GRIPE SHOTS

For all of you who were wondering why I have not Griped in some time, I have to let you know that I went under the surgical knife about a week ago.  However, I am now back in action and ready to Gripe.  In fact, I have so much Gripe built up in my inner soul that I think it's time to pull up a stool, holler for my favorite Gripetender and get ready to toss down some Gripe Shots.  In fact, I am so filled with Gripe, that I am going to buy the first round for the entire room.  This first shot is to all of the screw ups by Luzerne County during the past primary election this past Tuesday.  Hang on to your hats because here we go...

Walter Griffith

Election day just came and went and let me tell you that the voters are idiots. Only in Luzerne County could a person who is up on felony wiretap charges be elected to represent his party in the November general election.  Current LC Controller Walter Griffith defeated Karen Ceppa-Hirko in a landslide to win the Republican primary.  WHAT!  WHAT!  ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!  The state attorney general’s office charged Griffith last Friday with illegally recording three conversations without the consent of at least eight people, arrest papers showed.  So let me get this straight, this clown is charged with felony wire tap but still wins in a landslide in the primary.  Way to go morons!

Where's The Web Page?

Speaking of the election, Luzerne County scored and A+ in total inefficiency on election night.  Right around 8:30pm, glitches in the County Web Site were reported which quickly spun into a giant technological meltdown for workers and managers with the county's bureau of elections.  Things got so tense over at the county Taj Mahal that an election chairman was heard scolding Eyewitness News for inquiring, barking: "We're trying to run a friggin' election here."  Should he have said we are trying to run an election here or was it trying to rig an election here?  Why do I think it was the latter of the two.  As the night went on things got worse.  Our Einsteins over at the courthouse had to regroup and call the Audio Visual Department of West Side Tech to put up a projector in the rotunda.  In all, the county web site was down for about 90 minutes.  It finally came back up at about 10:45pm or just in time for the tallies to be completed.  All I have to say is, "What a joke!"

How did he get on the ballot?

Finally, the pin headed nit wits over at the Luzerne County Election Bureau failed to notify two neighboring counties of the withdrawal of a Hazleton Area School Board candidate.  Steven Hahn, an incumbent from Sugar Loaf Township filed a nomination petition to retain his position but then later withdrew just hours before the deadline.  Still, his name appeared on the ballot in Carbon and Schuykill counties where he tallied 552 votes.  Election Bureau solicitor Michael Butera said, "We took him off here but we didn't notify the other counties". No kidding dip stick!  This screw up may result in the results being thrown out and a re-election to taker place.  Of course I would think it would be on the dollar of the taxpayers.

There you have it, elections as usual here in Luzerne County.  Messed up web site, screwed up machines, people all jazzed up and total miscommunication all around.  Wasn't everything supposed to get better once we had the County "Clown Posse" Council in place.  May that was an ill conceived idea?