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Sunday, January 26, 1997 Page:
Sobota still looking for sign from the GOP
Ray Sobota knows he’ll have to make up his mind soon about running this
year for a full four-year term as county controller. But before he does, he
wants to be clear about exactly where he’s at with the county Republican
Party”Yes, I’m very interested in running,” Sobota said during the week after
recovering from a flu-like ailment that sidelined him for a few days.
“A lot of people want me to run,” he said. “But before I do anything
officially, I need to find out what’s going with the Republicans.”
Specifically, Sobota’s concerns are these:
Has party unity now been achieved in the wake of last year’s internal
battle between the Red Jones-Pat Judge wing of the party, and Rocco Yanora and
his followers?
Can he expect to be slated and endorsed by the Luzerne County Republican
Executive Committee, which Jones and Judge control, or will they run somebody
against him in the May 20 Republican nominating primary?
If he ends up as the party’s official candidate, will the party help him
financially?
How much of his own money would he need to ante up?
When will he hear from Red Jones, the county Republican chairman?
When will the executive committee meet?
As of mid-week, Sobota hadn’t had answers to any of these, so he wasn’t
ready to make an official announcement that he’ll indeed go for a full term.
He was appointed by Gov. Tom Ridge to the $34,000-a-year post after Democrat
Joe Tirpak died last year.
While Sobota seems distanced from the county Republican organization
generally — right now anyway — he is tight with state Sen. Charles Lemmond,
one of the county Republican Party’s most respected figures.
It was Lemmond, in fact, who — along with the county GOP Executive
Committee — sponsored the controller appointment for Sobota, which the state
Senate approved unanimously. So Lemmond most likely will do whatever he can to
get an official Republican Party endorsement for Sobota.
By any political yardstick you’d care to use, Sobota would seem to measure
up as a nifty candidate for the Republicans. Or even the Democrats, for that
matter.
He’s the incumbent controller. That’s a plus going in. He’s qualified for
the job, and is said to have carried out the duties of the office competently
since he took over last spring.
He didn’t stir things up, either. He maintained the same staff and even
kept Charlie Gelso as solicitor. Naturally that pleased a lot of Democrats who
work there and their families and relatives, too. But a lot of Republicans
weren’t very happy about it, and still aren’t.
Nevertheless he’s well-liked at the courthouse and throughout the county
and the state as well by Republicans and Democrats alike.
He’d be sure to attract a big Democratic vote, if he ends up as the GOP
nominee in November, because he’s associated with (and has been friends with)
scores of lawyers in both parties over his long career as an attorney. Not
only do these lawyers and their families vote, but they’re also not shy about
contributing money to the campaigns of candidates who interest them. With
Sobota, professional associations and personal friendships would come into
play.
As the controller candidate for the Republicans, Sobota would add strength
to the rest of the ticket, which this year also will include candidates for
county register of wills, prothonotary and jury commissioner.
And as for the Republican vote, he’d figure to get close to all of that.
Not only do most registered Republicans go to the polls, they tend to vote the
straight party slate.
If ever the Republicans had a real shot to break the death grip the
Democrats have on the county row offices, a Sobota candidacy would seem to be
it.
When asked about all those concerns that Sobota has, specifically about an
executive committee endorsement meeting, GOP Executive Committee Vice Chairman
Pat Judge had this to say:
“The county Republican Executive Committee will meet at 7 p.m. on February
13 at the Mark II Restaurant in Wilkes-Barre Township to interview a number of
people who have expressed an interest in running for county office in this
year’s elections.”
Judge said this meeting will be followed by the party’s annual Lincoln Day
Dinner on Feb. 28 at Gus Genetti’s in Wilkes-Barre.
“When our candidates are endorsed as a result of the executive committee’s
February 13 meeting,” Judge said, “they will be able to come to the dinner and
circulate their nominating petitions.” The petition period, by the way, is
from Feb. 18 to March 11.
Presumably Sobota will get the answers to the rest of those concerns of his
between now and then.
Bill Griffith