Susquehanna County Blog

Below is a link to the most reliable information regarding the status of the Susquehanna County Commissioner Candidates.  This information was supplied by Gary Wilder, Susquehanna County Voter Registrar.  The paper has handwritten on the bottom ” Official Returns - Pre Final Certification 11/15/2007, G.A Wilder, Voter Registrar”.  While these results are almost anitclimatic to anyone who has been reading this blog, there are some surprises.  Remember, you read it here first! No sense in waiting for the newspapers next Tuesday or Wednesday!

 First, the Winners - by votes - rather than party.

Mike Giangrieco  -R   3,969

MaryAnnWarren   -D (Incumbent) 3,177

Leon Allen   -D        3,169

 Congratulations to the Winners! 

Then there were the Runners-up - by votes - rather than party

Jeffrey Loomis -R (Incumbent)  3,094

Roberta Kelly  -R (Incumbent)   2,366 

Thomas Jurista -I    1,309

Fred Baker -R            708

So, there you have it.  History has been made in Susquehanna County with the first elected Democratic majoriy county commisioners.  

The hope here is that there will be some real change in the way the county government is administered and that the new commissioners will not fall into the same rut which has been the way of life in the past.  It is too easy to have double the registered voters (Republican party) and essentially be assured of a win no matter what.  This time it didn’t happen.  If the Democratic party wants to retain control here, they better produce and do it fairly quickly!

 By the way, for those who don’t know, both Lackawanna and Bradford Counties now also have a Democratic majority in their respective commissioners offices.

Time to move on to the next topic.  Although politics is a huge source of interest in Susquehanna County, the election is over.  There are many, many subjects which need to be discussed.  So, let’s get started!  As always, your suggestions are most welcome.  Just post as a response here. 

Maybe it is just wishful thinking that the final results of this commissioner race will be know today or tomorrow, but it should be getting very close now. 

Predictions:

After the fat lady sings - Giangrieco, Warren and Allen will be the next Susquehanna County Commissioners.  This is quite interesting as the biggest vote getter (Giangrieco) will be relegated to the position of Minority Commissioner.  What a slap in the face.

Kelly will have to update her resume and get a job in January (unless the incoming commissioners do some crazy thing like make her Chief Clerk or economic development director).   History shows us that things like this have happened before in our little county.

Baker will return to his normal life and probably try it one more time in four years.

Loomis, who, according to more than one resident, will continue to sell beer and laugh about it.  He may be back in four years as well.

Jurista will also probably run again in four years as a Republican, Democrat, Independent or ??

Maybe there will be a court challenge if the write-in vote gets anywhere near 3,166 votes.  This is the number needed to exceed the number of votes (3,165) the number 3 slot (Leon Allen) currently has. 

There may be court action from another unsuccessful candidate regarding running new political ads after the legal cutoff period.  

The Republican Party will  (and probably should)  form a circular firing squad.  In the end, no one will be willing to accept blame, although those Republicans who pushed the write-in candidates RATHER THAN SUPPORT THE ENDORSED CANDIDATES are obviously EGO Driven rather than team members of the party.  You are largely responsible for the outcome of this election.  Maybe you boys and girls should submit your resignations before you embarass the party any more.  Don’t know where you will go though - the Democrats probably don’t want you either.  The Republican party better get its act together NOW before the 2008 elections are here and Susquehanna County votes in a national election in a way which has never been seen  before.  If that happens, the Republican party in Susquehanna County will start to know the way of life the Democratic party has endured for many, many years - that of being the party in second place.   Currently, they are going to have to play catch up.  Even with the majority of voters registered to the GOP, don’t think they are stupid.  They are going to vote for the person, not the party.  Many split their vote this time.  The day of keeping the electorate in line has passed.  This election has proven that.  Let’s face it, through the actions of some, the Republican party has finally succeded in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (with appologies to Winston Churchill).

The Democratic Party, who has usually at this time after an election,  assembled its own circular firing squad, this time will not.  Why? Simply put, for the first time in history, they will be in control of the Commissioners office in Susquehanna County.  Let’s see if they will be able to assume the leadership roll with some dignity and decorum which has been lacking in the office for many years.  Time will tell.  The incoming minority commissioner elect will probably attempt to sway the majority commissioners elect to his mindset as he is an ego driven attorney.  He will possibly even attempt to get one or both Majority Commissioners to elect him as chairman.  If the Democrats want to have ANY hope of having their candidates reelected in 4 years (2011), or have ANY credibility as a viable party from January, 2008 forward, they should flatly reject this nonsense, especially the “I am the lawyer, listen to me” approach and/or the Commissioner chairmanship, if this prediction comes to pass.

Oh yes, if the incoming minority commissioner continues to practice law after he is sworn in, look for members of the law community to offer free office space for the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board to open a branch office in Susquehanna County.    

Finally, the newspaper “reporters” who have overtly and covertly (so they think) supported Roberta Kelly in her failed bid to retain her employment have ruined their credibility as members of the media.  Objectivity is not a word which has any real meaning to you does it?  The incoming administration MUST NOT permit these “reporters” to become part of the story or even worse, advisors to the commissioners.   Homework assignment for all readers of this blog - look up Yellow Journalism.  See if that describes these “reporters” - if you have had enough interaction with them to form an opinion.  If it does, you should contact their managing editors, publishers, etc. and let them know you don’t appreciate these “reporters” actions.  Thus, the prediction here is that at least one “reporter” may become unemployed if this person’s managing editor or publisher has any sense of decency or interest in credibility as a media outlet in Susquehanna County.  

The next post should be the final results of the 2007 Susquehanna County commissioners race.  Are you as sick of it as the rest of us?

Time to move onto  something a whole lot different…

According to the New Milford Township write in sheet, Roberta Kelly (and the various spellings thereof) received about 100 votes.  Fred Baker has 34.  According to the county website, there are 1,218 registered voters in New Milford Township.  Of these, 503 chose to vote in the municipal election.  The county website says there were  a total of 133 write in votes. 

So, as of now, it appears the current tally (in order they appeared on the county website) is:

MaryAnn Warren      199

Leon Allen                 92

Michael Giangrieco   214

Jeffrey Loomis           171

Tom Jurista                 46

Roberta Kelly              99*

Fred Baker                  34

*    This number is estimated, based on various spellings of the name. 

Again, these results are from New Milford Township ONLY.   If New Milford Township is any indication about the rest of the county (and it may not be), the overall election results will probably not change. 

More later.  If you have information about the write-in vote in your municipality, post it here.

The write-in votes are still being counted with the end nowhere in sight.  By the middle of Friday afternoon, Clifford Township had been completed.  This would make 5 of the 43 precincts in Susquehanna County.  Actually, there are 40 townships and boroughs, however Forest City, Susquehanna and Montrose Boroughs all have 2 precincts, thus there are 43.  Each of these 43 has write-in votes which have to be counted by hand, with each separate spelling of every vote has to have it’s own count.  Thus, every one who voted for Mickey Mouse gets a separate entry from every one who may have voted for Michael Mouse, Micky Mouse, Micky Maus and so on.  Add to this the votes for “None of the Above” and the spelling variations of that, “Any One Else” and any number of other wasted votes; in addition to the write-in candidates and the various spellings of their names and you have a lot of time invested.

While one can appreciate the level of frustration being experienced with various politicians, voting for “Donald Duck” is not going to solve the problem.  Further, if one is a legitimate write-in candidate for an office, why not invest a couple of bucks and have preprinted stickers with their correctly spelled name and hand them out to prospective voters.  Of course this could also create problems if the stickers come off in the optical scanning process.  Stories of jammed scanners and lost votes have been told in other parts of the country. 

The moral here is to buy quality stickers and hand them out to voters (if they want them), a reasonable distance from the  polling place.  What’s a reasonable distance?  Good judgment should determine that.  Being right in the voter’s face 10 feet from the door, in the middle of a forest of political signs, although legal, is really showing signs of desperation and could well offend the very voter the candidate is trying to reach. 

Finally, those candidates who have write-in votes which have been misspelled will have to go to court to attempt to get them added into their count if they are rejected.

Add the number of write-in candidates and the misspellings to the number of offices being sought (it’s not just about the commissioner race as virtually every office has some write in votes) and the “My Dog could do better” votes. 

Sorting out this mess is a thankless job which takes time and more patience than most of have. 

The results will be here eventually.  No voting system is equipped to handle a large numbers of write-in votes.  Although everyone who is entitled to vote may vote for whom they choose, discretion, maturity and common sense should prevail.

Assuming the election results hold and Democrats Warren and Allen assume the leadership role in the Commissioners office in January, the following people have arguably done their absolute best (knowingly or not) to create this historic event.   The Democratic Party in Susquehanna County should hold this event to honor the people who helped the most.  This event should take place shortly after the installation of our new commissioners, at the Green Gables in New Milford. 

The top spot needs to be shared by three MVP’s - Roberta Kelly, Fred Baker and Tom Jurista.  These three did more to split the Republican party by syphoning off votes from the endorsed candidates by their insistence to run after losing in the primary.  Congratulations to all.  At the ceremony, you will be presented with voter registration forms to change your party affiliation to the current party of choice, the Democratic Party.

Next is the Trojan Horse Award.  Outstanding work by two Democrats - P.J. Amadio and James Jennings.  This is a great story that needs to be shared and used in future election cycles.  These two Democrats both had ads in the local paper endorsing MVP winner Republican Roberta Kelly furthering the Republican vote split and paving the way for Democrats Warren and Allen to change history in Susquehanna County!  Great job guys! 

Continuing on, we have the Best Supporting Roles - those nameless who tirelessly worked to support the write-in campaigns of Kelly and Baker.  They did their absolute best to promote their candidate, knowing there hasn’t been a successful write-in campaign in recent memory, maybe living memory, for the office of County Commissioner.  Congratulations to those brave, misguided souls who invested their time, money, personal reputations and possibly the future of their employment as good Republicans, for the “cause”.  While we realize the “cause” to them was important, the outcome was something not bargained for, but absolutely appreciated by the Democratic Party.  It will be interesting to see if personal reputations will be damaged or jobs lost by their actions.

 Do you know others who need to be awarded citations in this election?  Let’s hear them!!  Post them as a response here.

Although it ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings, she’s warming up.  According to the legal ad in the Independent  (11-7-2007), the Susquehanna County Board of Elections will meet on November 14th at 9am in the Commissioners’ meeting room to commence the canvasing of absentee ballots received from military and overseas electors.  This meeting is open to the public. 

Although there is little chance of the outcome of the election being changed by the absentee vote for a write-in for county commissioner, these votes are important and need to be counted.  As the race for the second, third and fourth position is as close as it is, there could be a change in those positions as well, but that too is unlikely.  Anyway, if your party is second and third in the vote tally do you really care?  it’s the number 4 position who would benefit from a move up.  Otherwise, it is time to go home. 

Assuming the results of the election stay the same, the Republican minority Commissioner, Giangrieco will be in a position known heretofore only to the Democrats - that of being elected as the minority commissioner.  Even more interesting, will be seeing the Democrats assuming the leadership roll in this county.  Although Commissioner elect Giangrieco has received the most votes, as the minority commissioner he won’t be the chairman unless the Democrats cave in immediately and lose all credibility by doing so.  

The Democrat party in Susquehanna County has one chance to prove itself in a leadership position,  Let’s see if they will step up to the plate and do so.  If not, it may be a very long time again before they have that opportunity. 

 The Republican party has a lot work to do, primarily in restructuring themselves from the ground up.  Although they have roughly a 2 to 1 edge in registered voters, they lack internal leadership.  It is a free country, you can’t stop someone from running a separate campaign if they lose a primary.  There needs to more cohesiveness in the party.  If you lose in the primary, you get behind the winners and support them.  We have one example of this, Ray Telnock who did, and three examples, Kelly, Baker and Jurista, who did not.  If these three had taken their losses, gone home and supported the endorsed candidates, none of this would have happened. 

Fight nicely kids, it’s a long time till the 2011 campaign season.

Early Morning 11-7-2007.  Well, without the write-ins fully counted, it appears that for the first time in recent history (and maybe in living memory), the majority commissioners will be Democrats.  As of the most recent update, 11:29am from the Susquehanna County website with 100% of the precincts reporting, the results are this so far:

Michael Giangreco, Esq.  (Republican) -    3,967 votes or 22.05%

MaryAnn Warren (Democrat, Incumbent) - 3,169 votes or 17.61%

Leon Allen (Democrat) -                           3,165 votes or 17.59%

Jeffrey Loomis (Republican, Incumbent) -   3,093 votes or 17.19%

Thomas Jurista (Independent) -                 1,307 votes or 7.26%

Write-ins -                                              3,290 votes or 18.29%

 As you can see, with the exception of Attorney Giangrieco, who appears to have easily captured the most votes, there are only 76 votes which separate the second, third and fourth place hopefuls.  With only 4 votes separating  second and third place, it is anyone’s race.  The write-ins, which total more than Warren, Allen, Loomis and Jurista votes probably in the end will be split primarily between Roberta Kelly (Republican, Incumbent) and Fred Baker (Republican).  Unless one of these two candidates gets the vast majority of the write-ins, their campaigns appear to have failed in more ways than one.  How much is the “majority of write-ins”?  Using the current totals, a write-in candidate would have to get at least 3,166 votes or approximately 96.24% (of the total write-in vote) just to stay alive in 3rd place.  Then there is the matter of the absentee vote.  This is generally small, but with the second, third and fourth place so close, it’s anyone’s guess where it will all fall out. 

Look for recounts and possibly court challenges to these results, which by no means will be final in all probability for some time.

Also, look for a major head hunt in the Republican party.  Losing control of the commissioners’ office will surely raise some eyebrows of the faithful, both here and away.  Maybe this will do the county some good.  Maybe the powers in Harrisburg and Washington will see Susquehanna County as having broken away from the famous Northern Tier  “T” where one politician observed that the only thing there is rocks, rattlesnakes and Republicans.  This could actually be a good thing, at least in the short term.  Maybe we can finally get some cooperation with grants, etc. 

As one Democrat noted yesterday, the Republican vote is so fragmented, there was a real possibility for two democrats to be elected.

On the other side, there were Republicans who were so sure of themselves that they thought there was a real possibility of three Republican commissioners.  When the egos in the GOP come back to reality, maybe these boys and girls will finally decide to play nicely together.  Maybe then they will see that 4 candidates who are declared Republicans, 2 write-ins and 2 endorsed will only split the vote, not strengthen it.  Let’s face it, there are just not that many Republican votes to go around. 

Now, it is a wait and see game.   

The hope here is that everyone took advantage of the biggest liberty we enjoy in the United States.  We actually have the responsibility of electing our leaders. 

If you voted, you honored the memory of all who sacrificed their lives for all of us to enjoy the freedom we do.  Thank you.

If you did not vote, you did not take part in the decision process.  Therefore, although you retain the right to speak due to the First Amendment, your opinions may not be taken with the same weight as someone who does vote.

Now, lets all stay up until ??? to watch the election returns.  Remember, because there are 2 write-in candidates, the final result of the voting will probably not be know for some days… 

Stay tuned!