James, Licata win county council nominations Luzerne County Council primary race back story: under votes By Jack Smiles
Associate Editor
In the primary races for 11 nominations from each party to run for the new county council in November, Democratic Greater Pittston area candidates batted .100, while the Republicans batted 1.000. Bill James, a businessman from Harding, was the only local Republican candidate, out of 16, and he won a nomination. He was seventh on the Republican side with 6,747 votes. Of the 10 Democratic candidates from the local area, out of 33, only one, Sal Licata, won a nomination. Licata, a retired Pittston Area school teacher from Pittston, was seventh among the Democrats with 8,967 votes. Of the other nine local Democrats who didn’t win nominations former Pittston Area school director John Adonizio came the closest. He was 12th on the Democratic side, missing the cut by 176 votes to Elaine Maddon Curry, 7,884 to 7,608. James, the local Republican winner, said name recognition helped him. “I’ve been around Luzerne County my whole life,” he said. “I ran for state representa-
Bill James a Republican nominee for Luzerne County Council
Salvatore Licata a Democrat nominee for Luzerne County Council.
tive twice, I ran for county commissioner, I was on the council in Forty Fort and I’m on the Exeter Township planning commission.” But James didn’t rely on the hope that enough voters would recognize his name. “I was attending every event, going door-
to-door. I wanted to prove to myself that people knew me as Bill James the person, not just the politician who put signs all over the place.” Asked about the oddity of a father and son with the same name – Stephen J. Urban and Stephen A. Urban – being the top
voter-getter in the Republican and Democratic parties respectively, James said name recognition was the key again. He chuckled and said, “Is it home rule or Urban rule? That’s what I heard people saying out there.” The elder Urban, Stephen J., is a sitting county commissioner who switched from the Republican to the Democratic party last December. James said some Republicans may have voted for the son thinking he was the father. “I believe that happened in some cases,” James said. “Steve, the elder, is popular with both sides. I believe there were voters who didn’t know or forgot he switched.” Not that James believes nominating the younger Urban was a bad outcome. “I know the whole Urban family. Young Steve is brilliant, he made his own way. I can’t say anything derogatory about him. It’s going to be interesting when we get to the general.” Licata, the Democrat from Pittston, was one of 11 candidates from a union-endorsed Working Families for Better Government slate and one of only four of those to win a nomination.
SUNDAY DISPATCH, SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2011
P R I M A R Y E L E C T I O N 2 0 11
See COUNTY COUNCIL, Page 29
Pierantoni, Vough, Rogers, Gelb win judicial nods By Jack Smiles
Associate Editor
See JUDICIAL, Page 4
Fred Pierantoni celebrates his win for Luzerne County Judge with his wife, Donna, left, and sons, Fred and Matt, Tuesday night at the Dupont VFW. PHOTO BY S. JOHN WILKIN
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Two local men – Fred Pierantoni with almost 24,000 votes and Michael Vough with just over 22,000 – were the top votegetters in Tuesday’s primary election for nominations for six seats on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas. Pierantoni, from Dupont, is the Magistrate of District 4 in Pittston, a post he has held for 20 years. Pierantoni was the winner on the Democratic ballot and fourth on the Republican side. Vough, a lawyer was second and third respectively. Vough, an Avoca native, lives in West Pittston. He is a Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney. Two other Pittston area attorneys did not crack the top six on