Numbers

I thought Luzerne County judge Peter Paul Olszewski would squeak by in his retention bid. He didn't. Voters bounced Olszewski. He told me Tuesday morning that he wasn't worried. It was a poor choice or words. Olszewski should have said something like "concerned." It would have sent a message to the voters that he knew they were unhappy, and their fears would be addressed. Olszewski spent time at disgraced judge Michael Conahan's Florida condominium, and that sent up the red flag with voters. When you have a criminal enterprise as large as the one allegedly run by Conahan and the other rogue judge, Mark Ciavarella, how could fellow judges not know what was going on? Olszewski paid the price.

Can someone explain to me how indicted bribe taker Jerry Bonner can get more than 18,000 votes in his unopposed bid to be re-elected as jury commissioner?

Voters sent a message to Scranton mayor Chris Doherty. He got 60 per cent of the vote, and wins a third term. The other 40 per cent went to write-in candidates. A write-in garnering 40 per cent is not to be taken lightly. It seems the voters want Doherty to pay more attention to the city rather than his potential gubernatorial campaign.

Richard Hughes would have made a good Luzerne County judge. The same goes for Frank Castellano in Lackawanna County, but Republicans in Democratic territory have quite a challenge. Amesbury, Gartley, and Moyle appear to be fine additions to the bench.

Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick paid the price for some unpopular decisions. He had to threaten high schoolers with felonies in a texting scandal. He had no choice. The law didn't call for anything else, a case where the law hasn't kept up with technology. Skumanick is out after 20 years. I've dealt with Skumanick both as a reporter and as a victim. I've always found him to be extremely professional.

Judicial elections, locally and across the state, used to be genteel affairs. Those days are long gone. They are now as nasty as any other race, complete with misleading ads.

The Pike County library tax referendum went down in flames. First, this is a tough time to ask for any new tax. Secondly, this whole thing was poorly handled. The library board couldn't effectively make their case, and some people on that board are very unpopular. Voters let them know. A strong community needs a strong library. Somebody has to figure out how to pay for it.

Voter turn out in a lot of places was light yesterday, and that's always disappointing.

New Jersey and Virginia are getting new Republican governors. The so-called experts are trying to paint that as troublesome for President Obama. While Obama did campaign for the Democrats, remember what Tip O'Neill said: "All politics is local." There's a lot you can say here. Obama's charisma isn't enough to get unpopular candidates over the hump. The Obama people have to be concerned, but NJ and VA are experiencing some unique problems that can't be translated to a national stage. On the other hand, NJ and VA are like the rest of us. Taxes are too high. Unemployment is too high, and the economy still isn't recovering fast enough. This was a little test. The big one comes one year from now, when mid-term elections traditionally go against the party in power.