Bryn Smith
Local public interest attorney Joanna Bryn Smith announced she is seeking a Democratic nomination for Luzerne County Council in the May 16 primary election.
Smith said she has worked tirelessly for the county community through servant-leadership roles for many years with the Wills for Heroes program, the Wilkes-Barre Law Library Charitable Organization, the Fine Arts Fiesta and Leadership Northeast, among other local non-profits.
She said she has served on multiple local nonprofit boards, doing whatever is needed, from ensuring ethical fiscal compliance in organizations to scrubbing bathrooms, her announcement said.
“I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves and do the hard work, the work that few people are willing to do,” she said.
A Shavertown native, Smith is a graduate of Bishop O’Reilly High School, Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and the City University of New York School of Law.
She has worked for Luzerne County in public defense as a conflict counsel and now provides free legal services to domestic violence victims.
“As a county worker for nearly a decade, I know why the county system struggles,” Smith said. “The employees are not appreciated. The organization is frequently nonsensical, and those in leadership positions are not often hired for their skill or work ethic. Every single one of those missteps lead back to the council. And the voters need to hold them accountable for this poor leadership,” she said.
Smith said she was motivated to run because of council’s “many fiscally irresponsible decisions.”
“The council delayed the disbursement of American Rescue Funds for three years. They have wasted enormous amounts of taxpayer money on items,” she said, citing the hiring of an out-of-state consultant and inspection of the county-owned West Pittston bridge.
Smith continued, “For decades, we’ve all heard jokes about corruption in Luzerne County government. I am tired of the council proving this joke with self-serving decision after self-serving decision and mistake after mistake, all harming the citizens of Luzerne County. We do not have to accept this unethical behavior as the standard operating procedure. If we elect a council that understands its responsibilities to our taxpayers, we can change it. Our children deserve better. Our families deserve better, and our people deserve better.”
