I’ve known attorney Paul J. Walker of Clarks Summit longer than I’ve known Chrissy, my wife of nearly 24 years. His cousins were the ring-bearer and flower girl in our wedding. His grandmother baked our wedding cake. Susan Dunleavy-Hoffman is among the kindest, most mild-mannered Irish grandmothers I’ve ever been blessed to know.
So when Paul’s kind, mild-mannered Irish grandmother reposted his angry antisocial media response to last Sunday’s column (one commenter expressed surprise someone hasn’t “smashed my face in”), Chrissy looked up from her phone and asked, “What did you do?”
“My job,” I replied. I said the same to Paul when we chatted Thursday. Sunday Times Staff Writer Jeff Horvath and every journalist who contributed to this newspaper’s coverage of the county Democratic Machine’s ongoing hostile takeover of county government is guilty of nothing but watchdog journalism.
Paul reads the coverage differently. He accused the newspaper of participating in a “smear campaign” against former county Economic Development Director Brenda Sacco, one of “three finalists” the Machine picked as a candidate to replace departed Commissioner Matt McGloin. Paul sees a conspiracy by the newspaper, Democratic County Commissioner Bill Gaughan and county Communications Director Pat McKenna to sour his client’s chances of landing the near $90,000-a-year job.
Pat, a dear friend and one of my best mentors, joined the administration after a nearly 50-year career at the newspaper. He is guilty of nothing but providing public records available to any citizen and teaching me how to rile up face-smashers through snarky turns of phrase.
In a rejected petition, Paul sought a court order to block the administration from sharing records related to Sacco’s employment with the county. I mocked the petition and threw a little chin music at Paul. Naturally, he responded in kind. In a rare instance of antisocial media seeding actual human interaction, we hashed it out in a spirited but congenial conversation I’m glad we had.
First, some housekeeping: In last Sunday’s column, I failed to distinguish between attorney Paul J. Walker of Clarks Summit and attorney Paul Walker of Scranton, who is not related to attorney Paul J. Walker of Clarks Summit and has no involvement in representing Sacco.
As a result, attorney Paul Walker of Scranton received undeserved negative feedback. It was an honest omission and I apologize for any inadvertent confusion I caused. My bad.
Back to attorney Paul J. Walker of Clarks Summit. His main objection to the newspaper’s coverage is our reporting on county grants Sacco approved for businesses owned by Alpesh Patel. Patel is chairman of the committee that selected Sacco and two stand-ins to replace McGloin.
Paul sees the coverage as a coordinated campaign to cast Sacco in a bad light and make county judges squeamish about choosing her to replace McGloin.
“They want to make her politically toxic by making it look like she has some nefarious relationship with Al Patel, so that she becomes too politically toxic for the judges to stomach, because ultimately the judges are making the pick,” Paul said. “(Gaughan, et. al.) know that putting this kind of political pressure on the judges will, at least in theory, work because judges abhor political stuff.”
Paul argued that Patel is one of scores of business owners who received grants and that Sacco was simply in charge of approving them. His client was just doing her job, he said.
“Every article that’s been written about Brenda since this stuff hit the news is her and Al Patel, her and Al Patel,” Paul said. “There’s never a qualification that this was her job description. She’s literally in charge of writing grants for everybody, and Al Patel owns a bunch of businesses. … Therefore, he’s going to be one of the guys who’s going to apply for grants. … He just so happens to be politically connected, but there’s a million versions of Al Patel.”
Paul’s estimate of parallel Patels seems high, but I take his point. Here’s my counterpoint: Only one Al Patel chairs the committee that hid behind closed doors when it picked Sacco and the stand-ins. Paul defended the process, saying the Machine “followed the Home Rule Charter.”
This is true. To an extent. As I’ve previously pointed out, the Home Rule Charter calls for a special election when the departing official’s term exceeds one year. Unfortunately, it’s trumped by state law and a 2000 court decision won by the county Republican Machine. The decision shuts voters out of the process and essentially renders the Home Rule Charter as disposable as a bar napkin.
So county judges are stuck sorting out the mess the Machine made when it launched a hostile takeover of county government. Voters will have no say in who holds one-third of management power over the next three years.
Gaughan doesn’t want Brenda Sacco to hold that power, because he would be sidelined by a de facto majority of Sacco and MAGA Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak. Like anyone else paying attention, Gaughan sees Sacco as the Machine’s “Manchurian candidate.” Her attorney sees scandal in Gaughan’s campaign to remain relevant, but politics ain’t beanbag, especially in Our Stiff Neck of the Woods.
I don’t know Brenda Sacco from Barbara Streisand. She is easily the most qualified of the three candidates the Machine put forward, but because county Democratic Machine Chairman Chris Patrick refuses to reveal the names of all 18 applicants, we don’t know how deep (or shallow) the talent pool was.
That’s not fair to Sacco. If Patrick and the Machine had allowed some sunlight into the process of picking her, there would be no shade on her selection. It’s hard to stage a hostile takeover with everyone watching. Sacco has taken some reputational lumps, but if not for the ham-handed manipulation of Patrick and other Machine insiders, she wouldn’t need the services of attorney Paul J. Walker of Clarks Summit.
Paul is a fierce advocate and a good grandson who takes his kind, mild-mannered Irish grandmother to Mass every Sunday. As much as I’d like to stay in Susan Dunleavy-Hoffman’s good graces, I must respectfully say her grandson couldn’t be more wrong in blaming this newspaper for Brenda Sacco’s bad press.
I understand he’s just doing his job. Please take a moment during this morning’s Mass to remind him I’m just doing mine.
CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, hopes this settles his feud with the Dunleavy clan. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook.