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The verdict is in.

Registered voters in Luzerne County are just plain lazy and apathetic. And in some cases, they like the same old, same old.

Wilkes-Barre Area School Director John Quinn, who also sits on the Wilkes-Barre Area Career, Vocational and Family Employment Center, was re-elected. Not long ago, he added his son to his relative roster of school employees.

Maybe voters are simply jaded and believe nothing will change no matter who gets in.

Election Day couldn’t have been more gorgeous. Against a backdrop of bright orange, yellow and scarlet autumn leaves, the air was blanketed by warm sunshine. There was no excuse not to take a short walk or drive to your local polling station. Still turnout was predictably low.

Wilkes-Barre City will soon have a new mayor. Only about 3,000 people voted for Tony George to govern a city of 40,000. City residents had a chance to try something new and elect a Republican, Frank Sorick, as mayor after decades of Democratic rule but chose not to.

So now they can hope that Mayor George does what he promised and makes the city safe. If he does that, he will have earned the confidence and respect of everyone who lives, works and visits Wilkes-Barre.

To his credit, Sorick, visibly disappointed at his loss, said he will continue to fight for city residents as president of its Taxpayers Association, despite enduring personal attacks during the campaign which he said extended to his family.

He could have just walked away from any involvement in city affairs but said instead, “It’s time for my supporters and Tony’s supporters to realize we are all Wilkes-Barre.” That’s a very gracious gesture.

Current Mayor Tom Leighton, in post-election remarks, said he was going to give Tony George “the opportunity to be successful.” Now that he’s leaving, that opportunity is wide open.

Elmy loses

And we won’t have WBA school board president Lou Elmy to kick around anymore. In a refreshing change, Elmy lost to a Republican candidate, Tony Brooks, the first time in about 30 years a Republican will sit on the city council.

It must have been those questions about Elmy’s campaign finance reports that swayed voters.

Congratulations to Stefanie Salavantis for winning a second term as Luzerne County district attorney. Her entry into county politics four years ago was an inspiration in that she really had a weak resume running for the county’s top prosecutor’s job.

She showed others with limited experience to go for it anyway because you never know. She also demonstrated that seizing the moment can have huge payoffs. Salavantis was at the right place at the right time when she challenged then DA Jackie Musto Carroll who was partly blamed when the “Kids for Cash” scandal erupted around her at the county courthouse.

In Luzerne County, the council welcomes back Gene Kelleher. I met Gene when I was a TL reporter assigned to cover Plymouth Borough. He always impressed me as a serious, thoughtful public servant. I couldn’t believe it when he lost his inaugural council seat during the last election.

Hooray for write-in votes.

School board races

Except when it comes to some local school boards.

At Northwest Area, voters rejected Edward P. Murphy, who ran a write-in campaign, and voted for Ralph L. Killian, who passed away but was still on the ballot. What’s the matter with voters?

In controversy-plagued Wilkes-Barre Area, citizens had an opportunity to shake things up but didn’t. Re-elected were three of the seven directors who, despite public protest, voted to squeeze a costly new high school on a less than three-acre lot in a flood zone in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Returning to the board are John Quinn, James Susek and Dino Galella.

Those who challenged them with write-in campaigns were Robin Shudak and Bob Holden, outspoken members of the Save Our Schools movement and Sam Troy, an active community watchdog. Despite their angry protests, some WBA residents apparently are comfortable with the status quo.

What this particular election conveys is what most politicians count on. Citizens get angry when elected officials recklessly spend taxpayers’ money , raise their taxes, make ill-conceived decisions, and hire their colleagues’ kin, but then it all blows over. When it comes time to make some real changes, voters sit out election day, leaving a handful of citizens to later fight their battles.

And they will. From what I’m hearing, SOS members will stop at nothing to topple the school board’s plan to merge Coughlin and Meyers high schools at the Coughlin site and leave GAR out in the cold.

The school board has already called in the state to help bail it out of its financial hole. SOS may be making a few calls of its own to shine the light on what newly elected SOS President Dr. Richard Holodick calls “a district in crisis.”

Zeroing In Betty Roccograndi
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_Roccograndi.jpg.optimal.jpgZeroing In Betty Roccograndi

Betty Roccograndi is a Wyoming Valley native and an award-winning journalist. Her column appears every Sunday.