Woman's Best Friend 
Family's Two Dogs Credited With Saving Mother's Life

Accidental Bb Shot Destroys Window

Sunday, January 26, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 





Musto gunning for Brace in race; Pizzella runs Super Bowl ads &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Ray Musto just never forgetsWhile he says he's "not going to get into that
county controller fight," Musto doesn't hesitate to tell anybody who'll listen
that the one guy he'll do what he can to knock out of the box is Bill Brace. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Musto has been carrying a grudge in his craw against Brace going back to
when Brace backed Mike Conahan, when Conahan and Joe Musto battled for the
county judgeship that Conahan won. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Musto's also still ticked that Brace was for Neil O'Donnell against him in
that state Senate nominating primary a few years ago that also included Frank
Trinisewski. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Musto beat O'Donnell and Trinisewski, of course, and went on to win another
state Senate term, which he's serving in now. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Brace, who is Wilkes-Barre City Clerk, is in the field of Democratic
candidates for county controller in the May 20 primary. The others are Frank
Pizzella of Plains and, supposedly, Tom Pisano of Exeter. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Musto doesn't have much to say about Pizzella and Pisano, but mention Brace
and he boils over. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Brace has a lot of nerve asking for the Democratic Executive Committee's
endorsement," Musto says. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "When I was the Executive Committee's endorsed candidate for the state
Senate in the primary of 1994," Musto says, "Brace went out and tried to knock
my head off." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Brace, Musto practically rages, "has never done anything for the Democratic
Party in all the years he's been a Democrat, if that's what he really is, and
he's selfish and has never been a team player." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Musto says Brace "will have trouble in the city" and from him as well. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I'm against Brace and he's going to find that out on election day," Musto
says. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Brace supposedly went to county Democratic Chairman Jimmy Bach and asked
him for the Democratic endorsement for controller, something Brace denies, but
Bach turned him down. Bach says there aren't going to be any endorsements
until some time in May. Musto didn't like it one bit that Brace supposedly
went to Bach for the endorsement. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When he was told that Musto was out to chop him up, Brace said, "I know
he's mad at me because I backed Mike Conahan in the city in that judgeship
primary election, but I can't worry about that because I have a campaign to
run." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Brace says he was for Conahan because they have been personal friends going
back years and years, and as far as supporting O'Donnell, Brace says "Neil is
a friend of mine, too." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 All of that, Brace says, is in the past. "Past elections are past," he
says. "And, besides, I have nothing personal against Sen. Musto; in fact, I
respect him and I think he's doing a good job in Harrisburg." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Brace says his campaign is doing very well. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I have fund-raisers scheduled for all around the county; I'll have $100 a
ticket get-together on Jan. 31, that's this coming Friday, at the Ramada and
then I'll have others in Hazleton and Pittston and elsewhere," he says. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Moneybags Pizzella &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Frank Pizzella is telling everybody that he has bought up tons of
advertising -- television, radio, buses, billboards and so on -- in his
campaign to grab the Democratic nomination for county controller. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In fact, they were saying Pizzella has two ads on Fox 38's broadcast of the
Super Bowl today. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 To advertise like that, you really need serious money. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Pizzella, a Plains Township commissioner, claims he's "loaded with cash"
and won't hesitate to turn it loose to win in the May 20 primary. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Money is the mother's milk of politics, so they say. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Yencha not being turned &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 If you saw that ad in both newspapers on January 20 congratulating Greg
Skrepenak, Rocket Ismail and Bucky Greeley for helping the Carolina Panthers
to a winning season, you might be wondering why Republican John Yencha's name
was included in it along with the names of Democrats Alice Corba, Sally
Jervis, Mike Rushton. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The way the ad was presented anybody reading it naturally would conclude
that here are the four incumbent Wilkes-Barre School Board candidates in this
year's elections running as a "team." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But that's really not the case. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 According to Yencha, he got a brief look at the original copy of the ad,
which was signed "Paid for by Committee to Reelect Corba, Jervis, Rushton,
Yencha," and didn't object to it being printed in the newspapers. To him, it
seemed like a nice tribute toward those three star football players. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And even though it looked very much like he was part of a
Corba-Jervis-Rushton "team," that's not the way it is. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I'm still on my own," Yencha says. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Even though Yencha keeps saying that, Rushton still thinks he can turn him
to Democrat so they'll have an all-Democratic team for the School Board
elections. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Good luck, Mike. Just don't hold your breath on that one. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Burns picks campaign chief &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Democratic prothonotary candidate Jim Burns has picked Bob Savakinus of
Hudson, an active member of the Young Democrats, as his campaign director. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Burns, saying he "senses change in the air," is challenging incumbent
Democratic prothonotary Gene Duffy for the Democratic nomination on May 20. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 This is Burns's third crack at a county row office nomination. He
previously ran for county controller against the late Joe Tirpak, and for
recorder of deeds against the incumbent Frank Castellino. Burns lost both
times. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Joey "I" aims at Toole &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It looks like Michael Lombardo, son of Dr. Joseph Lombardo, is going to
challenge incumbent Pittston Mayor Tom Walsh for the Democratic nomination for
mayor in the May 20 primary. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Word out of Pittston is that Joey Infantino is putting together a ticket to
try to take out Walsh and incumbent Democratic Councilmen John Argo and Jim
Kolmansberger. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Lombardo would head the Infantino slate, which also would include
Infantino's son Charlie. The second council candidate on this slate hasn't
been chosen just yet. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Infantino -- they call him Joey "I" -- would like to call the shots at City
Hall so he can get rid of his arch enemy, City Clerk Wil Toole. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Knowing he'll be out if Walsh and the incumbent councilmen lose, Toole has
been shopping for a county job, which he's not likely to ever get because
Infantino is close with Tom Makowski and is sure to keep Toole blocked out as
long as he can. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Toole is said to have tried to smooth things over with Joey "I", but never
got to first base. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By the way, Mayor Tom Walsh is a wonderful guy. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The way it was &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Just to set things straight for the guys on the Wilkes-Barre City Council. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mike McGinley did not -- repeat: did not -- "run to the newspaper" with the
story about him and you other guys on the council that was in this space last
Sunday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The sources for that story, and the story about Tommy McGroarty and
McGinley as well, weren't McGinley or anybody in the McGinley family. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Both of those stories came out of connections other than the McGinleys. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Just wanted to clear that up. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Columnist Bill Griffith's notes on county and city politics appear on
Sunday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Musto Gunning For Brace In Race; Pizzella Runs Super Bowl Ads Ray Musto Just Never Forgets.