Commissioner moved to replace names of 3 ex-commissioners and 3 firms with other wording.
PITTSTON TWP. – A bid to alter the plaque bearing the names of three convicted former county commissioners and three companies tied to the ongoing public corruption probe that’s led to more than 30 arrests in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties fell one vote short on Tuesday.
At the end of the monthly meeting of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport’s Bi-County Board of Commissioners, Luzerne County Commissioner Thomas Cooney went off the agenda and made a motion to have the plaque, on the wall near the escalators on the ground floor of the terminal, altered in a way that no names appear on it. The marker was installed when the $41.5 million glass and steel structure opened in 2006 and listed the county commissioners from Luzerne and Lackawanna at that time, the airport’s director, assistant director, the construction company and the engineers and architects that designed the facility.
Among the names are Robert Cordaro, A.J. Munchak and Greg Skrepenak, all of whom have been found guilty of varying crimes regarding public corruption.
Cordaro was found guilty of 15 counts including money laundering and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. The federal jury found Cordaro not guilty of 15 other counts.
Munchak was convicted of about half of the 21 counts against him including extortion, theft or bribery, and conspiracy to commit theft or bribery. He was found not guilty of mail fraud and racketeering. Both Cordaro and Munchak await their sentences, which are scheduled to be handed down on Oct. 31.
Skrepenak was sentenced to 24 months in prison and a $5,000 fine after pleading guilty to corrupt receipt of a reward for official action. Federal prosecutors said he accepted $5,000 from a real estate developer as a reward for voting to include a housing project in the Tax Increment Financing Program, which allows developers to delay paying real estate taxes so that the money can be used to fund infrastructure.
Also on the plaque are the names of Highland Associates, Michael J. Pasonick Jr. Inc. and Acker Associates. All of which have had past employees involved in the corruption scandal.
Pasonick pleaded guilty in May to paying a bribe to an area school board member who promised to help him obtain future contracts with the district.
Acker Associates, of Moscow, allegedly made monthly $10,000 payments totaling more than $360,000 to Cordaro between 2005 and 2008, according to prosecutors.
Highland Associates, a Clarks Summit-based engineering and design firm, was allegedly extorted into making payments to Cordaro. The company, among other projects, was also given a no-bid contract to build an intermodal transportation center in Lackawanna County.
Cooney said all the names on the plaque should be removed and new wording should be placed on the marker simply thanking all of those companies and individuals that played a role in making the terminal a reality. He was quickly supported by the two other Luzerne County commissioners on the board, Maryanne Petrilla and Steve Urban. Lackawanna County Commissioner Bruce Smallacombe opposed the idea immediately while his two county colleagues mulled it over, stating the reasons to keep the names on and reasons to have them removed.
“You know history’s not always pretty,” said Mike Washo, a Lackawanna County Commissioner who served as minority commissioner when Cordaro and Munchak served as the majority. “To have an accurate record of what happened, I think you need to consider living with those people on the plaque.”
Washo said he understood Cooney’s concerns, “but we can’t rewrite history. We can’t sanitize history.”
Urban noted that their names were part of the record in meeting minutes and media archives, but to have it publicly displayed on a plaque “does a disservice to the people of both counties.”
Corey O’Brien, the third Lackawanna County Commissioner, noted that names of those convicted for crimes remains on other buildings including former Congressman Dan Flood, whose name is on a high-rise apartment and a school. Flood pleaded guilty in 1980 to one count of conspiracy to violate federal campaign laws by taking payoffs from five people.
“There’s two sides,” O’Brien said. “There’s the historical aspect of it … and a more public take here … People are upset when they see these names.”
O’Brien decided to vote in favor of redoing the plaque making the vote 4-2. But since board rules require at least two “yes” votes from each county’s three representatives for a motion to pass, the motion failed.
“I think we’ve got better things to do,” Washo said. “Most people walk by that (plaque) without even knowing what’s there.”
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