Pennsylvania Senate Democratic spokesman Charlie Tocci sounded like he meant business. The senator is not interested in appearing on your show, Tocci said in the terse voicemail he left for me yesterday.
Finally we have closure.
But this matter is far from over.
Although Tocci must have hung up feeling smug and satisfied, Democratic Sen. Bob Mellow is not off the hook.
Nope. If anything, I’m persistent. And not only am I a member of the broadcast media and proud member of the press, I’m also a Mellow constituent who’s far from mellow. Even if Mellow hates the press, living in Scranton and paying taxes in Lackawanna County entitles me to access to my elected senator.
That’s right. I said entitles. I still expect to speak with Mellow even though he says he’s not interested. I guess he’s not interested in being governor, either. I’m not saying that I have the power to derail his grandiose campaign.
But I can help.
Mellow’s timid silence is unbecoming a serious candidate for a serious office.
For the past year I’ve been politely trying to schedule air time with Mellow on “Corbett,” making it clear that the Senate minority leader can call the show anytime he likes from Monday through Friday between 3 and 7 p.m.
Mellow and I actually spoke once off the air but he said he was too busy with last year’s budget to call.
Tocci and I have gone back and forth with his coming close recently to scheduling an interview. Then I wrote a few critical words about how Mellow catered to casino interests regarding the state-wide smoking ban while pushing for a new medical school in Scranton. I even alerted Tocci to the column because he wanted to know what I wanted to discuss with the boss.
Instead of standing his ground and defending his propensity to flip flop on public health policy, Mellow is pouting.
So is Tocci.
Poor babies.
Both men are immersed in a recent controversy that has its roots in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Mellow was recently quoted widely in news reports about Democrat Senate staffers trying to obtain numerous reporters’ cell phone numbers for a defense lawyer for an associate of billionaire defendant and Mt. Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples. The slots mogul is charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury investigating his alleged ties to organized crime.
Sal Cognetti Jr., lawyer for Joe Sica, a DeNaples’ confident and gadfly Scranton Roman Catholic priest, called Senate Democrats for help. Sica also faces a perjury charge for allegedly lying to the same grand jurors about the same alleged relationships with members of the mob.
A judge in Dauphin County is trying to decide if grand jury secrecy was violated with leaks to the press. Reporters subpoenaed in the case are the same reporters whose cell phone numbers the lawyer for the defense actively sought out.
Mellow is quoted in published news stories as characterizing as a constituent service what most journalists consider an attempt to intimidate the press. In another news report, Tocci babbles his justification of what most people see as a glaring abuse of public time and money.
Mellow and Tocci look particularly defensive. No wonder they don’t want to talk. When I called Tocci yesterday I left word with a secretary that I wanted to invite him on the show, as well.
I asked for his cell phone number, too, which the secretary refused to provide.
Then I asked for the cell number for Tocci’s supervisor.
Secretary “Kim,” who refused to provide her last name, also refused to provide that number. Kim said that neither Tocci nor his boss has voicemail and that the boss doesn’t even have a direct line I can call.
Then she hung up on me while I was in mid-sentence.
Wow.
Senate Democrats really are living a low-rent existence. This squalid scene is the stuff from which good low-budget independent films are made. Maybe I can catch Mellow on video. And since our esteemed state lawmakers will soon start their summer vacation, Mellow ought to be back in the region.
YouTube here we come.
One day, with a little work, Mellow might be a star.
Sue Henry
