February 6, 2008
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
Little sis wanted big brother to fight.
However, Frank LaGrotta refused to expose his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece, Alissa Lemmon, to possible jail time.
On Monday, the former 10th District House representative pleaded guilty to two conflict-of-interest charges, both felonies.
"I'm mad. I want to go to jail. Cuff me. What they did to my brother was wrong," Bartolomeo said yesterday at LaGrotta's Ellwood City home.
"I'm mad at my family. I love him. I did what I had to for him. I saw him deteriorate. I would have gone to trial. I would have sold my home."
Her mother, Loretta LaGrotta, then chimed in.
"Ann, you think it's so easy."
Ending the exchange, her son said, "This is irrelevant, unless we're gonna put Alissa at any risk."
LaGrotta was sentenced to 30 months' probation, ordered to pay a $10,000 fine ($5,000 for each count) and $27,000 in restitution, and must perform 500 hours of community service. He is under house arrest for the next six months.
Bartolomeo and her daughter each pleaded no contest to one count of false swearing. Bartolomeo, 46, received 12 months' probation and a $3,000 fine. Lemmon, 24, was given 18 months' probation and also fined $3,000.
During his Dauphin County court appearance, the 49-year-old LaGrotta pleaded guilty to charges that he placed his relatives in state jobs that provided them thousands of dollars for little or no work.
REPAYMENT
Bartolomeo said she originally volunteered to archive LaGrotta's records. That work began in January 2006.
"I thought he was going to pay me out of his pocket, which he has done before," she said. "I said no. I'm more than glad to do this work for all you have done for me.
"I could just see him giving me a big wad of money out of his pocket because he's afraid I'm needy. I'm not needy."
After losing the May 2006 Democratic primary to Jaret Gibbons, LaGrotta said, he went to Mike Veon, who was the House Minority Whip at the time. He discussed finding jobs for former staffers Terry Shaffer and Kevin Bowser.
The subject of his sister's archiving work was also brought up.
"(Veon) said, 'Well, if Ann's doing it, we can pay her to finish it,' " LaGrotta recalled. Veon reportedly told LaGrotta to contact Lauren McClure, an administrative specialist with the House Democratic Caucus. The Beaver County legislator instructed LaGrotta to have the contract backdated and "when she's done with the contract we'll take her off of it."
Veon was unavailable last night for comment.
Bartolomeo said she wasn't interested in the money.
"Did I need the money? No," she said. "Anybody can always use extra money. It wasn't about the money. I wanted to help him out.
"We are not about money in this family."
Bartolomeo then pointed to a couch in the family room, located in the basement.
"That's the same couch we had when I was a little kid. At my poorest, when I had no money at all, I never realized I was needy."
'I'M GUILTY'
"My brother stood up there and said 'I'm guilty' for two reasons: for his sister and his niece," Bartolomeo said. "No other reason. In his heart he knows he's not guilty. He's done nothing wrong. He did it to save us.
"I would have gladly gone to jail rather than to have him admit guilt when he wasn't guilty. It's tough when you get down to my daughter."
LaGrotta agreed that he entered a guilty plea to protect his family. He feared that if he had fought the state, his sister and niece would face more serious charges.
"Krastek to his credit never said anything about ghost employees," LaGrotta said. "He said 'work that was not documented and at best exaggerated.' He never said 'work that was not performed'."
Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony J. Krastek prosecuted the case for the state.
While he praised the attorney general's office for its professionalism in a difficult situation, LaGrotta said the plea arrangement he agreed to was changed the day the three were in court.
"I expected them to honor their commitments. I was extraordinarily disappointed."
LaGrotta claims the original plea had his sister and niece receiving minimal fines and minimal probation; he would be given one to two years of minimally restrictive probation; and because of the $27,000 owed in restitution, he would pay a smaller fine.
Ultimately, he said, the state told the former legislator that he must enter a guilty plea instead of "no contest," as he planned to do.
During early negotiations, Bartolomeo and Lemmon were supposed to be spared from prosecution, LaGrotta said.
"It was (Attorney General Tom) Corbett that insisted that they be prosecuted."
Corbett was unavailable last night for comment.
Despite the unexpected changes, LaGrotta said he will cooperate with Corbett's office on the House Democratic Caucus investigation. The probe involves bonuses paid to House employees, allegedly for performing campaign work.
More than $3.6 million in bonuses were paid to legislative staffers in 2005 and 2006 -- two-thirds of them by House Democrats.
WELCOMED
Bartolomeo thought about calling off work yesterday. She was concerned about the reaction of co-workers and students at Perry Township Elementary, where she is a kindergarten teacher.
"The minute I walked in the door ... everybody was hugging me," she said. "(Principal George) Garda came in and said 'It's over now. Right? It's over now.' "
Support also has come through e-mails, cards and letters.
"We'll do anything not to lose you as a teacher," the parent of a student wrote.
The Ellwood City Area School District administration said it will determine how Bartolomeo's sentence would affect her teaching credentials. However, she said she does not fear losing her job.
"My own building principal has been more than supportive and has supported me as a friend and a boss."
LaGrotta said he has no illusions about his chances for his employment.
"There's a certain stigma with someone who has a criminal record," he said.
LaGrotta said he is unable to enter the Catholic Church's three-year deacon program. The pastor of Holy Redeemer Church nominated LaGrotta. His admission had been approved by the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
"A criminal record ended that," he said.
AFTERMATH
LaGrotta has two weeks to repay the $27,000 owed to the state.
He said that once he learned of the investigation, he cashed his stock portfolio. He said there is approximately $30,000 remaining.
LaGrotta has applied to receive benefits from his state pension. He expects his first check to arrive in March.
As for his community service, he hopes to do something meaningful, such as teaching inmates or tutoring Frew Mill School students.
"I'll do whatever the law requires," he said. "I don't expect any special treatment.
"I'm going to survive the six months of house arrest. I'm going to survive the probation. I'm going to pay the fines and all the money I owe."
He said there are no plans to seek a pardon from Gov. Ed Rendell.
"It ain't going to happen," LaGrotta said. "I could ask for pardons from now until hell freezes over."
Calling himself naive for the last 20 years, LaGrotta questioned the power and fairness of the judicial system.
"In the larger scheme of things, I am a white, male, former state legislator," he said. "Very well educated with three degrees from Notre Dame, who had enough money to hire legal counsel.
"I don't think I was treated fairly. I am quite sure that people who are minorities, low income, with less education are getting abused by the justice system in this country every single day."
He said there is one image that will remain with him.
"The stigma that will stay with me for the rest of my life is watching Ann and Alissa up there saying they did something they didn't do."
Thursday, February 7, 2008
LaGrotta expected to enter plea today
February 4, 2008
(Sixth in a series)
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
Frank LaGrotta transformed from respected legislator to thieving politician within a period of seven months.
That's the essence of a state grand jury investigation.
Today, the 49-year-old Ellwood City resident along with his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, 46, and niece, Alissa Lemmon, 24, will appear in Dauphin County Court. They are expected to enter pleas at that time.
Each conflict of interest charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The mother and daughter, who are charged with false swearing to a grand jury, each face two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
However, neither Bartolomeo nor Lemmon will see jail time. Under the state's sentencing guidelines, the most they can receive is a fine, restitution, probation or a combination involving all three. They also may be placed in the state's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, where their records would be expunged upon completing the program.
At best, LaGrotta will be given a similar sentence. At worst, he can see upwards of nine months in prison. If LaGrotta were to be convicted on both conflict of interest charges, the judge also would decide whether to run the sentences for each charge concurrently or one after the other.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the three enter their pleas.
HURDLES
If LaGrotta and his family had gone to trial, their toughest challenge would have been to produce evidence. Bartolomeo and Lemmon testified to the grand jury that they were paid to remove personal information from records. Yet no records exist.
Three independent witnesses, including New Castle News photographer Erica Mihok, stated they saw boxes and files at LaGrotta's Ellwood City office.
Sam Scialdone, a former Ellwood City resident and LaGrotta staff volunteer, said boxes piled up in the office's conference room after LaGrotta's May 2006 primary loss to Jaret Gibbons.
Kevin Bowser, his former chief of staff, removed boxes in December 2006 and placed them in the Dumpster.
Of the three, only Scialdone recalled their contents, such as state paperwork, constituent letters and files involving several major projects, such as the Sechan landfill and the Independence Pipeline.
A back-dated contract involving Bartolomeo creates another issue. She stated she originally volunteered to do the work. However, Democratic House leader Rep. H. William DeWeese approved a contract in May 2006 that established a Feb. 1, 2006, employment date.
During her grand jury testimony, Bartolomeo provided a calendar showing 451 hours of completed work. Accepting those numbers, she was short 374 hours. That represents an overpayment of approximately $10,000.
GHOSTS
State Attorney General Tom Corbett has never offered a motive for LaGrotta's actions.
The politically popular answer is that is was done out of greed -- a last chance for the former legislator to take a swipe at government coffers.
Former staffer Mary Ann Shaffer said it would be out of character for LaGrotta to pay people for nonexistent work.
"He's helped my family," she said. "He's generous to a fault. Maybe that's what got him in trouble.
"He's helped many people, and I've seen those people turn on him."
Bowser said he found it difficult to accept that LaGrotta would risk his legacy over $27,000. That represents the amount of money Bartolomeo and Lemmon received.
Despite losing the May 2006 primary to Jaret Gibbons, LaGrotta secured a job with the House Democratic Caucus when his term expired.
He was paid $48,361.42 of his $73,000 salary before the caucus leadership asked him to step down.
The issue of motivation also must be applied to Bartolomeo, an Ellwood City teacher, and Lemmon, who is just starting a career. She is the tourism and cultural heritage coordinator with the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.
ISSUES
The manner of the state's investigation of LaGrotta and his family raises issues.
The first involves a statement regarding the Gateway Commerce Center in Wampum, where LaGrotta said he stored campaign signs and documents. Special Agent Robert Gift quoted an employee as stating the mines were ill-suited for storing paper documents.
Departments within the Lawrence County Government Center have used the facility for approximately 25 years. The company's Web site also advertises climate-controlled storage.
Another issue relates to the investigation of Lemmon. Several colleagues in addition to a Riverside Beaver County School District guidance counselor said LaGrotta's niece regularly worked over her scheduled hours.
During a weeklong event at the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County, Lemmon logged approximately 80 hours, according to paperwork provided to The News.
Lemmon admitted that she didn't keep track of her vacation and comp time.
THE BEGINNING
Childhood friend and former employee Terry Shaffer started the LaGrotta probe when he met with state investigators. He and Mary Ann Shaffer are not related.
Shaffer said he had been promised employment within the House Democratic Caucus. He was not hired.
In a March 7, 2007, e-mail to LaGrotta, Shaffer expressed his displeasure.
"Tell Mr. Manzo that the Attorney General will be looking at the way leadership awards its contracts to (district office) employees. And don't worry about where you'll be staying for the next couple of years. You'll be in jail."
Manzo is Michael Manzo, who is DeWeese's former chief of staff.
Shaffer also believes that LaGrotta played a role in preventing him from getting hired by Gibbons or the House Democratic Caucus.
Bowser rejected that assertion.
"If anything, he wanted him to get a job," he said. "I see no reason why he would ever prevent Terry from getting a job.
"He was trying to help him out, but how much could he really help any of us (after losing the election)?"
Bowser, who serves as Gibbons' chief of staff, once asked his boss why he didn't hire Shaffer.
"The only thing that he could tell me is that he didn't think Terry added any value."
Gibbons confirmed Bowser's statement.
"My original intent was not to bring any of Frank's staff in," he said.
During his campaign, Gibbons said residents respected the work Bowser had done in the district.
"I felt he would be a loyal employee and do his job effectively. He would be a good addition to the team.
"I didn't get the same response from the public about Terry."
PLEA
LaGrotta's father, Francis, said he wishes his son would fight the charges.
"They gotta know that he did nothing wrong," he said.
"I would sell this house. I would sell my soul to the devil to fight those people and prove that they are wrong, but what am I going to accomplish?"
(Sixth in a series)
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
Frank LaGrotta transformed from respected legislator to thieving politician within a period of seven months.
That's the essence of a state grand jury investigation.
Today, the 49-year-old Ellwood City resident along with his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, 46, and niece, Alissa Lemmon, 24, will appear in Dauphin County Court. They are expected to enter pleas at that time.
Each conflict of interest charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The mother and daughter, who are charged with false swearing to a grand jury, each face two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
However, neither Bartolomeo nor Lemmon will see jail time. Under the state's sentencing guidelines, the most they can receive is a fine, restitution, probation or a combination involving all three. They also may be placed in the state's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, where their records would be expunged upon completing the program.
At best, LaGrotta will be given a similar sentence. At worst, he can see upwards of nine months in prison. If LaGrotta were to be convicted on both conflict of interest charges, the judge also would decide whether to run the sentences for each charge concurrently or one after the other.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the three enter their pleas.
HURDLES
If LaGrotta and his family had gone to trial, their toughest challenge would have been to produce evidence. Bartolomeo and Lemmon testified to the grand jury that they were paid to remove personal information from records. Yet no records exist.
Three independent witnesses, including New Castle News photographer Erica Mihok, stated they saw boxes and files at LaGrotta's Ellwood City office.
Sam Scialdone, a former Ellwood City resident and LaGrotta staff volunteer, said boxes piled up in the office's conference room after LaGrotta's May 2006 primary loss to Jaret Gibbons.
Kevin Bowser, his former chief of staff, removed boxes in December 2006 and placed them in the Dumpster.
Of the three, only Scialdone recalled their contents, such as state paperwork, constituent letters and files involving several major projects, such as the Sechan landfill and the Independence Pipeline.
A back-dated contract involving Bartolomeo creates another issue. She stated she originally volunteered to do the work. However, Democratic House leader Rep. H. William DeWeese approved a contract in May 2006 that established a Feb. 1, 2006, employment date.
During her grand jury testimony, Bartolomeo provided a calendar showing 451 hours of completed work. Accepting those numbers, she was short 374 hours. That represents an overpayment of approximately $10,000.
GHOSTS
State Attorney General Tom Corbett has never offered a motive for LaGrotta's actions.
The politically popular answer is that is was done out of greed -- a last chance for the former legislator to take a swipe at government coffers.
Former staffer Mary Ann Shaffer said it would be out of character for LaGrotta to pay people for nonexistent work.
"He's helped my family," she said. "He's generous to a fault. Maybe that's what got him in trouble.
"He's helped many people, and I've seen those people turn on him."
Bowser said he found it difficult to accept that LaGrotta would risk his legacy over $27,000. That represents the amount of money Bartolomeo and Lemmon received.
Despite losing the May 2006 primary to Jaret Gibbons, LaGrotta secured a job with the House Democratic Caucus when his term expired.
He was paid $48,361.42 of his $73,000 salary before the caucus leadership asked him to step down.
The issue of motivation also must be applied to Bartolomeo, an Ellwood City teacher, and Lemmon, who is just starting a career. She is the tourism and cultural heritage coordinator with the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.
ISSUES
The manner of the state's investigation of LaGrotta and his family raises issues.
The first involves a statement regarding the Gateway Commerce Center in Wampum, where LaGrotta said he stored campaign signs and documents. Special Agent Robert Gift quoted an employee as stating the mines were ill-suited for storing paper documents.
Departments within the Lawrence County Government Center have used the facility for approximately 25 years. The company's Web site also advertises climate-controlled storage.
Another issue relates to the investigation of Lemmon. Several colleagues in addition to a Riverside Beaver County School District guidance counselor said LaGrotta's niece regularly worked over her scheduled hours.
During a weeklong event at the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County, Lemmon logged approximately 80 hours, according to paperwork provided to The News.
Lemmon admitted that she didn't keep track of her vacation and comp time.
THE BEGINNING
Childhood friend and former employee Terry Shaffer started the LaGrotta probe when he met with state investigators. He and Mary Ann Shaffer are not related.
Shaffer said he had been promised employment within the House Democratic Caucus. He was not hired.
In a March 7, 2007, e-mail to LaGrotta, Shaffer expressed his displeasure.
"Tell Mr. Manzo that the Attorney General will be looking at the way leadership awards its contracts to (district office) employees. And don't worry about where you'll be staying for the next couple of years. You'll be in jail."
Manzo is Michael Manzo, who is DeWeese's former chief of staff.
Shaffer also believes that LaGrotta played a role in preventing him from getting hired by Gibbons or the House Democratic Caucus.
Bowser rejected that assertion.
"If anything, he wanted him to get a job," he said. "I see no reason why he would ever prevent Terry from getting a job.
"He was trying to help him out, but how much could he really help any of us (after losing the election)?"
Bowser, who serves as Gibbons' chief of staff, once asked his boss why he didn't hire Shaffer.
"The only thing that he could tell me is that he didn't think Terry added any value."
Gibbons confirmed Bowser's statement.
"My original intent was not to bring any of Frank's staff in," he said.
During his campaign, Gibbons said residents respected the work Bowser had done in the district.
"I felt he would be a loyal employee and do his job effectively. He would be a good addition to the team.
"I didn't get the same response from the public about Terry."
PLEA
LaGrotta's father, Francis, said he wishes his son would fight the charges.
"They gotta know that he did nothing wrong," he said.
"I would sell this house. I would sell my soul to the devil to fight those people and prove that they are wrong, but what am I going to accomplish?"
LaGrotta missing boxes of documents
February 2, 2008
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Fifth in a series.)
A red Dumpster once contained Frank LaGrotta’s trash and his best defense against two ethics charges.
That was until the garbage hauler emptied it.
The state’s case against the former Ellwood City legislator and two relatives involves boxes of documents — or rather their absence.
As a result, LaGrotta will answer to two conflict of interest charges.
One count alleges that the one-time 10th District House representative used his position to provide personal financial gain for his sister, Ann Bartolomeo. The second count contends LaGrotta was listed on a savings account in which Alissa Lemmon’s state paycheck was deposited.
Lemmon is Bartolomeo’s daughter and LaGrotta’s niece. They are each charged with one count of false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
Attorney General Tom Corbett said the pair were paid approximately $27,000 for work they did not perform.
The Beaver County Times reported Thursday that the three are going to enter pleas Monday in Dauphin County Court.
Excluding statements from LaGrotta’s family, three independent sources reported seeing boxes that the grand jury stated didn’t exist. New Castle News employee Erica Mihok photographed LaGrotta’s office on Nov. 17, 2006.
Her photos show approximately 10 boxes. In addition to the boxes, she observed expanded file folders in the office’s conference room.
“Obviously, you can tell they were packing,” Mihok said. “There were a lot of boxes. There was a lot of packing going on.
“You couldn’t even walk into Frank’s office without either stepping ... toward the couch or on a box or sitting on something. You had to watch where you walked.”
The News assigned Mihok to photograph LaGrotta and his staff as they prepared to leave their Ellwood City district office on Lawrence Avenue.
LaGrotta lost his seat to Jaret Gibbons in the May 2006 Democratic primary. Gibbons went on to win the November general election.
“We wanted to get photos of him moving out, since Jaret won his seat,” the Kent State University graduate said.
Mihok added that she did not look into the boxes or file folders.
LaGrotta staff volunteer Sam Scialdone recalled that LaGrotta was a stickler when it came to keeping records.
“I know that he kept record after record,” he said. “A lot of constituent work that had to be sorted.
“You’d be surprised at what people asked for. Everything was documented. Anything of a personal nature was saved.”
Scialdone noted that after the primary election loss, the conference room became a storage area.
“Eventually, everything was taken back to the conference room. I saw boxes.”
The former Ellwood City resident claimed that he also witnessed Bartolomeo working on files in her home.
“She did that work,” he said. “You had to have someone with patience.
“She would have been a good scrapping-booking person.”
LaGrotta’s father, Francis, said that when Gibbons entered the Democratic primary, his son decided to retire if he had won in May. As part of that decision, the legislator closed his account at Gateway Commerce Center in Wampum.
In its report, the state grand jury said investigators went to the underground storage facility and interviewed employee Debbie Sudano.
“According to Agent (Robert) Gift, Sudano told him that LaGrotta never kept boxes at the storage facility. In fact, she said, the Wampum mines was particularly ill-suited, because of its humidity, to safely store paper documents.”
If that’s the case, it came as a surprise to Lawrence County administrator James Gagliano.
He said that for the last 25 years the county has used the facility. Gagliano said records from the county commissioners, prothonotary’s office, domestic relations and treasurer’s office are stored there.
On its Web site, the company says it offers climate-controlled storage.
Sudano declined comment when contacted by The News.
“There were boxes,” Francis LaGrotta said. “Don’t ask me how many. If I saw one, I could have saw 100.
“I just threw them on the truck.”
Campaign signs and boxes filled three pickup trucks, LaGrotta said. Those materials were delivered to Bartolomeo’s home.
An inspection of state campaign expense reports shows Frank LaGrotta used Gateway Commerce to store signs. The earliest report available goes back to 1994.
LaGrotta’s former chief of staff, Kevin Bowser, said he was concerned his boss would not have the office closed by Nov. 30, 2006.
“I did have conversations with him in July (2006), and I asked him specifically how we were going to handle getting rid of all this junk,” he said. “He told me he would handle his own stuff.
“He did not want us going through his materials.”
Seven months earlier, LaGrotta asked Bowser to help clear out his space at the mines.
“He called me up on a Friday or Saturday, because I have a truck, and asked me if I could clear out the mines because he was going to end his lease there,” he said.
“I have hockey on Sunday, and said ‘Can not do. Hockey’s my day. He said ‘No problem, I’ll get my cousin Nick or Mike to help out.’ ”
By Nov. 30, LaGrotta’s office had yet to be emptied. Bowser said LaGrotta thought he would have additional time to leave. He had believed Gibbons would want to rent his office and purchase his furniture.
“We looked at that location,” Gibbons said. “We didn’t like the set up of it.
“The location was OK, but I wanted to be closer to the main area of the business district. I didn’t make a decision on the site until mid-December.”
Gibbons said he did a five-minute walk-through of the office. He also looked at furniture, but he declined to make a purchase.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the office in the first place. It felt like a doctor’s office. I wanted a customer-friendly office.”
He didn’t remember what items were in the office at the time.
When LaGrotta went to The Uni-Center office on the morning of Dec. 1, he found that he had been locked out.
“I knew he wasn’t going to get out, and I kept telling him he better start doing something,” Bowser said. “Nov. 30 came and went, and he called me at my house.
“He says the doors are locked.”
The Human Services Center, located in New Castle, owns the Ellwood City building. Dave Alden, who oversees the center’s properties, said the lockout was not intentional.
“I would have assumed we would have given him time to get his belongings,” Alden said.
“Frank had been a long-term tenant, and we never had a problem in any way, shape or form.”
Alden said that the locksmith used by the center had apparently changed the locks sooner than expected.
Bowser said that family issues kept LaGrotta from tending to his paperwork and belongings.
“His father had been in and out of the hospital,” he said. “During the last week, he was in the hospital.”
On Dec. 4, 2006, Bowser helped LaGrotta clear out the office. Earlier that day, a local church picked up some furniture that LaGrotta had donated.
“I went over there, and the place was a mess,” he said. “Boxes of stuff in the conference room, his own room. I don’t know how many boxes.”
At that time, LaGrotta asked Bowser, who became Gibbon’s chief of staff, if the newly elected representative would want his files.
“The thing Frank did say to me was, ‘Do you think he would want the boxes?’ And I said ‘No, let him get his own.’
“I just grabbed boxes and walked them out to the Dumpster and filled it up.”
Bowser said he did not look at the contents.
“If you’re throwing stuff, I’m not going to stop to look at them. I filled it up, and wasn’t there that long.
“He said he was going to get Wright’s to haul the rest of the stuff away.”
The state grand jury reported that Jim Wright of Wright’s Hauling denied removing paper documents.
A person who answered the phone for Wright’s Hauling declined to comment.
“However meaningless the work claimed to have been performed by Lemmon and Bartolomeo, the documents they claimed they worked on simply did not exist,” the grand jury reported.
In an e-mail provided by Francis LaGrotta, his son contracted the House archivist, Heidi Mays, on May 18, 2007.
LaGrotta wrote that he had organized 50 to 60 boxes of material. He said they contained newspaper clippings, House committee papers, letters and other documents.
“The prosecutor calls it ‘faux work’ that I manufactured to pay someone — he insists it was unnecessary,” he wrote. “In your professional opinion, did I follow procedure as outlined in the manual that your office sent?”
Mays responded, “In my opinion, I don’t believe that you did anything wrong or inappropriate.”
Mays then recalled that she sat next to LaGrotta during a meeting in which archiving procedures were discussed.
When contacted by The News, she declined to comment. A House researcher then called The News to say its department never received documents from LaGrotta.
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Fifth in a series.)
A red Dumpster once contained Frank LaGrotta’s trash and his best defense against two ethics charges.
That was until the garbage hauler emptied it.
The state’s case against the former Ellwood City legislator and two relatives involves boxes of documents — or rather their absence.
As a result, LaGrotta will answer to two conflict of interest charges.
One count alleges that the one-time 10th District House representative used his position to provide personal financial gain for his sister, Ann Bartolomeo. The second count contends LaGrotta was listed on a savings account in which Alissa Lemmon’s state paycheck was deposited.
Lemmon is Bartolomeo’s daughter and LaGrotta’s niece. They are each charged with one count of false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
Attorney General Tom Corbett said the pair were paid approximately $27,000 for work they did not perform.
The Beaver County Times reported Thursday that the three are going to enter pleas Monday in Dauphin County Court.
Excluding statements from LaGrotta’s family, three independent sources reported seeing boxes that the grand jury stated didn’t exist. New Castle News employee Erica Mihok photographed LaGrotta’s office on Nov. 17, 2006.
Her photos show approximately 10 boxes. In addition to the boxes, she observed expanded file folders in the office’s conference room.
“Obviously, you can tell they were packing,” Mihok said. “There were a lot of boxes. There was a lot of packing going on.
“You couldn’t even walk into Frank’s office without either stepping ... toward the couch or on a box or sitting on something. You had to watch where you walked.”
The News assigned Mihok to photograph LaGrotta and his staff as they prepared to leave their Ellwood City district office on Lawrence Avenue.
LaGrotta lost his seat to Jaret Gibbons in the May 2006 Democratic primary. Gibbons went on to win the November general election.
“We wanted to get photos of him moving out, since Jaret won his seat,” the Kent State University graduate said.
Mihok added that she did not look into the boxes or file folders.
LaGrotta staff volunteer Sam Scialdone recalled that LaGrotta was a stickler when it came to keeping records.
“I know that he kept record after record,” he said. “A lot of constituent work that had to be sorted.
“You’d be surprised at what people asked for. Everything was documented. Anything of a personal nature was saved.”
Scialdone noted that after the primary election loss, the conference room became a storage area.
“Eventually, everything was taken back to the conference room. I saw boxes.”
The former Ellwood City resident claimed that he also witnessed Bartolomeo working on files in her home.
“She did that work,” he said. “You had to have someone with patience.
“She would have been a good scrapping-booking person.”
LaGrotta’s father, Francis, said that when Gibbons entered the Democratic primary, his son decided to retire if he had won in May. As part of that decision, the legislator closed his account at Gateway Commerce Center in Wampum.
In its report, the state grand jury said investigators went to the underground storage facility and interviewed employee Debbie Sudano.
“According to Agent (Robert) Gift, Sudano told him that LaGrotta never kept boxes at the storage facility. In fact, she said, the Wampum mines was particularly ill-suited, because of its humidity, to safely store paper documents.”
If that’s the case, it came as a surprise to Lawrence County administrator James Gagliano.
He said that for the last 25 years the county has used the facility. Gagliano said records from the county commissioners, prothonotary’s office, domestic relations and treasurer’s office are stored there.
On its Web site, the company says it offers climate-controlled storage.
Sudano declined comment when contacted by The News.
“There were boxes,” Francis LaGrotta said. “Don’t ask me how many. If I saw one, I could have saw 100.
“I just threw them on the truck.”
Campaign signs and boxes filled three pickup trucks, LaGrotta said. Those materials were delivered to Bartolomeo’s home.
An inspection of state campaign expense reports shows Frank LaGrotta used Gateway Commerce to store signs. The earliest report available goes back to 1994.
LaGrotta’s former chief of staff, Kevin Bowser, said he was concerned his boss would not have the office closed by Nov. 30, 2006.
“I did have conversations with him in July (2006), and I asked him specifically how we were going to handle getting rid of all this junk,” he said. “He told me he would handle his own stuff.
“He did not want us going through his materials.”
Seven months earlier, LaGrotta asked Bowser to help clear out his space at the mines.
“He called me up on a Friday or Saturday, because I have a truck, and asked me if I could clear out the mines because he was going to end his lease there,” he said.
“I have hockey on Sunday, and said ‘Can not do. Hockey’s my day. He said ‘No problem, I’ll get my cousin Nick or Mike to help out.’ ”
By Nov. 30, LaGrotta’s office had yet to be emptied. Bowser said LaGrotta thought he would have additional time to leave. He had believed Gibbons would want to rent his office and purchase his furniture.
“We looked at that location,” Gibbons said. “We didn’t like the set up of it.
“The location was OK, but I wanted to be closer to the main area of the business district. I didn’t make a decision on the site until mid-December.”
Gibbons said he did a five-minute walk-through of the office. He also looked at furniture, but he declined to make a purchase.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the office in the first place. It felt like a doctor’s office. I wanted a customer-friendly office.”
He didn’t remember what items were in the office at the time.
When LaGrotta went to The Uni-Center office on the morning of Dec. 1, he found that he had been locked out.
“I knew he wasn’t going to get out, and I kept telling him he better start doing something,” Bowser said. “Nov. 30 came and went, and he called me at my house.
“He says the doors are locked.”
The Human Services Center, located in New Castle, owns the Ellwood City building. Dave Alden, who oversees the center’s properties, said the lockout was not intentional.
“I would have assumed we would have given him time to get his belongings,” Alden said.
“Frank had been a long-term tenant, and we never had a problem in any way, shape or form.”
Alden said that the locksmith used by the center had apparently changed the locks sooner than expected.
Bowser said that family issues kept LaGrotta from tending to his paperwork and belongings.
“His father had been in and out of the hospital,” he said. “During the last week, he was in the hospital.”
On Dec. 4, 2006, Bowser helped LaGrotta clear out the office. Earlier that day, a local church picked up some furniture that LaGrotta had donated.
“I went over there, and the place was a mess,” he said. “Boxes of stuff in the conference room, his own room. I don’t know how many boxes.”
At that time, LaGrotta asked Bowser, who became Gibbon’s chief of staff, if the newly elected representative would want his files.
“The thing Frank did say to me was, ‘Do you think he would want the boxes?’ And I said ‘No, let him get his own.’
“I just grabbed boxes and walked them out to the Dumpster and filled it up.”
Bowser said he did not look at the contents.
“If you’re throwing stuff, I’m not going to stop to look at them. I filled it up, and wasn’t there that long.
“He said he was going to get Wright’s to haul the rest of the stuff away.”
The state grand jury reported that Jim Wright of Wright’s Hauling denied removing paper documents.
A person who answered the phone for Wright’s Hauling declined to comment.
“However meaningless the work claimed to have been performed by Lemmon and Bartolomeo, the documents they claimed they worked on simply did not exist,” the grand jury reported.
In an e-mail provided by Francis LaGrotta, his son contracted the House archivist, Heidi Mays, on May 18, 2007.
LaGrotta wrote that he had organized 50 to 60 boxes of material. He said they contained newspaper clippings, House committee papers, letters and other documents.
“The prosecutor calls it ‘faux work’ that I manufactured to pay someone — he insists it was unnecessary,” he wrote. “In your professional opinion, did I follow procedure as outlined in the manual that your office sent?”
Mays responded, “In my opinion, I don’t believe that you did anything wrong or inappropriate.”
Mays then recalled that she sat next to LaGrotta during a meeting in which archiving procedures were discussed.
When contacted by The News, she declined to comment. A House researcher then called The News to say its department never received documents from LaGrotta.
LaGrotta e-mail: evidence or joke?
February 1, 2008
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Part four of series)
Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Attorney General Tom Corbett who?
You're under arrest.
*
The state Attorney General's Office didn't find humor in an e-mail exchange between a former state legislator and his niece.
The state spotlighted that correspondence as part of its conflict of interest case against Frank LaGrotta.
While LaGrotta claimed it was a joke, state investigators weren't laughing.
The 49-year-old Ellwood City resident now faces two ethics violations. His sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece, Alissa Lemmon, are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
The three are not permitted to speak to the media because of a court-ordered gag rule.
The Beaver County Times reported yesterday that LaGrotta will enter a plea Monday in Dauphin County Court.
THE E-MAIL
The e-mail conversation between LaGrotta and Lemmon concerned $1,131.62 she received from the state Jan. 17, 2006. Two weeks later, she collected another $1,131.62 paycheck.
LaGrotta told authorities the money was for 10 unused vacation days and 11 comp days.
During that period, Lemmon started her employment with the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"(The e-mail) demonstrates that Lemmon was well aware that she was not entitled to vacation or compensatory time," the state Attorney General's Office stated in a Nov. 14, 2007, release.
Following is the verbatim exchange that took place from 9:49 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Jan. 18, 2006.
LaGrotta: Hi.
Lemmon: Hi -- did you ever figure out the paycheck thing?
LaGrotta: They kept you on benefits through Jan 31 and mistakenly kept you on payroll. Just keep it. They don't want it back.
Lemmon: Well, isnt' that nice of them;)
LaGrotta: You may get one more too! Hows your dog? Hows your life?
Lemmon: Isn't that illegal? Not that I'm complaining!!! The runaway is fine -- he looked longingly at the door this morning! Life is fine -- busy but fine!
LaGrotta: Not illegal. Mistake. You can pay it back if you choose -- but no one here is asking that. Besides it is like your severance pay.
Lemmon: Eh -- works for me !!!!!
LaGrotta: You can give it all to me!! I am broke =(
Lemmon: Hell no!!
WORKING WOMAN
The attorney general alleges that LaGrotta placed Lemmon on the payroll as a ghost employee. Despite that assertion, former co-workers say that the part-time employee put in more than full-time hours.
LaGrotta's former chief of staff, Kevin Bowser, said Lemmon regularly worked more than her allotted 20 hours per week.
"I thought she was a good worker," Bowser said. "As far as I was concerned, she did her job just like the rest of us."
Terry Shaffer, LaGrotta's office manager, recalled that Lemmon first worked at the Ellwood City district office at the age of 14 or 15.
"She's very bright, and she was very, very energetic," he said. "Whenever the phone rang, she was the first person on the telephone.
"She was there so often."
Shaffer said his lone concern was that she started at a young age.
"It might be a little young to be giving people advice about things because people didn't realize (they were) speaking to someone 14 or 15, but generally I think she got it right more than she got it wrong," he said.
"She wasn't afraid if she didn't know how to tell somebody something she would come to us for advice."
Lemmon officially worked for her uncle beginning in 1998 as an intern and temporary legislative assistant.
On April 16, 2005, she joined the staff full time, then reduced her role to part-time status four months later. Lemmon left at the end of December.
AT WORK
The News has obtained independent confirmation that illustrates Lemmon was not the ghost employee that Corbett claims she was.
During the week of Sept. 26, 2005, the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County offered seminars featuring Dr. Jill Murray, a nationally recognized authority on abusive relationships.
Melissa L. Pearce, the shelter's executive director and chief executive officer, confirmed that Lemmon coordinated events with the shelter staff for the five-day series.
"I knew she was heavily involved in that," Bowser said. "Frank was able to get that group the grant money to put the program on.
"So, it was very important to him. He asked her to help them out in any manner that (she) could."
Mary Jane Hursh, a counselor in the Riverside Beaver County School District, worked with Lemmon.
"There was a good deal of pre-planning that went into this event prior to Dr. Jill's arrival that we did at night," she wrote in an e-mail. "Sometimes our meetings lasted (until) midnight."
Hursh said that Lemmon started work before 7 a.m. and ended at 11 p.m. during the week. That accounts for an 80-hour work week, 60 hours more than her weekly 20-hour status.
"Alissa was in charge of all the arrangements and comings and goings of Dr. Jill for the week," Hursh wrote. "She spent all day with Jill attending the events and functions and all evening taking Jill to the various activities that we had planned."
House representatives dictate the terms of employment for their district. However, no overtime is allowed. Under LaGrotta's management, his legislative assistants received no set vacation, sick or comp time. According to Bowser, his former boss was lenient in giving time off. "It's really up to the supervisor, and the supervisor would be Frank," Bowser said. "There's nothing official."
EXAMPLES
One other employee in addition to Lemmon left LaGrotta's employment and received vacation and comp pay.
Dale "Butch" Wehr, who operated out of the 10th District's Butler and Slippery Rock offices, ended his employment Sept. 2. The next week, he started work as the Lawrence County jail's work release coordinator.
Wehr said he received state pay for approximately three weeks into September, which included unused comp and vacation time.
"There was still (constituent) work that needed done and maybe at that time there might have been a little bit of tax rebates," Wehr said of his departure.
"When I was closing down and I knew I was leaving, I did bring boxes and some of the files that I had down to the Ellwood City office and put it in the back conference room near his office, all the way in the back."
On Aug. 24, 2006, LaGrotta rehired his niece. She stayed through Oct. 10, 2006.
According to grand jury testimony, Lemmon said she performed archival work. The grand jury rejected her claims.
"Frank never specifically came out and said Ann and Alissa were on the payroll, and this is what they're doing," Bowser recalled.
"The only hint I ever received from Frank was in July (2006) when he said he was going to have both his niece and Ann come in and go through his paperwork and may even pay them."
(Tomorrow: The LaGrotta case comes down to this -- boxes. A News photographer provides evidence of their existence.)
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Part four of series)
Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Attorney General Tom Corbett who?
You're under arrest.
*
The state Attorney General's Office didn't find humor in an e-mail exchange between a former state legislator and his niece.
The state spotlighted that correspondence as part of its conflict of interest case against Frank LaGrotta.
While LaGrotta claimed it was a joke, state investigators weren't laughing.
The 49-year-old Ellwood City resident now faces two ethics violations. His sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece, Alissa Lemmon, are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
The three are not permitted to speak to the media because of a court-ordered gag rule.
The Beaver County Times reported yesterday that LaGrotta will enter a plea Monday in Dauphin County Court.
THE E-MAIL
The e-mail conversation between LaGrotta and Lemmon concerned $1,131.62 she received from the state Jan. 17, 2006. Two weeks later, she collected another $1,131.62 paycheck.
LaGrotta told authorities the money was for 10 unused vacation days and 11 comp days.
During that period, Lemmon started her employment with the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"(The e-mail) demonstrates that Lemmon was well aware that she was not entitled to vacation or compensatory time," the state Attorney General's Office stated in a Nov. 14, 2007, release.
Following is the verbatim exchange that took place from 9:49 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. Jan. 18, 2006.
LaGrotta: Hi.
Lemmon: Hi -- did you ever figure out the paycheck thing?
LaGrotta: They kept you on benefits through Jan 31 and mistakenly kept you on payroll. Just keep it. They don't want it back.
Lemmon: Well, isnt' that nice of them;)
LaGrotta: You may get one more too! Hows your dog? Hows your life?
Lemmon: Isn't that illegal? Not that I'm complaining!!! The runaway is fine -- he looked longingly at the door this morning! Life is fine -- busy but fine!
LaGrotta: Not illegal. Mistake. You can pay it back if you choose -- but no one here is asking that. Besides it is like your severance pay.
Lemmon: Eh -- works for me !!!!!
LaGrotta: You can give it all to me!! I am broke =(
Lemmon: Hell no!!
WORKING WOMAN
The attorney general alleges that LaGrotta placed Lemmon on the payroll as a ghost employee. Despite that assertion, former co-workers say that the part-time employee put in more than full-time hours.
LaGrotta's former chief of staff, Kevin Bowser, said Lemmon regularly worked more than her allotted 20 hours per week.
"I thought she was a good worker," Bowser said. "As far as I was concerned, she did her job just like the rest of us."
Terry Shaffer, LaGrotta's office manager, recalled that Lemmon first worked at the Ellwood City district office at the age of 14 or 15.
"She's very bright, and she was very, very energetic," he said. "Whenever the phone rang, she was the first person on the telephone.
"She was there so often."
Shaffer said his lone concern was that she started at a young age.
"It might be a little young to be giving people advice about things because people didn't realize (they were) speaking to someone 14 or 15, but generally I think she got it right more than she got it wrong," he said.
"She wasn't afraid if she didn't know how to tell somebody something she would come to us for advice."
Lemmon officially worked for her uncle beginning in 1998 as an intern and temporary legislative assistant.
On April 16, 2005, she joined the staff full time, then reduced her role to part-time status four months later. Lemmon left at the end of December.
AT WORK
The News has obtained independent confirmation that illustrates Lemmon was not the ghost employee that Corbett claims she was.
During the week of Sept. 26, 2005, the Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County offered seminars featuring Dr. Jill Murray, a nationally recognized authority on abusive relationships.
Melissa L. Pearce, the shelter's executive director and chief executive officer, confirmed that Lemmon coordinated events with the shelter staff for the five-day series.
"I knew she was heavily involved in that," Bowser said. "Frank was able to get that group the grant money to put the program on.
"So, it was very important to him. He asked her to help them out in any manner that (she) could."
Mary Jane Hursh, a counselor in the Riverside Beaver County School District, worked with Lemmon.
"There was a good deal of pre-planning that went into this event prior to Dr. Jill's arrival that we did at night," she wrote in an e-mail. "Sometimes our meetings lasted (until) midnight."
Hursh said that Lemmon started work before 7 a.m. and ended at 11 p.m. during the week. That accounts for an 80-hour work week, 60 hours more than her weekly 20-hour status.
"Alissa was in charge of all the arrangements and comings and goings of Dr. Jill for the week," Hursh wrote. "She spent all day with Jill attending the events and functions and all evening taking Jill to the various activities that we had planned."
House representatives dictate the terms of employment for their district. However, no overtime is allowed. Under LaGrotta's management, his legislative assistants received no set vacation, sick or comp time. According to Bowser, his former boss was lenient in giving time off. "It's really up to the supervisor, and the supervisor would be Frank," Bowser said. "There's nothing official."
EXAMPLES
One other employee in addition to Lemmon left LaGrotta's employment and received vacation and comp pay.
Dale "Butch" Wehr, who operated out of the 10th District's Butler and Slippery Rock offices, ended his employment Sept. 2. The next week, he started work as the Lawrence County jail's work release coordinator.
Wehr said he received state pay for approximately three weeks into September, which included unused comp and vacation time.
"There was still (constituent) work that needed done and maybe at that time there might have been a little bit of tax rebates," Wehr said of his departure.
"When I was closing down and I knew I was leaving, I did bring boxes and some of the files that I had down to the Ellwood City office and put it in the back conference room near his office, all the way in the back."
On Aug. 24, 2006, LaGrotta rehired his niece. She stayed through Oct. 10, 2006.
According to grand jury testimony, Lemmon said she performed archival work. The grand jury rejected her claims.
"Frank never specifically came out and said Ann and Alissa were on the payroll, and this is what they're doing," Bowser recalled.
"The only hint I ever received from Frank was in July (2006) when he said he was going to have both his niece and Ann come in and go through his paperwork and may even pay them."
(Tomorrow: The LaGrotta case comes down to this -- boxes. A News photographer provides evidence of their existence.)
Former staffers say LaGrotta not a good boss
Jan. 31, 2008
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Third in a series.)
Kevin Bowser appreciated his boss’ perspective on employee-worker relations.
Treat your employees well, former state Rep. Frank LaGrotta once told him, and they will treat you well in return.
In theory, Bowser thought, the practice was admirable. In reality, it created headaches and complaints among the 10th District’s staff.
“The only thing Frank was guilty of was that he wasn’t the best boss,” LaGrotta’s former chief of staff said. “He probably wasn’t the best supervisor. If you needed time off, take it — that type of person. That’s where his major downfall was.
“He was lenient to all.”
Retired legislative assistant, Mary Ann Shaffer, echoed that sentiment.
“I made a good living because of that man,” she said. “I love my boss, but he’s a lousy boss, though.”
That failure provided the state Attorney General’s Office with the opening it needed to file two counts of conflict of interests against the 49-year-old Ellwood City resident. An alleged neglect of record-keeping also ensnared his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece, Alissa Lemmon.
They are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
Whatever culpability LaGrotta may have, though, the practices and secrecy of the state’s House Democratic Caucus play a significant role in the matter.
Democrats. Republicans. House. Senate. Those are the images conjured when one thinks of the state Legislature.
Taxpayers know their dollars head to Harrisburg. The annual budget allots funds to run government operations.
Yet the manner in which legislators and their district offices are funded is shielded from public view. Democratic House representatives have their own caucus. The same goes for House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans.
Four group, four separate sets of rules.
“The Right to Know law does not apply to the Legislature,” said Melissa Bevan Melewsky, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s media law counsel.
“The House of Representatives is governed by internal rules,” she added.
Some disclosures are required, but they are limited in scope.
House Internal Rule 14 outlines what is available for public review.
“All monthly reports filed on disbursements made or debts incurred by any officer, member or employee from appropriations made to the House under any General Appropriations Act shall be public information and shall be available for public inspection during regular business hours in the Office of the Chief Clerk.”
The above rule may change with the promised revision of the Right to Know law. The measure has passed the Senate. It’s heading to the House for a vote. If approved there, it will have to be OK’d by Gov. Ed Rendell.
Legislators receive an expense account — $20,000 in the case of House members — in addition to a salary. Those numbers are known.
The variable involves the dollars set aside to run district offices. A district’s size and the member’s seniority provide two parameters of funding. The whims of leadership constitute the X-factor.
Follow the party line, and there’s a financial reward. Buck leadership, lose dollars.
One method of determining who has received what is to review staff salaries. Tomorrow, the Chief Clerk’s Office of the House will release that information.
The use of caucus funds has caught the attention of Attorney General Tom Corbett.
The House Democrats and their leader, Rep. H. William DeWeese, are under scrutiny for paying out $1.9 million in bonuses to staff members. The bonuses are reportedly tied to campaign work.
House employees in Harrisburg enjoy an advantage over their district office counterparts. They receive vacation and sick pay. When the Legislature closes for holidays, they are given those days off.
It’s a different world in district offices, where representatives run their operations in the manner they see fit, from salaries to days off.
Former LaGrotta staff members say their boss had no set policies dealing with such matters as vacations, comp time, counting hours or salary.
“As long as the other two people could cover for you, then everything was fine,” said Bowser, who now works for state Rep. Jaret Gibbons. “As long as the office was open and functioning, it was fine with (LaGrotta to take the day off).
“You can get by with two. It was tough.”
In addition to Ellwood City, LaGrotta had offices in Slippery Rock and Butler.
The one standard: full- and part-time workers each signed a contract. Full-time workers were paid for 37.5 hours a week. Part-time employees received 20 hours a week. Contracts were approved through the House Democratic Caucus.
Using his staff funding, LaGrotta determined pay scales. He was not obliged to offer equal pay to his workers. Technically, a House member can use his entire funding on one person.
Doesn’t happen, but there are no rules against it.
According to LaGrotta, he is under a court-mandated gag order and is not permitted to speak to the media.
With no guidance on days off, in-fighting became commonplace among the employees.
“Several years ago, there seemed to be some dispute among the office personnel,” Bowser said. “What would happen was, one person would take some time off and the other person would complain about it.
“I decided on my own to keep track for a year.”
During that period, Bowser estimated, Carol Barnett took 46 to 47 days off; Terry Shaffer 42 to 43 days; Barb Lopez 26 to 27 days; Mary Ann Shaffer 18 days; and LaGrotta 18 days. Bowser was off 11 days.
“I don’t have the papers anymore,” he added.
Those numbers contradict Terry Shaffer’s claim that he “rarely took time off.”
He noted that in the summer of 2001, he was out of the office six weeks following foot surgery.
“That was the longest period I took off, except for sick days,” he said.
Bowser said Shaffer averaged 30 to 40 sick days annually.
“Terry had a lot of medical problems,” he said. “He needed a lot of time off.”
The New Castle News sought to contact Shaffer for additional comment.
“I am going to suggest that you never contact me again for any reason,” he wrote in an e-mail to The News. “If I hear from you via this method or another, my next message will go to (the publisher).”
He did not offer a reason for the e-mail, except to say “I may be a little naive, Pat, but I’m not an idiot.”
(Tomorrow: State doesn’t find humor in LaGrotta e-mail.)
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Third in a series.)
Kevin Bowser appreciated his boss’ perspective on employee-worker relations.
Treat your employees well, former state Rep. Frank LaGrotta once told him, and they will treat you well in return.
In theory, Bowser thought, the practice was admirable. In reality, it created headaches and complaints among the 10th District’s staff.
“The only thing Frank was guilty of was that he wasn’t the best boss,” LaGrotta’s former chief of staff said. “He probably wasn’t the best supervisor. If you needed time off, take it — that type of person. That’s where his major downfall was.
“He was lenient to all.”
Retired legislative assistant, Mary Ann Shaffer, echoed that sentiment.
“I made a good living because of that man,” she said. “I love my boss, but he’s a lousy boss, though.”
That failure provided the state Attorney General’s Office with the opening it needed to file two counts of conflict of interests against the 49-year-old Ellwood City resident. An alleged neglect of record-keeping also ensnared his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece, Alissa Lemmon.
They are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
Whatever culpability LaGrotta may have, though, the practices and secrecy of the state’s House Democratic Caucus play a significant role in the matter.
Democrats. Republicans. House. Senate. Those are the images conjured when one thinks of the state Legislature.
Taxpayers know their dollars head to Harrisburg. The annual budget allots funds to run government operations.
Yet the manner in which legislators and their district offices are funded is shielded from public view. Democratic House representatives have their own caucus. The same goes for House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans.
Four group, four separate sets of rules.
“The Right to Know law does not apply to the Legislature,” said Melissa Bevan Melewsky, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s media law counsel.
“The House of Representatives is governed by internal rules,” she added.
Some disclosures are required, but they are limited in scope.
House Internal Rule 14 outlines what is available for public review.
“All monthly reports filed on disbursements made or debts incurred by any officer, member or employee from appropriations made to the House under any General Appropriations Act shall be public information and shall be available for public inspection during regular business hours in the Office of the Chief Clerk.”
The above rule may change with the promised revision of the Right to Know law. The measure has passed the Senate. It’s heading to the House for a vote. If approved there, it will have to be OK’d by Gov. Ed Rendell.
Legislators receive an expense account — $20,000 in the case of House members — in addition to a salary. Those numbers are known.
The variable involves the dollars set aside to run district offices. A district’s size and the member’s seniority provide two parameters of funding. The whims of leadership constitute the X-factor.
Follow the party line, and there’s a financial reward. Buck leadership, lose dollars.
One method of determining who has received what is to review staff salaries. Tomorrow, the Chief Clerk’s Office of the House will release that information.
The use of caucus funds has caught the attention of Attorney General Tom Corbett.
The House Democrats and their leader, Rep. H. William DeWeese, are under scrutiny for paying out $1.9 million in bonuses to staff members. The bonuses are reportedly tied to campaign work.
House employees in Harrisburg enjoy an advantage over their district office counterparts. They receive vacation and sick pay. When the Legislature closes for holidays, they are given those days off.
It’s a different world in district offices, where representatives run their operations in the manner they see fit, from salaries to days off.
Former LaGrotta staff members say their boss had no set policies dealing with such matters as vacations, comp time, counting hours or salary.
“As long as the other two people could cover for you, then everything was fine,” said Bowser, who now works for state Rep. Jaret Gibbons. “As long as the office was open and functioning, it was fine with (LaGrotta to take the day off).
“You can get by with two. It was tough.”
In addition to Ellwood City, LaGrotta had offices in Slippery Rock and Butler.
The one standard: full- and part-time workers each signed a contract. Full-time workers were paid for 37.5 hours a week. Part-time employees received 20 hours a week. Contracts were approved through the House Democratic Caucus.
Using his staff funding, LaGrotta determined pay scales. He was not obliged to offer equal pay to his workers. Technically, a House member can use his entire funding on one person.
Doesn’t happen, but there are no rules against it.
According to LaGrotta, he is under a court-mandated gag order and is not permitted to speak to the media.
With no guidance on days off, in-fighting became commonplace among the employees.
“Several years ago, there seemed to be some dispute among the office personnel,” Bowser said. “What would happen was, one person would take some time off and the other person would complain about it.
“I decided on my own to keep track for a year.”
During that period, Bowser estimated, Carol Barnett took 46 to 47 days off; Terry Shaffer 42 to 43 days; Barb Lopez 26 to 27 days; Mary Ann Shaffer 18 days; and LaGrotta 18 days. Bowser was off 11 days.
“I don’t have the papers anymore,” he added.
Those numbers contradict Terry Shaffer’s claim that he “rarely took time off.”
He noted that in the summer of 2001, he was out of the office six weeks following foot surgery.
“That was the longest period I took off, except for sick days,” he said.
Bowser said Shaffer averaged 30 to 40 sick days annually.
“Terry had a lot of medical problems,” he said. “He needed a lot of time off.”
The New Castle News sought to contact Shaffer for additional comment.
“I am going to suggest that you never contact me again for any reason,” he wrote in an e-mail to The News. “If I hear from you via this method or another, my next message will go to (the publisher).”
He did not offer a reason for the e-mail, except to say “I may be a little naive, Pat, but I’m not an idiot.”
(Tomorrow: State doesn’t find humor in LaGrotta e-mail.)
Family ties cause trouble for LaGrotta
Jan. 30, 2008
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Second in a series.)
Family is Frank LaGrotta’s passion.
The state’s Attorney General targeted it as his Achilles’ heel.
While better known as a state representative, the Ellwood City resident takes greater pride as being a father figure to his niece and nephew, Alissa and Frank Lemmon.
“Frank’s strictly a family person,” LaGrotta’s mother, Loretta, said. “He doesn’t put himself first before anything.
“He’s like their dad.”
The relationship had its costs. LaGrotta called off his engagement when his fiancée asked him to cut back his ties with the children. Personal time also diminished.
Today, he endures his toughest challenge after claims that he hired his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece for no-show state jobs.
LaGrotta, 49, faces two felony counts of conflict of interests. Bartolomeo, 46, and Alissa Lemmon, 24, are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
Under a court-mandated gag order, the three are not permitted to speak to the media.
Shortly into his first term in 1986 as 10th District representative, LaGrotta was thrust into a family crisis. Bartolomeo, eight months pregnant at the time, learned that her husband wanted out of the marriage.
“My granddaughter was a little over 3, not quite 3 1/2, and my daughter was pregnant with her little boy,” Loretta LaGrotta recalled. “They were living at my mother’s house. He just called (Ann) and said he wasn’t coming home from work.
“She called his mother’s house and wanted to know where he was. He was there. He got on the phone and he said, ‘I’m not coming home.’
“She called me crying.”
With her brother in Harrisburg, Bartolomeo was in the hospital preparing to give birth. Although her husband joined her in the delivery room, Bartolomeo knew that their relationship was over.
Shortly upon his birth, the child was rushed to the neonatal care unit of West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. Blood problems prompted the move.
“I had to call the priest to come in and baptize him,” Loretta said. “The priest said, ‘What’s the name? I go to Ann’s room, and I said, ‘What are you going call this baby?’ and she said, ‘Frank Christopher.’”
“He was supposed to be named ‘Christopher’ for his father.”
The first-term legislator returned home from the state capital to see his namesake at the hospital.
“My son put his arms around his sister and said, ‘As long as I’m alive, you’re not ever going to have to worry,’” LaGrotta’s mother said. “They became his children.
“He became as much a father as you can ever imagine. They come to him for everything. He has taken care of them in every way.”
Frank Lemmon, 19, knew early on that his uncle had accepted an extraordinary responsibility.
“In grade school, I realized it was unusual for an uncle to play that role in somebody’s life,” the Emory College student said. “To some people, I’m sure it’s a strange thing.
“But to the people who really know us ... they understand the situation.”
Like most fathers, LaGrotta attended his niece’s musicals and his nephew’s baseball games. He helped with homework and gave his “kids” rides to wherever they needed to go.
“Anytime we ever needed him for anything, he was there,” Lemmon said. “He was very involved in our lives, pretty much every aspect.
“He definitely went above and beyond.”
About the only thing unusual was LaGrotta’s parental nickname, “Ball Ball.”
“My uncle kept (a golf ball) in his car,” Lemmon said. “(Alissa) would say ‘Ball Ball’ when she wanted to play with it. I guess it became so ingrained in her that when she saw him she just associated the ball with him.
“That name stuck. I was born into it.”
LaGrotta also provided the children with financial support.
Savings accounts were established in their names with LaGrotta listed as custodian. Later, LaGrotta opened checking accounts for the pair. Again, the former legislator was on the banking records.
Attorney General Tom Corbett’s investigators singled out one of those accounts during their investigation. It became the basis for one conflict of interest charge against LaGrotta.
As it pertains to the Ellwood City resident, the state’s Ethics Act says that a conflict of interest exists if a public official uses his position for personal financial gain for himself or a family member.
Corbett trumpeted the findings against LaGrotta and his family on Nov. 14, 2007.
“This is a case of a public servant abusing his position of trust and power to financially reward his family members at the taxpayer’s expense,” he said.
However, Corbett failed to state what the conflicts were when he announced the charges.
The state claimed that a conflict arose because LaGrotta was named on a savings account in which Alissa Lemmon’s state paycheck was deposited. The inference being that LaGrotta had access to the money and, therefore, could use the funds. In other words, that was money he was not entitled to.
What the state did not disclose nor did not discover was that this particular account was opened when his niece was 3 years old.
The LaGrotta family gave the New Castle News permission to examine Frank Lemmon’s savings passbook. Because of ongoing litigation, The News was not allowed access to Alissa Lemmon’s banking records.
If Alissa Lemmon’s savings history mirrors that of her brother’s, then one of the state’s charges against LaGrotta lacks credibility.
Frank Lemmon’s savings account was opened on July 2, 1987, at the Ellwood Federal Savings & Loan Association. Today, the financial institution is known as ESB Bank.
Seven withdrawals took place during the 20-plus years of the account’s existence. LaGrotta made a majority of the deposits, with his nephew occasionally contributing funds.
In addition to date and amount of the withdrawals, notes described where the money went. They were as follows:
•March 14, 2001 — $2,500 (certificate of deposit)
•June 12, 2003 — $130 (police fine)
•Sept. 10, 2003 — $240 (guitar)
•Aug. 23, 2005 — $1,000 (college)
•Aug. 25, 2006 — $10,000 (certificate of deposit)
•Jan. 9, 2007 — $1,000 (certificate of deposit)
•Sept. 29, 2007 — $1,000 (Emory College)
“Anything that he would have done he would run by me,” Frank Lemmon said. “Not that I don’t trust him 110 percent, but he never did anything behind my back with any of that money.
“I always knew where money was.”
(Tomorrow: Although an acclaimed legislator, Frank LaGrotta was universally viewed as a lousy boss.)
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(Second in a series.)
Family is Frank LaGrotta’s passion.
The state’s Attorney General targeted it as his Achilles’ heel.
While better known as a state representative, the Ellwood City resident takes greater pride as being a father figure to his niece and nephew, Alissa and Frank Lemmon.
“Frank’s strictly a family person,” LaGrotta’s mother, Loretta, said. “He doesn’t put himself first before anything.
“He’s like their dad.”
The relationship had its costs. LaGrotta called off his engagement when his fiancée asked him to cut back his ties with the children. Personal time also diminished.
Today, he endures his toughest challenge after claims that he hired his sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and niece for no-show state jobs.
LaGrotta, 49, faces two felony counts of conflict of interests. Bartolomeo, 46, and Alissa Lemmon, 24, are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to a state grand jury.
Under a court-mandated gag order, the three are not permitted to speak to the media.
Shortly into his first term in 1986 as 10th District representative, LaGrotta was thrust into a family crisis. Bartolomeo, eight months pregnant at the time, learned that her husband wanted out of the marriage.
“My granddaughter was a little over 3, not quite 3 1/2, and my daughter was pregnant with her little boy,” Loretta LaGrotta recalled. “They were living at my mother’s house. He just called (Ann) and said he wasn’t coming home from work.
“She called his mother’s house and wanted to know where he was. He was there. He got on the phone and he said, ‘I’m not coming home.’
“She called me crying.”
With her brother in Harrisburg, Bartolomeo was in the hospital preparing to give birth. Although her husband joined her in the delivery room, Bartolomeo knew that their relationship was over.
Shortly upon his birth, the child was rushed to the neonatal care unit of West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. Blood problems prompted the move.
“I had to call the priest to come in and baptize him,” Loretta said. “The priest said, ‘What’s the name? I go to Ann’s room, and I said, ‘What are you going call this baby?’ and she said, ‘Frank Christopher.’”
“He was supposed to be named ‘Christopher’ for his father.”
The first-term legislator returned home from the state capital to see his namesake at the hospital.
“My son put his arms around his sister and said, ‘As long as I’m alive, you’re not ever going to have to worry,’” LaGrotta’s mother said. “They became his children.
“He became as much a father as you can ever imagine. They come to him for everything. He has taken care of them in every way.”
Frank Lemmon, 19, knew early on that his uncle had accepted an extraordinary responsibility.
“In grade school, I realized it was unusual for an uncle to play that role in somebody’s life,” the Emory College student said. “To some people, I’m sure it’s a strange thing.
“But to the people who really know us ... they understand the situation.”
Like most fathers, LaGrotta attended his niece’s musicals and his nephew’s baseball games. He helped with homework and gave his “kids” rides to wherever they needed to go.
“Anytime we ever needed him for anything, he was there,” Lemmon said. “He was very involved in our lives, pretty much every aspect.
“He definitely went above and beyond.”
About the only thing unusual was LaGrotta’s parental nickname, “Ball Ball.”
“My uncle kept (a golf ball) in his car,” Lemmon said. “(Alissa) would say ‘Ball Ball’ when she wanted to play with it. I guess it became so ingrained in her that when she saw him she just associated the ball with him.
“That name stuck. I was born into it.”
LaGrotta also provided the children with financial support.
Savings accounts were established in their names with LaGrotta listed as custodian. Later, LaGrotta opened checking accounts for the pair. Again, the former legislator was on the banking records.
Attorney General Tom Corbett’s investigators singled out one of those accounts during their investigation. It became the basis for one conflict of interest charge against LaGrotta.
As it pertains to the Ellwood City resident, the state’s Ethics Act says that a conflict of interest exists if a public official uses his position for personal financial gain for himself or a family member.
Corbett trumpeted the findings against LaGrotta and his family on Nov. 14, 2007.
“This is a case of a public servant abusing his position of trust and power to financially reward his family members at the taxpayer’s expense,” he said.
However, Corbett failed to state what the conflicts were when he announced the charges.
The state claimed that a conflict arose because LaGrotta was named on a savings account in which Alissa Lemmon’s state paycheck was deposited. The inference being that LaGrotta had access to the money and, therefore, could use the funds. In other words, that was money he was not entitled to.
What the state did not disclose nor did not discover was that this particular account was opened when his niece was 3 years old.
The LaGrotta family gave the New Castle News permission to examine Frank Lemmon’s savings passbook. Because of ongoing litigation, The News was not allowed access to Alissa Lemmon’s banking records.
If Alissa Lemmon’s savings history mirrors that of her brother’s, then one of the state’s charges against LaGrotta lacks credibility.
Frank Lemmon’s savings account was opened on July 2, 1987, at the Ellwood Federal Savings & Loan Association. Today, the financial institution is known as ESB Bank.
Seven withdrawals took place during the 20-plus years of the account’s existence. LaGrotta made a majority of the deposits, with his nephew occasionally contributing funds.
In addition to date and amount of the withdrawals, notes described where the money went. They were as follows:
•March 14, 2001 — $2,500 (certificate of deposit)
•June 12, 2003 — $130 (police fine)
•Sept. 10, 2003 — $240 (guitar)
•Aug. 23, 2005 — $1,000 (college)
•Aug. 25, 2006 — $10,000 (certificate of deposit)
•Jan. 9, 2007 — $1,000 (certificate of deposit)
•Sept. 29, 2007 — $1,000 (Emory College)
“Anything that he would have done he would run by me,” Frank Lemmon said. “Not that I don’t trust him 110 percent, but he never did anything behind my back with any of that money.
“I always knew where money was.”
(Tomorrow: Although an acclaimed legislator, Frank LaGrotta was universally viewed as a lousy boss.)
LaGrotta's accuser explains why he turned on his former best friend
Jan. 29, 2008
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(First in a series.)
Playtime with the neighborhood boy wasn’t fun.
“Frank came home and said ‘Terry doesn’t share well,’ ” recalled his mother, Loretta LaGrotta.
The minor dispute resolved itself, and the two children — Frank LaGrotta and Terry Shaffer — went back to playing outside their North Sewickley Township homes.
The pair bonded as elementary students in the Riverside Beaver County School District.
“We were close friends for a long time,” Shaffer said. “I think it probably started on the playground when neither of us could keep up with the other kids.”
Years later that would change.
LaGrotta went on to become a state representative in 1987. Four years after being elected, he asked Shaffer to join his Ellwood City staff.
“He had the public persona, and I was working behind the scenes,” Shaffer said. “We worked very well in that capacity.”
That was until Jaret Gibbons unseated the veteran legislator in the May 2006 primary. Gibbons won the November general election to represent the 10th Legislative District.
LaGrotta was out of office, and Shaffer looked to his friend to keep him employed. When that didn’t happen, Shaffer met with the state Attorney General’s office to discuss abuses within the state’s House Democratic Caucus.
A month after that meeting, the state convened a grand jury. Shaffer was its first witness, and LaGrotta its first indictment.
The Ellwood City resident is awaiting trial in Harrisburg on two felony counts of conflict of interests. His sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and Bartolomeo’s daughter, Alissa Lemmon, are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to the grand jury.
Attorney General Tom Corbett alleges that LaGrotta placed Bartolomeo and Lemmon on the payroll as ghost employees.
Stating he was under a court gag order, Frank LaGrotta said that neither he nor his sister or niece could discuss the case.
“(Shaffer) started this, and he lied and he lied,” LaGrotta’s father, Francis said. “I can’t understand the reasoning why he did it.
“They gotta know that (my son) did nothing wrong.”
His wife said the charges have placed the family in upheaval.
“All I want is peace,” she said. “I want this over with for my kids. I can’t tolerate it.
“I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.”
Through their high school years, LaGrotta and Shaffer remained close.
LaGrotta encouraged Shaffer to join the high school’s debate team.
“I didn’t start until my junior year,” Shaffer said. “You normally started debate in ninth. Frank started in seventh grade.
“In our senior year, we were partners. We were pretty good. We finished second in the state.”
Loretta LaGrotta noted that her son was named the state’s best debater that year.
The pair also tried their hand at writing.
“For a while we were fantasizing about being screen writers,” Shaffer said. “We wrote really horrible screen plays.
“I still have copies of them laying around. You look at them now and just shake your head.”
Upon graduation, LaGrotta headed to Notre Dame, while Shaffer was awarded a scholarship to Duquesne University.
“I went to Duquesne for a semester,” he said. “When I couldn’t walk around anymore on the bluff (because of leg problems), I quit school.
“We stayed in contact, but we weren’t that close until I started working for him.”
Loretta LaGrotta said her son was concerned about Shaffer and wanted him to be a part of his staff.
“After he was in office, he kept thinking of Terry,” she said. “He asked (Shaffer) if he’d start writing letters for him. Then he asked him to come to the office a few times a week.
“They had been together for 15 years.”
A chance encounter reunited the pair.
“I didn’t basically see him at all when he was running for office initially,” Shaffer said. “He had already taken his legislative seat and had been there for about four years when I saw him one day at the hospital when I was going to visit my mother.
“He said he might have a job for me. My son was coming along pretty shortly after that, so I thought it might be a good idea to actually get a job and that was cool.”
With approximately 20 years serving in the House, the LaGrotta camp had assumed an air of invincibility. However, Gibbons changed that perception with an upset victory in the 2006 primary election.
LaGrotta’s support of a controversial pay raise in 2005 combined with a minimal campaign effort helped Gibbons win in a close vote.
“I was the one sitting at the desk counting the votes as they came in,” Shaffer said. “It was shocking.
“I don’t think anyone expected it. We were anticipating that he would be there indefinitely.”
What Shaffer didn’t know was that LaGrotta had planned to retire in 2008 if he had defeated Gibbons.
“That was going to be Frank’s last term,” Francis LaGrotta said.
However, the legislator often claimed he would retire, Shaffer noted.
“There were lots of times Frank would say ‘I’m going to retire and forget all this stuff.’ We sort of took it with a grain of salt because we didn’t believe he would actually do that.”
Despite LaGrotta’s ouster from office, Shaffer believed he and fellow staffer Kevin Bowser would remained employed with the House Democratic Caucus.
“Frank told us he had gotten that guarantee from Mike Veon.”
Veon served as state representative in Beaver County and as House Democratic whip. He was defeated in the November 2006 general election.
“All we wanted to do was to continue doing the work we were doing,” Shaffer said. “We were given the impression that was what was going to happen.”
In late November 2006, Shaffer and Bowser met with Gibbons to discuss ongoing matters in the district. They also discussed the possibility of joining his staff. Gibbons ultimately hired Bowser.
“There were some guarantees made to me about future employment, which, for whatever reason, were never honored,” Shaffer said.
While working for LaGrotta, Shaffer suspected the House Democratic Caucus was involved with questionable activities. However, he couldn’t prove any wrongdoing had taken place.
“What I talked to the attorney general about actually dealt with systemic abuses occurring within in Democratic leadership,” he said. “In order to get to those systemic abuses, I had to describe what I knew about what was happening with our particular office, which is what I could say definitely to them.”
Shaffer declined to go into further detail.
“I had not gone forward with what I knew about the situation because I feared how that might implicate Frank in a negative way,” he said. “I didn’t want to hurt him or his family but after several months of unemployment I didn’t feel it was my obligation to protect him.”
When LaGrotta was hired by the House Democratic Caucus in December 2006 to serve as an adviser, Shaffer was forced to wonder if he had been blackballed.
He believed LaGrotta had retaliated against him for wanting to work with Gibbons.
“I suspected but could not prove that he had some role in me not getting a job with the House Democrats.”
Francis LaGrotta rejected that assertion. He said his son was working behind the scenes in an attempt to get Shaffer work.
During an exchange of e-mails, Frank LaGrotta said he didn’t know why Gibbons had not hired him. LaGrotta suggested that political foe Ed Fosnaught, a former Lawrence County commissioner, was responsible.
Shaffer said that he butted heads with Fosnaught as a result of working for LaGrotta. He mentioned his concerns to Gibbons about Fosnaught. Gibbons replied that Fosnaught was a friend, but he would not influence his hiring decisions, Shaffer said.
Before visiting the attorney general with his allegations, Shaffer sent LaGrotta a scathing e-mail in March 2007.
The New Castle News obtained a copy of the correspondence.
“Hope all is going well with your ‘new job.’ Glad Manzo found the money for Jaret to hire Dennis Pietrandrea — although he couldn’t find the money to hire me. So happy. So happy.
“Your inestimable (expletive) never fails to amaze me. I have agonized over this for several months. Despite the way I’ve been treated by the people to whom I was loyal for fifteen years, I have chosen to keep my mouth shut.
“But this round of effluvium has pushed me over the edge.
“Tell Mr. Manzo that the Attorney General will be looking at the way leadership awards its contracts to DO employees. And don’t worry about where you’ll be staying for the next couple of years. You’ll be in jail. I’ve had enough. Go (expletive) yourself.”
Manzo is Michael Manzo, who was chief of staff to House Majority leader Bill DeWeese. Manzo resigned his post in November 2007 in connection with a state probe involving bonuses given to House staffers. Pietrandrea is a former Veon staffer.
Shaffer acknowledged sending the e-mail.
“It was the kind of e-mail one exchanges with someone one has known for 40 years,” he said. “It was not polite.”
Shaffer said things would have been different had he been kept on by the House Democratic Caucus.
“I’m no hero. If I would have still been working there, I would have kept my mouth shut and just tried to avoid being involved with that stuff.
“By the same token, I don’t feel guilty for what I did. I feel I did what I had to do, and I hope as this all comes out, the general population will agree this had to be done. Someone had to say something.”
As for his relationship with LaGrotta, he holds no expectation of reconciliation.
“I did consider him my best friend for a long time. I really don’t expect us to be buds again.”
(Tomorrow: An inside look at the LaGrotta family.)
By PAT LITOWITZ
New Castle News
(First in a series.)
Playtime with the neighborhood boy wasn’t fun.
“Frank came home and said ‘Terry doesn’t share well,’ ” recalled his mother, Loretta LaGrotta.
The minor dispute resolved itself, and the two children — Frank LaGrotta and Terry Shaffer — went back to playing outside their North Sewickley Township homes.
The pair bonded as elementary students in the Riverside Beaver County School District.
“We were close friends for a long time,” Shaffer said. “I think it probably started on the playground when neither of us could keep up with the other kids.”
Years later that would change.
LaGrotta went on to become a state representative in 1987. Four years after being elected, he asked Shaffer to join his Ellwood City staff.
“He had the public persona, and I was working behind the scenes,” Shaffer said. “We worked very well in that capacity.”
That was until Jaret Gibbons unseated the veteran legislator in the May 2006 primary. Gibbons won the November general election to represent the 10th Legislative District.
LaGrotta was out of office, and Shaffer looked to his friend to keep him employed. When that didn’t happen, Shaffer met with the state Attorney General’s office to discuss abuses within the state’s House Democratic Caucus.
A month after that meeting, the state convened a grand jury. Shaffer was its first witness, and LaGrotta its first indictment.
The Ellwood City resident is awaiting trial in Harrisburg on two felony counts of conflict of interests. His sister, Ann Bartolomeo, and Bartolomeo’s daughter, Alissa Lemmon, are each charged with false swearing for allegedly lying to the grand jury.
Attorney General Tom Corbett alleges that LaGrotta placed Bartolomeo and Lemmon on the payroll as ghost employees.
Stating he was under a court gag order, Frank LaGrotta said that neither he nor his sister or niece could discuss the case.
“(Shaffer) started this, and he lied and he lied,” LaGrotta’s father, Francis said. “I can’t understand the reasoning why he did it.
“They gotta know that (my son) did nothing wrong.”
His wife said the charges have placed the family in upheaval.
“All I want is peace,” she said. “I want this over with for my kids. I can’t tolerate it.
“I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.”
Through their high school years, LaGrotta and Shaffer remained close.
LaGrotta encouraged Shaffer to join the high school’s debate team.
“I didn’t start until my junior year,” Shaffer said. “You normally started debate in ninth. Frank started in seventh grade.
“In our senior year, we were partners. We were pretty good. We finished second in the state.”
Loretta LaGrotta noted that her son was named the state’s best debater that year.
The pair also tried their hand at writing.
“For a while we were fantasizing about being screen writers,” Shaffer said. “We wrote really horrible screen plays.
“I still have copies of them laying around. You look at them now and just shake your head.”
Upon graduation, LaGrotta headed to Notre Dame, while Shaffer was awarded a scholarship to Duquesne University.
“I went to Duquesne for a semester,” he said. “When I couldn’t walk around anymore on the bluff (because of leg problems), I quit school.
“We stayed in contact, but we weren’t that close until I started working for him.”
Loretta LaGrotta said her son was concerned about Shaffer and wanted him to be a part of his staff.
“After he was in office, he kept thinking of Terry,” she said. “He asked (Shaffer) if he’d start writing letters for him. Then he asked him to come to the office a few times a week.
“They had been together for 15 years.”
A chance encounter reunited the pair.
“I didn’t basically see him at all when he was running for office initially,” Shaffer said. “He had already taken his legislative seat and had been there for about four years when I saw him one day at the hospital when I was going to visit my mother.
“He said he might have a job for me. My son was coming along pretty shortly after that, so I thought it might be a good idea to actually get a job and that was cool.”
With approximately 20 years serving in the House, the LaGrotta camp had assumed an air of invincibility. However, Gibbons changed that perception with an upset victory in the 2006 primary election.
LaGrotta’s support of a controversial pay raise in 2005 combined with a minimal campaign effort helped Gibbons win in a close vote.
“I was the one sitting at the desk counting the votes as they came in,” Shaffer said. “It was shocking.
“I don’t think anyone expected it. We were anticipating that he would be there indefinitely.”
What Shaffer didn’t know was that LaGrotta had planned to retire in 2008 if he had defeated Gibbons.
“That was going to be Frank’s last term,” Francis LaGrotta said.
However, the legislator often claimed he would retire, Shaffer noted.
“There were lots of times Frank would say ‘I’m going to retire and forget all this stuff.’ We sort of took it with a grain of salt because we didn’t believe he would actually do that.”
Despite LaGrotta’s ouster from office, Shaffer believed he and fellow staffer Kevin Bowser would remained employed with the House Democratic Caucus.
“Frank told us he had gotten that guarantee from Mike Veon.”
Veon served as state representative in Beaver County and as House Democratic whip. He was defeated in the November 2006 general election.
“All we wanted to do was to continue doing the work we were doing,” Shaffer said. “We were given the impression that was what was going to happen.”
In late November 2006, Shaffer and Bowser met with Gibbons to discuss ongoing matters in the district. They also discussed the possibility of joining his staff. Gibbons ultimately hired Bowser.
“There were some guarantees made to me about future employment, which, for whatever reason, were never honored,” Shaffer said.
While working for LaGrotta, Shaffer suspected the House Democratic Caucus was involved with questionable activities. However, he couldn’t prove any wrongdoing had taken place.
“What I talked to the attorney general about actually dealt with systemic abuses occurring within in Democratic leadership,” he said. “In order to get to those systemic abuses, I had to describe what I knew about what was happening with our particular office, which is what I could say definitely to them.”
Shaffer declined to go into further detail.
“I had not gone forward with what I knew about the situation because I feared how that might implicate Frank in a negative way,” he said. “I didn’t want to hurt him or his family but after several months of unemployment I didn’t feel it was my obligation to protect him.”
When LaGrotta was hired by the House Democratic Caucus in December 2006 to serve as an adviser, Shaffer was forced to wonder if he had been blackballed.
He believed LaGrotta had retaliated against him for wanting to work with Gibbons.
“I suspected but could not prove that he had some role in me not getting a job with the House Democrats.”
Francis LaGrotta rejected that assertion. He said his son was working behind the scenes in an attempt to get Shaffer work.
During an exchange of e-mails, Frank LaGrotta said he didn’t know why Gibbons had not hired him. LaGrotta suggested that political foe Ed Fosnaught, a former Lawrence County commissioner, was responsible.
Shaffer said that he butted heads with Fosnaught as a result of working for LaGrotta. He mentioned his concerns to Gibbons about Fosnaught. Gibbons replied that Fosnaught was a friend, but he would not influence his hiring decisions, Shaffer said.
Before visiting the attorney general with his allegations, Shaffer sent LaGrotta a scathing e-mail in March 2007.
The New Castle News obtained a copy of the correspondence.
“Hope all is going well with your ‘new job.’ Glad Manzo found the money for Jaret to hire Dennis Pietrandrea — although he couldn’t find the money to hire me. So happy. So happy.
“Your inestimable (expletive) never fails to amaze me. I have agonized over this for several months. Despite the way I’ve been treated by the people to whom I was loyal for fifteen years, I have chosen to keep my mouth shut.
“But this round of effluvium has pushed me over the edge.
“Tell Mr. Manzo that the Attorney General will be looking at the way leadership awards its contracts to DO employees. And don’t worry about where you’ll be staying for the next couple of years. You’ll be in jail. I’ve had enough. Go (expletive) yourself.”
Manzo is Michael Manzo, who was chief of staff to House Majority leader Bill DeWeese. Manzo resigned his post in November 2007 in connection with a state probe involving bonuses given to House staffers. Pietrandrea is a former Veon staffer.
Shaffer acknowledged sending the e-mail.
“It was the kind of e-mail one exchanges with someone one has known for 40 years,” he said. “It was not polite.”
Shaffer said things would have been different had he been kept on by the House Democratic Caucus.
“I’m no hero. If I would have still been working there, I would have kept my mouth shut and just tried to avoid being involved with that stuff.
“By the same token, I don’t feel guilty for what I did. I feel I did what I had to do, and I hope as this all comes out, the general population will agree this had to be done. Someone had to say something.”
As for his relationship with LaGrotta, he holds no expectation of reconciliation.
“I did consider him my best friend for a long time. I really don’t expect us to be buds again.”
(Tomorrow: An inside look at the LaGrotta family.)
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Thunder may return to Taggart Stadium for playoff game
September 28, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Three New Castle Area School Board members want to invite a semi-professional football team back to Taggart Stadium.
However, board President Fred Mozzocio must first approve the trio’s request for a special session.
Philip Conti, Donna Donati and Mark Kirkwood are asking the district to make the stadium available Oct. 7 for the New Castle Thunder’s playoff game against the Columbus Fire. A letter on the issue was presented to board members before the start of an expulsion hearing Tuesday.
“I see no legitimate reason not to honor the request,” Conti said.
Neither he nor his two colleagues had been asked by Thunder officials to act on the team’s behalf, he said.
Attempts to contact team owner Anthony Razzano for comment were unsuccessful.
Superintendent George Gabriel sought input from district solicitor Charles Sapienza to outline circumstances that permit a board president to call a special meeting.
In a response sent Tuesday, Sapienza said one of Mozzocio rights as president is to call for a special meeting. Three board members may seek a meeting by submitting a written correspondence to the president.
If Mozzocio refuses to act on or denies the request, then five board members are needed to initiate a special session.
“(Mozzocio’s) authority is absolute unless a majority of the board decides otherwise,” Sapienza wrote to Gabriel.
When contacted yesterday, Mozzocio said he responded to the letter. However, he would not disclose its contents.
“As a professional courtesy, I want the board members to see the letter first,” he said.
Donati said the team deserves the community’s support.
“Since they are in the national playoffs, it would be nice if we held that game,” she said.
The battle to use Taggart dates back to April when the defunct New Castle Knights asked the board for permission to use the field.
In one meeting, team owner David Gailbreath fought with the board, Gabriel and Sapienza. Gailbreath was tossed from the session. Hopes for any team other than the New Castle Red Hurricane to use the field appeared to be dead.
Citing differences with Gailbreath, the Knights players and staff left his control in May. Razzano, a New Castle accountant, announced the formation of the Thunder, a member of the North American Football League.
Gailbreath, a Smithfield Street resident, was charged in July with taking about $1,500 from the Knights for personal use. A trial date has not been set.
After approaching several Lawrence County school districts, the Thunder eventually reached an agreement with Slippery Rock University to play its home games there.
“We’ve had a great relationship ... with Anthony Razzano,” said Paul Lueken, SRU’s athletic director. “They’re more than welcome to come back next year.”
After negotiations with the district and receiving board approval, the Thunder played one game at Taggart on Sept. 16.
“I didn’t see any problems,” New Castle athletic director Sam Flora said. “Everything went well.”
If Taggart is not made available, the Thunder will be scurrying for other home-field options.
Lueken said SRU will not be available for the team’s playoff game. The Rock hosts Shippensburg Oct. 7.
“It’s not a matter that we don’t want them at The Rock.”
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Three New Castle Area School Board members want to invite a semi-professional football team back to Taggart Stadium.
However, board President Fred Mozzocio must first approve the trio’s request for a special session.
Philip Conti, Donna Donati and Mark Kirkwood are asking the district to make the stadium available Oct. 7 for the New Castle Thunder’s playoff game against the Columbus Fire. A letter on the issue was presented to board members before the start of an expulsion hearing Tuesday.
“I see no legitimate reason not to honor the request,” Conti said.
Neither he nor his two colleagues had been asked by Thunder officials to act on the team’s behalf, he said.
Attempts to contact team owner Anthony Razzano for comment were unsuccessful.
Superintendent George Gabriel sought input from district solicitor Charles Sapienza to outline circumstances that permit a board president to call a special meeting.
In a response sent Tuesday, Sapienza said one of Mozzocio rights as president is to call for a special meeting. Three board members may seek a meeting by submitting a written correspondence to the president.
If Mozzocio refuses to act on or denies the request, then five board members are needed to initiate a special session.
“(Mozzocio’s) authority is absolute unless a majority of the board decides otherwise,” Sapienza wrote to Gabriel.
When contacted yesterday, Mozzocio said he responded to the letter. However, he would not disclose its contents.
“As a professional courtesy, I want the board members to see the letter first,” he said.
Donati said the team deserves the community’s support.
“Since they are in the national playoffs, it would be nice if we held that game,” she said.
The battle to use Taggart dates back to April when the defunct New Castle Knights asked the board for permission to use the field.
In one meeting, team owner David Gailbreath fought with the board, Gabriel and Sapienza. Gailbreath was tossed from the session. Hopes for any team other than the New Castle Red Hurricane to use the field appeared to be dead.
Citing differences with Gailbreath, the Knights players and staff left his control in May. Razzano, a New Castle accountant, announced the formation of the Thunder, a member of the North American Football League.
Gailbreath, a Smithfield Street resident, was charged in July with taking about $1,500 from the Knights for personal use. A trial date has not been set.
After approaching several Lawrence County school districts, the Thunder eventually reached an agreement with Slippery Rock University to play its home games there.
“We’ve had a great relationship ... with Anthony Razzano,” said Paul Lueken, SRU’s athletic director. “They’re more than welcome to come back next year.”
After negotiations with the district and receiving board approval, the Thunder played one game at Taggart on Sept. 16.
“I didn’t see any problems,” New Castle athletic director Sam Flora said. “Everything went well.”
If Taggart is not made available, the Thunder will be scurrying for other home-field options.
Lueken said SRU will not be available for the team’s playoff game. The Rock hosts Shippensburg Oct. 7.
“It’s not a matter that we don’t want them at The Rock.”
Felasco’s bankruptcy case dismissed
September 26, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Gary F. Felasco’s latest legal action prevents further public scrutiny of his financial dealings.
The former Lawrence County treasurer, convicted of theft charges, had his Chapter 13 bankruptcy case dismissed at his request on Sept. 13 in U.S. bankruptcy court in Pittsburgh.
In August, the New Castle News asked the court’s bankruptcy trustee, attorney Ronda J. Winnecour, for information regarding Felasco’s filing. The initial request dealt specifically with Felasco’s criminal trial and the payment of services for his defense attorney, James Ross of Beaver County.
The state filed criminal charges against Felasco on Sept. 7, 2005. A month later, the former Cunningham Avenue resident sought bankruptcy relief in the form of a Chapter 13 filing.
The cost of Ross’ services was not among Felasco’s debts provided to the court. Nor were Ross’ charges listed in updates with the court.
The News asked the court if financial details involving Ross should have been included.
“The Trustee is interested in matters such as you have raised in your inquiry,” court representative Richard J. Bedford wrote to The News in an e-mail. “The Trustee will ask debtor’s counsel to provide additional information in this case.”
A conciliation conference between Felasco’s bankruptcy attorney, Jason J. Mazzei, and the court took place Aug. 10 in Pittsburgh. During the conference, Mazzei agreed that Felasco would pay $1,655 a month on his debt plan.
A letter dated Aug. 17 to the county’s payroll administrator confirmed that amount.
A News representative, who attended the conference, asked Mazzei how Felasco would be able to repay his debt, because he is in prison.
Mazzei said it was Felasco’s intention to honor his financial obligations.
At that point, Mazzei was asked if he is required to divulge the identity of any person who would make payments in Felasco’s stead. Mazzei responded that the bankruptcy court would be interested in that information.
The News sent a follow-up e-mail to the bankruptcy court seeking clarification on how it would deal with issues raised by The News.
“(The Trustee) cannot answer your specific questions concerning any actions she might take in this case as these actions are not of public record,” David J. Schrempf wrote to The News in an e-mail.
Schrempf is the trustee office’s director of operations.
“This office can only provide that which are of public record.”
A representative of Mazzei’s office would not comment on why Felasco pursued a dismissal.
“We can’t comment because of the attorney-client privilege.”
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Gary F. Felasco’s latest legal action prevents further public scrutiny of his financial dealings.
The former Lawrence County treasurer, convicted of theft charges, had his Chapter 13 bankruptcy case dismissed at his request on Sept. 13 in U.S. bankruptcy court in Pittsburgh.
In August, the New Castle News asked the court’s bankruptcy trustee, attorney Ronda J. Winnecour, for information regarding Felasco’s filing. The initial request dealt specifically with Felasco’s criminal trial and the payment of services for his defense attorney, James Ross of Beaver County.
The state filed criminal charges against Felasco on Sept. 7, 2005. A month later, the former Cunningham Avenue resident sought bankruptcy relief in the form of a Chapter 13 filing.
The cost of Ross’ services was not among Felasco’s debts provided to the court. Nor were Ross’ charges listed in updates with the court.
The News asked the court if financial details involving Ross should have been included.
“The Trustee is interested in matters such as you have raised in your inquiry,” court representative Richard J. Bedford wrote to The News in an e-mail. “The Trustee will ask debtor’s counsel to provide additional information in this case.”
A conciliation conference between Felasco’s bankruptcy attorney, Jason J. Mazzei, and the court took place Aug. 10 in Pittsburgh. During the conference, Mazzei agreed that Felasco would pay $1,655 a month on his debt plan.
A letter dated Aug. 17 to the county’s payroll administrator confirmed that amount.
A News representative, who attended the conference, asked Mazzei how Felasco would be able to repay his debt, because he is in prison.
Mazzei said it was Felasco’s intention to honor his financial obligations.
At that point, Mazzei was asked if he is required to divulge the identity of any person who would make payments in Felasco’s stead. Mazzei responded that the bankruptcy court would be interested in that information.
The News sent a follow-up e-mail to the bankruptcy court seeking clarification on how it would deal with issues raised by The News.
“(The Trustee) cannot answer your specific questions concerning any actions she might take in this case as these actions are not of public record,” David J. Schrempf wrote to The News in an e-mail.
Schrempf is the trustee office’s director of operations.
“This office can only provide that which are of public record.”
A representative of Mazzei’s office would not comment on why Felasco pursued a dismissal.
“We can’t comment because of the attorney-client privilege.”
He Said/She Said tackle Thunder football practice
September 23, 2006
By Pat Litowitz and Lisa Micco
New Castle News
You aren't going to believe this one. Please try not to laugh too hard.
But first, a quick quiz.
What do Terry Bradshaw, Joe Namath, Bob Griese and Lisa Micco have in common?
Three were famous quarterbacks who donned the No. 12 in their storied NFL careers. The last one? No so much.
What the heck is Lisa doing wearing that fabled jersey?
Apparently one half of the not-so-relevant He Said/She Said duo thought it would be fun to "play with the boys." So she asked New Castle Thunder owner Anthony Razzano if she and her sidekick, the New Castle News' Pat Litowitz, for permission to practice with the players as they prepare for their playoff drive.
Much to Pat's credit -- and the advice of several physicians, The News' human resources department and an unnamed psychiatrist -- he turned down the offer. Instead, he "practiced" being team owner.
This can't be good. You know that Vince Lombardi is turning over in his grave.
*
We interrupt this column for a statement from The News.
"The New Castle News recognizes and upholds the importance of football in western Pennsylvania, particularly Lawrence County.
"While we encourage the practice of participatory journalism, we feel that the reporters participating should actually be capable of taking part. Neither Lisa Micco nor Pat Litowitz have shown any athletic skills whatsoever.
"Lastly, we disavow any knowledge of Micco or Litowitz actually being employed by The New Castle News or any of its subsidiaries."
We return you to our regularly scheduled column.
*
Please join Lisa and Pat as they head to the gridiron and discuss, "No, the Center Does Not Punt the Football" or "Are You Ready for Some Really Bad Football?"
LITOWITZ: To Mr. Razzano, the coaches, staff and players, I have only one thing to say: "I'm so, so sorry."
I tried talking Lisa out of it.
"They're going to hurt you," I said.
"You have no clue what football is about," I told her.
"You can't throw," I chided her.
Does she listen? No.
We interrupted valuable practice time so Lisa could "quarterback" the team. Thankfully, everyone involved with the Thunder were gentlemanly and kind. Especially, coaches Frank Makarevich and Bob Razzano.
Get this. She actually asked Coach Makarevich if it was proper procedure to put her hands under center. I wanted to die. I thought the man was going to pop a vein.
I, on the other hand, learned invaluable team ownership skills from Anthony Razzano.
I didn't "chicken out" as Lisa will try to claim. The Thunder players are big, mean and serious about football. That's the way it should be.
I chose not to die that day.
MICCO: Ah, you chose to be a wimp. Simple as that.
You would have fell to your knees if Jim Kuhn, one of the equipment managers, put the shoulder pads on you.
I, on the other hand, took it like a man.
A-hem.
Anyway ... Yes, the Thunder players are big, tough and all football. But they were great sports letting me run through a few plays with them. (OK, so the coach rolled his eyes when I asked if I could use crib notes.) To me, that says a lot. They know when to be serious, and yet have a sense of humor to let a girl crash their practice.
Don't hate the playa just because you chose to ride the sidelines, Litowitz.
As an aside, a special thanks to Jonathon "Kirby" Warren, No. 64, who volunteered as center, for not eating beans before practice.
LITOWITZ: Or you, I might add.
I played football way back when. OK, perhaps the word "play" is a misnomer. I was the official tackling dummy. And that was fine.
Couldn't run. Couldn't catch. Occasionally blocked.
(Although I did have one spectacular backyard game where I jumped high into the air (2 inches), pulled in a pass with one hand and avoided the concrete-encased, metal clothesline pole. Good times. Good times.)
I know my role in the world. I love football. Love the history of the game, the characters and the strategy. But I harbor no illusions. A Michael Strahan I am not. Sure, we might weigh the same, but that's about it.
Except for the reward of winning, the Thunder players receive no pay and risk their bodies because they love the sport. I respect that.
They just didn't need to have me there interrupting practice.
If you enjoyed yourself, great. It's a good thing the playoffs are three weeks away instead of today, because Coach Makarevich -- a mountain of a man -- would have chewed you up and spit you out.
OK, that would have been fun to watch.
By the way, do you even know who Michael Strahan is?
MICCO: Would that be the New York Giants' defensive end Michael Straham, former hot shot at Texas Southern?
Yeah, that's right. I know how to use Google.
I'm not going to lie. Coach Makarevich intimidated the poo of out me. As soon as the coach gave me the play, I immediately forgot it. There were numbers mixed with words, complicated by field directions. I was lost from the moment I stepped out onto the field.
I admit it, I couldn't even get the "hut" right.
Makarevich told me the cadence was "Red (pause), Set, Go!"
I was so befuddled that I actually said, "Red, Pause, Set, Go!"
The horror. The horror.
But in all fairness to the coaches and team -- with a playoff looming on the horizon -- they took time out to indulge me. Yet all was not lost. While I've always enjoyed the game, I have a newfound respect for the guys making it happen on the field and behind the scenes. They work hard, play hard and love the sport. On top of that, they have to memorize plays, know their position and think quick on their feet. I couldn't do it.
I was impressed. The term "dumb jock" should be banned from the English lexicon.
By the way, that athletic cup I gave you was not a nose guard.
LITOWITZ: That may have been a problem for you. I am quite familiar with the function of the cup.
Just a final thought. Football players, generally speaking, don't get overly excited over the prospect of a "good job" butt slap.
Hold back -- just a bit.
MICCO: No way. That was the best part of playing. Besides, if linebacker Jack Callahan didn't mind, I sure didn't.
OK, so I won't make the cut as a Thunder quarterback. Maybe there's an opening on the Thunder danceline for a 40-year-old former cheerleader?
(He Said/She Said is written by New Castle News staffers Lisa Micco, design editor, and Pat Litowitz, investigative reporter. Interested in advertising in this space? Contact The News advertising department at (724) 654-6651. Ask for Bryan Zeigler.)
By Pat Litowitz and Lisa Micco
New Castle News
You aren't going to believe this one. Please try not to laugh too hard.
But first, a quick quiz.
What do Terry Bradshaw, Joe Namath, Bob Griese and Lisa Micco have in common?
Three were famous quarterbacks who donned the No. 12 in their storied NFL careers. The last one? No so much.
What the heck is Lisa doing wearing that fabled jersey?
Apparently one half of the not-so-relevant He Said/She Said duo thought it would be fun to "play with the boys." So she asked New Castle Thunder owner Anthony Razzano if she and her sidekick, the New Castle News' Pat Litowitz, for permission to practice with the players as they prepare for their playoff drive.
Much to Pat's credit -- and the advice of several physicians, The News' human resources department and an unnamed psychiatrist -- he turned down the offer. Instead, he "practiced" being team owner.
This can't be good. You know that Vince Lombardi is turning over in his grave.
*
We interrupt this column for a statement from The News.
"The New Castle News recognizes and upholds the importance of football in western Pennsylvania, particularly Lawrence County.
"While we encourage the practice of participatory journalism, we feel that the reporters participating should actually be capable of taking part. Neither Lisa Micco nor Pat Litowitz have shown any athletic skills whatsoever.
"Lastly, we disavow any knowledge of Micco or Litowitz actually being employed by The New Castle News or any of its subsidiaries."
We return you to our regularly scheduled column.
*
Please join Lisa and Pat as they head to the gridiron and discuss, "No, the Center Does Not Punt the Football" or "Are You Ready for Some Really Bad Football?"
LITOWITZ: To Mr. Razzano, the coaches, staff and players, I have only one thing to say: "I'm so, so sorry."
I tried talking Lisa out of it.
"They're going to hurt you," I said.
"You have no clue what football is about," I told her.
"You can't throw," I chided her.
Does she listen? No.
We interrupted valuable practice time so Lisa could "quarterback" the team. Thankfully, everyone involved with the Thunder were gentlemanly and kind. Especially, coaches Frank Makarevich and Bob Razzano.
Get this. She actually asked Coach Makarevich if it was proper procedure to put her hands under center. I wanted to die. I thought the man was going to pop a vein.
I, on the other hand, learned invaluable team ownership skills from Anthony Razzano.
I didn't "chicken out" as Lisa will try to claim. The Thunder players are big, mean and serious about football. That's the way it should be.
I chose not to die that day.
MICCO: Ah, you chose to be a wimp. Simple as that.
You would have fell to your knees if Jim Kuhn, one of the equipment managers, put the shoulder pads on you.
I, on the other hand, took it like a man.
A-hem.
Anyway ... Yes, the Thunder players are big, tough and all football. But they were great sports letting me run through a few plays with them. (OK, so the coach rolled his eyes when I asked if I could use crib notes.) To me, that says a lot. They know when to be serious, and yet have a sense of humor to let a girl crash their practice.
Don't hate the playa just because you chose to ride the sidelines, Litowitz.
As an aside, a special thanks to Jonathon "Kirby" Warren, No. 64, who volunteered as center, for not eating beans before practice.
LITOWITZ: Or you, I might add.
I played football way back when. OK, perhaps the word "play" is a misnomer. I was the official tackling dummy. And that was fine.
Couldn't run. Couldn't catch. Occasionally blocked.
(Although I did have one spectacular backyard game where I jumped high into the air (2 inches), pulled in a pass with one hand and avoided the concrete-encased, metal clothesline pole. Good times. Good times.)
I know my role in the world. I love football. Love the history of the game, the characters and the strategy. But I harbor no illusions. A Michael Strahan I am not. Sure, we might weigh the same, but that's about it.
Except for the reward of winning, the Thunder players receive no pay and risk their bodies because they love the sport. I respect that.
They just didn't need to have me there interrupting practice.
If you enjoyed yourself, great. It's a good thing the playoffs are three weeks away instead of today, because Coach Makarevich -- a mountain of a man -- would have chewed you up and spit you out.
OK, that would have been fun to watch.
By the way, do you even know who Michael Strahan is?
MICCO: Would that be the New York Giants' defensive end Michael Straham, former hot shot at Texas Southern?
Yeah, that's right. I know how to use Google.
I'm not going to lie. Coach Makarevich intimidated the poo of out me. As soon as the coach gave me the play, I immediately forgot it. There were numbers mixed with words, complicated by field directions. I was lost from the moment I stepped out onto the field.
I admit it, I couldn't even get the "hut" right.
Makarevich told me the cadence was "Red (pause), Set, Go!"
I was so befuddled that I actually said, "Red, Pause, Set, Go!"
The horror. The horror.
But in all fairness to the coaches and team -- with a playoff looming on the horizon -- they took time out to indulge me. Yet all was not lost. While I've always enjoyed the game, I have a newfound respect for the guys making it happen on the field and behind the scenes. They work hard, play hard and love the sport. On top of that, they have to memorize plays, know their position and think quick on their feet. I couldn't do it.
I was impressed. The term "dumb jock" should be banned from the English lexicon.
By the way, that athletic cup I gave you was not a nose guard.
LITOWITZ: That may have been a problem for you. I am quite familiar with the function of the cup.
Just a final thought. Football players, generally speaking, don't get overly excited over the prospect of a "good job" butt slap.
Hold back -- just a bit.
MICCO: No way. That was the best part of playing. Besides, if linebacker Jack Callahan didn't mind, I sure didn't.
OK, so I won't make the cut as a Thunder quarterback. Maybe there's an opening on the Thunder danceline for a 40-year-old former cheerleader?
(He Said/She Said is written by New Castle News staffers Lisa Micco, design editor, and Pat Litowitz, investigative reporter. Interested in advertising in this space? Contact The News advertising department at (724) 654-6651. Ask for Bryan Zeigler.)
Group thwarts agency's effort
September 23, 2006
By PAT LITOWITZ
plitowitz@ncnewsonline.com
Six Lawrence County businessmen played an unexpected role in derailing a housing agency's effort in common pleas court.
Joseph Mazzant, Joseph DeRosa, James A. Mims Jr., Louis Suisi and Carl Rossi purchased seven properties during an auction Sept. 9 at the Shenango Township fire hall. Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, which placed the structures up for sale, earned $56,200 at event's end.
The Lawrence County Housing Authority, which created Affordable Housing in 2003, sought an injunction following the auction. In filing its complaint, the authority named the five men, auctioneer Raymond Mazzanti and Affordable Housing as defendants.
Attorney Louis Perrotta, representing the authority, asked the court to consider several actions. Among them were to block the sale, return the sales proceeds to the defendants and have a real estate agent sell the properties.
During the second day of hearings on Tuesday, the authority withdrew its complaint.
"This is frivolous," Mazzant told Judge J. Craig Cox as the hearing opened Monday.
Twice, Cox asked the defendants if they wanted to retain legal counsel. In each case, the men said they would represent themselves.
At first, the move appeared to be questionable.
"When do I make an objection? Anytime I want?" Mazzanti asked Perrotta.
Perrotta did not answer.
Later, Mazzanti asked to be dropped from the complaint.
"I'll wait for the judge's motion to dismiss," he said.
"I've already denied your motion to dismiss," the judge responded.
On several occasions Cox had to keep Mazzant on task.
"Mr. Mazzant, you have to ask questions and not make speeches."
Despite stumbling early, the collective group of novice attorneys rebounded. Robert Evanick, the housing authority's executive director, was the target of their ire.
Of particular interest was the amount Affordable Housing paid for eight properties in 2005 and the zoning violations assessed against each. Evanick had served as Affordable Housing's president when the houses were bought. He resigned a day after loan papers were signed with First Commonwealth Bank.
"Do you think you paid too much?" Mazzant asked Evanick. "You have a big shortfall here.
"If the money came out of your own pocket, would you spend it?"
Evanick responded that he relied on consultant Robert Ratkovich's recommendation in approving the purchases, which totaled $340,000. Ratkovich, who serves as New Castle City Council president, is employed as the authority's maintenance superintendent.
"I think you spent way too much money to buy it."
Suisi jumped into the fray asking if Evanick had ever visited the properties.
When Evanick answered "no," Suisi expressed disbelief considering that the sites were within a 15-minute driving distance of the housing authority.
Perrotta cited Evanick's testimony as one reason for withdrawing the authority's complaint.
"I think they did a great job," said Affordable Housing attorney Timothy McNickle.
Considering the nuances and complexity of law, First Commonwealth attorney Michael Flaherty said he generally recommends against defendants representing themselves. He lauded Cox for showing patience with the defendants and allowing them to participate.
By PAT LITOWITZ
plitowitz@ncnewsonline.com
Six Lawrence County businessmen played an unexpected role in derailing a housing agency's effort in common pleas court.
Joseph Mazzant, Joseph DeRosa, James A. Mims Jr., Louis Suisi and Carl Rossi purchased seven properties during an auction Sept. 9 at the Shenango Township fire hall. Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, which placed the structures up for sale, earned $56,200 at event's end.
The Lawrence County Housing Authority, which created Affordable Housing in 2003, sought an injunction following the auction. In filing its complaint, the authority named the five men, auctioneer Raymond Mazzanti and Affordable Housing as defendants.
Attorney Louis Perrotta, representing the authority, asked the court to consider several actions. Among them were to block the sale, return the sales proceeds to the defendants and have a real estate agent sell the properties.
During the second day of hearings on Tuesday, the authority withdrew its complaint.
"This is frivolous," Mazzant told Judge J. Craig Cox as the hearing opened Monday.
Twice, Cox asked the defendants if they wanted to retain legal counsel. In each case, the men said they would represent themselves.
At first, the move appeared to be questionable.
"When do I make an objection? Anytime I want?" Mazzanti asked Perrotta.
Perrotta did not answer.
Later, Mazzanti asked to be dropped from the complaint.
"I'll wait for the judge's motion to dismiss," he said.
"I've already denied your motion to dismiss," the judge responded.
On several occasions Cox had to keep Mazzant on task.
"Mr. Mazzant, you have to ask questions and not make speeches."
Despite stumbling early, the collective group of novice attorneys rebounded. Robert Evanick, the housing authority's executive director, was the target of their ire.
Of particular interest was the amount Affordable Housing paid for eight properties in 2005 and the zoning violations assessed against each. Evanick had served as Affordable Housing's president when the houses were bought. He resigned a day after loan papers were signed with First Commonwealth Bank.
"Do you think you paid too much?" Mazzant asked Evanick. "You have a big shortfall here.
"If the money came out of your own pocket, would you spend it?"
Evanick responded that he relied on consultant Robert Ratkovich's recommendation in approving the purchases, which totaled $340,000. Ratkovich, who serves as New Castle City Council president, is employed as the authority's maintenance superintendent.
"I think you spent way too much money to buy it."
Suisi jumped into the fray asking if Evanick had ever visited the properties.
When Evanick answered "no," Suisi expressed disbelief considering that the sites were within a 15-minute driving distance of the housing authority.
Perrotta cited Evanick's testimony as one reason for withdrawing the authority's complaint.
"I think they did a great job," said Affordable Housing attorney Timothy McNickle.
Considering the nuances and complexity of law, First Commonwealth attorney Michael Flaherty said he generally recommends against defendants representing themselves. He lauded Cox for showing patience with the defendants and allowing them to participate.
Housing authority drops court action
September 20, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
The Lawrence County Housing Authority yesterday withdrew its request for the courts to overturn the sale of properties.
Attorney Louis Perrotta advised Common Pleas Judge J. Craig Cox of the authority’s decision to end litigation against Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, its nonprofit spin-off agency.
The announcement came as the hearing reconvened following the lunch recess.
Perrotta cited Robert Evanick’s testimony and the limited potential for financial recovery as reasons behind the decision.
“I looked at the testimony,” Perrotta said last night. “My main (witness) didn’t testify as well as I thought.”
Evanick is the authority’s executive director, who had helped to create Affordable Housing and once served as its president.
On Sept. 9, Affordable Housing conducted a public auction, selling seven of its properties for $56,200.
A sales agreement involving the eighth property, a Dewey Avenue duplex, was entered into prior to the auction.
During testimony yesterday, Affordable Housing board member Deno DeLorenzo told Perrotta the purchase price for the remaining rental property was $15,000.
Almerinda Feola, a tenant at the Dewey Avenue site, made the offer, with DeLorenzo drawing up the sales agreement. She is seeking financing, DeLorenzo said.
The $71,200 that the eight sites garnered is far short of the $290,000 Affordable Housing owes to First Commonwealth Bank. The bank agreed to the auction and has released the mortgages to the new owners.
The agency also has a $200,500 promissory note due to the housing authority.
“Zero from zero is zero,” Perrotta said in reference to what the authority would see from the proceeds.
Although Affordable Housing offered to pay the authority $500 per structure, no funds have been transferred.
A settlement sheet presented during the hearing showed the disbursement of proceeds from the auction. The housing authority was not among those listed.
“They had no intention of paying us,” Perrotta said. “We wouldn’t have uncovered it without the hearing.”
Attorney Timothy McNickle, representing Affordable Housing, said he had planned to request a dismissal of the authority’s complaint if Perrotta hadn’t.
“We thought from the very beginning of the process the injunction would be dismissed (by the court),” he said.
The day’s proceedings began with Perrotta calling DeLorenzo to testify.
Under examination, DeLorenzo stated he had provided documentation at Affordable Housing’s request that was used to secure a $250,000 loan from First Commonwealth.
DeLorenzo, an accountant, said Affordable Housing consultant Robert Ratkovich sought his assistance. He provided DeLorenzo with financial data and information on the structures.
DeLorenzo said he was not given the location of the properties or the owners’ identities.
“It was not necessary for me to ask who the seller was,” he said.
Ratkovich is New Castle City Council president and the authority’s maintenance superintendent. At the time of the purchase, Ratkovich was not an authority employee.
Although he projected an initial shortfall, DeLorenzo said, Affordable Housing required an 80 percent occupancy of its properties to meet income objectives.
Those objectives were never met, DeLorenzo said.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
The Lawrence County Housing Authority yesterday withdrew its request for the courts to overturn the sale of properties.
Attorney Louis Perrotta advised Common Pleas Judge J. Craig Cox of the authority’s decision to end litigation against Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, its nonprofit spin-off agency.
The announcement came as the hearing reconvened following the lunch recess.
Perrotta cited Robert Evanick’s testimony and the limited potential for financial recovery as reasons behind the decision.
“I looked at the testimony,” Perrotta said last night. “My main (witness) didn’t testify as well as I thought.”
Evanick is the authority’s executive director, who had helped to create Affordable Housing and once served as its president.
On Sept. 9, Affordable Housing conducted a public auction, selling seven of its properties for $56,200.
A sales agreement involving the eighth property, a Dewey Avenue duplex, was entered into prior to the auction.
During testimony yesterday, Affordable Housing board member Deno DeLorenzo told Perrotta the purchase price for the remaining rental property was $15,000.
Almerinda Feola, a tenant at the Dewey Avenue site, made the offer, with DeLorenzo drawing up the sales agreement. She is seeking financing, DeLorenzo said.
The $71,200 that the eight sites garnered is far short of the $290,000 Affordable Housing owes to First Commonwealth Bank. The bank agreed to the auction and has released the mortgages to the new owners.
The agency also has a $200,500 promissory note due to the housing authority.
“Zero from zero is zero,” Perrotta said in reference to what the authority would see from the proceeds.
Although Affordable Housing offered to pay the authority $500 per structure, no funds have been transferred.
A settlement sheet presented during the hearing showed the disbursement of proceeds from the auction. The housing authority was not among those listed.
“They had no intention of paying us,” Perrotta said. “We wouldn’t have uncovered it without the hearing.”
Attorney Timothy McNickle, representing Affordable Housing, said he had planned to request a dismissal of the authority’s complaint if Perrotta hadn’t.
“We thought from the very beginning of the process the injunction would be dismissed (by the court),” he said.
The day’s proceedings began with Perrotta calling DeLorenzo to testify.
Under examination, DeLorenzo stated he had provided documentation at Affordable Housing’s request that was used to secure a $250,000 loan from First Commonwealth.
DeLorenzo, an accountant, said Affordable Housing consultant Robert Ratkovich sought his assistance. He provided DeLorenzo with financial data and information on the structures.
DeLorenzo said he was not given the location of the properties or the owners’ identities.
“It was not necessary for me to ask who the seller was,” he said.
Ratkovich is New Castle City Council president and the authority’s maintenance superintendent. At the time of the purchase, Ratkovich was not an authority employee.
Although he projected an initial shortfall, DeLorenzo said, Affordable Housing required an 80 percent occupancy of its properties to meet income objectives.
Those objectives were never met, DeLorenzo said.
Hearing focuses on Affordable Housing
September 19, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
A preliminary hearing on a disputed auction transformed into a heated examination of a failed housing agency.
The Lawrence County Housing Authority is seeking an injunction against Affordable Housing of Lawrence County. The authority wants the court to void the auction of seven Affordable Housing properties and the pending sale of an eighth.
Judge J. Craig Cox granted the housing authority’s request for a temporary restraining order last week. Cox is presiding over the hearing, which resumed today at 9 a.m.
Former property owner John A. Orlando and housing authority executive director Robert Evanick provided the majority of the day’s testimony.
Orlando and Nick DeRosa sold two duplexes and a fourplex to Affordable Housing in December 2005 for $165,000. DeRosa, who was not present, recently retired as the New Castle Area School District’s assistant superintendent.
Seeking to illustrate the properties’ income potential, authority solicitor Louis Perrotta asked Orlando to provide rent information.
From 1998 through November 2005, the Orlando-DeRosa partnership collected approximately $200,000. However, from 2003 until the sale, the rental income dropped from $30,395 to $13,775.
“Owning real estate property is very time-consuming,” Orlando said.
Prior to the Affordable Housing sale, Orlando said, an unsuccessful effort was made to market the properties for $172,000 in 2003.
Under examination from Affordable Housing’s attorney Timothy McNickle, Orlando said he learned in May or June about a pending sale with the nonprofit group.
“I’m not aware of any negotiations,” he said. “(DeRosa) and I agreed whatever the appraiser appraised it at was what we sell.”
Castle Realty appraised the properties on behalf of First Commonwealth Bank.
Orlando continued that the pending sale had an effect on finding tenants for the properties.
“We really weren’t very active in seeking tenants,” said Orlando, a retired Pennsylvania American Water Co. manager.
Orlando’s relationship with Affordable Housing consultant Robert Ratkovich was also addressed.
Attorney Michael Flaherty, representing First Commonwealth, asked if Ratkovich talked about the sale with him.
Orlando said the pair had a business dealing 12 years ago and belonged to the same club, whose identity was not disclosed.
“He was an acquaintance,” he said. “I never discussed the deal with him.”
Evanick, who started Affordable Housing and once served as its president, also faced scrutiny.
Although he had signed loan papers that concluded the sale, Evanick said it was Ratkovich who selected the properties for Affordable Housing.
“The finances were negotiated by Mr. Ratkovich,” he said. “We left it up to him.
“From what I understand, the appraisals justified buying the properties.”
Evanick then testified that he had resigned from Affordable Housing a day after signing the loan papers because he disagreed with the direction the agency was taking.
In disputing the auction of the seven properties, Evanick said a real estate agent would bring in more money than an absolute auction.
While not opposing an auction in principle, he was against an auction where there was no minimum purchase price.
After being repeatedly asked how much the properties should have attracted, Evanick said $75,000 on top of the $56,200 that the auction had collected.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
A preliminary hearing on a disputed auction transformed into a heated examination of a failed housing agency.
The Lawrence County Housing Authority is seeking an injunction against Affordable Housing of Lawrence County. The authority wants the court to void the auction of seven Affordable Housing properties and the pending sale of an eighth.
Judge J. Craig Cox granted the housing authority’s request for a temporary restraining order last week. Cox is presiding over the hearing, which resumed today at 9 a.m.
Former property owner John A. Orlando and housing authority executive director Robert Evanick provided the majority of the day’s testimony.
Orlando and Nick DeRosa sold two duplexes and a fourplex to Affordable Housing in December 2005 for $165,000. DeRosa, who was not present, recently retired as the New Castle Area School District’s assistant superintendent.
Seeking to illustrate the properties’ income potential, authority solicitor Louis Perrotta asked Orlando to provide rent information.
From 1998 through November 2005, the Orlando-DeRosa partnership collected approximately $200,000. However, from 2003 until the sale, the rental income dropped from $30,395 to $13,775.
“Owning real estate property is very time-consuming,” Orlando said.
Prior to the Affordable Housing sale, Orlando said, an unsuccessful effort was made to market the properties for $172,000 in 2003.
Under examination from Affordable Housing’s attorney Timothy McNickle, Orlando said he learned in May or June about a pending sale with the nonprofit group.
“I’m not aware of any negotiations,” he said. “(DeRosa) and I agreed whatever the appraiser appraised it at was what we sell.”
Castle Realty appraised the properties on behalf of First Commonwealth Bank.
Orlando continued that the pending sale had an effect on finding tenants for the properties.
“We really weren’t very active in seeking tenants,” said Orlando, a retired Pennsylvania American Water Co. manager.
Orlando’s relationship with Affordable Housing consultant Robert Ratkovich was also addressed.
Attorney Michael Flaherty, representing First Commonwealth, asked if Ratkovich talked about the sale with him.
Orlando said the pair had a business dealing 12 years ago and belonged to the same club, whose identity was not disclosed.
“He was an acquaintance,” he said. “I never discussed the deal with him.”
Evanick, who started Affordable Housing and once served as its president, also faced scrutiny.
Although he had signed loan papers that concluded the sale, Evanick said it was Ratkovich who selected the properties for Affordable Housing.
“The finances were negotiated by Mr. Ratkovich,” he said. “We left it up to him.
“From what I understand, the appraisals justified buying the properties.”
Evanick then testified that he had resigned from Affordable Housing a day after signing the loan papers because he disagreed with the direction the agency was taking.
In disputing the auction of the seven properties, Evanick said a real estate agent would bring in more money than an absolute auction.
While not opposing an auction in principle, he was against an auction where there was no minimum purchase price.
After being repeatedly asked how much the properties should have attracted, Evanick said $75,000 on top of the $56,200 that the auction had collected.
He said /she said: Hollywood
September 15, 2006
By Pat Litowitz and Lisa Micco
New Castle News
Quiet on the set.
"That Old Elks Building: The Musical."
Act one. Scene one.
Cue the lights. Actors, on your marks.
Orchestra, remember this a peppy little number.
In three, two, one. Action.
*
THE MAYOR: I have a building.
CITY COUNCIL CHORUS: A pretty little building.
MAYOR: It's made of brick.
CHORUS: He wants to sell it quick ...
MAYOR: Before it falls apart.
CHORUS: Part. Part. Part. Part.
MAYOR: Oh, it's a fixer-upper.
CHORUS: A real fixer-upper.
MAYOR: I'd like to let you in ...
CHORUS: But the roof's caved in.
MAYOR: Can't let you sue the city.
CHORUS: No. No. No. No.
MAYOR: For a dollar down.
CHORUS: Just a dollar down.
MAYOR: You'll own a piece of the city ...
CHORUS: That used to be pretty.
MAYOR: And that'll be great.
CHORUS: Great. Great. Great. Great.
(The big finish)
MAYOR AND CHORUS: We don't want to hassle, but will ya move to New Castle? And if you do ...
SOLICITOR: (in baritone voice) We ... promise ... not ... to ... sue.
*
What happened? Well, that's just embarrassing.
If you haven't heard by now, a California company wants to purchase the former Elks Club. Tri-Cinema Inc. wants to renovate the site and use it for its home studio. Stop laughing. It's true.
A once grand, old structure, the building is in disrepair. Dating back to the early 1900s, the building has switched ownership several times. There are those who would consider the condition of the building a disgrace.
Speaking of disgraces, let's introduce you to the New Castle News' Pat Litowitz and Lisa Micco. Join our shameful duo as they discuss "When the Walls Come Tumbling Down" or "Didn't They Sell This Property at the Affordable Housing Auction?"
LITOWITZ: Here's the problem -- the city has a number of great, old buildings. But it takes money to keep them up to par. Look at the cost involved in renovating the original Warner Bros. theater.
We're talking millions and millions of dollars.
Then there's the New Castle Area School District and the former Ben Franklin Junior High School. Great building but a financial burden on the taxpayers. The district is looking to unload it, but a few board members have other ideas.
Every day that building sits unoccupied you invite more problems.
Don't forget the brouhaha over the homes that were demolished to create the new junior-senior high school.
Antiques are great when you can afford them. But when you're strapped for cash, that's a difficult expense to justify.
I hope Tri-Cinema, which wants to purchase the former Elks building, delivers on its promises. But if it doesn't happen, then it's time to get rid of the building.
MICCO: You know, you're an expense to The News that's hard to justify. Can we get rid of you?
Here's the real problem -- everyone is always in a big hurry to tear down something historic in this town.
The Kurtz mansion. Gone. Made into a parking lot. Soon to be the downtown bus transfer station.
The former Lt. Gov. William M. Brown's monstrosity of a home near East Street. Destroyed. It's now a practice field.
The Phillips mansion. Fell into disrepair and demolished. A church now occupies its former site.
(I'm surprised the Scottish Rite Cathedral has lasted this long.)
So I was happy to see that a business outside the confines of Lawrence County is interested in the old Elks building. It's a grand structure, but what an eyesore. And it smells.
Will Tri-Cinema proceed with plans to refurbish the building or will it be used as the set for "Apocalypse Now, Part Deux"?
Did I mention the building smells?
LITOWITZ: Yes, but so do you.
Setting olfactory issues aside, I also do not like the thought of demolishing historical buildings.
But you failed to address the problem. How are you going to raise money to refurbish the structures?
There's no one coming in to save New Castle.
By the way, who's rushing to tear them down? They sit and sit and sit. Before you know it, someone sets them on fire. That's the New Castle way.
MICCO: Have "A Night at the Races" like everyone else does to raise money.
Besides, I'm not saying the city should fund the renovations. I'm talking about selling the old Elks building to Tri-Cinema -- or whomever else for that matter -- without creating a bureaucratic dog-and-pony show.
Why does the city have to complicate things? I mean, we politely asked to tour the former Elks building, and, after a meeting at Camp David, a dozen consultations with lawyers and a reading of tea leaves, the city says NO.
I don't like being told no. I was very put out.
LITOWITZ: Could it be that you are a spoiled child?
The building isn't the safest place to be. I respect the fact that city officials were looking out for our safety.
Or it could be that the mayor and Councilman Chet Orelli are still mad at you over the Cascade Lake tongue-lashing?
MICCO: Oh wait, I didn't recognize you there for a minute with your face not pressed up against a city official's buttocks. "Respect the fact ... Looking out for our safety ..." Puh-leeze.
If the mayor and Orelli are still mad at me, then they would've given me the key and let me fall to my death.
LITOWITZ: Would that be considered a civic improvement?
(He Said/She Said is written by New Castle News staffers Lisa Micco, design editor, and Pat Litowitz, investigative reporter. Remember, Christmas is 14 weeks away. Gift certificates may be sent to Pat and Lisa in care of "A He Said/She Said Christmas," P.O. Box 60, 27 N. Mercer St., New Castle, Pa. 16103. Gifts are not tax deductible.)
By Pat Litowitz and Lisa Micco
New Castle News
Quiet on the set.
"That Old Elks Building: The Musical."
Act one. Scene one.
Cue the lights. Actors, on your marks.
Orchestra, remember this a peppy little number.
In three, two, one. Action.
*
THE MAYOR: I have a building.
CITY COUNCIL CHORUS: A pretty little building.
MAYOR: It's made of brick.
CHORUS: He wants to sell it quick ...
MAYOR: Before it falls apart.
CHORUS: Part. Part. Part. Part.
MAYOR: Oh, it's a fixer-upper.
CHORUS: A real fixer-upper.
MAYOR: I'd like to let you in ...
CHORUS: But the roof's caved in.
MAYOR: Can't let you sue the city.
CHORUS: No. No. No. No.
MAYOR: For a dollar down.
CHORUS: Just a dollar down.
MAYOR: You'll own a piece of the city ...
CHORUS: That used to be pretty.
MAYOR: And that'll be great.
CHORUS: Great. Great. Great. Great.
(The big finish)
MAYOR AND CHORUS: We don't want to hassle, but will ya move to New Castle? And if you do ...
SOLICITOR: (in baritone voice) We ... promise ... not ... to ... sue.
*
What happened? Well, that's just embarrassing.
If you haven't heard by now, a California company wants to purchase the former Elks Club. Tri-Cinema Inc. wants to renovate the site and use it for its home studio. Stop laughing. It's true.
A once grand, old structure, the building is in disrepair. Dating back to the early 1900s, the building has switched ownership several times. There are those who would consider the condition of the building a disgrace.
Speaking of disgraces, let's introduce you to the New Castle News' Pat Litowitz and Lisa Micco. Join our shameful duo as they discuss "When the Walls Come Tumbling Down" or "Didn't They Sell This Property at the Affordable Housing Auction?"
LITOWITZ: Here's the problem -- the city has a number of great, old buildings. But it takes money to keep them up to par. Look at the cost involved in renovating the original Warner Bros. theater.
We're talking millions and millions of dollars.
Then there's the New Castle Area School District and the former Ben Franklin Junior High School. Great building but a financial burden on the taxpayers. The district is looking to unload it, but a few board members have other ideas.
Every day that building sits unoccupied you invite more problems.
Don't forget the brouhaha over the homes that were demolished to create the new junior-senior high school.
Antiques are great when you can afford them. But when you're strapped for cash, that's a difficult expense to justify.
I hope Tri-Cinema, which wants to purchase the former Elks building, delivers on its promises. But if it doesn't happen, then it's time to get rid of the building.
MICCO: You know, you're an expense to The News that's hard to justify. Can we get rid of you?
Here's the real problem -- everyone is always in a big hurry to tear down something historic in this town.
The Kurtz mansion. Gone. Made into a parking lot. Soon to be the downtown bus transfer station.
The former Lt. Gov. William M. Brown's monstrosity of a home near East Street. Destroyed. It's now a practice field.
The Phillips mansion. Fell into disrepair and demolished. A church now occupies its former site.
(I'm surprised the Scottish Rite Cathedral has lasted this long.)
So I was happy to see that a business outside the confines of Lawrence County is interested in the old Elks building. It's a grand structure, but what an eyesore. And it smells.
Will Tri-Cinema proceed with plans to refurbish the building or will it be used as the set for "Apocalypse Now, Part Deux"?
Did I mention the building smells?
LITOWITZ: Yes, but so do you.
Setting olfactory issues aside, I also do not like the thought of demolishing historical buildings.
But you failed to address the problem. How are you going to raise money to refurbish the structures?
There's no one coming in to save New Castle.
By the way, who's rushing to tear them down? They sit and sit and sit. Before you know it, someone sets them on fire. That's the New Castle way.
MICCO: Have "A Night at the Races" like everyone else does to raise money.
Besides, I'm not saying the city should fund the renovations. I'm talking about selling the old Elks building to Tri-Cinema -- or whomever else for that matter -- without creating a bureaucratic dog-and-pony show.
Why does the city have to complicate things? I mean, we politely asked to tour the former Elks building, and, after a meeting at Camp David, a dozen consultations with lawyers and a reading of tea leaves, the city says NO.
I don't like being told no. I was very put out.
LITOWITZ: Could it be that you are a spoiled child?
The building isn't the safest place to be. I respect the fact that city officials were looking out for our safety.
Or it could be that the mayor and Councilman Chet Orelli are still mad at you over the Cascade Lake tongue-lashing?
MICCO: Oh wait, I didn't recognize you there for a minute with your face not pressed up against a city official's buttocks. "Respect the fact ... Looking out for our safety ..." Puh-leeze.
If the mayor and Orelli are still mad at me, then they would've given me the key and let me fall to my death.
LITOWITZ: Would that be considered a civic improvement?
(He Said/She Said is written by New Castle News staffers Lisa Micco, design editor, and Pat Litowitz, investigative reporter. Remember, Christmas is 14 weeks away. Gift certificates may be sent to Pat and Lisa in care of "A He Said/She Said Christmas," P.O. Box 60, 27 N. Mercer St., New Castle, Pa. 16103. Gifts are not tax deductible.)
Housing Authority sues Affordable Housing
September 15, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
The auction of seven properties and the pending sale of an eighth are being challenged in common pleas court.
Judge J. Craig Cox granted a temporary restraining order against Affordable Housing of Lawrence County pending a 9:30 a.m. hearing Monday at the county government center. A judge has not been assigned in the case.
During its session yesterday, the Lawrence County Housing Authority board directed solicitor Louis Perrotta to file suit against the nonprofit housing organization and board members Deno DeLorenzo and William Bonner.
Also named in the complaint were the five winning bidders, Joseph Mazzant, Joseph DeRosa, James A. Mims Jr., Louis Suisi and Carl Rossi, and auctioneer Raymond Mazzanti.
After meeting in executive session, the housing authority board approved three motions dealing with litigation against Affordable Housing.
In the first, the board decided to seek an injunction to prevent the sale of the properties and the transfer of deeds to the new owners.
Perrotta filed paperwork on that request.
The board also approved seeking a $200,500 judgment on a nonsecured promissory note the authority provided to Affordable Housing. The final action involves a civil complaint against Affordable Housing.
Perrotta said he has not moved forward on the last two matters. He said the economics involved in the litigation will determine whether or not the lawsuits are initiated.
Board chairman Robert Heath and Ernestine Wise and Michael Mancuso approved the motions. William Betz was absent.
Affordable Housing, created by the housing authority in 2003, auctioned the seven properties for $56,200 on Saturday.
The group purchased the structures last year for $295,000.
An eighth building, located on Dewey Avenue, was purchased in 2005 for $45,000. That property was sold Sept. 5. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Deno DeLorenzo, Affordable Housing secretary and treasurer, declined to comment on the litigation.
Attempts to reach the five bidders were unsuccessful.
The housing authority’s complaint came approximately two hours after the deed transfers were filed with the county’s register and recorder.
“That’s something we’re going to have to address on Monday,” Perrotta said.
The housing authority wants the court to set aside the auction sales and return the money to the bidders. At that point, the board wants the properties to be sold through a real estate agent.
“As a creditor of Affordable Housing Inc., the Housing Authority ... does not believe an absolute auction is an economical method to transfer and sell the properties,” Perrotta wrote on behalf of the board to DeLorenzo on Sept. 6.
“This logic is supported by inquiries made with the Housing Authority of the County of Lawrence by property owners and potential investors.”
By not suing Affordable Housing, the housing authority would have seen as little as $4,000, or $500 per property, as repayment on the promissory note.
Heath said he hopes the litigation will increase that figure.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
The auction of seven properties and the pending sale of an eighth are being challenged in common pleas court.
Judge J. Craig Cox granted a temporary restraining order against Affordable Housing of Lawrence County pending a 9:30 a.m. hearing Monday at the county government center. A judge has not been assigned in the case.
During its session yesterday, the Lawrence County Housing Authority board directed solicitor Louis Perrotta to file suit against the nonprofit housing organization and board members Deno DeLorenzo and William Bonner.
Also named in the complaint were the five winning bidders, Joseph Mazzant, Joseph DeRosa, James A. Mims Jr., Louis Suisi and Carl Rossi, and auctioneer Raymond Mazzanti.
After meeting in executive session, the housing authority board approved three motions dealing with litigation against Affordable Housing.
In the first, the board decided to seek an injunction to prevent the sale of the properties and the transfer of deeds to the new owners.
Perrotta filed paperwork on that request.
The board also approved seeking a $200,500 judgment on a nonsecured promissory note the authority provided to Affordable Housing. The final action involves a civil complaint against Affordable Housing.
Perrotta said he has not moved forward on the last two matters. He said the economics involved in the litigation will determine whether or not the lawsuits are initiated.
Board chairman Robert Heath and Ernestine Wise and Michael Mancuso approved the motions. William Betz was absent.
Affordable Housing, created by the housing authority in 2003, auctioned the seven properties for $56,200 on Saturday.
The group purchased the structures last year for $295,000.
An eighth building, located on Dewey Avenue, was purchased in 2005 for $45,000. That property was sold Sept. 5. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Deno DeLorenzo, Affordable Housing secretary and treasurer, declined to comment on the litigation.
Attempts to reach the five bidders were unsuccessful.
The housing authority’s complaint came approximately two hours after the deed transfers were filed with the county’s register and recorder.
“That’s something we’re going to have to address on Monday,” Perrotta said.
The housing authority wants the court to set aside the auction sales and return the money to the bidders. At that point, the board wants the properties to be sold through a real estate agent.
“As a creditor of Affordable Housing Inc., the Housing Authority ... does not believe an absolute auction is an economical method to transfer and sell the properties,” Perrotta wrote on behalf of the board to DeLorenzo on Sept. 6.
“This logic is supported by inquiries made with the Housing Authority of the County of Lawrence by property owners and potential investors.”
By not suing Affordable Housing, the housing authority would have seen as little as $4,000, or $500 per property, as repayment on the promissory note.
Heath said he hopes the litigation will increase that figure.
Thunder will rumble at Taggart
September 14, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Eleven games into its inaugural season, the New Castle Thunder will play a true home game.
In a 6-1-1 vote last night, the New Castle Area School Board granted permission for the minor league football team to use Taggart Stadium Saturday for a North American Football League contest.
Peter Yerage, Donna Donati, Karen Humphrey, Allan Joseph, Mark Kirkwood and Richard Panella Jr. supported the action.
Philip Conti voted against the measure. Board president Fred Mozzocio abstained and Charlotte Sheffield was absent.
“Taggart Stadium ... is built to play football,” Thunder owner Anthony Razzano said during the meeting’s pubic participation session. “That’s why it’s there.”
Thunder officials sought use of Taggart on Saturday and Sept. 23. Yerage amended the original measure to reduce the number of games from two to one.
Conti, who backed the Thunder’s two-game request, opposed the change.
“What are you trying to prove by limiting (the Thunder) to one game?” Conti asked the board.
He received no response.
District solicitor Charles Sapienza met last week with Razzano and team attorney Carmen Lamancusa to discuss the district’s rental agreement. Sapienza said the team met the standards set by the district.
However, before giving its approval, the board needed to address a district policy adopted in 2004. At issue was an exemption that prevents “commercial groups who primary aim is the sale of a product or service” the use of school facilities.
“We’re not a product; we’re not a service,” Lamancusa said to the board prior to its vote. “Keep that in mind.”
Razzano also rejected the notion that the Thunder is, in simplest terms, a commercial venture.
“To try to draw the analogy that football is a service is wrong,” he said. “It’s sports entertainment.”
Approving the rental agreement meant the board was violating its own policy, Sapienza said. However, board members have the right to waive policy provisions and re-examine them later.
“What we have now is a policy in place that limits the use of our facilities,” he said.
“You are the ultimate interpreter of your own policy.”
In supporting the Thunder’s request, Donati said that school property does not solely belong to the district’s board members, administrators and employees.
“Schools are owned by everyone in our community,” she said.
The Thunder, sporting an 8-2 mark, will host the Ohio Invaders. Playing in the NAFL’s Grass Roots Division, New Castle has qualified for post-season play.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Eleven games into its inaugural season, the New Castle Thunder will play a true home game.
In a 6-1-1 vote last night, the New Castle Area School Board granted permission for the minor league football team to use Taggart Stadium Saturday for a North American Football League contest.
Peter Yerage, Donna Donati, Karen Humphrey, Allan Joseph, Mark Kirkwood and Richard Panella Jr. supported the action.
Philip Conti voted against the measure. Board president Fred Mozzocio abstained and Charlotte Sheffield was absent.
“Taggart Stadium ... is built to play football,” Thunder owner Anthony Razzano said during the meeting’s pubic participation session. “That’s why it’s there.”
Thunder officials sought use of Taggart on Saturday and Sept. 23. Yerage amended the original measure to reduce the number of games from two to one.
Conti, who backed the Thunder’s two-game request, opposed the change.
“What are you trying to prove by limiting (the Thunder) to one game?” Conti asked the board.
He received no response.
District solicitor Charles Sapienza met last week with Razzano and team attorney Carmen Lamancusa to discuss the district’s rental agreement. Sapienza said the team met the standards set by the district.
However, before giving its approval, the board needed to address a district policy adopted in 2004. At issue was an exemption that prevents “commercial groups who primary aim is the sale of a product or service” the use of school facilities.
“We’re not a product; we’re not a service,” Lamancusa said to the board prior to its vote. “Keep that in mind.”
Razzano also rejected the notion that the Thunder is, in simplest terms, a commercial venture.
“To try to draw the analogy that football is a service is wrong,” he said. “It’s sports entertainment.”
Approving the rental agreement meant the board was violating its own policy, Sapienza said. However, board members have the right to waive policy provisions and re-examine them later.
“What we have now is a policy in place that limits the use of our facilities,” he said.
“You are the ultimate interpreter of your own policy.”
In supporting the Thunder’s request, Donati said that school property does not solely belong to the district’s board members, administrators and employees.
“Schools are owned by everyone in our community,” she said.
The Thunder, sporting an 8-2 mark, will host the Ohio Invaders. Playing in the NAFL’s Grass Roots Division, New Castle has qualified for post-season play.
Affordable Housing of Lawrence County faces potential lawsuits
September 13, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Legal action is looming against a failed nonprofit housing group.
The threat of lawsuits comes as Affordable Housing of Lawrence County auctioned seven properties for $56,200 over the weekend.
The group purchased the structures last year for $295,000.
An eighth building, located on Dewey Avenue and bought in 2005 for $45,000, was sold prior to the auction. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Deno DeLorenzo, Affordable Housing’s secretary and treasurer, said yesterday he plans to obtain legal counsel to investigate the original purchases. He wants to determine if either the group’s former board members, its consultant Robert Ratkovich, the appraisal company or the properties’ previous owners are liable for damages.
“What role did the board have in this transaction?” DeLorenzo asked. “It seems like the board was relying on Mr. Ratkovich to make prudent decisions on the (properties).”
Ratkovich, who is New Castle City Council president, declined comment last night. He also is maintenance director at the Lawrence County Housing Authority, which created Affordable Housing.
During the housing authority’s work session yesterday, solicitor Louis Perrotta discussed the auction with board members.
He and the authority’s executive director, Robert Evanick, “thought the properties should have been listed with a Realtor to maximize the selling price.
“There were some Realtors that were interested,” he said.
In April, Affordable Housing placed one advertisement in the New Castle News listing the properties for sale.
The authority holds a $200,000 unsecured promissory note with Affordable Housing. The funds were used to help start the group in 2003.
Perrotta said the board will have to decide if it wishes to file an injunction to prevent the properties from being transferred or to sue Affordable Housing in an effort to recoup funds.
“I don’t have a problem trying to get money back from Affordable Housing,” board chairman Robert Heath said.
DeLorenzo had offered the housing authority, through its solicitor, $500 for each property sold at Saturday’s auction. The board did not respond to that proposal.
Auctioneer Ray Mazzanti received $7,000 for his services. Funds from the sale also were used to pay legal fees, property taxes and sanitation liens.
DeLorenzo said he would set aside $3,500 for the housing authority. The remaining funds are earmarked for First Commonwealth Bank, which holds the mortgage.
“The bank agreed to this,” he said of the auction. “If they believed an auction was sufficient enough, they obviously saw that a Realtor wouldn’t have brought in much more.”
DeLorenzo said the deeds listing the new owners would be recorded today at the county government center.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
Legal action is looming against a failed nonprofit housing group.
The threat of lawsuits comes as Affordable Housing of Lawrence County auctioned seven properties for $56,200 over the weekend.
The group purchased the structures last year for $295,000.
An eighth building, located on Dewey Avenue and bought in 2005 for $45,000, was sold prior to the auction. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Deno DeLorenzo, Affordable Housing’s secretary and treasurer, said yesterday he plans to obtain legal counsel to investigate the original purchases. He wants to determine if either the group’s former board members, its consultant Robert Ratkovich, the appraisal company or the properties’ previous owners are liable for damages.
“What role did the board have in this transaction?” DeLorenzo asked. “It seems like the board was relying on Mr. Ratkovich to make prudent decisions on the (properties).”
Ratkovich, who is New Castle City Council president, declined comment last night. He also is maintenance director at the Lawrence County Housing Authority, which created Affordable Housing.
During the housing authority’s work session yesterday, solicitor Louis Perrotta discussed the auction with board members.
He and the authority’s executive director, Robert Evanick, “thought the properties should have been listed with a Realtor to maximize the selling price.
“There were some Realtors that were interested,” he said.
In April, Affordable Housing placed one advertisement in the New Castle News listing the properties for sale.
The authority holds a $200,000 unsecured promissory note with Affordable Housing. The funds were used to help start the group in 2003.
Perrotta said the board will have to decide if it wishes to file an injunction to prevent the properties from being transferred or to sue Affordable Housing in an effort to recoup funds.
“I don’t have a problem trying to get money back from Affordable Housing,” board chairman Robert Heath said.
DeLorenzo had offered the housing authority, through its solicitor, $500 for each property sold at Saturday’s auction. The board did not respond to that proposal.
Auctioneer Ray Mazzanti received $7,000 for his services. Funds from the sale also were used to pay legal fees, property taxes and sanitation liens.
DeLorenzo said he would set aside $3,500 for the housing authority. The remaining funds are earmarked for First Commonwealth Bank, which holds the mortgage.
“The bank agreed to this,” he said of the auction. “If they believed an auction was sufficient enough, they obviously saw that a Realtor wouldn’t have brought in much more.”
DeLorenzo said the deeds listing the new owners would be recorded today at the county government center.
Housing authority facing cutbacks
September 13, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
The Lawrence County Housing Authority board is bracing for cutbacks next year.
If no action is taken, the deficit could reach $400,000.
During a work session yesterday, controller Holly Girdwood discussed preliminary federal funding with authority board members.
“This is a worst-case scenario,” Girdwood said. “We need to have a plan to address this.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the authority’s primary funding source. The federal agency wants the authority’s fiscal projections, including a preliminary budget, by Friday.
Usually, Girdwood said, the information is turned in by October.
“Now we have a warning, so we can work on it,” board chairman Robert Heath said.
Girdwood estimated HUD will furnish the authority with 78 percent of its 2007 funding. If that number remains unchanged, the authority will experience a $268,000 deficit. An increase in electricity prices is expected to add $132,000 to authority expenditures.
If HUD increases its contribution to 86 percent, Girdwood said the authority will have a balanced budget.
“This is in Congress’ hands,” she said.
Michael Mancuso, the board’s newest member, questioned the wisdom of quickly piecing together a budget.
“HUD will accept an out-of-balance budget?” he asked.
Girdwood said yes, because the authority has a reserve fund from which to withdraw funds if it faces a deficit scenario. Currently, authority reserves total $169,000. That number will grow to $300,000 to $400,000 next year.
“We really don’t want to tap into our reserves unless we have to,” Mancuso said.
While there is an urgency to give HUD its information, executive director Robert Evanick said the board has until December to address any issues with the 2007 budget.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
The Lawrence County Housing Authority board is bracing for cutbacks next year.
If no action is taken, the deficit could reach $400,000.
During a work session yesterday, controller Holly Girdwood discussed preliminary federal funding with authority board members.
“This is a worst-case scenario,” Girdwood said. “We need to have a plan to address this.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the authority’s primary funding source. The federal agency wants the authority’s fiscal projections, including a preliminary budget, by Friday.
Usually, Girdwood said, the information is turned in by October.
“Now we have a warning, so we can work on it,” board chairman Robert Heath said.
Girdwood estimated HUD will furnish the authority with 78 percent of its 2007 funding. If that number remains unchanged, the authority will experience a $268,000 deficit. An increase in electricity prices is expected to add $132,000 to authority expenditures.
If HUD increases its contribution to 86 percent, Girdwood said the authority will have a balanced budget.
“This is in Congress’ hands,” she said.
Michael Mancuso, the board’s newest member, questioned the wisdom of quickly piecing together a budget.
“HUD will accept an out-of-balance budget?” he asked.
Girdwood said yes, because the authority has a reserve fund from which to withdraw funds if it faces a deficit scenario. Currently, authority reserves total $169,000. That number will grow to $300,000 to $400,000 next year.
“We really don’t want to tap into our reserves unless we have to,” Mancuso said.
While there is an urgency to give HUD its information, executive director Robert Evanick said the board has until December to address any issues with the 2007 budget.
Affordable Housing sells seven of its eight properties
September 12, 2006
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
A nonprofit housing group unloaded seven of its eight properties during a contentious public auction.
Affordable Housing of Lawrence County raised $56,200 during Saturday’s auction, which took place at the Shenango Township fire hall. More the 50 people attended, including 15 registered bidders.
“We are out of the rental property business,” said Deno DeLorenzo, Affordable Housing’s secretary and treasurer.
The funds raised represented less a fifth of the combined purchase price of the properties.
Affordable Housing, a spin-off agency created by the Lawrence County Housing Authority, purchased the seven structures in 2005 for $295,000.
An eighth building, a Dewey Avenue duplex bought in 2005 for $45,000, was sold prior to the auction. DeLorenzo would not disclose the buyer or terms of the sale until the transaction is completed.
Before the sale started, a tenant living in an Affordable Housing property questioned attorney Louis Pomerico about the legitimacy of the sale.
“How can it be sold underneath me?” asked Patrick Scarnati, who lives at 1114 Cunningham Ave.
Scarnati claimed the Cunningham Avenue property was not a rental. He told the crowd that he and Affordable Housing had entered into an agreement to purchase the home at the end of a three-year lease.
Pomerico, who represented Affordable Housing at the auction, asked Scarnati to produce the contract. He could not.
Scarnati also said he had been paying on the lease through March and had built up approximately $300 in an escrow account. Under terms of the agreement, Scarnati said, he would purchase the house after the three-year period for $45,000.
Again, he could not provide paperwork to back up his claim.
“I tried to talk to Deno DeLorenzo, but he would not take my money.”
After the auction, DeLorenzo disputed Scarnati’s account.
“I didn’t refuse to accept rent,” he said, adding Scarnati stopped payments to Affordable Housing in December.
The home, which Affordable Housing purchased at a sheriff’s sale for $12,500 in March 2005, was sold to Louis Suisi for $11,000.
The sale to Suisi represented the best return for Affordable Housing. All the other sales fell far under Affordable’s purchase prices.
A Croton Avenue complex, which David L. Defibaugh sold to Affordable Housing for $28,000, went to Carl Rossi for $1,200.
James A. Mims Jr. picked up a triplex on East Wallace Avenue for $2,000. The nonprofit housing group purchased the structure, formerly owned by Nick DeRosa and John Orlando, for $45,500.
DeRosa recently retired as the New Castle Area School District’s assistant superintendent.
DeRosa and Orlando either owned or co-owned four of the eight properties sold to Affordable Housing. They received $214,000 for homes on Frank, Florence, East Wallace and Highland avenues.
Bidders paid $31,000 for the four — a loss of $183,000 from the purchase prices.
At the conclusion of the auction, Duquesne Street resident Daniel Cook asked why a Dewey Avenue duplex was not sold. Cook produced a letter showing that he had offered $30,000 for the property on Saturday.
DeLorenzo countered that on Sept. 5, he had received and accepted an offer on the property.
By Pat Litowitz
New Castle News
A nonprofit housing group unloaded seven of its eight properties during a contentious public auction.
Affordable Housing of Lawrence County raised $56,200 during Saturday’s auction, which took place at the Shenango Township fire hall. More the 50 people attended, including 15 registered bidders.
“We are out of the rental property business,” said Deno DeLorenzo, Affordable Housing’s secretary and treasurer.
The funds raised represented less a fifth of the combined purchase price of the properties.
Affordable Housing, a spin-off agency created by the Lawrence County Housing Authority, purchased the seven structures in 2005 for $295,000.
An eighth building, a Dewey Avenue duplex bought in 2005 for $45,000, was sold prior to the auction. DeLorenzo would not disclose the buyer or terms of the sale until the transaction is completed.
Before the sale started, a tenant living in an Affordable Housing property questioned attorney Louis Pomerico about the legitimacy of the sale.
“How can it be sold underneath me?” asked Patrick Scarnati, who lives at 1114 Cunningham Ave.
Scarnati claimed the Cunningham Avenue property was not a rental. He told the crowd that he and Affordable Housing had entered into an agreement to purchase the home at the end of a three-year lease.
Pomerico, who represented Affordable Housing at the auction, asked Scarnati to produce the contract. He could not.
Scarnati also said he had been paying on the lease through March and had built up approximately $300 in an escrow account. Under terms of the agreement, Scarnati said, he would purchase the house after the three-year period for $45,000.
Again, he could not provide paperwork to back up his claim.
“I tried to talk to Deno DeLorenzo, but he would not take my money.”
After the auction, DeLorenzo disputed Scarnati’s account.
“I didn’t refuse to accept rent,” he said, adding Scarnati stopped payments to Affordable Housing in December.
The home, which Affordable Housing purchased at a sheriff’s sale for $12,500 in March 2005, was sold to Louis Suisi for $11,000.
The sale to Suisi represented the best return for Affordable Housing. All the other sales fell far under Affordable’s purchase prices.
A Croton Avenue complex, which David L. Defibaugh sold to Affordable Housing for $28,000, went to Carl Rossi for $1,200.
James A. Mims Jr. picked up a triplex on East Wallace Avenue for $2,000. The nonprofit housing group purchased the structure, formerly owned by Nick DeRosa and John Orlando, for $45,500.
DeRosa recently retired as the New Castle Area School District’s assistant superintendent.
DeRosa and Orlando either owned or co-owned four of the eight properties sold to Affordable Housing. They received $214,000 for homes on Frank, Florence, East Wallace and Highland avenues.
Bidders paid $31,000 for the four — a loss of $183,000 from the purchase prices.
At the conclusion of the auction, Duquesne Street resident Daniel Cook asked why a Dewey Avenue duplex was not sold. Cook produced a letter showing that he had offered $30,000 for the property on Saturday.
DeLorenzo countered that on Sept. 5, he had received and accepted an offer on the property.
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