Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak has never supported the 2021 renaming of Scranton's Spruce Street in honor of President Joe Biden.
But Biden's decision last week to commute the federal prison sentence of disgraced 'Kids for Cash' judge Michael Conahan has strengthened Chermak's desire to see the Scranton-born president's name stripped from street signs in the city.
Chermak is calling on Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti to reverse the renaming, saying that reverting to Spruce Street would "be a step toward restoring confidence in the city's leadership and reaffirming our commitment to decisions that reflect the values and integrity of our community."
Cognetti did not immediately respond to WVIA's requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan, who spearheaded the tribute to Biden when he was a member of Scranton City Council, said he felt the move remains an appropriate tribute to Biden's career and roots in the city, adding that Chermak and others calling for the change "have too much time on their hands."
Judicial scandal in focus
Conahan, 72, was among 1,499 people to whom Biden granted clemency last Thursday.
The former Luzerne County judge still had 20 months to serve in connection with a judicial scandal in which he and judge Mark Ciavarella were secretly being paid by co-conspirators who built and ran for-profit juvenile detention centers. Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, was funneling minor defendants to those centers, often for trivial infractions.
Ciavarella, now 76, was convicted after a trial in February 2011 and sentenced to 28 years in prison. He remains in a medium-security prison in Butner, North Carolina.
Conahan pleaded guilty to a single racketeering conspiracy charge in July 2010. He had been living under house arrest since June 2020 under the jurisdiction of federal prison authorities in Florida after requesting release to home confinement pandemic because of concerns about his health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden's decision flew in the face of what a federal judge in the case had previously ruled.
Earlier this year, Conahan asked Senior U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani to reduce his sentence, arguing his good behavior as an inmate, his legal aid to fellow inmates and lack of a previous criminal history warranted early release.
Mariani acknowledged Conahan’s circumstances, but denied the request, citing "the irrevocable harm caused" by Conahan's criminal conduct.
Chermak: 'Icing on the cake'
Chermak, the lone Republican on Lackawanna County's three-person Board of Commissioners, admits he has never favored the tribute to Biden, whom he called "one of the worst presidents we've ever had."
"What just happened with the pardoning of Judge Conahan — to me, that was the icing on the cake," said Chermak, who sent his concerns to Cognetti in a letter issued Wednesday.
"What that judge and the other judge did was absolutely despicable, how they ruined families in this in this region," Chermak told WVIA News.
"I just can't say enough that that was absolutely the wrong thing to do, to pardon someone like that, especially when they're not even in prison. They're living in Florida under house arrest. That was the last person that needed to be pardoned," Chermak said.
Biden's decision to commute Conahan's sentence is different than a pardon, which grants complete forgiveness of a crime and restores full rights of citizenship, as this AJC.com story explains.
Renamings have been controversial
In fact, two local thoroughfares were renamed for Biden.
Scranton City Council three years ago changed the names of the Central Scranton Expressway and Spruce Street in honor of Biden, who was born in South Scranton in 1942 and lived in the city until his father moved the family to Delaware in the 1950s.
The renaming was controversial at the time and remained so. Some downtown business owners complained about potential expenses and confusion the change would bring, while others objected to the move on political grounds.
Earlier this year, Lackawanna County resident Eric Skurka launched an online petition drive calling for the names to be changed back. As of Wednesday afternoon that petition had 20,195 signatures and was garnering a fresh crop of comments.
Gaughan, a Democrat, opposed changing the name back when the petition began circulating this spring and he still opposes it.
"Each president should be judged based on the entirety of their career. I think President Biden has done a good job throughout his career representing the people of Scranton and of Lackawanna County," Gaughan said.
"When we decided to rename Spruce Street and the expressway after President Biden, it was done to honor the fact that he has given his entire life to public service, and he grew up here for the first 10 years of his life," Gaughan added.
"If you look at any other place in the United States where a president has been born, they usually have a street named after them, or a building or something to that effect. So no, I mean, the street is not going to change," he said.
Power rests in city's hands
Neither Gaughan nor Chermak, as county commissioners, has the authority to compel the city to change the names.
Neither does the state Department of Transportation, which explained to WVIA when the petition campaign emerged that renaming state roads within city limits is up to city officials.
That means calls to remove Biden's name coming from incoming state legislators Jamie Walsh and Brenda Pugh — two Republicans elected this year in Luzerne County — are equally without legal force.
PennDOT District 4 Executive Rich Roman said in March that changing the highway signs alone could cost $20,000 or more, given the size of some of those around the expressway and Interstate 81.
Chermak acknowledged on Wednesday that his request may go nowhere, but he stands by the move.
"I probably will never get a response, but I did it on the on behalf of the residents of city of Scranton who are in disagreement with [the renaming], and with the residents of Lackawanna County who are also in disagreement with that," Chermak said.
"I don't have a say. I don't live in the city. I have no say over them. But I spoke on behalf of the folks that asked me to speak."
Gaughan said efforts to get the name changed are coming from "people who really have a lot of time on their hands."
"There's more important things that we should be worrying about, rather than changing the name of the street," Gaughan said, adding that Chermak "should focus on actually being a commissioner instead of writing letters."
Chermak said he has worked hard as a commissioner to serve the people who elected him, and this issue is one that many of them care about.
"I get calls about that road to, you know, do something," Chermak said.
"People are fed up. The election showed it, and I'm standing up for the people."
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WVIA News reporters Borys Krawczeniuk and Lydia McFarlane assisted with this report.
