SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan has announced his endorsement of Michael Cappellini for the county\u2019s vacant commissioner seat, calling the upcoming special election a pivotal moment for local government.<\/p>\n
In a statement released Tuesday, Gaughan said the race represents \u201ca turning point for Lackawanna County,\u201d arguing that recent months have been marked by \u201cpolitical theatrics and power plays\u201d from individuals seeking to control county government for personal gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vacant seat has fielded exactly the kind of backroom maneuvering that citizens rightly reject,\u201d Gaughan said. \u201cNow, thanks to a court-ordered special election that I fought hard for, the voters will speak, and I believe Michael Cappellini is the voice we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaughan highlighted his administration\u2019s accomplishments during his first year in office, particularly the county\u2019s first comprehensive property reassessment in nearly six decades. He defended the initiative against critics who have called for delaying or revisiting the process.<\/p>\n
“I am incredibly honored and grateful for the endorsements that have been coming in supporting our campaign,” Cappellini said in a statement to FOX56 about the endorsement. He went on to say, “In particular, getting an endorsement of a sitting Commissioner not only shows the momentum we have – but it shows that our message of fresh ideas, transparency and dedication to the taxpayer is loud and clear. I look forward to working with Commissioners Gaughan and Chermak should I be our next County Commissioner.”<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk of \u2018pausing\u2019 and \u2018studying\u2019 reassessment is simply misleading and dishonest,\u201d Gaughan said. \u201cIt\u2019s a return to the old guard machine politics of a bygone era.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court-ordered special election will determine who fills the vacant commissioner seat, which has been the subject of political dispute since earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Former state representative Thom Welby is running as a democrat. He told FOX56, “I have known that Mr. Capellini is Commissioner Gaughan’s candidate for some time. Commissioner Gaughan has accompanied Mr. Cappellini at multiple events and has been sending out text messages to registered voters asking them to support his pick.<\/p>\n
What troubles me greatly is that we will not have a third commissioner in that office who will have an independent perspective when considering all issues coming before them.”<\/p>\n
FOX56 reached out to Lackawanna County party chair Chris Patrick for comment. Patrick said, “Enough with the games.<\/p>\n
Billy Gaughan just endorsed Michael Cappellini \u2014 an independent with zero experience in county government \u2014 over a lifelong Democrat and respected public servant who\u2019s dedicated more than 40 years to Lackawanna County.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s call this what it is: control. Billy doesn\u2019t want an independent voice; he wants someone he can control. Cappellini would be beholden to Gaughan, not to the men and women of Lackawanna County. That\u2019s exactly what Billy wanted from day one \u2014 and why this process has been delayed again and again.<\/p>\n
While he plays political games, the county had a 33% tax increase, a botched reassessment, and his reckless moves could open the door for a Republican takeover of the board.<\/p>\n
Billy Gaughan\u2019s actions aren\u2019t leadership \u2014 they\u2019re dangerous, self-serving, and putting the future of this county at risk.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan has announced his endorsement of Michael Cappellini for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[248,246,201,247,250,251,178,180,179,249,252],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-commissioner-seat","tag-gaughan","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-michael-cappellini","tag-political-theatrics","tag-property-reassessment","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-special-election","tag-voters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}