Susquehanna County Blog

It does not appear as if the endorsed Republican Candidate, Michael Giangreco, according to the League of Women Voters of Susquehanna County ad appearing in the 10-31-2007 issue of the Susquehanna County Independent, is necessarily in favor taking a proactive stance toward economic development if he is elected.  Specifically, the relevant portion of the ad states: “Enhance economic opportunity in Susquehanna County utilizing existing facilities and infrastructure”.   Existing?  What about expansion?  What about new infrastructure?  Does that mean Mr. Giangrieco is not in favor of the 3 Lakes sewer project?  Does that mean he is not in favor of a new hospital for Endless Mountains Health Care?  You really need to know before voting.

Further, in 2003, when the Susquehanna County Railroad COMMITTEE was attempting to form the Susquehanna County Railroad AUTHORITY, Mr. Giangreco penned a letter to the Economic Development Director at the time, Justin Taylor, stating “I have found nothing in the County Code that allows the County to appropriate money for rail facilities or form a municipal authority for a railroad authority. ”  The letter in its entirety appears in the link below.

 letter-from-michael-giangreco-4-8-2003-stating-no-muni-code-for-rr-authority.PDF

Of course Giangreco was wrong about this matter.  A member of the Railroad Committee spent his own funds, employing outside counsel at Stevens and Lee in Harrisburg who set forth in writing exactly why and how a railroad authority could be formed in Susquehanna County.  Shortly after that point, commissioners Marcho and Dean voted to create the Susquehanna County Railroad Authority.  Commissioner Smith voted against the motion.

Is this the kind of representation Susquehanna County needs?  Do the citizens of our county need a practicing attorney who arguably makes multiples of the current commissioner salary, who by his own words appears not to support creating new facilities and infrastructure to further economic development?  Remember, as an attorney, Mr. Giangreco carefully chooses every word he utters.  There may be a significant difference between what he has stated and what is best for Susquehanna County. 

Two more questions need to be asked of Mr. Giangreco.  The first is “Why would you want to be a commissioner when you have a successful law practice?”  The second is “Knowing there is a potential ethics issue with being a County Commissioner and having a law practice, do you intend to continue your practice?”

Chester County attorney Samuel Stretton, who is regarded as an expert in legal and judicial ethics, mentioned that public perception of a conflict and potential conflicts could be a problem.  He wrote about this several months ago in the Ethics Forum of the Pennsylvania Law Weekly.  If the law community who already are concerned, both locally and in other parts of the commonwealth, with a practicing attorney sitting as an elected county commissioner, who will be deciding on the budgets of various county agencies including the Sheriff’s office, the District Attorney’s office and others - shouldn’t you?

 This brings us back to economic development.  If candidate Giangreco is elected, he with the other two commissioners, will control the economic development budget.  All the surrounding counties have become very proactive in economic development.  Will the candidate support expanded economic development (more jobs for Susquehanna County)?  We may never know, unless you ask.  We, in all probablility will not know, at least not before the election.  And the candidate isn’t speaking. 

It would be interesting to have each of the commissioner candidates explain if they support the idea of outsourcing economic development as it currently exists.  Due to the actions of the current commissioners, if someone comes to this county and wants to discuss economic development, they have to contact the Central Bradford Progress Authority in Towanda.  Until fairly recently, at least there was an office in the county located in the county office building, but no longer. 

 Although the incumbent commissioners have professed to support economic development, one of the first actions was to terminate the economic development director.  A few months later, the commissioners eliminated the position of the economic development director, outsourcing the work to the Central Bradford Progress Authority.  

Now, it only stands to reason that if you hire an outside group to manage economic development who is located in an adjoining county, there could be an issue with loyalty.  If a company is looking to relocate to an region, doesn’t it make sense that you would try to place them in the county where you are based, i.e. Bradford county?

And exactly what has this Central Bradford Progress Authority done for Susquehanna County?  If one researches this, the answer is very straight forward - not a whole lot. 

What a shame, commissioners who don’t want to be bothered with economic development.  And they believe they “deserve” another term?  Right.  Politics as usual in Susquehanna County.

 And how does the Central Bradford Progress Authority and the local puppet economic development board view all this.  Of course, they think they are doing a great job.  Spare me.

There is a serious question as to whether or not the incumbent commissioners have earned another term. 

In the primary, the voters decided not to return the Chairman, Roberta Kelly.  Instead,  attorney Michael Giangrieco, with an arguably successful practice spent a significant sum of money to promote himself and wind up at the top vote getter.  The following questions should be asked of Mr. Giangrieco by everyone who comes in contact with him: “Do you intend to continue your practice of Law if you are elected in November?”; “If not, why would you give up a practice which in all likelyhood earns you multiples of the salary you will receive as a commissioner?”  “According to an article in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly, although you can serve, you will have to excuse yourself from a significant amount of decision making due to potential conflicts.  How do you intend to address that problem?”

Commissioner Roberta Kelly has not taken her defeat quietly, she is running a write in campaign.  Whether or not this will be successful will be anyones guess.  It is my understanding that in the modern history of Susquehanna County, no one has ever won a write in campaign for commissioner.

 Of course all this could change.  Currently running  are an independent (Tom Jurista), two sanctioned republican  candidates (Giangrieco and incumbent Jeffrey Loomis), and two write in candidates with no endorsement (Kelly and Fred Baker).  Conventional wisdom says that Giangrieco and Loomis will probably win as the endorsed candidates, but will that happen?  I do not believe the republican party has ever been so split up.  Although republicans hold a roughly 2 to 1 margin of registered voters, those votes will be split among at least the five mentioned above.  Why at least?  Simply put, there are quite a number of republicans who really don’t like the idea of MaryAnn Warren (Democrat) being returned to office.  The other democratic candidate is Leon Allen.  A significant number of republicans are supporting him. 

Assuming that most democrats vote to retain Warren and to install Allen, there will be very little crossover vote to the republican side.  The republicans on the other hand, will have their vote split between the endorsed candidates, the write ins, the independent and the crossovers to vote for a democrat. 

 This could make for a very interesting election.  If the electorate is finally fed up with two women running the show (Kelly and Warren), you may see a very interesting outcome of this election.  It is also interesting to note that while Giangrieco spent a significant amount of money to almost guarantee his election in the primary,  with the exception of several small concentrations in areas where he is or has represented the municipality, very little promotion is occurring around the county.  This could lead one to believe a comment made by one in the Law community who said that he is so sure of himself that he doesn’t need to do any more self promotion.  Others have characterized him as being a ” legend in his own mind”.

What a pathetic state of affairs we are in.  Our little county needs real leadership, not the less than dynamic duo, incumbents former dental hygienist (Kelly)or a secretary to a failed chamber of commerce (Warren), neither of which really understand the workings of a $20~ million company, i.e. Susquehanna County.  The third incumbent (Loomis) does in fact understand money as well as the workings of business, arguably saving the county many thousands of dollars.  However, that being said, it is well known that this commissioner has not attended charm school and doesn’t care about that aspect of his existence.

So, the electorate of Susquehanna County has a real challenge this time.  There are seven major candidates for county commissioner, but few real choices.  Please make sure when you vote, choose very carefully.  The future of Susquehanna County is at stake - not just for the next four years - the next class of commissioners will lay the foundation for many years to come.