"Selling off assets for a short-term cash infusion to the usual-gang-of-idiots is laughable."

The defining ideology of Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton is hard to pin down. The list of convicted felons with ties to Leighton gets longer every day. Leighton is the poster child for deals and associations that seem to define the phrase “appearance of impropriety.”

 Yet it's hard to imagine Leighton as the audacious mastermind of a complex criminal network. Likewise, his public persona is so dull and listless that when his opponents describe him in terms straight out of Machiavelli, they tend to do more harm then good to their own credibility.

Leighton is the end-product of a machine that has been in place for an eternity. He is the beneficiary of circumstance and dubious tradition, not intelligence and diligence.

When Leighton posits that the best interests of taxpayers are served by handing over the proceeds from a twenty million dollar parking lease to his administration, we tend to err on the side of skepticism. This goes beyond raising a red flag, this is more like the blinding light of a thousand rockets exploding over the entire Wyoming valley.

 We are big fans of privatization. The less government involvement in areas best served by business, the better off we all are.

 But selling off assets for a short-term cash infusion to the usual-gang-of-idiots is laughable.

 And the joke is on us.

UPDATE: Wilkes-Barre's Parking Authority relocates meeting to a larger venue

City Looking at Leasing Parking Assets

Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off

Lessons From Chicago

Luzerne County Democratic Chair Kathy Kane's reality-distortion-field can weaken the will of all but the strongest opponents.

When Luzerne County Democratic Committee members refused  to march in lockstep for Rep. Tim Holden's quasi-incumbent congressional bid, Borg Queen Kane decided a 23 to 10 vote was close enough for her to declare the committee's endorsement "unanimous." Holden got the nod and challenger Matt Cartwright got the heave-ho -- despite the strong objections of several committee members.

Now with Holden trailing Cartwright in the 17th district primary and Kane's setting her phasers on stun. Kane might be too busy to attend Wilkes-Barre city council meetings, but she has plenty of time (and the cojones) to schedule a hastily organized meet-and-greet for Holden that coincides with a Cartwright event the same night.

Despite the presence of former General Hospital heart throb Jack Wagner, opening day at Holden's downtown Wilkes-Barre HQ was a sparsely attended, non-event. Various non-civilians could be heard grumbling that their attendance was deemed mandatory by superiors and their loyalties lay elsewhere (read: Carwright.)

Mundy/Cartwright Rally
Thursday, April 12
6PM-8PM
West Wyoming Hose Co. #1
926 Shoemaker Ave.
West Wyoming 18644
Info: (570) 371-3870

Luzerne County Democratic Committee Rally
Thursday, April 12
6:30PM-8:30PM
Ramada Hotel
20 Public Square
Wilkes-Barre 18701

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Times Leader is offering readers the chance to purchase their very own copy of this splendid portrait of Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton and convicted-corruption-casualty Jerry Bonner in a passionate embrace during a recent "Leadership Wilkes-Barre"⁽¹⁾ event.

In 2010, Bonner's leadership proved wanting in federal court, after he was sentenced to two years probation and three months house arrest after "admitting to passing along a bribe" to an official of the Luzerne County Housing Authority. 

"I never thought that I would ever stand in a courtroom for making a phone call for a friend. That's all it ever was to me. I never got nothing out of this and I'm just going to do what I have to do now"... - Jerry Bonner musters up some heartfelt contrition for WNEP.

For the low, low price of just $19.99, readers can opt for a truly glorious "picture mug" customized with the menacing grimace of Wilkes-Barre's embattled mayor just inches away from planting one on the lips of the former Jury Commissioner and ex-member of the Luzerne County Housing Authority.

^{(1) "Leadership Wilkes-Barre" is a training program that brings together budding young politicos with various past felons. Then they all have drinks at the Westmoreland Club  and laugh heartily at the misfortune of others.}

According to Keegan Gibson in  Politicspa.com:

Luzerne County Councilman Stephen Urban, who made headlines last year when he switched from Republican to Democrat, is circulating nominating petitions for U.S. Congress. He would face incumbent Rep. Tim Holden and Democratic primary challenger Matt Cartwright, an attorney from Scranton.

But seriously, folks...