Who gets credit for Scranton's med school?
Published: May 16, 2009
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share this
For weeks, Mayor Chris Doherty's television commercials have proclaimed his role in bringing the Commonwealth Medical College to downtown Scranton.
The commercials struck many as strange because if anyone deserves the credit, it's state Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow.
His top local aide, Tom Browning, often works on almost nothing but, and the senator obtained $35 million in state seed money.
One guy who found the commercials odd is former City Councilman Gary DiBileo, the mayor's opponent for the Democratic mayoral nomination.
"I'm a great supporter of the new medical school," Mr. DiBileo said during the mayoral debate Monday. "I actually spoke at a couple of city council meetings in favor of it. ... The fact is Chris Doherty had nothing to do with the medical school. ... And that is right from the lips of Sen. Bob Mellow. ... Sen. Mellow had everything to do with the medical school. ... What actually happened was the medical school is actually coming here not because of Mr. Doherty but in spite of Mr. Doherty. It almost left because of him."
Mr. DiBileo said the medical school was planned for across the street from the state veterans center on Mulberry Street, but Mr. Doherty "bragged all over town, property values went through the roof, the medical school almost left."
The truth is more layered, according to Mr. Doherty.
In 2004, about half a dozen civic leaders planning the medical school knew they would need political pull, said Robert Naismith, Ph.D., the group's president. They called Mr. Doherty and county Commissioners Robert Cordaro and A.J. Munchak to a meeting.
"Chris came and said it was important to engage Sen. Mellow," he said. "Chris was there, and he's been very supportive any time we've gone to him."
This is the way Mr. Doherty tells it.
"If you talk to Bob Naismith, he'll tell you the first person he called was me when they had the idea." he said. "I said, 'Obviously, the first guy you should be meeting with is Sen. Mellow.'" Mr. Mellow got on board, and in early April 2007 a critical moment arrived.
Word of the downtown location got out. The consortium had an option to buy the former Howard Johnson Inn but needed surrounding buildings to build housing.
Mr. Mellow raised the possibility of the school moving out of town because owners of surrounding buildings raised their asking price after the publicity. At the time, the senator never blamed Mr. Doherty for the publicity.
Efforts to reach Mr. Mellow were unsuccessful.
Dr. Naismith said Mr. Doherty had nothing to do with the publicity, and blamed The Times-Tribune for making the location public, driving up landowners' demands.
Mr. Doherty said he and Mr. Mellow work well together, but when the senator raised the possibility of moving the school outside Scranton, he worked to end it.
"I talked to the governor and made the case, 'If you're going to spend $35 million, it's got to be in an urban environment because you've been an urban governor and you believe in cities.' And I made the argument also, 'Who do you think carried the health care industry the last 140 years of the city's history? Scranton,'�" he said. "Where are hospitals needed most? Where (is) health care needed most? In cities. For those who can't afford it, first and foremost."
Shortly after that, Mr. Rendell publicly announced he strongly preferred a downtown Scranton location unless a suitable one could not be found.
Talk of moving out of Scranton disappeared, and the school is now going up along Pine Street.
"It's here because I fought for it and because of my relationship with the governor, that I could call him," the mayor said.
Doherty's mailers
Mr. Doherty's direct-mail brochures mostly tell people he's fighting crime and tearing down abandoned buildings, a sign he's worried that could cost him the election. But he also quotes Times-Tribune stories or editorials a lot, and sometimes he stretches their meaning.
For example, one brochure, which shows a shadow of Mr. DiBileo behind lightning striking the Electric City sign, says, "The Scranton Times Calls Gary DiBileo's Behavior 'Destructive,' 'Ineffective' and 'Obstructionist.'"
It cites four editorials. The words or some version of them were in the editorials. But the editorials only describe specific DiBileo actions the newspaper disagreed with, and were not blanket statements about Mr. DiBileo's behavior. For example, one editorial criticized Mr. DiBileo for advocating a "destructive" tax on entertainment in Scranton.
BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, Times-Tribune politics reporter, writes Random Notes.
13 posted comments
He is a leader that is not decisive, and does not want contoversy, he goes with what will make him look good. That is not a trait of a good leader. Mayor Doherty is not self improving to be mission capable, mission ready. I think we need a new face. Lets see a person with follow through.
Sleezy that we all watched Mr Doherty using this school time and time again as his publicity stunt. No substance, Mr Doherty, no substance..just commercial breaks and we sat through them all.
I think it just may be time to step back, leave the stage and get your family(ies) in order.
1. Doherty had nothing to do with the medical school, other than telling the doctor to call Sen. Mellow.
2. The Times, not Doherty, almost caused the medical school to leave Scranton.
3. Doherty is verified once again as a liar and a deceitful campaigner.