We're Taking You to a Clambake

Buzz and I were enjoying a couple of good cigars at our favorite local cigar shop, when we were approached by a couple of kindly gentlemen who asked if we wanted to go to a clambake. Having been politicked out for the week we agreed. We were hoodwinked. We ended up at a Luzerne County judicial rally. We shouldn't have been surprised, after all, these days any room that can hold more than 25 people on any given evening is more likely than not hosting a judicial candidate's event.

We attended the Tom O'Connor rally at the Swoyersville American Legion along with 200 or so of Tom's closest friends and relatives. O'Connor welcomed us with open arms, but asked if Buzz could keep his hot dog consumption to under a dozen.

A number of county candidates were there including incumbent Democratic Register of Wills Dottie Stankovic, Deomcratic Controller candidate Bob Morgan, Democratic Proth candidates Gerald Mullery and Nancy McGinley Bellas, and Republican Proth candidate Walter Mitchell.

O'Connor gave a very brief speech, the majority of which dealt with the acknowledgement of family who attended the event. The only real substance to the speech was his pledge to "make" us "proud" of him being a judge in Luzerne County. He left the political attacks to his campaign chairman Dr. Chris Alexander.

Alexander touted O'Connor's 30 plus years as a practicing attorney, but then said we needed to elect a judge who could handle both "criminal and civil matters" without a "conflict of interest," and a judge who could fulfill a full 10 year term without facing "mandatory retirement." Both references were clear shots at Judge Joseph Musto who is conflicted out of criminal cases due to his niece being District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll and the fact that he is 65 years old and must retire at age 70.

Stay tuned for other clambake updates in the future.