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HIGHLAND ASSOCIATES Three partners of the Clarks Summit architectural firm – Don Kalina,
Kevin Smith and Dominic Provino testified Thursday they were extorted into paying $90,000 to Cordaro and Munchak out of fear their firm would lose millions of dollars in contracts with Lackawanna County. Kalina said he received a phone call from Munchak in around April 2005, asking him to meet for lunch. When he asked Munchak what he wanted to talk about, his message was short and simple: “We need some cash,” Kalina said. The bottom line, they said, is they feared Cordaro and Munchak would terminate nearly $4.4 million in contracts they had just secured with the county. Their firm had already expended $1.3 million in upfront costs on the projects, and losing them would devastate the company. “Did you discuss contacting authorities?” Graham asked Smith, who was first to take the stand. “We felt it would be a situation of our word against their word,” Smith said. “The path of least resistance was to make the payments.” Under cross examination by de-
fense attorneys, Smith and Provino acknowledged they never spoke directly to Cordaro or Munchak or saw Kalina deliver the money to them. “The only thing you know is you gave Don Kalina $10,000 on three occasions,” Chris Powell, the attorney representing Munchak, said to Smith. “If Don Kalina said he gave money to the commissioners, he gave it to the commissioners,” Smith said.
MICHAEL PASONICK The Luzerne County engineer who pleaded guilty to an unrelated federal bribery charge in April said he gave Cordaro two cash payments of $1,000 each with hopes that he could maintain contracts on a county watershed project and work at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in Avoca. When the work didn’t materialize, Pasonick said he stopped giving.
SCRANTON – Things moved swiftly in the public corruption trial of Lackawanna County Commissioner A.J. Munchak and former commissioner Robert Cordaro.
DAY 1: JUNE 6
Jury selection begins at 10:15 a.m. and concludes by 12:25 p.m. A jury of nine men and seven women, including four alternates is chosen. Defense attorney Chris Powell, representing Munchak, publicly reveals many of the companies and individuals – identified as #1-#8 in the federal indictment - accused of bribing the once majority commissioners. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lorna N. Graham, quickly painted the case as a “money grab from various businesses” in which the once majority commissioners “shook down” some and accepted bribes from others while using campaign contributions “as a personal piggybank.” Defense attorneys allege the two men spent beyond the county’s means to repair a courthouse with rafters full of pigeon droppings, sold a ski resort bleeding $1.5 million annually and found county offices that hadn’t been audited in three years. “You’re going to hear evidence of massive spending, and that’s why,” Powell said in opening statements. “They had to spend to get us back to even.”
DAY 2: JUNE 7
Testimony begins with comments from Lackawanna County Director of Elections Marion Medalis and ends with comments from Commissioner Michael Washo. About four hours of testimony came from county Chief Financial Officer Tom Durkin who served as Munchak and Cordaro’s campaign treasurer from 2003 to 2007.
DAY 3: JUNE 8
Jurors hear from Acker Associates partner P.J. McLaine and West Scranton funeral home director Al Hughes on the alleged scheme where Acker paid Hughes as a “marketing consultant.” He then delivered the money – cash in lettersized envelopes – to Cordaro before or after lunch meetings and in the parking lot of Lackawanna County Stadium. Acker Associates was known as Company #2 in the indictment.
DAY 4: JUNE 9
Businessman Tom Cummings, part of a five-way split of profits in the sale of a cell phone tower at the Lackawanna County 911 Center, said he was told by McLaine to deal with Hughes to “facilitate” approval of the project. Tom Dubas, director of Lackawanna County’s emergency services department, said he wasn’t “going to take the fall for anyone” regarding the selection of the company that paid two shares to Hughes in the sale of the tower – one for himself and one for Cordaro. Three partners of a Clarks Summit architectural firm - Dominic Provino, Kevin Smith and Don Kalina - testified Thursday they were extorted into paying $90,000 to Robert Cordaro and A.J. Munchak out of fear their firm would lose millions of dollars in contracts with Lackawanna County.
DAY 5: JUNE 10
Business owners testify their campaign contributions were in good faith. Louis Costanzo of L.R. Costanzo said he was unaware of campaign finance laws that restricted cash donations of more than $100. Joseph Ferrarrio said he gave a combined $4,000 in cash to Cordaro’s brother, Ron, but was unaware if the funds ever reached the commissioner. Ferrario was part of Hennigan-Ferrario, the firm that previously administered the county’s workers’ compensation fund. - CHRISTOPHER J. HUGHES and TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER
SPORTS
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envelopes and that they were always handed over in secret. Hughes said Cordaro initially suggested Acker Associates pay Washo $15,000 each month. He said he was embarrassed to ask McLaine for that much money and instead asked for $10,000. Twice in 2005 and once in 2007, Hughes gave Cordaro a check because, when the commissioner came calling, “it was the evening and the bank had already closed.” Hughes said he considered the payments as a way he was “helping two friends” and outright denied and allegation from Cordaro’s cocounsel Jerry Johnson that phone calls he made to McLaine to arrange Cordaro’s payments “became a solution to all of your debts.”
TRIAL TIMELINE – WEEK 1
ARTS
cross examination that he didn’t know if his donations ever reached the former commissioner’s hands. In January 2004, Ferrario said, he was called to Robert Cordaro’s office regarding Hennigan-Ferrario’s administration of the county’s workers’
compensation fund. “We had a discussion about my partnering with Charles Costanzo in order to keep the business,” he said. The deal was either to partner with Bob Cordaro’s friend who was convicted in 2009 of stealing more than $600,000 from that same fund or “give up the business.” Months later, Ferrario said, Costanzo formed a new group to oversee the fund. Louis Costanzo, president of L.R. Costanzo, said he financially supported the campaign group, Friends of Munchak and Cordaro, because of a personal relationship with Munchak. “We felt it was time for a change in the county,” he added of the fellow Republicans.
grounds. The testimony was just a sampling of that heard this week that outlined secret payments made to the men on behalf of Acker Associates and Highland Associates, campaign donations from men like Louis Constanzo and Ferrario, and more. Some of the men who claim they were extorted by either Munchak or Robert Cordaro – like P.J. McLaine of Acker – used middle men like West Scranton funeral home director Al Hughes to deliver the funds. McLaine testified that he never saw the money reach Bob Cordaro, while Hughes testified payments were made in secret following lunch meetings with the Dunmore native. Robert Cordaro said he was left bothered by comments made during the first week of the trial. “It’s disappointing to see people that you knew in one way or another and after they enter into an agreement with the government, they come up with a story,” Cordaro said while leaving court on Friday. “We certainly hope that the jury is watching closely.”
NEWS
Chris Powell and A.J. Munchak enter federal court.
Louis Costanzo said Friday that he gave $2,500 in cash to Munchak at the firm’s Main Avenue offices in Scranton and later held a fundraiser at his son’s Clarks Summit home in their support. Another $2,500 cash donation was given on top of $7,500 raised through the event. Louis Costanzo said he was unaware and was not informed by Munchak of campaign finance laws that restrict cash donations of more than $100. “It wasn’t an act of extortion?” Robert Cordaro’s attorney, William Costopoulos asked. “No,” Louis Costanzo replied. “It wasn’t an act of bribery on your part?” “No,” he said again. Campaign contributions from Louis Costanzo and his partners totaled $23,250 from 2006 to 2007, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney William Houser. The prosecution alleges those cash and campaign finance payments were intended to secure work with Lackawanna County, including the renovation of the county courthouse and surrounding
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