Scientists seeking cause of huge freshwater mussel die-off

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To impeach or not to impeach?

<p>Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis has fired off a critical response to county councilman-elect Walter Griffith&#8217;s recent email complaint about her budget and a vehicle purchase.</p><p>Griffith sent his email about the district attorney&#8217;s office last Thursday to council and the three other new council members taking office with him Jan. 6 &#8212; LeeAnn McDermott, Stephen J. Urban and Kendra Radle.</p><p>&#8221;We just raised taxes on the residents of Luzerne County and the DA simply spends over $38,500 for a new vehicle!!!!! This is exactly the reason why we need to cut the budget for the DA and other departments that WASTE TAXPAYERs MONEY,&#8221; Griffith wrote.</p><p>&#8220;This email is exactly the kind of reckless rhetoric we&#8217;ve come to expect from Mr. Griffith,&#8221; Salavantis replied.</p><p>&#8220;An expenditure being railed upon as a &#8216;waste&#8217; without spending even a second to gather the facts is irresponsible,&#8221; the DA concluded. &#8220;Hopefully, Mr. Griffith will be more careful when he actually takes his seat at the council table.&#8221;</p><p>Griffith said managers argue allocations are needed for their departments to run efficiently and then &#8220;waste it&#8221; when they &#8220;have an excess&#8221; at the end of the year.</p><p>He wrote that the district attorney&#8217;s office vehicle purchase is &#8220;just one example of the FAT&#8221; in the 2020 budget.</p><p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s open the budget and trim the fat for the taxpayers. This is unacceptable after all the hard work of council to cut items from the budget,&#8221; Griffith wrote.</p><p>He also questioned where Salavantis obtained the funds for the transfer and proposed removing a $32,400 machinery and equipment allocation from the district attorney&#8217;s 2020 budget &#8220;when the budget is opened.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Origin of funds</strong></p><p>The answer about the origin of the funds is stated in the Dec. 4 transfer posted at <a href="https://www.luzernecounty.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/902" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.luzernecounty.org</a>, which says the office covered the cost of a 2020 Ford Explorer by transferring $38,202 from the capital cases line item to the machinery/equipment category. It says the vehicle was needed to replace a 2007 Suburban that is no longer in service.</p><p>In her Friday response, Salavantis said someone provided her with a copy of Griffith&#8217;s email, and she wanted to &#8220;set the record straight&#8221; for &#8220;those members whom hopefully will seek the actual facts.&#8221;</p><p>Salavantis said one of the office vehicles &#8220;died&#8221; this year. The capital cases line had money available because a death penalty case was resolved, and the office opted to use that money for the vehicle replacement instead of requesting additional funds in 2020, she said.</p><p>In reference to Griffith&#8217;s proposal to cut the $32,400 machinery/equipment budget line, Salavantis said this allocation was provided in both 2019 and 2020 to cover lease payments for four vehicles that the county is contractually obligated to pay.</p><p>&#8220;While the fight against the increasing criminal element in our county will never be profitable, I take great pride in scrutinizing the budget of this office,&#8221; Salavantis wrote.</p><p>Salavantis said Monday a response to Griffith&#8217;s email was warranted because spending in her office has come in below budget every year since she became district attorney in 2012. Vehicles are used by detectives for investigations throughout the county, she said, noting she obtained quotes from three local dealers.</p><p>Griffith said Monday he did not receive Salavantis&#8217; response from her or council. He stood by his communication, saying he is still a citizen and has a right to state opinions and demand explanation on how money is spent.</p><p>&#8220;But because it&#8217;s me, it&#8217;s &#8216;reckless rhetoric,&#8217;&#8221; he said.</p><p>While budget transfers are publicly posted and must be sent to council within five days under the county&#8217;s home rule charter, Griffith said he believes council should be discussing transfers at its meetings to ensure everyone is aware when money is not spent for the reason it was originally provided.</p><p><strong>Budget re-opening uncertain</strong></p><p>It&#8217;s unclear if Griffith will receive the required majority council vote to reopen the budget in January. Urban said he would second the motion, but McDermott and Radle have said they would not support a reopening unless they are convinced council left significant viable cuts in its adopted budget.</p><p>The sitting council already lowered the district attorney&#8217;s requested $70,000 allocation for capital cases in 2020 to $60,000 through an amendment before last week&#8217;s budget adoption. It also cut $10,000 from her examinations/witnesses category, leaving $120,000.</p><p>Salavantis told council during her budget hearing she has one pending death penalty case expected to go to trial in 2020.</p><p>This case is against Anthony Spudis, 37, who is facing an open count of criminal homicide for allegedly breaking into the Nanticoke home of 97-year-old Gertrude Price in 2013 and stabbing her several times in the head. Originally set to begin in early January, the trial was pushed back to September at the request of Spudis&#8217; defense team.</p><p>The resolved death penalty case Salavantis referenced involved Joseph John Marchetti, 52. Instead of going to trial with the possibility of the death penalty, Marchetti pleaded guilty in February for the shooting death of his girlfriend and the severe beating of her mother in Foster Township, for which he was sentenced to decades in prison, according to published reports.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Griffith </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_Walter.jpg</photo0><caption0>Griffith </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_salavantis.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption">Salavantis </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_salavantis.jpeg</photo1><caption1>Salavantis </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County DA critical of Griffith’s email