Cordaro is ousted as Dems take over

SCRANTON – Underdog candidates trounced the competition in the race for Lackawanna County commissioner, beating their opponents by more than a two-to-one ratio, according to unofficial vote tallies slowed by paper ballots. The tally was completed Wednesday.

Current minority commissioner Michael Washo teamed with Corey O’Brien to oust the Republican majority on the board.

Commissioner Robert Cordaro appears to have been voted out of office, leaving incumbent A.J. Munchak as the new minority commissioner-elect, by a slim margin of 91 votes. Absentee ballots have yet to be counted.

“I think that we demonstrated that hard work pays off,” O’Brien said of the victory. “Our team knocked on thousands of doors. We went to hundred events and we listened to voters. And the most important thing I think an elected official can do is listen to voters.”

O’Brien and Washo claimed victory at a 5 p.m. press conference in front of the Scranton St. Mary’s Center, while Munchak and Cordaro awaited election results Wednesday at PNC Field.

“We believe Lackawanna County’s brightest days are to come,” O’Brien said at the press conference. “We believe the voters deserve honesty.”

O’Brien noted that he plans to work closely with Luzerne County commissioners to create greater success for Northeastern Pennsylvania as a whole.

“A success in Wilkes-Barre is a success in Scranton, and we need to look at our region as a region and not as individual counties,” O’Brien said. “We’re confident that we’re going to be able to work very closely with commissioners in Luzerne County. We believe in a regional approach in respect to bringing in economic development to our region.”

“In Lackawanna County we want to bring openness and transparency to government and to restore trust,” O’Brien said. “We are humbled by the support shown by voters in Lackawanna County. We will always safeguard the trust they bestowed upon us.”

O’Brien said an immediate reduction in taxes is not planned, such as one proposed by his opponents. He said, “we need to take a review of the budget to make a determination about that.”

In 2003, Munchak and Cordaro ended 20 years of Democrat control of the county. That after sweeping all the major races in Luzerne County, the party has also regained control of Lackawanna County.

During the campaign, O’Brien and Washo repeatedly pointed out that a federal grand jury is investigating the administration of Lackawanna County’s worker compensation fund and that Munchak and Cordaro broke a pledge made in 2003 to cut taxes by 25 percent. Instead taxes have been significantly raised.

Cordaro was instrumental in bringing the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees to the area after the Philadelphia Phillies moved the Red Barons to Ottawa, Canada, while a new stadium is being built in the Lehigh Valley.

After a first year in which the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees turned a $1.5 million profit and set an attendance record drawing 580,000 fans to PNC Field, the organization signed a two-year Triple-A player development deal on Oct. 8. The two-year lease of PNC Field was approved on Oct. 25 when Cordaro displayed a $500,000 check to be spent on capital improvements for PNC Field.

Another accomplishment in Cordaro’s long political career was the expansion of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. A new terminal was opened at the airport in May 2006. The expansion increases airport capacity to 360,000 passengers annually – a 60 percent increase.

The new terminal added 130,000 square feet to the airport. Twice-daily flights to Detroit were also added at the time. Cordaro served as chairman of the airport authority board when the terminal expansion was planned and executed.

A state Supreme Court decision on April 30 regarding failure to disclose his membership on the board of directors of Landmark Community Bank forced Cordaro off the primary ballot in May. Cordaro, however, ran a successful write-in campaign and got his name back on for the general election.

O’Brien pledged to work with the new minority commissioner for the next four years.

“We will treat the minority commissioner with absolute respect and dignity,” O’Brien said. “We look forward to working with that person going forward.”