Latest news with #LackawannaCountyDemocraticParty
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
County Dem chairman provides details on rubric used to score McGloin replacement applicants
Lackawanna County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick provided this week details of a scoring rubric party leaders used in the now-paused process of replacing former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin. That process played out controversially last month after the county Democratic Committee solicited applications from individuals interested in replacing McGloin, who resigned Feb. 24. A replacement procedure included in the county's Home Rule Charter gave the county Democratic Party's executive committee five days from the date of the vacancy to furnish a list of three potential appointees for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas. After 18 candidates expressed interest, party leaders used the aforementioned scoring rubric to determine which three highest-scoring applicants should be put before the executive committee tasked with voting to advance three finalists to the judges. The candidates the committee ultimately advanced were former county economic development Director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey. That vote was conducted Feb. 27 during a closed-door executive committee meeting. Patrick has not released the names of all 18 applicants and, until this week, hadn't provided the newspaper with details on the scoring rubric. But, in a recent text exchange, Patrick said the rubric included points for government, professional and economic development experience, experience developing or helping to develop budgets, educational background and experience working for or with the county Democratic Committee. How those categories were weighted remains unclear. Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan, who'd introduced Dunmore Mayor Mark 'Max' Conway Jr. as his preferred choice to succeed McGloin, has blasted the process Patrick and the party employed in advancing Sacco, Baldan and Casey as politically tainted and nontransparent. In defending his process, Patrick has accused Gaughan of strong-arm tactics in an attempt to control the replacement process himself. Whether the Democratic Committee process will survive a legal challenge remains to be seen. That legal battle, a source of controversy in its own right, began Monday when county solicitor Donald Frederickson and attorneys with the Scranton law firm Myers, Brier & Kelly filed a petition on behalf of Gaughan and the county asking the county court to amend a March 6 court order on the replacement process. The order signed by former county President Judge Trish Corbett maintained the Home Rule Charter's replacement process involving the county Democratic Committee was in violation of Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration 1908, Gaughan contends. That rule, adopted by the state Supreme Court in 2019, says the county court, not a political party, 'shall receive applications from any interested candidates for the position' pursuant to a deadline established by the court. Gaughan and the county's petition asks the court to amend the March 6 order so it complies with Rule 1908, effectively excluding the county Democratic Committee from the process of filling McGloin's vacant seat. President Judge James Gibbons, who replaced Corbett as president judge Monday shortly before the petition's filing, issued Wednesday a rule to show cause staying the March 6 court order, pausing the process of replacing McGloin and giving the county Democratic Committee until April 7 to answer as to why the relief sought by Gaughan shouldn't be granted. Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak, meanwhile, said the county shouldn't be involved in and taxpayers shouldn't fund Gaughan's legal action. Frederickson and minority solicitor Paul LaBelle disagreed at Wednesday's commissioner meeting as to whether Chermak's authorization was necessary for Frederickson to commence legal action on behalf of Gaughan and the county. Frederickson holds that section 13302 of the Pennsylvania County Code gives a county solicitor the right to commence litigation in matters involving the county's interest. The appointment process and the question of what should determine it, the Home Rule Charter or Rule 1908, constitutes such a matter, he contends. That section of the Pennsylvania County Code does not authorize Frederickson to take unilateral action without the approval of a majority of the commissioners, which in this case would require Chermak's approval, LaBelle contends. 'That's not the way I read it,' Frederickson said.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
County Dems resubmit same three potential McGloin replacements for court's consideration
Lackawanna County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick resubmitted Friday the same three candidates to potentially succeed former Commissioner Matt McGloin that the party's executive committee originally advanced last month. It came a day after county President Judge Trish Corbett issued an order Thursday resetting the clock on an appointment process spelled out in the county's Home Rule Charter — a process that gives the party's executive committee five days from the date of a vacancy to provide the names of three potential appointees for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas. Corbett's order noted the court accepted McGloin's resignation Thursday, giving the party until Tuesday to furnish the judges with three candidates. That process had already played out in late February, when party leadership put forward and the party's executive committee voted to advance former county economic development Director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey as the three finalists to fill the remainder of McGloin's term expiring Jan. 3, 2028. The way the party went about advancing those names was controversial, with Commissioner Bill Gaughan sharply criticizing its process as politically 'tainted' and nontransparent. Gaughan, who took office with McGloin in January 2024, had introduced Dunmore Mayor Mark 'Max' Conway Jr. as his preferred choice to replace his former Democratic colleague. The original committee vote occurred Feb. 27, with Patrick submitting Sacco's, Baldan's and Casey's names to the court the next day. Those three candidates scored the highest on a rubric party leaders used to trim the list of potential appointees from 18 to three, Patrick previously said. The three highest-scoring candidates were put before the full executive committee for a vote, though Patrick hasn't released the names of all 18 applicants or details on the scoring rubric. Patrick confirmed Monday that he simply resubmitted the original three names to the court Friday, following Corbett's Thursday order. Democratic Party leaders did not reconvene the executive committee for another vote. Corbett's order said the court will conduct interviews with all three candidates in accordance with Rule 1908 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration before the judges vote on which of the three will replace McGloin. The timeline for that part of the replacement process was not immediately clear. Efforts to reach Gaughan on Monday were not immediately successful.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Candidates to replace McGloin say they can work with Gaughan, including one dismissed last year
A former Lackawanna County economic development director who Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Matt McGloin dismissed early last year said she expects she'd work well with Gaughan if chosen to replace McGloin as commissioner. Brenda Sacco, who led the county's Department of Planning and Economic Development for about five years before Gaughan and McGloin fired her shortly after taking office as Democratic majority commissioners in January 2024, is one of three potential appointees the Lackawanna County Democratic Party's executive committee advanced last week as possible McGloin successors. The others are Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey. Baldan and Casey, who is not related to the former senator, each said they could work well with Gaughan, too. McGloin recently announced his resignation as commissioner effective Feb. 24, prompting a process under the county's Home Rule Charter that saw the party submit the names of three potential Democratic replacements — Sacco, Baldan and Casey — for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas. Gaughan, who earlier last week announced Dunmore Mayor Mark 'Max' Conway Jr. as his preferred choice to succeed McGloin, continues to sharply criticize the process by which the party advanced those three candidates from a field of 18 applicants. While the charter tasks the judges with choosing one of the three to fill the remainder of McGloin's term expiring Jan. 3, 2028, the court said Friday it will take no action on the vacancy until commissioners officially accept McGloin's resignation at a formal meeting. It came a day after county solicitor Donald Frederickson noted in a memo to the court that, 'as a matter of law,' no vacancy exists until McGloin's resignation is accepted at such a meeting. And with commissioners meeting Wednesday, Frederickson said in a phone interview that McGloin could conceivably come back and rescind his resignation, though he hasn't publicly expressed any desire to return. 'Until the resignation is accepted, there is no vacancy to fill and any effort toward naming a successor is premature,' Frederickson wrote in the memo to the court. A former Penn State and NFL quarterback, McGloin resigned as commissioner for a job with Boston College's football program. He then left that job, citing family reasons. Frederickson also advised the court of an apparent conflict between the Home Rule Charter and a procedure set forth in Rule 1908 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration that the state Supreme Court adopted in 2019. That procedure for filling a vacancy involves the county court alone, not any political party. How the court proceeds remains to be seen. But, given her position atop the short list the county Democratic Party submitted to the judges, the newspaper asked Sacco on Friday if she had any concerns that her having been fired by Gaughan would create an awkward dynamic should she ultimately replace McGloin. 'Reasonable minds can disagree about how to regard my prior separation from Lackawanna County, but I certainly don't regard it as Commissioner Gaughan having fired me,' she said in a statement. 'The truth is I have great respect for Commissioner Gaughan and I supported him when he ran. If I am chosen I hope and expect to work very well with him given our combined experience and dedication to the county.' Sacco joined the county economic development office in August 2013 as deputy director of operations and finance under Director George Kelly, who left in January 2019. Kelly ran for commissioner that year as incumbent Democratic Commissioner Jerry Notarianni's running mate, but didn't advance beyond the primary. Commissioners elevated Sacco in early 2019 to replace Kelly as director, initially in an acting capacity. She served through the next administration of Notarianni, fellow Democratic Commissioner Debi Domenick and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak, often earning praise for her performance. Gaughan and McGloin dismissed Sacco in late January 2024 but gave no specific reasons at the time for letting her go. A contemporaneous news release noted the county had 'parted ways' with Sacco. It's not unusual for new majority administrations to replace department heads. Longtime planning manager Mary Liz Donato served as Sacco's interim replacement until Gaughan and McGloin appointed Kristin Magnotta to the planning and economic development director position in February 2024. Gaughan declined to comment Monday on Sacco's dismissal, calling it a personnel issue. He also declined to comment on Baldan or Casey, both of whom, like Sacco, expressed confidence in their ability to work with Gaughan should they fill McGloin's seat. 'I can work with anybody,' said Casey, now in his second stint as a Scranton school director after previously serving as a director from 1979-91. 'I spent over 14 years on the Scranton School Board, and, when you're dealing with nine people, in order to get anything done you need to be able to develop a consensus and work with people and understand … what their point of view (is).' Baldan made a similar case for himself, citing his more than four decades working for Burlington stores. 'I worked for over 40 years in the same company,' he said. 'To make that happen you have to be able to conform and be able to work with anyone or work for anyone. … Yes, I would be able to work with anyone in the county, anyone in government or anyone in the private sector.' At this point the appointment process is in the hands of the county judges, Gaughan said. 'They have to go through their process and I respect that, so I'm refraining from commenting on any of the individuals who had their names submitted,' he said. But Gaughan did reiterate his objections to the process county Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick used to determine which three candidates should advance to the judges, calling it 'pretty pathetic.' He criticized Patrick last week for not interviewing potential candidates before the full executive committee and for lacking transparency more broadly. Patrick has not released the names of everyone who applied to fill the vacancy or details about a scoring rubric used to grade the candidates. In a Friday statement defending the process, Patrick said that the three highest-scoring applicants were put before the executive committee, which advanced them to the judges. He also noted the relatively short window of time the party had to conduct the process as part of his broader defense. '(Patrick) wants to be the kingmaker instead of being transparent and honest,' Gaughan said Monday. 'And it's my opinion that he has absolutely no interest in good government.' Patrick rejected the charge. 'My response still stands from last week and my only goal as chairman is to make sure we elect Democrats in every election,' he said. 'I totally support good and responsible government on all levels.'
