Cheers & Jeers- March 28, 2014

Cheers to Jerry Knowles - R-124

Jerry is riding high after his primary challenger, Jamie Barton, withdrew from the race, leaving Jerry uncontested in both the primary and general elections.

Cheers and Jeers to Jamie Barton

Overall, not a good week for Jamie, who saw his candidacy for the 124th House seat come to a crashing halt - literally.  However, Jamie had the good sense to withdraw from the race to concentrate on his legal problems stemming from DUI charges.

Cheers to Controller Christy Joy and DA Christine Holman

Christy and Christine get a huge thumbs up for their efforts to uncover gross mismanagement in the courthouse as part of the ongoing investigation of Democrat Clerk of Courts, Steve Lukach.

Cheers to the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce

The Chamber hosted a county commissioners round table at the Schuylkill Country Club with a nice turnout this week.  Kudos to them for their efforts to keep people informed.

Jeers to the Schuylkill County Patriots

This group went on record this week defending Democrat Clerk of Courts Steve Lukach, who is being investigated by not only state and local authorities, but the FBI for gross mismanagement and corruption in office.

 

Inaugural Post

Some of you may have been reading the litany of emails being put out recently by the so called Schuylkill County Patriots (formerly known as the County Conservatives).  You know, the group supported by the likes of Joe Sterns, Larry Padora, and Hank Clarke.  

In the last email, they claim that the recent scandal in the County Clerk of Courts office, instead of being the sole corruption of Steve Lukach, is some how an orchestrated hit-job by District Attorney Holman and Controller Christy Joy to exact political revenge.  Instead of realizing that Steve Lukach has been involved in corruption and mismanagement of his office, Joe defends the office holder and bashes our own members!  Take a look back at the Clerk of Courts audits done by the county and state for many years, and you will see just how mismanaged the office is.  You can view the full report here: http://www.christyjoy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CoC-report-FINAL.pdf

Then, to top it all off, Mr. Sterns drags Frank Schoeneman into his argument.  Wonder why?  Sour grapes.  Could it be possible that Joe is angry that Frank did not support his buddy, Larry Padora for County Commissioner?  Yes, the "County Patriots" claim to be holding our officials accountable, but really what they seek to do is win elections by spreading lies and harming our own party. But they can't even do that.  They lose elections at overwhelming rates and they drag their own names in the mud.  

Apparently, that wasn’t enough and now the group had to continue to spread lies about allegations concerning Kyle Heffner, a young man seeking a seat on the Republican State committee.  Thankfully, Mr. Heffner put a stop to these outrageous lies in an email released Sunday evening (which you may see below).  Hats off to Mr. Heffner for putting a stop to the outrage of mistruths by this group. Candidates like Mr. Heffner would like to see the party come together as a whole and actually get along.  

You are right about one thing however, Joe, the taxpayers deserve better.  So please, stop working against your own party and defending corrupt career politicians.

Controller Joy, keep up the good work!