Posted on 02/01/2010 8:10:14 PM PST by Born Conservative
The name Louis DeNaples strikes fear, respect or both into many local residents because of his wealth and the behind-the-scenes power he reputedly wields.
His emergence as an issue in the 10th Congressional District race this week is a good example.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee thrust Mr. DeNaples into a higher profile than he prefers in former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino's nascent Republican congressional campaign.
"Casino" Marino, the DCCC called Mr. Marino, alluding to his representation of Mr. DeNaples, who developed the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Paradise Twp.
This much is true.
Mr. Marino resigned a month after an August 2007 Allentown Morning Call article said he served as a reference on Mr. DeNaples' December 2005 application for Mount Airy's gambling license.
"Tom 'Casino' Marino resigned as U.S. attorney in 2007 under a cloud of controversy once it was discovered that he served as a reference on the gaming application of businessman Louis DeNaples," the DCCC said in a news release.
The news release talks about state and federal investigations into Mr. DeNaples at the time. It talks about whether Mr. Marino had a conflict of interest in the federal probe because he served as the reference after his office began a probe into whether Mr. DeNaples had ties to organized crime.
The release never mentions that Mr. Marino has said he actually recused himself from the investigation in January of that year, seven months before the article was published and months before he resigned. Or that a Morning Call article three days after the first one said the investigation had earlier been transferred to the U.S. attorney's office in Binghamton, N.Y., eliminating the conflict. Or that Mr. Marino denies a connection between the resignation and his relationship to Mr. DeNaples. Or that Mr. Marino never represented the casino.
For now, we'll save the question of what Mr. Marino knew and when he knew it for another day. It will almost certainly remain a campaign issue. It is also legitimate for anyone to raise the question of whether he was investigating Mr. DeNaples while also serving as a reference.
Mr. Marino says he recused himself at the right time because of the relationship.
What's unfair is the way the flap is turning Mr. DeNaples into a bogeyman. Don't vote for that Marino guy, he's pals with Louis DeNaples and you know who Mr. DeNaples is, don't you?
For years, there has been a lot of public and even more private speculation about whether Mr. DeNaples has ties to organized crime.
What's been missing from that speculation is any solid proof.
Mr. DeNaples pleaded no contest more than 30 years ago to a felony fraud charge after his first trial ended in a hung jury. The guy who prosecuted him then, attorney Sal Cognetti, vouches for him now. No prosecutor has ever won a guilty verdict against Mr. DeNaples. A recent lone charge of perjury against him was withdrawn in April.
Mr. DeNaples has known some mobsters, notably Russell Bufalino and Billy D'Elia, but guilt by association is both unfair and unrecognized by the laws of Pennsylvania and the United States of America.
Mr. DeNaples has made mistakes. Long ago, he ran his Keystone Sanitary Landfill in a way that state officials concluded was environmentally unsound. After that, he turned it into a model operation, a state environmental official said.
For now, voters should concentrate on what Tom Marino thinks about fixing the economy, health care, Social Security and Medicare, ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, balancing the budget - take your pick.
Leave the bogeymen for Halloween.
Miscellanea
- Former local bank executive John J. Keeler of Scranton says he is seriously thinking about running for representative of the state's 112th Legislative District. He's a Democrat and would take on his longtime friend, Rep. Ken Smith. If he gets in, he would join Lackawanna County official Kevin Haggerty and Scranton School Director Bob Lesh.
- Former local television sports anchor Sid Michaels - real name Michael Kavulich - is looking at running against state Rep. Jim Wansacz. Both are Democrats. Mr. Kavulich works for state Senate Democratic Leader Bob Mellow.
BORYS KRAWCZENIUK, The Times-Tribune politics reporter, writes Random Notes.
Very weak candidate fielded by the GOP. "Casino Marino" has a lot of baggage.
ping
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