10/31/2007
Ethanol flap spurs write-in campaign in Mayfield
BY JEREMY G. BURTON
STAFF WRITER
©The Times-Tribune 2007

MAYFIELD — Frustrated with Borough Council’s handling of an ethanol plant proposal, a group of residents is running a write-in campaign to unseat council incumbents in the Nov. 6 election.

Challengers Stephanie Kulick, Kevin Diehl and Jim Matusinski are seeking four-year terms, while Anthony Spataro is running for a two-year seat. The council incumbents running for four-year seats are Janice Joyce, John Kleinbauer, Glen Nicolio and Andrew Sabric. Incumbent Bryan Rupp is vying for a two-year seat.

A story outlining the incumbents’ platforms ran previously in The Times-Tribune.

Together, the challengers’ write-in campaign hinges on the $150 million ethanol plant and efforts to stop it, but their platforms are not limited to that. Their candidacies are grounded in a call for more open, responsible government.

                        Sidebar:

Name: Stephanie Kulick
Age: 36
Occupation: Vice president at Commonwealth Financial Systems
Education: Lakeland High School graduate; Luzerne Community College graduate
Family: Single
Top priority: Improving communication between local government and residents

Name: Kevin Diehl
Age: 41
Occupation: Maintenance technician at Proctor & Gamble
Education: Graduate of Mid-Valley High School and Lackawanna County Vo-Tech
Family: Wife, Maria; two sons, Josh and Zachary
Top priority: Commitment to listening to the community’s opinions and keeping residents informed

Name: Jim Matusinski
Age: 63
Occupation: Production manager
Education: B.S. in accounting and a MBA in finance
Family: Married, one son
Top priority: Giving the government of Mayfield back to the people

Name: Anthony Spataro
Age: 35
Occupation: Advanced programs manager at Lockheed Martin
Education: Lakeland High School graduate; Penn State bachelor’s in mechanical engineering
Family: Wife, Julie; sons Antonio, Giovanni and Dominico
Top priority: Bringing open government back to the council

    Follow the link on the title to view the full article.

09/21/07

Last night Mayfield Mayor Al Chelik appeared on WYOU TV 22's interactive segment to extol the virtues of an Ethanol Biorefinery next to our homes.  He used the instability in the middle east as his main argument in favor of this fuel source, and continued with a predictable pitch about jobs, tax revenue, and funding for the fire dept. 

The two segment piece was an obvious stealth job though.  I was amazed to see how many callers strongly favored the refinery early on and how the tide seemed to shift as the program progressed. 

The interactive web based poll told a similar story.  Those responding were strongly in favor during the first segment, but by the second segment the opposition was leading, and continues to lead.  I hate to make accusations, but it certainly does appear as though some people were standing by as "audience plants" to help show support for this project, while the opposition was unaware of this News Event until it was already underway.  Kind of makes you wonder.

Also interesting to note was how controlled the format was.  Callers could ask a question, and The Mayor would respond while the caller was on mute.  As soon as The Mayor was done with his comments, the caller was disconnected without being allowed to ask follow up questions or request references.