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Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Page: 3A
OPINION
On a cold sunny Monday in the far, far north of Wilkes-Barre, a shivering
crowd huddled in the middle of an intersection, waiting for word on the
weather.
The great Seer of Seers, accompanied by his gorgeous handler, Joanne,
popped his head out of City Hole, I mean Hall, and drove slowly to the Miners
Mills neighborhood to deliver his long-awaited long-term forecast.
As the media swarmed toward him, the exalted one exited the vehicle, raised
his fuzzy head, blinked and started handing out free ink pens.
We waited, and wondered.
Will he, or won’t he? We dodged traffic at the corner of Kelly Avenue and
McHale Street, and held our breath.
And the moment arrived. Yes, he saw his shadow.
Then, speed-speaking in classic McGroartyese, Tom McGroarty announced that
he will seek a third term as mayor of Wilkes-Barre.
There you have it. Bundle up, folks. Because if McGroarty wins the
Democratic primary election in May, the forecast is for four more years of
winter.
Four more years of a city sliding down a slippery slope toward bankruptcy.
Four more years of snow jobs for the media, cold shoulders for council members
and icy relations with state and federal officials. Four more years.
I had been hoping he’d get cold feet.
Likable man who won’t go away
This might sound hypocritical, so hear me out. I kind of like Tom
McGroarty, and not just because he gave me an ink pen, which is something Tom
Leighton has never done.
What I like about the mayor is his enthusiasm, and his work ethic.
Tom McGroarty is not afraid to get his hands dirty. He loves nothing more
than jumping behind the wheel of a snow plow, and I hope he makes all of our
dreams come true by resigning as mayor and signing on with PennDOT.
But that won’t happen, because the mayor is bullheaded, like me.
Mayor McGroarty and I are alike in many ways. For example, we both have
beautiful wives, and we both try very hard at a job we love. Unfortunately for
us, the mayor’s job description seems to entail digging the city into a hole,
so the harder he works, the worse things become.
The other thing the mayor and I have in common is that neither of us have
ever lost an election.
I attribute my lack of failure at the polls to the fact that I have never
run for elected office. McGroarty attributes his lack of failure to the
“silent majority” that keeps electing him.
For months, I thought the silent majority must be a bunch of blind and deaf
mutes that the mayor buses in on Election Day.
I envisioned them as people who vote for the mayor because they have never
heard about the downtown theater project, or Coal Street, or the steam heat
plant, or the call center. Because they can’t see the damage he has done.
But I was wrong.
“This is the silent majority,” the mayor said after the press conference,
bending over to hug two little old ladies who stood on the sidewalk, watching.
And for once, the mayor was right. The silent majority, both of them,
declined to be interviewed.
Call Jones at 829-7215 or e-mail caseyj@leader.net.