DYNAMIC DUO: It’s not too often you see a local face on the
front page of the Wall Street Journal.

But we did on Monday when there was a signature Journal
caricature of Lewis Run Mayor Al Montecalvo on page 1. A photograph
of his longtime cohort Frank Langianese appeared on page 2.

The artwork accompanied a story by writer Clare Ansberry about
the two long-time leaders in Lewis Run — possibly the
longest-lasting political team in the country. The story ran to
coincide with Tuesday’s general election which, as readers know,
returned Al to the mayor seat and probably returned Frank as well —
by a single vote.

We’ll leave that story to the reporters but today and tomorrow
wanted to share information from the Journal story:

“Mayor Albert Montecalvo and his right-hand man, Council
President Frank Langianese, both 87 years old, are up for
re-election, seeking their 15th and 16th terms. The pair, who were
next-door neighbors as children, have worked together for 56 years
on matters like water, sewer and garbage collection.

“They agree on most things, except politics.

“ ‘He blames everything on the Democrats, and I blame everything
on the Republicans,’ says Mr. Langianese, a Democrat.”

“ ‘He,’ says Mr. Montecalvo, a lifelong Republican, nodding to
his partner, ‘was the original Arlen Specter,’ referring to the
Pennsylvania senator who earlier this year switched from Republican
to Democrat. Mr. Langianese, originally a Republican, changed
allegiances in 1958 after he lost in the Republican primary but was
elected in the general election thanks to write-ins from Democrats.
That’s different, says Mr. Langianese. ‘I didn’t change midterm. I
don’t believe in that.’”

The story continues, “Both men have won every election since the
mid-1950s but don’t take anything for granted, even though the
mayor is running unopposed. ‘There is always a concern someone will
write someone in,’ says Mayor Montecalvo, whose friends call him
Abbe. ‘People sit in bars. They drink, complain about roads not
getting plowed and garbage not picked up, but they never come to
meetings. They say get rid of the old guys, but they don’t want to
run.’”

The story notes that, surprisingly, there were quite a few
octogenarians on Pennsylvania ballots on Tuesday.