{"id":28872,"date":"2024-12-20T23:20:58","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T23:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/20\/pa-lawmakers-demand-scranton-revert-biden-expy-name-calling-it-a-scar-following-kids-4-cash-pardon\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T23:20:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T23:20:58","slug":"pa-lawmakers-demand-scranton-revert-biden-expy-name-calling-it-a-scar-following-kids-4-cash-pardon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/20\/pa-lawmakers-demand-scranton-revert-biden-expy-name-calling-it-a-scar-following-kids-4-cash-pardon\/","title":{"rendered":"PA lawmakers demand Scranton revert ‘Biden Expy’ name, calling it a ‘scar’ following Kids-4-Cash pardon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several Pennsylvania officials, particularly in the Scranton area where President Joe Biden hails from<\/a>, are calling on the city to undo its 2021 renaming of a freeway spur in his honor.<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jamie Walsh, R-Dallas, appeared to lead the charge with a scathing statement highlighting Biden\u2019s recent pardon of a judge convicted in a “kids-for-cash” scandal wherein he received kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to for-profit prisons.<\/p>\n

Wilkes-Barre Common Pleas Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella Jr. were convicted in 2008. The former served time in prison, followed by COVID-induced house arrest until Biden\u2019s pardon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Walsh said some of the children affected had been convicted of minor offenses like jaywalking. The Democratic-majority Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out 4,000 juvenile convictions as a result of the scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ECONOMY BORDER & ABORTION DIVIDE BIDEN’S HOMETOWN AS RESIDENTS LOOK BACK ON NATIVE SON’S FIRST TERM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“In light of the recent decision made by the Biden administration to commute former Judge Conahan\u2019s sentence, I implore city officials and Mayor [Paige Gebhardt Cognetti] to remove President Joe Biden\u2019s name from the expressway sign that leads to the heart of the \u2018Electric City\u2019s\u2019 downtown area.”<\/p>\n

In 2021, the mayor and city council unanimously approved the rebranding of the three-quarter-mile Central Scranton Expressway spur off Interstate 81 and its continuance via then-Spruce Street through downtown as the “President Biden Expressway” and “Biden Avenue,” respectively.<\/p>\n

The President Biden Expressway initially serves as a short bypass of PA-307 into the city, and continues as “Biden Ave” toward northbound US-11, which, in-turn, meets the terminus of the colloquial “Route 9” — the Pennsylvania Turnpike\u2019s Northeast Extension.<\/p>\n

“The children affected by Conahan\u2019s actions of nearly 15 years ago are now adults suffering in their own \u2018mental\u2019 prisons due to his deeds of self-fulfillment,” Walsh said in a statement.<\/p>\n

WV DEMOCRATS RIP BIDEN’S \u2018EGREGIOUS\u2019 PUBLIC CORRUPTION PARDON CHOICES: \u2018WHAT WE\u2019D EXPECT FROM TRUMP’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Crimes against children are everlasting, and there is no escape from the irreparable damage these predators caused by their actions.”<\/p>\n

Walsh argued that the issue is non-partisan but “right versus wrong” and that Biden no longer deserves the commemoration because his pardon “exonerates [Conahan\u2019s] behavior” as a signal to future corrupt public officials.<\/p>\n

State Rep-elect. Brenda Pugh, R-Luzerne, told WBRE<\/a> that Conahan\u2019s conduct is a “blight on Pennsylvania” and that Biden\u2019s pardon is “nothing short of a travesty.”<\/p>\n

“[H]is clemency is a miscarriage of justice,” Pugh said, adding the President Biden Expressway<\/a> will therefore “forever be a scar reminding people of what happened here [in NEPA].”<\/p>\n

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, who was the GOP’s 2022 gubernatorial nominee, told Fox News Digital it is embarrassing to see Biden’s name while driving up I-81, especially given his choices of pardons.<\/p>\n

“He’s a failed president who couldn’t help himself to pardon his corrupt criminal son from so many illegals schemes. His name is to be off the highway,” Mastriano said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak made his case directly to Cognetti, writing the mayor a letter saying that reverting “Biden Avenue to Spruce Street” would help restore confidence in city leadership and reaffirm a commitment to governing in the best reflection of city values.<\/p>\n

“This [pardon] has brought significant negative attention to Scranton, tarnishing the city’s reputation and reflecting poorly on Lackawanna County as a whole,” Chermak wrote.<\/p>\n

In a Friday interview, Cognetti said that Biden\u2019s commutation of Conahan was a “grave error” that freshly opened “deep and horrific” wounds for Scrantonians and NEPA residents.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

She echoed Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s remark earlier this week that Conahan\u2019s sentence was too light in the first place.<\/p>\n

“[The case] was just the stuff that you think a screenwriter couldn’t make up — how systemic and how deep that scandal went,” Cognetti said.<\/p>\n

She said she had contacted the White House with her concerns and that she was sad to learn Conahan\u2019s commutation is irreversible.<\/p>\n

Cognetti noted she is currently mayor in part because of other officials\u2019 public corruption as well.<\/p>\n

Predecessor Bill Courtright resigned in July 2019 amid a conviction for bribery, corruption and conspiracy. Courtright\u2019s departure led to two brief interim mayors before Cognetti was elected that November as an independent and, in 2021, as a Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cognetti added that the calls to strip Biden\u2019s name from roadways are not new and continue to be mostly grounded in partisanship.<\/p>\n

“The president is from here, and there are few communities that can boast of being the hometown of a President of the United States. We will continue to celebrate and be very proud of having a hometown son of Scranton as president.”<\/p>\n

“The two issues are conflated, I think, for political reasons. And I’d like us to treat these things as what they are. We need to continue to address corruption in government,” Cognetti added.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s separate from the president’s legacy of 50 years in office and being the most successful son of Scranton.”<\/p>\n

BIDEN’S HOMETOWN EXPRESSES HOW IT REALLY FEELS ABOUT \u2018BIDENOMICS\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When recently asked about Biden granting Conahan a pardon, Shapiro said that presidents have the “unique and absolute” power to do so, but should wield it “incredibly carefully.”<\/p>\n

“I study every single case that comes across my desk where there’s a request for a pardon or clemency or worse, or a reduction in sentence. And I take it very seriously,” said Shapiro, who previously served as attorney general.<\/p>\n

“I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania. This was not only a black eye on the community because of the scandal, but it also affected families in really deep and profound and sad ways,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several Pennsylvania officials, particularly in the Scranton area where President Joe Biden hails from, are calling on the city to undo its 2021 renaming of a freeway spur in his honor. State Rep. Jamie Walsh, R-Dallas, appeared to lead the charge with a scathing statement highlighting Biden\u2019s recent pardon of a judge convicted in a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}