Like sands drifting through the opening credits of a soap opera hourglass, Ward 5 councilor Jonathan Lothrop’s deadline for commenting to The Planet on his role in an in-progress  political scam and scandal has passed. Translation: Book ’em, Danno, because J-Lo is as guilty as Original Sin.

J-Lo is guilty of agreeing to be the hand-picked stooge in the plot to replace Chris Speranzo with a compliant voice in the 3rd Berkshire district. The Bosses need a “yes man” as pathetic as the boot-licking Speranzo after Spurs resigns his seat shortly after winning “re-election” in a rigged race to become the latest pig to gorge on public slop as clerk magistrate in Central Berkshire District Court. The back-room Dem Bosses need someone like Speranzo to represent THEIR interests and not those of the people in the 3rd Berkshire District. And who could that be, pray tell?

C’mon down, J-Lo!

J-Lo the Clown has sunk so low that he now must look up to the earthworms. Note to J-Lo: If it looks like The Planet is drilling two eyes into your Bozo wig  at the next council meeting, we’re not. Keep telling youself: It’s just your imagination. It’s just your imagination. It’s just your imagination.

Miller Criticizes Speranzo’s No-Show at Debate

Reacting to Speranzo’s cowardly no-show at the BCC non-“debate” on Tuesday, Mark Miller (www.markmiller2010.org) — Spurs’ Rainbow-Green Party opponent —  issued the following statement on Oct. 19:

State Rep. Christopher Speranzo appears to be hiding behind a fraying veil of incumbency.

He passed up an opportunity last night to demonstrate what he has to show the people of Pittsfield since being elected in a special election in April 2005. His refusal to accept the invitation to debate may mean he doesn’t have very much to show for more than five years in office.

If my campaign is not “credible,” as Rep. Speranzo asserts, he could have demonstrated it on the podium at Berkshire Community College. Instead he used the classic incumbent’s dodge.

If Rep. Speranzo had been there, I would have asked him about the selling of Probation Department jobs for donations to the campaigns of Democratic Party legislators including those in House leadership that appointed him vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

I would have asked him what he and his Judiciary Committee colleagues have done to end that practice, which was rife in the Legislature for years before the Boston Globe Spotlight Team highlighted it in a series of page 1 articles in May of this year.

I would have asked Rep. Speranzo if the selling of Probation Department positions doesn’t come under the purview of the Judiciary Committee, then which committee or committees in the Legislature could have done something about it.

Would Rep. Speranzo disagree with Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker that this Democratic Party pay-to-play Probation Department game has been well known for years on Beacon Hill? Would he disagree that the Boston Herald had been reporting on it before the Globe did its “big foot” investigative series?

Apparently Rep. Speranzo hasn’t been paying attention to this practice because that would endanger his relationship with House leadership, including Rep. Thomas Petrolati of Ludlow, the third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives. Petolati unsuccessfully fought a subpoena to testify before Independent Counsel Paul Ware about his relationship with Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien, who was suspended from his job in May after the Globe Spotlight Team revealed a pattern of political favoritism in hiring.

Rep. Speranzo used the word “troubling” when a reporter asked him about the Globe’s series on a pattern of political favoritism in Probation Department hiring. If so, what has he tried to do about it? Or was it the investigative reporting that Rep. Speranzo found troubling rather than the practice of selling Probation Department jobs?

The Berkshire Eagle reported that Rep. Speranzo termed me, his only challenger, a one-issue candidate, saying I have presented nothing to debate in several months. Apparently Rep. Speranzo hasn’t been paying attention to the ISSUES page my campaign website, or the JOURNAL page, which is filled with issues, including government accountability, tax fairness, and commitment to pubic education.

Democrats like Rep. Speranzo say they support the concept of single-payer health insurance, but they don’t bother to fight for it. In 2006 the overwhelmingly Democratic state Legislature helped the Republican administration of Gov. Mitt Romney enact the current Massachusetts health insurance law rather than pass single-payer legislation. Then Democrats in Congress joined the Obama administration this year in coming up with the current national health insurance law based on the one enacted in Massachusetts four years ago.

END OF MILLER’S STATEMENT

Miller rightly points out Speranzo’s participation in the “pay-for-play” scandal now under investigation by the Ware independent probe. Clearly, Speranzo is afraid of Miller’s mastery of the issues. Having known Miller for years in his capacity as executive editor of the Berkshire Eagle, this does not surprise The Planet. Miller’s a newsman. He’s on top of things.

Miller will be in the Vox radio studios on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 11 a.m. to noon for a scheduled debate with Speranzo. Spurs is under severe pressure to appear at that debate. Pay heed to this warming from The Planet, Chris Speranzo: Failure to show up at WBEC on Jason Street to face the music at the appointed hour will cost you re-election. The Planet guarantees it.

So take some friendly advice. Skip your next 28 meals and be in front of the live Vox microphones on Oct. 26, 11 a.m. to noon.

The electorate, if not voters, have reached a tipping point. They’re tired of being offered a poisoned chalice by corrupt politicians like Lothrop and Speranzo. They want the good stuff. They mean mischief.