It would appear that this hiring has a certain stench about it.

Has anyone every experienced the fragrance of $232,000 cash and $253 per hour that talks?

Lighten up you taxpayers, the $232,000 up front payout is the Slick Six's MASD stimulus plan.

Unfortunately, it is only distributed to the well connected. No different than DC.

Stimulus Deal wrote:

Lighten up you taxpayers, the $232,000 up front payout is the Slick Six's MASD stimulus plan.
Unfortunately, it is only distributed to the well connected. No different than DC.

I wasn't for the 1st or 2nd stimulus packages, and I am definitely not for handing out $700,000 extra of our tax dollars to someones buddy. This deal sucks period. What is next, we take back all the baggage that we sent to West Mifflin?

And the ice is becoming thinner! Note that it only took about 5 minutes to hire PPM! MASD Slick Six are as fast as the criminal judges.

Ciavarella's court ran 'amok,' judge testifies

BY DAVE JANOSKI, PROJECTS EDITOR
Published: November 9, 2009

Senior Berks County Judge Arthur E. Grim told a state panel investigating kids-for-cash scandal today that Luzerne County’s juvenile court system was a “system run amok.”

Former judge Mark A. Ciavarella routinely failed to properly inform juveniles of their right to counsel and incarcerated them without fully exploring the charges against them, he said.“These cases were over in a matter of three to five minutes,” Grim told the panel.

Grim was appointed by the state Supreme Court to review thousands of juvenile cases handled by Ciavarella, one of two Luzerne County judges facing racketeering charges in the scandal.

Last week, the high court adopted Grim’s recommendation that every penalty imposed by Ciavarella in juvenile court in 2003-2008 be vacated, a ruling that affects 5,000 to 6,000 cases.

The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, which is holding hearings locally today and Tuesday, was appointed by the General Assembly, Gov. Ed Rendell and the Supreme Court to investigate the scandal and recommend measures to prevent similar situations. The commission is to issue its report by May 31.

Grim made several recommendations to the commission, including allowing public access to some juvenile court hearings, with safeguards to protect the identities and welfare of defendants, witnesses and victims and specialized training for attorneys and judges who serve in juvenile court.

Ciavarella and his co-defendant in the case, former president judge Michael T. Conahan, are awaiting trial on charges that they accepted $2.8 million in return for steering county contracts and juvenile detainees to two for-profit detention centers.

Grim recommended that the records of all juveniles sentenced by Ciavarella be vacated, even those who were not placed in the centers that provided the payments or who had legal counsel.
He said Ciavarella’s acceptance of kickbacks clouded all his cases.
“You can’t be just a little unethical,” Grim said.“You’re either an ethical judge or you’re not.”

Also scheduled to appear before the commission today are Joseph A. Massa, chief counsel to the state Judicial Conduct Board, which investigates and prosecutes allegations of judicial wrongdoing, and Sandra Brulo, a former county juvenile probation officer.
Brulo, one of 18 people charged in an ongoing federal corruption probe, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to altering a juvenile court record. Brulo worked closely with Ciavarella and made recommendations to the court on juvenile sentencing. Ciavarella is accused of jailing juveniles on minor offenses, denying them the right to counsel and pressuring probation officials to recommend detention instead of other, less severe penalties.

Shortly after Ciavarella’s arrest, Brulo altered a court records to indicate she had recommended probation in one juvenile case, when she had actually recommended detention, federal prosecutors say. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but her plea agreement indicates she’ll likely get 10 to 21 months under federal sentencing guidelines.

I think the concern with hiring Tedsco over others for the districts project Managers job is that his price is much higher and he has little if any experience dealing with projects of this magnitude. If what is stated in the papers is correct that he was able to re submit his bid of 3.5% down to 3.1% and still came in $700,000 higher than this Smith guy why would you hire him? Is it because he is a district resident? Smith meets this criteria as well. Is it because he has much more experience? My understanding is Smith just finished a $50,000,000 project at Quaker Valley School district to rave reviews. As a tax payer who works very hard for the money I make, and the taxes I pay I find it very disturbing that we are going to pay someone $700,000 more to be our project manager. This amount of money could surely be spent a lot wiser like on books, computers, more teachers, an extra wing on one of the new buildings, or many other useful things. Even people who like Tedesco know that this deal smells and are not very happy with how our tax dollars are being spent.

Tax Dollars wrote:

I think the concern with hiring Tedsco over others for the districts project Managers job is that his price is much higher and he has little if any experience dealing with projects of this magnitude. If what is stated in the papers is correct that he was able to re submit his bid of 3.5% down to 3.1% and still came in $700,000 higher than this Smith guy why would you hire him? Is it because he is a district resident? Smith meets this criteria as well. Is it because he has much more experience? My understanding is Smith just finished a $50,000,000 project at Quaker Valley School district to rave reviews. As a tax payer who works very hard for the money I make, and the taxes I pay I find it very disturbing that we are going to pay someone $700,000 more to be our project manager. This amount of money could surely be spent a lot wiser like on books, computers, more teachers, an extra wing on one of the new buildings, or many other useful things. Even people who like Tedesco know that this deal smells and are not very happy with how our tax dollars are being spent.

Tax Dollars:

PPM needs $700,000 to cover the services of a Principal Engineer at $253.92 per hour. This is right off the PPM engineering hourly rate sheet for 2009. It increases to $262.80 on 1/1/2010. On 1/1/2012 the hourly rate is $281.53. The proposal appears to be for 36 months.

If PPM is a one man team then Tedesco must be the Principal Engineer?

Is it legal to use the title and invoice as a Principal Engineer without being a registered engineering by the Commonwealth. Just inquiring and I am not sure of the Commonwealth regulations with respect to using and invoicing using the term "engineer."

I guess this is all right with the Slick Six., and after all as Steve said he is a good neighbor. My good neighbor is a city police officer and does not earn $185 a day. The officer earns almost $70 a day less than Tedesco’s Principal Engineer makes in ONE HOUR and criminals are trying to shoot the police officer!

I guess it is all right that he will bill $37,714 per month for the 35 months after the first month up front payment or $230,000. At about $253.92 per hour, he could invoice about 148 hours a month – that is about 85% of full time. That is a 35 hour work week. This has to be one of the best deals in the Commonwealth --- thanks Slick Six.

To conclude, the PPM Principal Engineer will make more in one month than many of the annual family incomes in MASD.

Nice move Slick Six – we will never forget how Jim, Dennis, Chris, Wayne, Steve, and Joe, with their eyes wide shut, screwed the students and taxpayers.

You six should be removed from the school board for the audacious abuse of authority.

Nice move Slick Six – we will never forget how Jim, Dennis, Chris, Wayne, Steve, and Joe, with their eyes wide shut, screwed the students and taxpayers.
==========
This is what you get in a crooked town like McKeesport. Not all, but the majority of these people can't make a living outside of politics.
There fore to keep an income rolling in, they must
play patsy &yes-man to the current administration. Years ago, our politicians put the squeeze on local businesses & number joints, now they have advanced to sucking off the gov't's. teat & robbing the social(or socialists) agencies like HUD, Section 8, Housing Authority , Auberle Homes,
Boy's Club & others. You don't think Gov't. plays a big part in it ? Look at the growth of these places since the 1980's when the city lost the mills. Louie turned the city over to HUD & all these places expanded. The politicians could care less about the working taxpayers, they are making a killing off of being a 'welfare, Section 8' city. If this city could become successful, they would actually have to work for a living ,prove themselves capable & personally lose money. They can't allow that to happen.

ALL IN THE FAMILY AND THE NOOSE GETS TIGHTER!

Posted: November 10
Updated: Today at 3:43 AM

Feds may question Ciavarella home sale
Under certain circumstances, government could challenge the sale, a lawyer says.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter

Former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella’s daughter has put her Kingston townhouse on the market, raising questions about whether federal authorities will have an interest in the transaction.



Federal prosecutors noted in a September court hearing that Ciavarella, who faces corruption charges, transferred a “large sum” of money to his daughter, Lauren, in 2008. She then purchased a townhome in Kingston with her husband.

Ciavarella and his wife reside there with Lauren and her husband. The prosecutors were concerned about depleting assets.

Ciavarella’s attorney, William Ruzzo, defended Ciavarella’s transfer of money to his daughter at the court hearing, indicating that Ciavarella made the transfer because she was getting married and wanted to purchase a home. Ruzzo also noted that prosecutors were aware of the transaction and that nothing was hidden.

William Costopoulos, a veteran defense attorney from Harrisburg, said the government would have to prove that “ill-gotten” money was tied up in the property – and that Lauren knew the money was “ill-gotten”– to prevent her from selling or to claim the proceeds.

“If the federal government can show that ill-gotten proceeds were transferred to his daughter and the purpose was to protect those monies, then the federal government would have a right to try to prevent the sale or to try to seize the proceeds of the sale,” Costopoulos said.

Lauren could challenge the government, which would mean a court would determine who prevails, he said.

“It’s not just a matter of the government simply prevailing, there are many issues involved here,” Costopoulos said.

Attorney Al Flora, who represents Ciavarella, said Monday that he was not aware of the property being sold, but he said the property belongs to Lauren and her husband.

“It’s her house and that’s it. She has a right to do what she wants with it,” Flora said.

Heidi Havens, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said the office would not comment on the matter.

The Rutter Avenue property is listed at $285,000.

The deed shows Lauren Ciavarella and Brian Stahl purchased the property for $225,000 in July 2008.

The couple obtained two mortgages on the property, according to the county Recorder of Deeds office:$180,000 in July 2008 and $30,000 in October 2008.

The property is assessed at $225,000, county assessment records show.

In Mckeesport, problems of contracting and money have taken place before. Happened months ago by at least one business located in Mckeesport.

Contractor sentenced to over 5 years in 9/11 fraud
Friday, April 17, 2009
By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press Writer
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Apr17/0,4670...

No, it was a waste of our tax dollars.

No, why was this done to the tune of wasting $700,000 of our hard earned tax dollars?

Tax Payers Want Answers wrote:

No, why was this done to the tune of wasting $700,000 of our hard earned tax dollars?

No, this was done to stuff brown bages with green paper.

i really have to laugh because the people of mckeesport vote .. the funny thing is that everyone hates the fact tedesco got the job but remember the ones on the board that voted for tedesco were mostly cops but yet the people of mckeesport vote another cop on the board hmmm i dont understand

mck ran by politics wrote:

i really have to laugh because the people of mckeesport vote .. the funny thing is that everyone hates the fact tedesco got the job but remember the ones on the board that voted for tedesco were mostly cops but yet the people of mckeesport vote another cop on the board hmmm i dont understand

Some enhancements for your statements.

Two City employees of the police department, one City Public Works employee, and one City Recreation Department employee.

One WO building inspector whose relative is rumored to be the next top copy in the City about 2/1/2010 (he is very qualified).

Chairmen Joe of the building and grounds committee has no overt connection to City Hall.

Give JB and his MDC and the teacher's union and a former MASD superintendent credit for the (endorsed) police officer just elected. MDC endorsed two WO winners over two City candidates who voted to lower school taxes for JB.

Do not under estimate the political influence of JB, MDC, and the teachers union over the five/six SB members.

JB and MDC are in control and will be difficult to neutralize without help from the feds.

JB controls the MASD SB and is a good friend of the owner of PPM. He has done quite a bit of work for the City over the years.

Gobel, MASD solicitor and president of the infamous 1996 Mon Valley Construction Management scam, is JB's friend and teamed with the city solicitor.

Gobel will facilitate that the city solicitor has an edge in getting the lucrative bond council contract when MASD secures about $20/25 million for the building program.

All the above is very legal and is simple Mon Valley politics. Business as usual.


The dots connect very easy -- the City is the center.

You are welcome to laugh - some feel like crying -- that is the way it is - all the way to the bank.

I am on the inside and it is wrong how tax dollars are being spent!

This deal really has a strong stench about it. It makes me wonder if it came from a higher body at a certain city hall. Hey guys, want to keep your jobs, make sure you pick the 2nd highest bid.

It's hard to win when even Pittsburgh & the Allegheny County controllers are all part of the same dirty, old school Democrats that have bankrupted Pitts. & taxed the residents of this county to the poor-house. I only blame them for the fact that they are lowly scum-sickers robbing those who trusted & elected them. The real tragedy is the stupidity of the voters that can only read the letter 'D' at the polls. Not only are they brainless, but also ball-less, after 70 plus years of being screwed stupid by the same damn party, at
least be adventurous one single time & vote them out. Vote the Rep's. in for a single term, if for no other reason to show the thieving, tax hungry Democrats who has control. Not even the Nazi party
could make things any worse in 4 short years. Grow a set of nuts & vote them all out. It might make them a little more honest.

I Think 2 wrote:

<quoted text>
No, this was done to stuff brown bages with green papPosted on Wed, Nov. 11, 2009

AND EVEN THE BARBER ENJOYS THE FRUITS OF THE LUZERNE COUNTY CORRUPTION.

Prison barber charged with $6K haircut scam in Pa.
The Associated Press

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.- Authorities say a northeastern Pennsylvania barber was taking a little off the top at the county's expense.

Robert M. Licata is charged with stealing almost $6,000 from the Luzerne County Correction Facility by claiming he gave an inflated number of inmates haircuts.

The 52-year-old barber was charged Tuesday with theft by deception and tampering with public records. Investigators say he turned in falsified haircut sign-in sheets that cost the county $5,982 over a two-year period.

Licata, of West Pittston, was paid $6 per haircut by the county. Authorities say he would turn in a sign-in sheet and be cut a check.
Prison officials say a system to verify haircuts has been put in place.

Licata is free on bail. A telephone listing for him could not immediately be located Wednesd
er.

gobal and brewster are the head of the mob....brewster wanted gobal in there to help him get everything he wants and he wants it all...ask gobal to show you records of what he has done for the money mckeesports paying him for ... trust me he wont.... he also runs versailles boro, port vue and the sa school district and they are all scared of him coz he will ruin them and their families!