It's no secret that when any mayor takes office, he brings with him some new staff members. Some highly qualified, some not. It's how the game is played, and the game is played at every level of government.  In Mayor Doherty's case, he came with heavy crony baggage.  I don't know who's political playbook he was following when he hired totally unqualified people to fill City Hall positions that required a great deal of experience and knowedge, but the concept, at least to the extent that he took it, was a huge political gamble.  One that did not pay off, not for him and especially not for the taxpayers.

    His game plan was classic corruption with intent, we just didn't know what the corrupt intent was at the time. We do now. By that, I mean that Mayor Doherty filled positions with people who could easily be dominated by his personal want, rather than by mandated laws, regulations or codes, and ethics.  That provided him with getting what he wanted, how he wanted it and when he wanted it. It's a practice called anarchy, you may have heard of it, one man making all the decisions for everyone.  When a person gains a powerful political position it comes with substantial administrative responsibility. 

     For politicians, their careers often hinge on the successful delegation of responsibility to subordinates who must perform accordingly and accomplish their tasks. That's central to advancing their careers. So, why did Mayor Doherty hire so many people incapable of advancing his political career through performance of public service?  It made no sense. Or, did it.  Actually, it made a lot of sense considering where Mayor Doherty was going. 

    You have to realize that politics is not a spontaneous world.  Far from it. Most political developments, policies or administrative decisions that happened in 2003, 2004 and 2005 were planned out in 2002, and some were planned much earlier than that. Take Daren Northeast, for example, the block manufacturer on Dickson Ave.  That property was sold by the city to the owners of Daren in 2001 while Mayor Doherty was still on council.  They acquired that piece of property, approximately 26 acres, for $126,000.00 and had about $750,000.00 in back taxes forgiven. It was a very sweet deal. When Mr. Doherty became our mayor, the owners went to work building their enormous plant and were able to completely bypass the entire zoning process. That was even a sweeter deal. Daren took over a residential neighborhood with loud trucks at all hours of the day and night, working until midnight, causing huge dust accumulations on properties and ruining the safety of the streets for the kids, and without having to appear before the Zoning Hearing Board to explain anything about their operation.  The public's  concerns and safety was simply pushed aside.

     Mayor Doherty's appointed Zoning Officer, Mike Wallace, did nothing to force Daren to comply with any of the Zoning laws.  Even after the residents and taxpayers stormed his office with complaints and publicly appeared before city council, he stayed silent. And, that's just what he got paid for where Mayor Doherty's friends were concerned.  None of it mattered to Mr. Wallace because he was appointed by the mayor having none of the required mandated qualifications. Mandated means the laws states you must have the qualifications. It's not optional. 

     When someone with no qualifications takes a job requiring qualifications, they have nothing to lose if things go wrong for them. Mr. Wallace's field was computers.  He worked for IBM and knew nothing about zoning. He didn't have any certification in zoning to protect. He didn't have a reputation in zoning to protect.  He didn't have a future as a zoning officer to protect because, quite frankly, no other municipality would hire him, or for that matter, could hire him. A qualified Zoning Officer, who must make ends meet and feed a family as a Zoning officer, wouldn't have done what Mr. Wallace was paid to do, play puppet. If a qualified Zoning Officer screwed up, he'd be done in the industry. His reputation would precede him anywhere he went for work. So, he can't afford to screw up or play serious games with people's live, as Mr. Wallace did. That's why Mayor Doherty couldn't hire a real Zoning Officer. It would never have worked out for his friends.  

    That's how it is with every unqualified city employee in a cabinet position. They have nothing to lose.  That being said, I'll start this list of Cronies and Phonies with Mr. Wallace. Some of the employees are cronies, some are phonies. Some are both. Some are qualified, but are doing a terrible job. They're all feeding off the taxpayers. Some do business with the city under contracts.   

1. Mike Wallace: Zoning Officer.  Required mandated qualifications are a minimum of a 2 year college degree with two years experience, or a 4 year college degree in a related field. Mr. Wallace has none of the required experience.  $30,000.00  (+field money????)

2. Lisa Moran: Human Resources Director.  Mayor Doherty introduced her as having a 4 year Business Associates Degree from Drexel.  A call to Drexel revealed that she had a degree in fashion.  $50,000.00 ($17,000.00 raise)  Out on second maternity leave. 

3. Robert Scopeletti: Director of Parks and Recreation. Qualifications: none.  Former copier salesman. $55,000.00  Did an absolutely horrific job as Dir. of Parks.  Cited by the Bureau of Health for substantial and very serious health related violations.

4. Sara Hailstone: Executive Director of OECD.  Qualifications: none. Worked for the Limited and then for Scranton Tomorrow.  $58,000.00, has a consultant. (Very cozy with Mayor Doherty)

5. Robert Farrell: City Solicitor.  Qualifications: Lawyer.  $70,000.00. Brother-in-law to Sara Hailstone and husband of Magistrate Farrell.

6. David Elliot: Police Chief: Qualifications: Was a police officer as corporal, youngest chief in the history of the city.  Mother is owner of Stirna's and heavy campaign contributor.  $48,169.00

7. Ray Hayes: Director of Public Safety. Qualifications: Retired trooper.  PEL wrote this position out of the Recovery Plan, Doherty hired him anyway.  $65,000.00 with a $29,000.00 secretary.  $94,000.00 a year wasted.

8. Connal Kileen: Was secretary to Lisa Moran, who is out on maternity leave. Now the Dir. of Human Resourses. Qualifications: none  $29,000.00

9. Gene Hickey: First Asst. Solicitor. Qualifications: Lawyer and past Solicitor for council. Part-time job. $40,000.00  Was the solicitor when the golf course was sold, illegally.

10. Paul Kelly: Asst. City Solicitor and Civil Service Solicitor.  Qualifications: Lawyer.  Seldom seen on the job $32,000.00. 

11. Jan Gilhooley: Housing Rehab Director and Suprevisor:  Wife of Tom Gilhooley, disgraced prison warden and councilman, resigned and was indicted for misconduct as prison warden.

12. Leslie Memelo Collins: Asst. Director OECD. Qualifications: none. Used to sell ads in phone books  $45,000.00

13. Robert Solfanelli: Director of IT. $50,000.00 and needed a consultant.

14. Mark Seitzinger: Dep. Director of Safety and Cons.: Was removed from OECD, father is a Mellow employee.  $34,000.00

15. Geral Butler: Asst. City Solicitor:  Lawyer, $32,000.00 as part timer and seldom seen at City Hall.

16.  Ryan McGowan: Project Manager, Parks and Rec.: Qualifications: none.  $35,000.00 and our parks are in horrendous shape. 

17. CECO Associates: VP is John Pocious.  Hundreds of Thousands of work through SSA.

18. Kalinoski Landscaping: Mayor Doherty's personal landscaper. Put in the $700,000.00 fish pond and landscaping at Nay Aug Park.

19.  Scartelli Construction: Does a great deal of contract work for the city, including being the contractor who made $280,000.00 in repairs to the Casey Garage, then it was demolished. 

20. Hourigan, Kluger and Quinn, Law Firm: Paid $182,583.00 in 2003 and 2004. Also, the law firm of Commissioner Cordaro.

21. Diversified: KOZ and Campagn Contributor.  Currently transferring all city files onto computer.

22. Tunis Paving Co.: Charged the city $17,000.00 to pave a parking lot at the end of Arthur Avenue, but there is not paved parking lot there. Refused to respond to question about where the parking lot is.

23. Camayd and Hemmler, Architectural Firm: Does a lot of the city's work, to include the pool house at the park. The firm was paid to get the project built and it was built in complete non-compliance with standards and requirements set forth by the Health Dept., and obtained no permit from the Dept. of Health. Serious health issues there now.

24. Officer O'Brien, Scranton Police Dept.: Threw me out of Nay Aug Park for being in possession of a tape measure.

25. The University of Scranton: Purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of property around the school and got enormous reductions in taxes and no proof of hearings showing.  Also, unethically trying to steal the South Side Complex from the children through a completely illegal sale.

26. Senator Robert Mellow: Assisted in the attempted theft of the South Side Complex by the University of Scranton by  rushing through legislation for Doherty.

27. Councilman John Pocious: Right Book End, sponsors all of Doherty's deals.  VP of CECO, did nearly a half million in business with the city through SSA over the last few years.

28. Councilman Bob McTiernan: Left Book End. Diddo  Claimed he frisked kid with gun at school. Others say it was Officer Burgett.

Keep checking back, this list will get longer, much longer