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Convicted Luzerne County killer claims prosecutor misconduct in appeal filings

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Got weed? Pot talk and other terms banned on Pennsylvania license plates

<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wampole </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_wampole1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wampole </caption0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Election2015.pdf">
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<div class="neCaption">Brown </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_georgebrown1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Brown </caption2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL050215Tony-George1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">George </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL050215Tony-George1.jpg</photo3><caption3>George </caption3></div></div>
<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Just over two months ago Ted Wampole served as a key cog in George Brown&#8217;s political machine, co-chairman of an extensive but ultimately unsuccessful bid for Wilkes-Barre mayor that cost $34,000 in advertisements alone.</p><p>But Brown&#8217;s defeat isn&#8217;t keeping Wampole from figuring into the mix in the November general election.</p><p>Tony George, the former city police chief who in the May 19 primary edged Brown by 151 votes to win the Democratic mayoral nomination, said Wampole is joining his staff as campaign co-chairman.</p><p>George&#8217;s campaign committee made the announcement Monday, tapping Wampole to co-chair the campaign along with Wilkes-Barre Crime Watch Coalition President Charlotte Raup.</p><p>For the first time since 2004, the contest will be without Tom Leighton, who announced last year he would not seek a fourth term as mayor. No Republican has been elected to the position since 1960, when Luther M. Kniffen retired from public office following his third term.</p><p>George said Monday the two discussed the decision mid-June and that the partnership &#8212; and interest &#8212; was mutual. Though he regarded Wampole as &#8220;an asset,&#8221; George said wasn&#8217;t bringing him aboard to alter the campaign strategy.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re continuing doing what we&#8217;ve been doing because it worked,&#8221; George said. &#8220;He&#8217;s just going to join us. He&#8217;s more organized than we were.&#8221;</p><p>Brown said Monday that Wampole was hard-working and highly dedicated, often devoting much of his personal time to his campaign. Brown said Wampole informed him last week he would be joining George&#8217;s campaign.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s his decision,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;He has to do what he feels in his heart is the right thing to do.&#8221;</p><p>Brown, who quashed rumors of mounting a potential write-in campaign, said he had no hard feelings over the decision.</p><p>&#8220;Whoever he works for, I wish him the best,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;There&#8217;s no ill feelings.&#8221;</p><p>George, who serves with Brown on Wilkes-Barre City Council, said the move was about showing support, not pilfering a member of a former opponent&#8217;s staff.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not taking him away from anybody. Ted can stay there if he wants,&#8221; George said. &#8220;The person who loses is still a Democrat and still supports the party.&#8221;</p><p>But it wasn&#8217;t long ago that Wampole, an insurance salesman with Liberty Mutual since 1983, was working strategies with Brown over how to convince voters he was a better fit for mayor than George.</p><p>Brown&#8217;s election committee nearly tripled the spending of George&#8217;s campaign.</p><p>Despite the efforts of Wampole and other members of Brown&#8217;s campaign committee, city voters nominated George, whose law and order campaign struck a cord with residents exposed to repeated shootings and homicides in the past two years.</p><p>In the weeks leading up to primary, city police were investigating a rash of gunfire incidents, including the apparent ambush and murder of Donald Bachman, a self-appointed neighborhood anti-crime activist.</p><p>The two candidates, who were separated by just a handful of votes in the election, were much further apart on their approach to running the city.</p><p>While each candidate identified crime and the city&#8217;s spending as main concerns, Brown touted his extensive business acumen as a means to stabilize Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s finances while George, a former police chief from 2001-2004, pledged to bring a crime-fighting effort to the city.</p><p>Wampole, who did not return a request for comment Monday, said in the news release that he was honored to join in George&#8217;s efforts to address crime.</p><p>&#8220;The primary election is over and the City of Wilkes-Barre needs to move forward. I strongly endorse Tony George&#8217;s &#8216;law and order&#8217; approach to rehabilitating the City of Wilkes-Barre,&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;As a life-long resident, I know the city needs effective law enforcement strategies to move forward, and I am happy to be part of that effort.&#8221;</p><p>George will face Republican Frank Sorick in the Nov. 3 election.</p><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Joe Dolinsky can be reached at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</shirttailMeta></div>

George’s Wilkes-Barre mayoral bid adds campaign co-chair of former opponent