Our local primaries are next Tuesday, May 15. Local politics is always interesting. If you listen to talk radio in the mornings, you already know what most of the chatter is about on the county/municipal level. Newspaper ads are plentiful. Lawn signs are (dreadfully) everywhere. If you really want to learn about the candidates, the League of Women Voters is one of the best resources you will find (www.lwv.org). They provide the education and qualifications of the candidates along with their occupations. Questions are proposed and the candidate’s answer is published. They also publish when “no response” was received.

What a fuss with the Lackawanna County Commissioners! I’ve glimpsed some big ol’ billboards and have seen television commercials (pretty nice ones, too) for Robert Cordaro, but he won’t be on the ballot and has to be written in. The Lackawanna County Bureau of Elections has their hands full. I have personally never voted that way and would have to ask a voting official how to do this. Maybe with the computer voting, it’s easier. I can’t even imagine what the Scranton Times Tribune headlines will be on May 16.

Luzerne County has an interesting Judge of Courts of Common Pleas race. Both trial attorney (and Marine) Tom Marsilio and David Lupas are hoping to wear the robe. The district attorney position is between trial attorney Vito De Luca and Jackie Musto Carroll (who simply must believe it’s her destiny to be an elected official somewhere). I found a very interesting piece of information about these two races in the salary: Judge: $121,225 and District Attorney: $120,225. Should they be so darn close?

I am proud to say that I have voted in all but two elections since I was 18 years old. I have always looked to my dad for guidance. I registered in the same party as he. Nevertheless, politics is not a good topic to discuss at family gatherings. Still, we do it all the time. My mother does not condone any of the discussion. We do it, though, maybe because of this and in spite of this. It’s sport!

We agree that the biggest problem with government, whether it is federal, state or local, is the shortage of qualified candidates. Career politicians are generally poor leaders in my opinion. They rely on favor-swapping. The revenue is never actually “earned”. The stream of income is steady regardless of how hard one works. So, why work hard? I guess some do. I have often observed first-hand that more do not. To prove this, go to your local courthouse on any Friday afternoon and visit any office. If anyone is present, it is a skeleton crew. Drive past the parking lot or through the parking garage. Elected officials have reserved spots. You will easily see who’s not where they are paid to be.

A solution is to entice more qualified people to run. But that begs the question, what is their incentive? If they are business people, they have already learned that they can work harder for themselves and do better than they would in any elected government position. They also learn immediately that politics is nasty business. Trading favors and campaigning never really ends.

For those of us who do not put ourselves out there, we need to keep informed and learn about the candidates. The internet makes it easy. They all have websites. Email a question. You should expect a timely and complete response in writing and you can hold them accountable. Talk to your friends, neighbors and co-workers. Even though few actually take the steps to run for office, we have the power to choose the best qualified if we take the time to learn about them.