Full bag of dirty tricks during recent primary
Published: June 20, 2009
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share thisThe oversized postcard advertisement from Lackawanna County judicial candidate Jim Tierney arrived in voters' mailboxes with President Barack Obama's photo during the primary election campaign.
"Who did President Obama turn to for sound legal advice?" asked the white lettering next to the smiling president's image.
The flip side had the answer: "He picked Jim Tierney as his Lackawanna County counsel."
More than a few people rolled their eyes.
"It sort of came across that Barack had phoned him and called, when obviously that wasn't the truth," said Jeff Brauer, a Keystone College political science professor.
The Obama-Tierney postcard also served as an example in a campaign that endured its share of truth-stretching, distortions and, sometimes, dirty tricks.
"I thought it was fairly mild. I don't think the attacks were at levels of previous elections or the distortions and that," Mr. Brauer said.
Mr. Tierney defended the advertisement as accurate because Mr. Obama's campaign tabbed him to deal with potential voting irregularities in the county. He did the same job for John Kerry's 2004 campaign, and actually argued a case focused on changes in polling places.
"It was absolutely true that for this election I was selected as his (Mr. Obama's) county counsel," said Mr. Tierney, who finished last among four candidates on the Republican and Democratic tickets.
Mr. Tierney's wasn't the only example of the election campaign's occasional ventures into either a house of mirrors or plain unruliness.
- More than a month before the May 19 primary, Democratic mayoral candidate Gary DiBileo called reporters to report the removal of dozens of his campaign signs in West Scranton. Mr. DiBileo never directly accused Mayor Chris Doherty of being behind the incident, and the mayor denied it. Though Mr. DiBileo complained to city police, they never filed charges.
- Someone ordered automated telephone calls the night before the election urging voters not to vote for judicial candidate Frank Castellano. Mr. Castellano declined to comment, saying the primary election was over.
- Mr. Doherty claimed he created 6,000 jobs in eight years using a debatable calculation method. The claim was also called into question because the city's unemployment rate is sharply higher than when he took office. Mr. Doherty stood by his claim after the election, saying his pre-primary explanation showed "a lack of preparation on my part."
- In an oversized postcard mailed to voters, Mr. Doherty accused Mr. DiBileo of being an "obstructionist," "destructive" and "ineffective," citing Times-Tribune editorials that used the words. But the editorials focused on single issues and didn't portray Mr. DiBileo in broad terms.
"That's what you guys wrote," the mayor said, defending the usage.
Mr. DiBileo himself was outraged by the card's use of his image as a ghost that short-circuited and darkened the Electric City sign. The sign is a city landmark restored under Mr. Doherty and considered a symbol of the city's progress under his leadership.
- Mr. Tierney used praise for his past performance as a lawyer by two county judges, Tom Munley and Carmen Minora, in mailed and broadcast advertisements. The judges had praised Mr. Tierney's work during the stormy 2007 election in a December 2007 letter to the editor published in The Times-Tribune.
Mr. Tierney claimed his advertisements "were never intended to be an endorsement of my candidacy by Judge Munley or Judge Minora."
But weeks before the primary, the judges called a news conference to warn people that they weren't endorsing Mr. Tierney. Judge Minora called the advertisement "clever," but said it was "out of context, and people are interpreting it incorrectly."
- County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dominick Manetti was cited for criminal mischief for tearing down a campaign sign of fellow Deputy Sheriff Chester Cipilewski. Deputy Cipilewski ran unsuccessfully for sheriff against their boss, Sheriff John Szymanski. A trial on the citation took place Wednesday, and Magisterial District Judge James Gibbons found Mr. Manetti not guilty.
- This week, Mr. Doherty, without accusing anyone, said someone dropped a pile of his and Mr. DiBileo's signs along with other garbage on his front porch during the campaign.
Mr. Doherty said he doesn't think this campaign was particularly nasty or full of distortions. Quite the opposite.
"I thought this was, even for my race, the tamest," he said.
Accusations of sign stealing are common at election time.
"Every election I lose 500 signs," Mr. Doherty said.
Mr. DiBileo saw the election differently, saying "this one was worse" when it came to Mr. Doherty's attacks than his unsuccessful 2005 contest against the mayor. The Electric City/ghost advertisement "was just uncalled for," he said.
It shouldn't be, but for around here, this was all par for the course.
BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, Times-Tribune politics reporter, writes Random Notes. The column has appeared every Saturday since 1895.
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