Public advocate for change

In office for 4 months, County Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski works to fix problems

Tears streamed down the woman’s eyes as she sat in a busy Luzerne County Courthouse corridor last month filling out a protection-from-abuse form, and Carolee Medico Olenginski couldn’t stand it.

Medico Olenginski, the county prothonotary, invited the woman into her private office to collect herself and complete the paperwork.

She didn’t stop there. Medico Olenginski promptly fired off an e-mail to court officials, urging them to set up a private area for people to fill out PFA forms. The victims often have bruises, black eyes and restless children in tow, she said.

“It is traumatic and difficult enough to get the courage to file a complaint against an abuser, but then to be subjected to public areas can be embarrassing and unsympathetic,” she said in her e-mail.

“Like most things I point out, they fall on deaf ears or I get stonewalled.”

The situation captures the essence of Medico Olenginski, who recently surpassed her first 100 days in office. When she sees a problem in county government, she won’t rest until she brings it to the attention of the governing officials in writing.

Her steady flow of e-mails and faxes to county employees and officials are annoying to some, but Medico Olenginski said her communications serve a purpose.

“They build a record that people were made aware of a problem and ignored it,” she said.

She’s also certain that voters didn’t return her to the office to keep quiet. The voters already had a taste of her style.

Her initial four-year prothonotary term ended in 2001, when she was defeated by Jill Moran, who had campaigned on cooperation over confrontation. Moran resigned in March 2009 because of an agreement with federal prosecutors connected to the county corruption probe.

Medico Olenginski, a Republican, said she does not believe attempts to paint her as an obstructionist will stick this time around, particularly amidst the still unfolding county corruption scandals.

“They played that card last time, but not this time,” she said. “I think the people in the county realize that we can no longer have officials who look the other way. If more people had the courage to speak up, the corruption would have been stopped.”

County Controller Walter Griffith said he respects Medico Olenginski for “watching the store” and “trying to uncover as much as she can.”

“A lot of people say she’s a pain and abrasive and doing things that rub them the wrong way. Maybe that’s her nature, but quite honestly, she has a right to know,” said Griffith, who also took office the start of this year. “If someone’s offended that she’s asking hard questions, maybe they don’t want to be accountable.”

Recipients of her communications shouldn’t presume that she is nasty or mad at them, he said.

“You have to look at what her purpose is. She’s just annoyed by the fact that government is not being accountable,” he said.

County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said the prothonotary is “a fighter.”

“She’ll do a good job at cleaning up the office and making it more professional and efficient,” he said.

People are rooting for Medico Olenginski, said Harveys Lake taxpayer Michelle Boice.

“It’s hard to imagine how much money the county might have saved, and how much sooner the corruption would have been exposed, if only Carolee had not lost her seat as prothonotary to the well-funded $250,000 campaign of Jill Moran,” Boice said.

Medico Olenginski has organized the office and discovered and reported suspicious activities to authorities, Boice said.

“She is a good ‘detective’ too and shops for the lowest price, no matter how small the purchase,” Boice said.

The 66-year-old Medico Olenginski acknowledged last month that she was the one who contacted the U.S. Secret Service to request an investigation of nearly $1 million spent on an outside records consultant.

The Secret Service has confirmed that it is “aggressively investigating” the payments, working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Some of the payments made through the records consultant were for work that wasn’t publicly authorized or bid out.

The Mountain Top resident has also revamped the assignment of arbitrators for civil cases to ensure all interested lawyers get a shot at the work, fired a clerk who allegedly signed a confession to stealing office funds during the past administration and found a cheaper solution to repair holes in the office carpet.

Her next mission: installing a new computerized record system that will be accessible to computer users outside the office 24-7. She plans to purchase the system using roughly $200,000 in automation funds from fees collected by her office.

“I never thought a computer would get me this excited, but it did,” she said. “We have to get progressive.”

“I haven’t slept a whole night since I took office. In the middle of the night I start thinking about issues of concern and ways to correct them,” she said.

She usually rises at 4:30 a.m., hits the treadmill by 5 a.m. and arrives in the office before the doors open to the public at 8 a.m. She doesn’t stop for lunch breaks, saying she gets her energy from her 19 grandchildren.

She will celebrate her 10th anniversary married to retired orthodontist Jan Olenginski next month, and they have eight children.

A 1962 graduate of Plains High School, Medico Olenginski has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in human resource administration.

She obtained her bachelor’s degree in her 40s, graduating with honors in 3.5 years, juggling studying and raising four children amidst a divorce.

“My children were in the stands cheering me on when I got that diploma. It’s one of the best moments I can remember,” she said.

Missed time with family is her only regret in taking the $36,562 post, but feedback from the public keeps her going.

“There are too many people who come up to me and thank me, too many who knock on my door and say they appreciate what I’m doing,” she said.

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

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Luzerne County Government

So far, she’s lived up to her image as an official not content to play along.

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