Tomorrow We Decide What Kind of County We Want

Election Day lands tomorrow in Lackawanna County, and it feels heavier than usual. Between the commissioner’s seat, the mayor’s office, and Scranton City Council, voters will be deciding more than who gets to sit in the big chairs — they’ll be deciding whether local government starts functioning again or keeps spinning its wheels.

The County Commissioner race sits at the center of it all, mostly because of the mess that came before it. When former commissioner Matt McGloin resigned, Bill Gaughan went to war over who would fill the vacancy. Instead of accepting a lawful appointment process, he tried to block the court’s decision — over and over — costing the county months without full representation. The Supreme Court smacked it down, and the rest of us were left watching taxpayer dollars disappear into a legal sinkhole created by one man’s ego.

That chaos paved the way for the current race: Democrat Thom Welby, Republican Chet Merli, and independent Mike Cappellini. Welby’s a steady hand — a familiar name who knows how community works and doesn’t scare easily. Merli, a businessman with little patience for bureaucracy, says he’ll bring fiscal control and outside perspective. Cappellini, running as the anti-establishment choice, insists he’s the independent voice the county needs, but controversy has followed him as the Gaughan Machine’s chosen candidate.

The mayor’s race, meanwhile, is shaping up as a real choice between direction and ideas. Paige Cognetti wants another four years — her administration claims it has cleaned up the city’s books and brought structure to government that once ran on chaos. But there’s also Gene Barrett, the independent candidate whose platform has earned quiet respect across party lines. Barrett’s plans focus on neighborhood-level investment, targeted public safety reforms, and giving small businesses a clearer path to grow without drowning in red tape. He’s not shouting from the sidelines — he’s offering specifics that make sense. Trish Beynon, the Republican nominee, has focused her message on law enforcement and infrastructure, promising to reconnect City Hall with everyday residents. Rik Little, an unhoused individual, has called for greater transparency and accountability in local decision-making while focusing on the Home Rule Charter. It’s one of the rare elections where the city actually has multiple credible directions it could go.

And then there’s City Council, where the noise level rarely drops below a low rumble. This year’s candidates include Virgil Argenta, Patrick Flynn, Sean McAndrew, Marc Pane, incumbent Tom Schuster, and independent Gerald Smurl. Smurl, as most voters now know, comes with baggage — he voted to give himself a 44 percent pay raise, backed a tax increase, and publicly confirmed that there’s an investigation into his petition filings from the spring. None of that has kept him from running again. In Scranton politics, reputation might bend, but it never quite breaks.

All of this makes tomorrow more than a date on a calendar. It’s a stress test for how much dysfunction voters are willing to tolerate. The county can’t afford another year of personal feuds disguised as principle. The city can’t afford to keep arguing about potholes while property values stagnate.

Local elections don’t come with Super PAC money, but they decide who keeps the lights on — literally. They decide who hires the next public safety director, who votes on your tax bill, who signs off on the next redevelopment deal, and who decides whether we keep stumbling through politics as performance art or finally get back to work.

So tomorrow, show up. Bring a friend. Remind yourself that this is where democracy actually happens — not in Washington, not on cable news, but right here, one lever, one ballot, one county at a time.