Six candidates running for controller’s seat

Every four years, voters get to choose someone to be their eyes and ears in Luzerne County government.

This person – the controller – is supposed to refuse payment if transactions aren’t legal or properly approved. The controller has votes on powerful boards that oversee county job creation and the stressed $150 million employee pension fund.

The controller even has some authority to investigate, issue subpoenas and withhold payments on suspicion of fraud, flagrant abuse of public office or criminal acts, according to state law.

Six people want to be controller, and they all promise to be outspoken and vigilant. They’ve all stressed their roots as lifelong county residents.

Voters must narrow down the field to two contenders on May 19 – one Democrat and one Republican.

Fairview Township resident Bob Morgan has a near lock on the Democratic nomination because he’s running unopposed.

Republicans will get to choose one of the following contenders: Edward Brominski, Swoyersville; Alice Coffman, Sugarloaf Township; Walter Griffith, Wilkes-Barre; Nanda Palissery, Dallas; and Robert Sypniewski, Dallas.

Here’s some background on the candidates culled from interviews and statements made at recent forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters and LuLac Political Letter Forum:

Brominski, 69, has held several jobs since 1965, including: public school teacher, Swoyersville mayor, county commissioner and county assessment director. County commissioners fired him from the last job after he unsuccessfully ran for county commissioner in 1999. Brominski sued, arguing that he was fired for political reasons. A new set of commissioners settled the suit for $130,000 in 2005.

Now retired, Brominski said he would work full-time in the office. He has cited numerous examples of his past willingness to challenge questionable activity and make tough decisions.

As assessment director, he said he uncovered falsified travel vouchers and time sheets, found unwarranted assessment reductions granted to the friends of public officials and fruitlessly complained when a no-show job was created for a friend of former judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

Brominski said he approached an unidentified county commissioner when one of his workers attempted to get travel reimbursement for a holiday in which the county was closed, and the commissioner laughed.

As commissioner, Brominski said he voted to eliminate 18 “no-show jobs.” When he discovered that a district justice had purchased an air conditioner without county approval, he ordered building and grounds to remove the unit, leaving a hole in the wall.

“I’m not afraid to challenge,” Brominski said. “This is an opportunity for me to get in and point out things that are wrong and, as an office holder, to make changes.”

Coffman, 43, is a certified public accountant and has owned her own accounting/tax business – Coffman & Associates in Conyngham – since 1996. She has also worked as an auditor at Parente Randolph in Hazleton and Deloitte & Touche, Fogelsville.

Coffman said is qualified to complete county audits that comply with all government standards so the county doesn’t have to pay an outside company. She plans to crunch numbers so the commissioners and public understand the financial impact of a multitude of projects and programs, both existing and planned.

“I really can’t wait to look and dig and dig and dig because there are so many things that need to be fixed,” Coffman said.

Coffman said she has experience dealing with contracts, payroll and pensions as an accountant and has a reputation for completing assignments accurately within high-pressure deadlines.

The controller’s office needs a “tight” internal control system, she said.

“If you have a weak internal control system, you can’t rely on any of the data that’s performed from that activity. That needs to be changed,” Coffman said.

Griffith, 54, has owned and managed an auto repair business in Nanticoke since 1989. He said he built the business from scratch because he couldn’t keep working for others who pressured him to sell unneeded parts and services to customers.

“Customers continue to come back because I do work for them in an honest and fair manner,” Griffith said, noting that he’s already arranged for someone else to run the business if he’s elected so he could be in the controller’s office full-time.

Griffith said the controller should be speaking out and asking questions at county meetings – not sitting there silently. He said he’s the only candidate who has actively attended county meetings.

He said his willingness to go to court to challenge the county’s borrowing of $16 million in 2008 led to a judge’s decision to lower the amount to $5 million.

Griffith promised to be aggressive on the Salary Board to stop the creation of unnecessary positions and “bloated salaries,” put contracts and other information on-line and press commissioners to implement time clocks for all employees. He said controllers have also failed to fulfill a mandate to perform independent quarterly financial reviews.

Palissery, 43, worked as an engineer before becoming a lawyer. He opened a private practice in 1994, specializing in criminal defense and civil litigation.

“I have experience running businesses the last 15 years, including my own law practice and two other businesses I ran with my wife. That, combined with my legal experience, makes me uniquely qualified for the controller position,” Palissery said.

Palissery said he could act as both solicitor and controller. He said his legal expertise will allow him to spot flaws and problems in contracts.

“Everyone says transparency, but I don’t know if they really know what that means. People need to know where their money is being spent, how it’s being spent and who authorized it to be spent – if possible before it’s spent,” he said.

Sypniewski, 34, has been a self-employed mortgage consultant for 10 years. He is the CEO of 5:19 Investments, a company that raises joint venture capital for business projects throughout the state. He said he would resign his license with the state banking department if he is elected to focus on the controller’s office full-time.

Sypniewski said his recent service on the Luzerne County Assessment Appeals Board was a “major factor” in his decision to run for county controller because he witnessed “the harm government can inflict.”

He said he would hire a non-political solicitor and certified public accountant. He is the only candidate who says he won’t retain deputy controller A.J. Martinelli, who has been the acting controller since Maryanne Petrilla became a county commissioner in January 2008.

“We’re going to bring a team of people who are going to come to this courthouse and do a clean sweep,” Sypniewski said. “I’m not the jack of all trades. I’m master of one: I know when right is right and wrong is wrong.”

Morgan, 46, has worked more than 20 years in the financial services industry. Currently assistant vice president/senior financial consultant with PNC Investments in Wilkes-Barre, Moran has also managed large corporate 401(k) plans for Prudential Investments and worked at Smith Barney.

That experience is “extremely important,” he said, because the controller sits on the retirement board, which oversees a pension plan that requires increasing taxpayer subsidy to stay afloat, he said.

Morgan said he wants the controller’s office to audit all county agencies, not just the row offices. The office should also perform its own audit of Luzerne County Community College because it is partially funded by the county, he said. He also wants to hold quarterly public informational meetings.

“We can be upset about the things that happened. We can certainly be distressed, but we can’t wallow in it. We need to get in there. We need to fix it,” he said.

One more?

Pittston resident Wil Toole said he is gathering signatures to run as an Independent candidate for county controller in November.

Toole said he must obtain 982 signatures, though he plans to gather 1,500 to be safe.

Toole had planned to run as a Democrat earlier this year but then changed his mind.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.