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Law and order key to city’s turnaround for Wilkes-Barre mayoral candidate Tony George

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; History and his opponent &#8212; Frank Sorick knows them well.</p><p>In his bid to upset Democratic challenger Tony George and become the first Republican mayor elected in the city in 55 years, he&#8217;ll have to overcome both.</p><p>But Sorick, behind a firm belief that city residents have long been languishing under the direction of the same old, &#8220;politically connected&#8221; officials, pledges to bring a fresh, outside perspective to City Hall if elected.</p><p>&#8220;If you want your city to change and you want something different, it&#8217;s time to do something different,&#8221; Sorick said Wednesday in an interview with the Times Leader Opinion Board. &#8220;The same old, same old isn&#8217;t getting it done.&#8221;</p><p>City voters on Nov. 3 will choose between Sorick, 42, and George, 63, the former police chief and first-term city councilman. The candidate will succeed three-term mayor Tom Leighton, who late last year announced he would not seek a fourth term.</p><p>Initially encouraged by George&#8217;s announcement last year to seek the mayoral slot, Sorick said his opponent has since changed.</p><p>&#8220;He agreed back then he would not be part of the same old, same old network. He would be a different type of candidate,&#8221; Sorick said. &#8220;He would not be taking campaign contributions from city contractors. He would not be holding big money rallies to get these $250 a plate dinners.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;He said &#8216;Frank, that&#8217;s not me,&#8217;&#8221; Sorick continued. &#8220;Well, that is him. Just look at his campaign finance reports.&#8221;</p><p>Sorick believes George is sincere in his admission that he made honest mistakes on his campaign finance forms, which spurred criticism and ultimately an investigation by the district attorney&#8217;s office into whether George purposefully under reported contributions in order to deceive the public.</p><p>The probe revealed the discrepancies occurred without criminal intent.</p><p>At the very minimum, Sorick said the multitude of mistakes should give residents pause over George&#8217;s ability to handle the city&#8217;s finances.</p><p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re making these kinds of mistakes on simple campaign forms,&#8221; Sorick asked, &#8220;then what types of mistakes can we expect on a $45 million city budget?&#8221;</p><p>George similarly challenged Sorick on the same front, questioning whether his tax struggles disqualified him for the mayor&#8217;s job. Sorick owes nearly $10,000 in taxes for five properties, according to county real estate tax data. But Sorick said he isn&#8217;t unlike a multitude of others who have faced similar challenges.</p><p>&#8220;I receive a paycheck like everyone else and, like everyone else, I struggle paycheck to paycheck,&#8221; Sorick said. &#8220;I have to make tough decisions at times with my family budget the same as every other hardworking American who finds out at the end of the month there&#8217;s more month than money.&#8221;</p><p>His tax problems were an &#8220;ongoing issue,&#8221; he said, adding he is on a payment plan with Northeast Revenue Service and has never missed a payment. Sorick believes the situation makes him cognizant of balancing finances.</p><p>In order to free up funds, Sorick said he plans to reduce management and non-unionized positions at City Hall and, perhaps, appoint a new police chief.</p><p>&#8220;Certainly, the current chief is better than the former chief who we never saw,&#8221; Sorick said, referencing Gerard Dessoye, who retired in 2014. But Sorick said he isn&#8217;t sure whether the city&#8217;s current chief, Robert Hughes, is the right man for the job.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know whether his hands are tied or maybe he&#8217;s just not doing all he wants to do. That&#8217;s something I won&#8217;t know until I&#8217;m the mayor,&#8221; Sorick said. &#8220;Whether or not Chief Hughes remains chief, that all depends on him.&#8221;</p><p>Regardless, Sorick wants to put more police on city streets. The number of cops isn&#8217;t the only factor, he said, citing the &#8220;broken window theory.&#8221;</p><p>The theory is one of decline: a smashed window shows criminals the building owner &#8212; or the police &#8212; are unable or unwilling to control minor crimes. If the police can&#8217;t prevent something small, they likely can&#8217;t stop something major, the theory suggests. That eventually breeds violence.</p><p>&#8220;That type of trend is happening in every neighborhood on every street,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have to combat the blight problem in order to really root out the crime problem in Wilkes-Barre.&#8221;</p><p>Sorick said he would add more saturation patrols, restoring the &#8220;walk and talk&#8221; method, and targeting quality of life crimes. By making &#8220;necessary budget cuts,&#8221; particularly in City Hall salaries, Sorick estimated he would be able to add as many as five new police officers.</p><p>Sorick added that strategy is something his opponent is not willing to do.</p><p>&#8220;My hand won&#8217;t even be off the Bible five seconds when that&#8217;s presented,&#8221; he said.</p><p>A married father of three, Sorick would be the first Republican elected into office since Luther M. Kniffen in 1960.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Frank Sorick</strong></p><p><strong>Age:</strong> 42</p><p><strong>Party:</strong> Republican</p><p><strong>Profession:</strong> Realtor, President of Wilkes-Barre City Taxpayers Association</p><p><strong>Education:</strong> Tunkhannock High School graduate, 1992; Associate Degree in Business, Western International University, 2007; Bachelor&#8217;s Degree in Paralegal Studies, Kaplan University, 2009.</p><p><strong>Campaign issues</strong>: Crime, blighted properties, trash cleanup, transparency/reducing overstaffing at City Hall.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre mayoral hopeful Sorick: ‘Same old, same old’ won’t produce results