 he was appointed to the Luzerne County Board of Assistance by Governor Robert Casey. He was also appointed to the Municipal Police Officers Training and Education Commission in 2002 by Governor Tom Ridge.

Bill Goldsworthy is fed up with the mistreatment of budgets and the neglect of the people of Pennsylvania. He believes a budget submitted 101 days late is unacceptable and the people deserve better.

“This hurt so many people, besides the State employees who didn’t get a paycheck, it hurt dependant agencies that deal with our elderly, our youth and our special need individuals,” Goldsworthy said.

Goldsworthy will also strive to make sure revenues from casino gambling are used toward lowering property tax with his ultimate goal of eliminating property tax. If elected, Bill Goldsworthy vows that he will not accept per diems and he will not be part of any midnight budget deals.
He believes the people of Pennsylvania were lied to concerning the gambling money and his work as State Rep. will be geared toward seeing that money is used properly to protect the people.

“I will work to install the training needed by all of our police officers for the safety and protection of all our residents,” Goldsworthy stated.
Bill graduated from Wyoming Are High School in 1972 and received his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Wilkes University in 1976. He and his wife, Jannet, reside in West Pittston and have four children, Brandon, Carrie, Karyn, and Aimee.

For more information, call Bill at 570-237-1810

Tidbits From The Valley

As the story goes politics are taking a twisted turn in Luzerne County. One would think that after the FBI walked the halls of the Luzerne County Courthouse and politicians who were viewed as untouchable marched one by one into federal court current office holders would pay attention.

SOP gets the sense that those who were not indicted feel vindicated and out of the sights of the FBI. WOW what an egotistical position for them to assume.

It is rumored that Pittston Mayor Bill Goldsworthy incurred the wrath of Phyllis Mundy at a recent event. It seems Phyllis was less than pleasant after she found out that Mr. Goldsworthy would be seeking her seat in the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. Less than pleasant...nahhhh.. some said tirade is more like it...well ask Phyllis or those who witnessed the incident.

A former Democrat who wanted to run against the Democrat in her district met stiff opposition from Democrats in the district. So much so that a current Luzerne County Official discouraged her to run, well actually told her not to run. She was so dismayed at the reception by her own party that she decided to switch to Republican and run anyway.

One would think that with all the corruption that has been exposed in Northeastern Pennsylvania Democratic party strategists would chart a new course. They need to lead and show they can put trust back into their party.

Incumbents must soon realize that term limits, if not by law, must be self imposed. Transparency, transparency, transparency. IF they want the FBI to move on, they need to show that business is no longer "the way we always did it."