In NEPA, guilty pleas are like ass...

Wowie Zowie!

They’re dropping like DEET-weakened Fiord Flies around here today!

In Northeastern Pennsylvania, guilty pleas are like assholes because seemingly everybody’s got one.

From the Times Leader:

A Jan. 26 court date has been set for former Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak to enter his guilty plea as part of the federal corruption probe.Skrepenak is scheduled to plead guilty at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy in federal court in Scranton.

Skrepenak was charged with accepting at least $5,000 for supporting a tax incentive program that benefited a local real estate developer. He is accused of using his position to help ensure a project the developer was building in Jenkins Township was approved for the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program, according to the criminal complaint.

From the Citizens’ Voice:

Fired Luzerne County human resources director Doug Richards has pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting a bribe of more than $1,000 from a county contractor.Federal prosecutors said Richards accepted the cash bribe for supporting the unnamed contractor’s efforts to secure county business sometime between Jan. 1, 2006, and May 1, 2008.

Richards has recently been tied to two mysterious New York companies whose 2006-2008 contracts with the county are under federal investigation.He was fired by the county commissioners last month shortly after he announced his resignation.

One!…More!…Time!…from the Voice:

Former Luzerne County Deputy Chief Clerk William G. Brace pleaded guilty in federal court today to accepting a $1,500 tailor-made suit as a reward from a county contractor.Brace, 64, went to a New York City tailor to be fitted for the monogrammed suit between June 1, 2007, and May 1, 2008, according to federal prosecutors. The suit was allegedly a reward for Brace’s support for the contractor’s efforts to secure county contracts.

As far as the TIF and KOZ freebies are concerned, I still maintain that if the Feds ever got around to investigating every single one in this county--plenty of heads would roll.

Consider why the state legislature created these programs in the first place…to attract industry to and create well-paying jobs for the constituents of this state.

But in this county, the TIFs and KOZs attracted no industry, created no jobs to speak of, but plenty of well-connected people as well as their enabling politicians benefited from them one way or another (wink, wink).

In other words, what was first presented to us as wonderful and well-meaning things were grossly perverted by the very people who were entrusted with creating and implementing them.


And now, a not-so-private message for Kayak Dude:

Dude, I already mapped out one of the frickin’ fracking sites out Harveys Lake way. So you can expect glossies just as soon as I can get out there and trespass on some private property.

This concludes our not-so-private message.

And to our Mothers Against Drunk Drivers 'Readers Comments' commenter:

As a founding member of Drunks Against Mad Mothers (DAMM), I offer a hearty and heartfelt “no comment.”

Although, I believe you to be correct.

Later