Times Leader | 02/01/2005 | Vonderheid, Skrepenak receive $76,000

Times Leader | 02/01/2005 | Vonderheid, Skrepenak receive $76,000: "Posted on Tue, Feb. 01, 2005


Officials report status of war chestsCAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS Officials report status of war chests

Vonderheid, Skrepenak receive $76,000

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@leader.net


Luzerne County Commissioners Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak pulled in $76,747 in campaign donations during their first year in office, a new 2004 filing shows.

Their committee, Friends of Skrepenak and Vonderheid, split $40,000 of that take down the middle, placing $20,000 into each candidate’s individual campaign organization.

Vonderheid used $14,000 of his $20,000 to pay off loans. His individual organization, Todd Vonderheid Today, still owes $109,380 in debts and obligations.

Skrepenak paid off $10,000 in debt and still owes about $11,600 -- about $9,000 to himself and $2,500 to Michael F. Prociak.

Both commissioners are trying to knock off some debt and build a campaign war chest because they plan to run again in 2007.

The Friends of Skrepenak and Vonderheid committee still owes $50,000 to Skrepenak from a loan he made to the committee the month before the November 2003 election.

Among the other bills paid by the joint committee were $4,835 for advertising to Ed Mitchell Communications and $9,491 to Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club in Mountain Top for an event expense.

Several other county officials are carrying campaign debt, the new reports show.

District Attorney Dave Lupas leads the pack, reporting $333,500 in debt and obligations. Of that, Lupas owes $30,000 to himself and $303,500 to his father, Anthony.

County Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark Ciavarella’s committee shows a debt of $180,117 from various loans he made dating back to 1995.

Likewise, Prothonotary Jill Moran’s $139,700 loan to her committee is still on the books.

Others owed by their committees are Register of Wills Dorothy Stankovic, $62,685; Controller Steve Flood, $80,000; and Treasurer Michael Morreale, $15,460.

Recorder of Deeds Mary Dysleski and minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban report no debt.

Dysleski has $161 in the bank, and Urban has $1,306.

County Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza said campaign committees can’t dissolve until they spend all their money and account for the debt by paying it off, either through campaign funds or forgiveness by the original loan grantor.

Candidates who ultimately eat their debt must report that in a form. Piazza said he doesn’t know of any deadline to settle campaign accounts.

“The entire report has to be at zero before the committee can be terminated,” Piazza said. “It’s all about public disclosure.”

For example, the Committee to Elect Makowski and Pizano, which represented former commissioners Tom Pizano and Tom Makowski, still has $18,557 in the bank, its report says. The committee didn’t spend anything in 2004.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friends of Skrepenak and Vonderheid received donations of $1,000 from each of the following in 2004: MT&T Bank PAC; John J. Passan, Valley Distribution & Storage; Michael J. Pasonick, Michael J. Pasonick Jr. Associates; Patrick J. McLaine, Acker Associates; Michael A. Answini, Apollo Group; three representatives of CPA firm Snyder & Clemente; Andrew J. Sordoni III, Sordoni Enterprises; Paul J. Siegel, Eastern Insurance Group; William B. Sordoni, Sordoni Enterprises; H. Robert Weaver Jr., W-B Clay Products; Wolfgang Hans Baerwald, Wyoming Valley Health Systems; Christopher L. Borton, Borton-Lawson Engineering; Jack J. Burke, Penn Millers Insurance; Joseph A. Frank, Centralia Coal Sales Co.; John J. Homza, Sordoni Construction; William R. Host, Wyoming Valley Health Care; Allan M. Kluger, Hourigan Kluger & Quinn; Sandy Insalaco Sr.; Thomas J. McGrath Jr., McGrath Medical Associates; Douglas Barbacci, Calex Logistic Services; Christopher Hackett, Onesource Staffing Solutions; John C. Metz, Metz Enterprises; Neil T. O’Donnell, lawyer; Michael Butera, lawyer; Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald; Eugene Roth, Rosenn Jenkins & Greenwald, LLP; Philip Santarelli, Santarelli Vibrated Block Co. (the company alone also gave another $1,000); Murray Ufberg, lawyer; Satish Patel, physician; Joseph L. Persico, lawyer; John Churnetski, Quad Three Group Inc.; Philip G. Decker, Hospice Community Care; Alan J. Finlay, Humford Equities; Michael MacDowell, College Misericordia; Randall B. K. Mark, Pulverman; Charles E. Parente; and John G. Nackley Sr., Intermetro Industries Corp.

Larger donors include: PA Cleanpac, $2,000; Samuel Marranca Sr., Sam-Car Group, LTD, $1,500; Greg Fellerman, Fellerman Law, $1,500; Mericle Properties, $2,000; Charles J. Bufalino Jr., attorney, $1,125; Thomas E. Lawson, Borton-Lawson, $1,250; and Noble C. Quandel Jr., Quandel Construction, $2,000.

County employees who donated to the campaign include: solicitor Jim Blaum, $250; prison employee John Roke, $250; solicitor Christopher Slusser, $250; prison warden Gene Fischi, $125; assessment appeals board member Andrew Shiner III, $750; solicitor Edward McNelis, $500; and prison deputy warden Joseph Morris, $500."