Though we’ve had our differences over the years, Marty Flynn and I have always shared a mutual respect as overachieving underdogs.
We both worked hard to overcome personal and professional obstacles, and we both built reasonably respectable careers leveraging the “advantage” of being underestimated.
The incumbent state senator in the 22nd District is the overwhelming favorite in the race for the Democratic nomination in the May 19 primary election. Marty is the top dog of Lackawanna County politics. His opponent, newcomer Jeffrey Lake, is the ultimate underdog.
If Marty has any fear of losing to Lake, he didn’t show it in a recent interview at his office in West Scranton. Our wide-ranging conversation touched on his record, his controversial relationship with Dunmore businessman Alpesh “Al” Patel and the most pivotal issue the region has faced in decades — invasive data center development.
Marty and I were both itching to talk about Patel. As I reported last August, Marty and Patel are co-owners of a business property in Wilkes-Barre. Patel is a longtime supporter and donor to Marty’s campaign fund. When Patel’s name appeared in paperwork for a data center proposal, I described him as “an aspiring data center developer.”
Marty said I got that wrong.
“It’s all fabricated,” he said. “He was going to sell a piece of property. I guess (Kriger Construction President and data center developer Jim) Marzolino’s property was next to his, and there was going to be a thruway through (Patel’s) property, and he was going to sell it to him.
“I had nothing to do with that. I didn’t even know about the deal … He wasn’t developing a data center. He was like, ‘Well, if they’re going to give me such and such money for this, I would sell it.’”
Patel is also executive director of the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee “Machine” and was a key architect of the failed plot to install Brenda Sacco to serve out the term of departed Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin. Amid the Machine’s ultimately failed court fight to stop a special election, it coughed up eventual winner and now Commissioner Chairman Thom Welby.
Late in the race, Marty’s campaign fund coughed up $100,000 for Welby’s campaign against disaffected Democrat Michael Cappellini, who ran as an independent. Cappellini supporters saw it as Marty putting his thumb on the scale for a longtime ally and party apparatchik.
Marty saw it as his duty to support the party’s chosen candidate.
“Like I said then, I would give Thom Welby a million dollars,” he said, adding that Democrats who want to change the party’s direction should do so from within, rather than by running around it. What I call the Machine, Marty defends as “the democratic process.”
“This is how it works,” he said. “I didn’t set the rules, but I play the game … And if you don’t like it, too bad.”
Marty touted his 13-year record in the House and Senate, something his challenger lacks. He said a lot of his daily work isn’t reflected in headlines.
“I’ve been tirelessly relentless with my constituent services,” he said. “I help people every day here. I have a line that comes through here every day …”
On a broader scale, Marty pointed to his leadership in resisting an astronomical increase in water rates proposed by Pennsylvania American Water in 2024. He and other legislators and local officials united in opposition to the outrageous hike, which the state Public Utility Commission eventually cut by more than half.
“I fought a billion-dollar corporation,” he said. “I did … I’m the one that stopped a hundred-million-dollar increase in our water rates. A hundred-million.”
If Marty and other legislators and local officials were willing to form the same kind of proactive, unified front against invasive data center development, challengers like Jeffrey Lake might not feel compelled to run.
The lone “advantage” Lake can claim in this race is his unequivocal opposition to data center development. His support for a moratorium while lawmakers craft responsible regulations and learn more about the risks data centers pose to public health and economic security mirrors majority public sentiment. Voters overwhelmingly want someone to at least tap the brakes on this runaway train.
Marty is in a position to do that, but so far has declined to use his office as a bulwark against the annihilation of communities like Archbald. He has repeatedly said data centers should not be built near homes, schools and public parks, but talk is cheap.
“It’s a political reality that every elected official needs to understand,” he said. “Everybody’s against data centers, but the reality is they’re here, they’re coming. … There’s billions and billions of dollars involved, and no matter what, we have to do something to get something from it.”
Marty pulled his support for Senate Bill 939, which would essentially gut local control over zoning. He said he would “100%” vote for broader bills introduced by state Reps. Kyle Mullins, D-112, Blakely, and Kyle Donahue, D-113, Scranton, but he thinks a bill calling for a statewide three-year moratorium co-sponsored by state Sen. Katie Muth, D-44, Berks/Chester/Montgomery counties, and state Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-40, Middle Smithfield Twp., has no chance in a Republican-controlled Senate.
“I don’t think a three-year moratorium works,” he said. “I think I could see, like, a year where we get the regulations and the stuff together and set them for brownfields or for coal mines. Put them … anywhere but in a town. Why not by the Casey Highway up over and away from everything? What is so hard about going there?”
That’s a question for the developers. I was there primarily to ask Marty what he is doing — practically and proactively — to protect the people he represents from the manifest threats of invasive data center development.
“Why don’t you introduce a bill proposing a one-year moratorium?” I asked.
“I have some language I’m getting together now for something like that,” he said, but it, too, would be a hard sell to the GOP majority.
That’s no reason not to do it. Even a bill with no chance of passing would signal to Marty’s constituents that the top dog in Lackawanna County politics is willing to stand up and fight for them.
While his “pugilistic instincts” sometimes get the better of him, Marty is smarter and shrewder than many of his critics know. His political instincts are usually razor-sharp, which is why it’s been puzzling to watch him shy away from an obviously urgent, righteous fight.
“I understand the way I operate, I’m not everybody’s cup of tea,” he said. “I’m fine with that. But I know I’m as efficient as they come at doing what I need to do for my district, more so than most people that have been sitting where I’m at.”
It’s a low bar, but so far, Marty hasn’t tripped over it.
Lake and Flynn are slated to engage in their lone scheduled debate on May 7 at 6 p.m. at the University of Scranton’s Brennan Hall, 320 Madison Ave. Lake asked for four debates, but Marty, a former boxer and mixed martial arts fighter, said a single showdown was sufficient.
“I only need one round,” he said.
CHRIS KELLY, The Times-Tribune columnist, is looking forward to the debate. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook; and @chriskellyink on Bluesky.