No one was surprised when one Democratic commissioner nominated another Monday to chair the Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners.
Or when all three commissioners backed Bill Gaughan’s nomination of Thom Welby as chairman.
The shocker came when Welby didn’t reciprocate.
Instead of backing Gaughan, Welby nominated Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak as vice chairman, a move that forced Chermak to second his own nomination and enraged Gaughan.
He accused Welby of ignoring the will of voters in 2023.
“Just like the last reorganization, I want to congratulate the new Republican majority of Lackawanna County,” Gaughan said bitterly.
Welby accused Gaughan of being the one disloyal to voters.
The drama played out as the commissioners reorganized more than a month after Welby ended eight months of uncertainty over former Commissioner Matt McGloin’s permanent replacement by winning a special election.
Voters chose Welby to replace Brenda Sacco, who won the long legal fight that Gaughan started and replaced McGloin for a month before Welby took office. When Sacco took the seat, Chermak backed her as chair, a move Gaughan also labeled the creation of a "new Republican majority.”
Gaughan reminded Welby voters elected him and McGloin, also a Democrat, in 2023, and Welby in November. They did that because, both times, they wanted a Democratic commissioner majority, he said.
“It wasn't a symbolic majority,” Gaughan said of his and McGloin’s 2023 victory. “It wasn't a temporary one. It was a governing majority entrusted with setting direction, establishing leadership and reflecting the values that earned their trust. And that mandate is unfortunately being ignored once again.”
Welby, he said, created “distortion” instead of “unity” by elevating Chermak, a MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republican, “over your own Democratic partner.”
“That is not independence. It's abdication. This was not about experience. It was not about cooperation. It was not about stability. It was about comfort, choosing the path that avoids tension with the political cronies who now run this county, rather than the one that honors responsibility,” Gaughan said.
Chermak’s politics, he said, “are not a mystery.”
“They are not moderate, they are not situational,” he said. “They are firmly rooted in a MAGA movement that has rejected democratic norms, demeaned public institutions, attacked labor and turned grievance into governance. That movement did not win a majority here in Lackawanna County, but today it's going to be rewarded anyway.”
Voters, Gaughan said, asked him and Welby to lead.
“You don't protect democracy by empowering those who undermine it, and you don't strengthen a party by sidelining one of its own to elevate an ideological adversary,” Gaughan said. “You didn't build unity today. You built a bridge for MAGA to walk into leadership over the backs of the voters who sent Democrats here to stop them.”
He pointed out Chermak voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election, the same one that elected Welby a state representative, “echoing conspiracy theories and casting doubt on democracy itself.”
Chermak also abstained when the county Board of Elections approved a special election for commissioner in August, he said.
“He abstained, calling the process a sham. He fought against giving the people of this county a voice and vote. That's not stewardship, that's sabotage by shrug,” Gaughan said.
He said Welby backed a commissioner for vice chairman who allowed the county’s finances to get out of hand and its Office of Youth and Family Services to deteriorate.
McGloin and Gaughan approved a 33% property tax hike for 2025 to fix the finances. They also hired a consultant to fix the child protection agency.
“Not once did he stop it,” Gaughan said of Chermak. “Not once did he lead, not once did he speak out and demand answers and accountability.”
Chermak, Welby respond
Chermak defended his six years in office, saying he developed a good relationship with the previous Democratic commissioners' administration.
“This county is a mix of Republicans, Democrats, independents and people that don't even bother to vote. So, since I came here six years ago, my main concern was to do what was right for the county, for everybody that is part of this county,” Chermak said. “We got this county through a worldwide pandemic. We helped save people. We had testing sites and vaccination sites and which I was there helping. I think we did a heck of a job moving forward. I think we owe it to the people here in Lackawanna County to work together and do what's right for the people here other counties do it.”
Welby, the county Democratic Party’s nominee for the special election, reminded Gaughan what happened in the lead-up to the election.
“While he goes on about the need to support Democrats publicly and to an extreme, he supported the independent candidate and turned his back on the Democratic candidate,” Welby said. “Now all of a sudden, it's he wants the support of the Democrats.”
Welby said he’s a Democrat by registration but campaigned on a promise to act independently and defeated the independent Gaughan supported, Michael Cappellini, by almost 2 to 1. Cappellini promoted himself as an independent Democrat, though he wasn’t the party’s choice.
“If you also look back to the campaign ... you'll see all through that over and over and over and over again that I was running as a Democrat, as an independent Democrat that was not aligned to either party that was going to do the job based on what is right, what is right for the people,” Welby said. “We're not working for Republicans, we're not working for Democrats. We're working as a democracy, working together.”
Gaughan fired back.
“They’re both full of (expletive),” he said.
